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 90

Author: Armor, Samuel, 1843-; Pleasants, J. E., Mrs
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1700

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In 1912 he was persuaded that he would do best by removing to California; and having sold a part of the ranch, he came West and located at Anaheim. He bought thirteen acres at the corner of East and Santa Ana streets, and he improved the land by the addition of a new and handsome residence. In 1919, he sold the balance of his eastern property and bought ten acres adjoining his first purchase, most of which were in Valencia, and two acres in Navel oranges. He joined the Mutual Orange Distributors Association, and as a Republican, he did what he could to elevate civic affairs, but in local movements he always gave a generous, nonpartisan support.

On February 15, 1920, to the sorrow of a large circle of friends, Mrs. Grussing passed to her eternal reward: She was the mother of four children-Tinie, Henry, Hannah and Herman. With his family Mr. Grussing is a member of Anaheim Lutheran Church, of which he has for some time been a trustee.

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

PETER D. BRADY .- A successful orange and walnut grower who is enjoying prosperity as the reward of industry and the maintenance of right principles in the conduct of his business, is Peter D. Brady, the owner of a forty-acre ranch, devoted to oranges and walnuts, situated two and a half miles east of Garden Grove. Mr. Brady was born in Marshall County, 111., January 28, 1866, a son of Peter and Julia (Welch) Brady, natives of Vermont and Kentucky, respectively. Peter Brady was born July 6, 1832, and was united in marriage with Miss Julia Welch on December 1, 1859, the cere- mony being solemnized at Peoria, Il1. He was a railroad man of marked ability and filled the responsible post of division superintendent of the Rock Island Railway Com- pany in Illinois; while living in Kansas he was connected with the Santa Fe Railroad. He became the owner of 160 acres of land in Rush County, Kans., also a quarter-section in Greenwood County, that state.

Mr. and Mrs. Peter Brady were the parents of nine children, three of whom are living: P. D. Brady, the subject of this sketch; E. W. Brady, a rancher living near his brother; and Mrs. Essie Lighthall, who resides at Lindsay, Cal., where she is in the orange business. In 1890 the family moved to California and in 1912 the mother passed away at the age of seventy-three years; Peter Brady survived until February 11, 1920, having passed the advanced age of eighty-seven.

P. D. Brady was four years old when his parents moved to Kansas. He received his education in the public schools of Great Bend, graduating from the high school in 1885. He followed farming in Kansas, working on his father's farm in Rush County. In 1891 he migrated to California, locating in Buaro precinct, Orange County, after- wards settling in Garden Grove precinct, where he purchased ten acres of rough land. This he cleared and leveled and has made subsequent purchases, one of ten, the other of twenty acres, making his total holdings forty acres, half being in walnuts and the balance in Valencia oranges; three acres of the oranges are now nine years old and ten acres of the walnuts are ten years old. He has a 200-foot well with a pumping capacity of eighty inches. Mr. Brady is an indefatigable worker and his enterprising efforts have been richly rewarded. His career furnishes a striking example of what energy and resourcefulness can accomplish, when one has set his mind on a definite goal and judiciously manages his financial affairs. From a humble beginning in ranching he has successfully attained his goal-the ownership of a well-improved and profitable ranch and a beautiful, modern bungalow residence. For about twenty years Mr. Brady ran a hay-baling press in Southern California.

In 1917 Mr. Brady was united in marriage with Miss Alice Shoemaker, a native of Ogle County, Ill., and the daughter of Jasper and Lydia (Purcell) Shoemaker. Jasper Shoemaker passed away in Ogle County, 111. ,at the age of sixty-seven years; Mrs. Shoe- maker is living at San Pedro. They were the parents of thirteen children, eleven of whom are living.

Mr. and Mrs. P. D. Brady are the parents of one child, Barbara Jean. Mr. Brady is a member of the Orange Growers Association, also of the Walnut Growers Associa- tion at Garden Grove. Mr. and Mrs. Brady are very popular in their locality, where they have a large circle of friends.

JOSIAH JACKSON .- A hard-working rancher whose flourishing grove of choice fruit shows the desired-for results of proper, scientific attention, is Josiah Jackson, who has been wrestling with the world and the problems of life since he was nineteen years of age. He was born near Cincinnati, Ohio, on July 25, 1866, the son of John W. Jackson, a stock raiser whose land was devoted to general farming. He had married Miss Martha Dickenson, one of a pioneer family, like his own, of the early days when it was necessary to settle among the Indians in order to open up the paths to civiliza- tion. Josiah attended the Westboro district school and left home when he was nine- teen years of age, to work on farms in Iowa. He went to Washington County and stayed for two years, and then he removed to northern Minnesota and North Dakota, where he spent a few months. In 1885 he returned to Ohio; and when his father died, the following spring, he took charge of the home farm for a year, after which he went to Garden City, Kans., and spent a year and a half. Then he went to Colorado and was three months at Fort Florsend, a station on the early Colorado and Midland Railroad, now abandoned.

In 1888, at the height of the famous realty boom, Mr. Jackson came to California and settled in San Diego, where he accepted work in the large stone quarry between Murrietta and Fallbrook; but he was only three months there when he came on to Whittier, where he lived with his sister until he was married on May 26, 1898, to Miss Emma L. Healton, who was born near Kokomo in the Hoosier State. Her father was Nathan Healton, and her mother, before her marriage, Miss Huldah J. McCoy and they also were early Californians, having settled near El Modena where they assisted in

QD, Brady

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

developing and building up the neighborhood. When she was twelve years of age, in 1886, Mrs. Jackson came to California with her father and attended the El Modena school; and later she was a student at Whittier College. In 1903, Mr. Jackson pur- chased ten acres of the Beach subdivision of the Toler tract, and first set the land out to walnuts. Then he grubbed out the walnut trees and set out four acres of the land to Valencia oranges and six acres to lemons, and this has proven a more satisfactory investment. The land is irrigated by the La Habra Water Company, and the La Habra Citrus Association disposes of all of our subject's products.

Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Jackson: Thomas M., died aged two years and seven months; then comes D. Howard Jackson, a junior in the Whittier high school; and Dorothy A. is a sophomore there. In national politics preferring to march with the Republicans, Mr. Jackson is as nonpartisan and as broadminded as any in local movements, and always is willing to put the best interests of the community in which he lives above party principles. He is also ready to do his ordinary duty as a citizen, and has served on the jury.

WILLIAM W. PERRY .- A conservative business man whose whole-hearted nature makes him love the great outdoors, such a feature of the ideal in California life, is William W. Perry, a native of North Carolina, where he was born near Burling- ton, on May 25, 1867, the son of Peter Perry. He was born in North Carolina in 1843. and was a landowner and farmer who later moved with his family to Indiana, and four years later, in 1877, to Nebraska, where he was a farmer. He once came to Cali- fornia, for a winter visit, and died in Nebraska in 1910. Mrs. Perry was Catherine Glenn before her marriage and was highly honored as a descendant or early English settlers on the Virginia Coast. Eleven children, all now married and doing well for themselves, were born to this worthy pioneer couple; and among these William Perry is the oldest son.

He attended the grammar schools in the country districts of Nebraska, and later took a year at the Normal School in that state. His spare time he devoted to working on a farm, and a large part of his earnings he put aside for the future. Having married. he came out to California with his family in 1903, and spent fourteen months in the Golden State; and in 1907 he sold his farm in Nebraska and came back to live.

He bought twenty acres on East Collins Avenue, two and a quarter miles north- east of Orange, and in April, 1907, moved onto the same. He improved the balance of the place, making of the ranch a fine grove of oranges and lemons; and in 1913 he built a fine modern residence of nine rooms with an up-to-date garage. He joined the Villa Park Orchards Association, at one time serving as a director, and became a member of the Central Lemon Growers Association of Villa Park, also holding stock in the same. In 1909, he sunk a well on his ranch, and uses the water from it for irrigation as well as for domestic purposes, although he gets the service of the Santa Ana Valley Irrigation Company. He has a Sampson tractor, farms scientifically, and is not the least sorry that he cast his lot in Orange County.

On May 12, 1892, Mr. Perry was married to Miss Harriet Smith of Weeping Water, Nebr., a native daughter of that state, from parents who were sturdy farmer folk. Two children were born to them: Gertrude P., who is the wife of L. F. Douglass of Orange, and the mother of three children, Herbert P., Theodore R., and Robert A., who died at the age of six months. Maurice A., who is a rancher at Hemet, married Leila Culter in August, 1920. The family attend the Methodist Episcopal Church at Orange, and were active as committee members in the various war loan drives; and Mr. Perry belongs to the Odd Fellows of Orange, in which he is a past officer. In national politics he is a Republican.

EDWIN BULA .- A successful rancher who has become a substantial financier and, as a deep student, is interested in the bringing about of the best legislation for the greatest good to the greatest number of people, is Edwin Bula, a director of the Central Lemon Growers Association, of Villa Park, who was born in London, England. on November 3, 1866, the son of Samuel Bula, a native of the British Isles. The father was a contractor and builder, and as such became of note even in the great city of London. He had married Miss Elizabeth Farren, who was also a native of Great Britain, and who proved to be a wonderful wife and mother. They had three sons, and Edwin was the second in the order of birth.

In 1881, Mr. and Mrs. Bula came with their family to the United States and settled at Boston, where Mr. Bula continued to ply his trade of a builder; and Edwin, having already received good common school educational advantages in England, went out to work, at various kinds of labor. He was wide-awake and observant. and so caught not only the real spirit of American institutions, but posted himself as to the trend of the century, and particularly as to political moves in the New World.

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

In 1888, Mr. Bula was married to Miss Madelina Gondy, a native of Switzerland who had come to New York and soon afterward with his wife he migrated west and never halted until he had reached Los Angeles, arriving here in 1905, and later embarked in the laundry business in Santa Ana, continuing four years.

In 1909 they bought eighteen acres of raw land, fourteen acres of which is in the corporate limits of Orange and located two miles northeast from the city. Mr. Bula began making improvements on the place by building a barn, in part of which they lived while they were planting orange and lemon trees on their ranch. In 1916 he had so prospered that he erected a modern and comfortable house in which they live. Their location is one of the favored ones of the county, being situated in the frostless belt where soil and climate, and extra good care have made of the Bula ranch one of the show places in this section of the county. Mr. Bula is a member, and since 1915 has been a director of the Central Lemon Growers Association of Villa Park; is also a member of the Villa Park Orchards Association, and of the Rural Farm Bureau. He is also a director of the California Citrus By-Products Company of Corona.

A stand-pat Republican, Mr. Bula maintains his live interest in civic affairs, and is always ready, without partisanship, to support the best man and the best measures making for the building up and also the upbuilding of the community and the county in which he lives and thrives.

JAMES T. WHEDON .- A railroad man of many years' experience, James T. Whedon can recall with interest the fact that he had charge of the first train to enter Los Angeles in 1876, and it has been his privilege to witness the marvelous changes that have come to this metropolis of the Pacific Coast since that date. A native of Indiana, Mr. Whedon was born at Madison, in that state in 1846. The country round about his birthplace was still in a comparatively primitive state at that time and the educational opportunities were limited, so that when a mere youth of ten years, Mr. Whedon started out to earn his way, working as a water boy on the Madison and Indianapolis Railway for only fifty cents a day, although that was not considered a low wage for a boy at that time, as brakemen were paid but a dollar per day.

Although but fifteen years of age when the Civil War broke out, Mr. Whedon enlisted in Company E. Third Indiana Cavalry and saw three years of hard service in the great conflict. After the close of the war he returned to his home and went to work as a brakeman on the J. M. and I. Railroad, and continued in this line of work until 1868, when he went to Wyoming, where he served in the capacity of baggage master for the Union Pacific Railroad at Laramie, which was the end of the line at that time. When the East and West road was connected at Promontory Point, 1869, Mr. Whedon went to San Francisco and was employed as a conductor on the Old Central Pacific, Western Pacific division, between Sacramento and Oakland, for ten years. It was during this period that the Southern Pacific line was extended to Los Angeles and in 1876, when the road was completed Mr. Whedon had charge of the first train that came over the road, an event that was the beginning of the wonderful growth that has taken Los Angeles past the half-million mark.

In 1880 he accepted the position as general yardmaster for the Texas Pacific and also the St. Louis and Iron Mountain at Texarkana, and in 1882 was appointed trainmaster for the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad at the same point. In 1884 he was made superintendent for the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad, at Little Rock, and had charge of the road from Texarkana to Poplar Bluff. In 1886 during the first big railroad strike he demonstrated his ability to cope with the strikers and received the following telegram of which he is very proud:

"St. Louis, March 17, 1886.

J. T. Whedon, Supt., Little Rock.

I congratulate you upon being the first superintendent that has run a freight train successfully since the commencement of this causeless strike. Continue in your good efforts. You are on the white list for all time to come.

(Signed) H. M. HOXIE, General Manager."

Coming back to California in 1887, Mr. Whedon was associated with the opening of the Mt. Lowe Railroad and for the first four years of its operation he had charge of the road during Prof. Thaddeus Lowe's ownership. The following clipping from the Pasadena Star shows the appreciation in which his services were held:

"Mr. Whedon has tendered his resignation as superintendent of the Mt. Lowe Railway, to take effect April 30. The tourist season being over Mr. C. W. Brown, in addition to his duties as receiver and general manager, will also look after the superintendent's duties. Professor Lowe showed his good judgment when he selected Mr. Whedon for the responsible position of superintendent in charge of operating, as the results have shown. During the three years and ten months

IT, Whedon

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the road has been in operation, and which time Mr. Whedon has had charge, not a single accident of any kind has taken place whereby a passenger has been in- jured or the company lost one dollar. This speaks very highly for the Mt. Lowe Railway and its management.

"Apropos of the above we take pleasure in republishing an article which appeared in the Little Rock Gazette, at the time of Mr. Whedon's resignation of the position of division superintendent of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railroad, some years ago, and which was headed 'A Faithful and Efficient Officer.' 'In the resignation of Mr. J. T. Whedon, division superintendent of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railroad, the state of Arkansas, and the city of Little Rock especially, lose a good citizen, and one of the best and most efficient of its railroad corps. He is a man of few words, but quick to act, and with good judgment. His personal bravery is something remarkable, while his impartiality among deserving employees is as strict as his regard is warm for true friends. During the great railroad strike he was here, there and everywhere, guarding with the greatest faithfulness the interests of the corporation he repre- sented. It is to his efforts, assisted as he was by Sheriff Worthen, that so little damage resulted to persons and property. It is believed he will continue in the service of the Missouri Pacific system, but it is known to his friends that for months past he has had a strong desire to locate in California, and possibly he may go there. No official stands higher with the management, and the Gazette hopes to see him promoted to a better position. However that may be, the people of Little Rock (and the Gazette voices them) wish him great success, wherever he may be stationed.' "

Mr. Whedon finished his long and successful railroad career in 1902, under the employ of ex-Senator Clark of Montana, and for the next few years was interested in mining in Arizona. Coming back to Los Angeles in 1909, he resided in Los Angeles. He first purchased five acres of land at South Santa Anita, but in 1913 deciding to grow avocados he sold this and purchased his present acreage at Yorba Linda, a tract of five acres on a hillside which is practically frostless. In March, 1914, Mr. Whedon set out 350 avocado trees, the Fuerte variety predominating, and since that time he has given practically all his time to the care and development of his orchard and has made it a most profitable enterprise. The demand for his fruit is greater than he can supply and the larger part of it is used by the Alexandria Hotel at Los Angeles. A member of the California Avocado Association, Mr. Whedon is very prominent in its circles and he is nationally known as the "Fuerte avocado man" as the first fruit of this variety ever exhibited was displayed by him in 1916 at the San Diego meeting of the association.

Mr. Whedon's marriage, which occurred in Oakland. Cal., in 1872, united him with Miss Henrietta T. Tappan, and four children were born. to them: Their two eldest children died in infancy and those living are Amy Frances, wife of Lieut .- Col. A. W. Bradbury, U. S. A., at Camp Lewis, Wash., and Maude Tappan, wife of Albert Wilson of Monrovia. Mr. Whedon is a member of Bartlett-Logan Post, G. A. R., Los Angeles, and is a Mason of Royal Arch degree. An estimable citizen, whose busy life has been filled with interesting experiences, Mr. Whedon stands high in the estimation of the citizens of his community.

WALTER De WITT LAMB .- The descendant of two generations of California pioneers, Walter D. Lamb can well take pride in the achievements of his progenitors, for it is to their unbounded faith in the future of this part of the country and their many years of arduous labor, not unmixed with hardship, that much of the present prosperity of this generation is due. Mr. Lamb's grandfather, Anson D. Lamb, and his father. William D. Lamb, came to California in 1869 and a record of their lives will be found elsewhere in this volume.

Walter D. Lamb was born November 28, 1878, on his father's ranch in Fountain Valley and grew up there, attending school in the Newhope school district and later at Santa Ana. From his early youth he was gifted with unusual mechanical ability, and has always been especially successful in operating farm machinery of all kinds, a decided asset in these days when more and more of the farm work is being performed mechanically. Under his father's supervision he early acquired a thorough knowledge of agricultural processes and when quite young went into celery raising, operating on an extensive scale when that industry was at its height. As his father always kept a great many cattle, horses, mules and hogs on his large ranches, Walter Lamb became accustomed to their care in his boyhood and thus hecame familiar with every detail of the live stock business, especially in feeding and fattening steers on sugar beet tops. He makes a practice of feeding a large drove of cattle for the market each fall and in this he is expert and has few equals in judging heef cattle in Southern California.

In 1917 Mr. Lamb purchased his extensive stock ranch comprising 1,000 acres, 160 acres of which is leased to an oil company, located ten miles southwest of Chino, and

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

here he has a herd of high grade Whiteface cattle, headed with thoroughbred stock. His first holdings consisted of a tract of twenty acres in Fountain Valley, near one of his father's ranches, and this he farms to alfalfa. He also cultivates a ranch of 144 acres in this locality; this is still the property of his mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Lamb, but she has given each of her children this amount of land for their use. On this ranch Mr. Lamb raises large quantities of sugar beets, lima beans and barley, and in the produc- tion of all of these crops he has had signal success.

On March 14, 1900, Mr. Lamb was married to Miss Gertrude DuBois, the daughter of Valentine DuBois, one of Orange County's well-known and influential citizens. Mrs. Lamb, who is a native of Indiana, came here in 1897, graduating later from the Santa Ana high school. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Lamb; Velda May graduated from the Santa Ana high school in the class of 1919; Inez Loretta died at the age of two years and five months; and Walter Kenneth. For a number of years Mr. and Mrs. Lamb resided on their twenty-acre ranch in Fountain Valley, but since October, 1916, they have made their home in Santa Ana, in the attractive residence which Mr. Lamb purchased at 415 West Walunt Street.

HENRY T. RUTHERFORD .- Prominent in banking circles of Orange County for a number of years, at the time of his decease Henry T. Rutherford was cashier of the Orange County Trust and Savings Bank at Santa Ana, having been connected with banking circles for a number of years. His parents were Shelby T. and Mary J. (Bridg- man) Rutherford, pioneer residents of Orange County. The father was born in Ken- tucky in 1847, and when he was but a babe he was taken to Missouri by his father, his mother having died in his infancy. Shelby was early thrown upon his own resources and consequently had practically no opportunity to acquire an education. At the age of twelve he went to work on a farm, near Fort Smith, Ark., continuing in that locality for a number of years. He finally was able to purchase a tract of land for himself, which he cleared and put in crops. He was fifty miles from a railroad, however, and there were many other hardships in this new and undeveloped country, so, having heard of California's better opportunities, he decided to locate here. He first went to Westminster, but later located on the San Joaquin ranch, leasing land there on which he farmed for many years, at one time operating 1,000 acres; on retiring from active ranching life he moved to Santa Ana and there he still makes his home.

Shelby T. Rutherford was for many years keenly interested in the organization of school districts, realizing his own lack of educational opportunities, and determined that his children should not be handicapped in this way. For nineteen years he served on the board of trustees of his home district in Washington County, Ark. On coming to California, during the first years of the family's residence on the San Joaquin ranch, the children had to go six miles to attend the Tustin school; Mr. Rutherford was instrumental in the organization of a district in that locality, serving as a member of the board as long as he resided on the ranch. Mr. Rutherford's marriage in Arkansas had united him with Miss Mary J. Bridgman, a native of that state, and four children were born to them: Henry T., the subject of this sketch; Myrtle, Harriet and Lillian.

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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 90

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