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 91

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 91

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Henry T. Rutherford was born at Fort Smith, Ark., August 28, 1877, spending his boyhood days in that locality. In December, 1887, he came with his parents to Orange County, and grew up on the San Joaquin ranch. He was educated in the public schools and graduated from the Santa Ana Business College. He started out quite early in life to make his own way in the world, his first employment being with the Santa Ana Produce Company. Later he was with the W. F. Lutz Implement Company for some time. At the time of the organization of the Farmers and Merchants Bank he started in with this institution as teller, later advancing to assistant cashier. He was the prime mover in the consolidation of this bank with the Commercial Bank, and he remained there as assistant cashier until January, 1915, when he became connected with the Orange County Trust and Savings Bank, becoming cashier of the latter, which posi- tion he held at the time of his death, which occurred January 13, 1917.

Industrious and devoted to his business, Mr. Rutherford, although a comparatively young man at the time of his passing away, had made a marked success and occupied a place of high esteem in his large circle of friends. He was one of the organizers and a director of the Chamber of Commerce; president of the Orange County Bankers' Association; a member and director of the Orange County Country Club, and when the Elks' Hall was erected he was a member of the building committee. Prominent in fraternal circles, he was a member of Santa Ana Lodge No. 241, F. & A. M .; Santa Ana Lodge No. 794, B. P. O. Elks, and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Mr. Rutherford's marriage, on June 20, 1907, united him with Miss Susie M. Halla- day. an adopted daughter of the late Daniel Halladay, a sketch of whose life is given elsewhere in this work. Mrs. Rutherford is a member of the First Presbyterian Church and is prominent in club circles, being secretary of the Ebell Club.

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DWIGHT E. MAGILL .- The owner of one 'of the trimmest ranches in all the Buaro precinct-Section 34, a tract of ten acres, which he bought in 1911-is Dwight E. Magill, a native of Kansas, where he was born on August 9, 1886. He was four years old when his father, Cyrus Newton Magill, and his mother, who had been Matilda Brady before her marriage, settled in what is now the Buaro precinct, near Garden Grove. Thus Dwight grew up in the Garden Grove district, where he attended the grammar school. He put in a year also in the Orange high school, and then worked on his father's farm until he was twenty-one. After that Mr. Magill worked for the Brady Bros. on their hay press, and after learning the business, ran a hay press of his own for six years. He gave general satisfaction in baling hay, and was successful beyond that of the ordinary man.

When he was twenty-three years of age, on July 14, 1910, Mr. Magill was married to Miss Edna Davis, of Los Angeles, the daughter of Frank M. Davis, the well-known real estate operator of that city. Mrs. Davis, who was in maidenhood Augusta Hagg, died in the fall of 1919, and since then her husband has lived in Ukiah, Cal., where he formerly lived when he crossed the great plains in early, romantic days. Besides Mrs. Magill there is a son, F. Clifford. By a former marriage there is a daughter, Mrs. R. N. Lake of Los Angeles. In 1911 Mr. Magill bought his ten acres, and for three years he farmed the land to beans. At the same time he raised hay on 400 acres of land at Yorba Linda. Three successively dry years, however, made that industry unprofitable, and since then he has set his ten acres out to walnuts, of late interplanted with oranges and lemons. He has a deep well and a first-class pumping plant, and abundant water for irrigation, as the result of which his farm is one of the most promising of all the acreages roundabout.

Three children blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Magill-Marjorie, Dwight E. and George. Unhappy to relate, the second in the order of birth, on February 27 last, was severely burned through the explosion of a can of gasoline ignited from a near-by bonfire. At the time of the accident, the mother and the other two children were at the home of Cyrus Newton Magill; but the response and subsequent devotion of Dr. C. C. Violett saved the lad and alleviated much suffering. In days of prosperity, no family has enjoyed a larger measure of hearty esteem; and in this trying hour, the sympathy of the community could not fail to flow to the afflicted.

JAMES ALBERT TIMMONS .- A busy man of affairs, whose public services, on account of both their immediate good and their far-reaching benefits to posterity, de- serves the grateful remembrance of generations to come, is James Albert Timmons, a native of Oakland, Coles County, 111., where he was born on June 22, 1864. His parents were A. Jackson and Lydia Timmons, and they came as farmer-folk from Indiana to Illinois in early days. Our subject was sent to the common schools of the district, while he helped on the farm, and then continued his studies at the Gem City Business College, Quincy, Ill. When his father embarked in the hardware business at Oakland, he also helped in the new field. In 1888 he went to Kansas and in Winfield, Cowley County, engaged for several years in the clothing trade. When he sold out, at the beginning of the century, he moved from Kansas to California and came to Santa Ana. He purchased a ranch of thirty acres southwest of the town, six acres of which had a variety of fruit trees, and went in for general farming. In 1906, he disposed of this property and moved into town.

Since 1906, Mr. Timmons has engaged in buying and selling ranch and town prop- erty, and doubtless this experience led to his bringing about one of the greatest of all local advancements. After repeated efforts had been made to organize for protection to the land holders along the Santa Ana River in the Newport and Talbert districts, Mr. Timmons took hold of the project and formed what was known as the Newbert Protection District-a name derived from the "New" in Newport and the second syllable in Talbert-called, in 1905, the First Street Land and Improvement Company. Mr. Timmons was president, and W. T. Newland of Huntington Beach was vice-presi- dent. This company threw up levees on both sides of the Santa Ana River for a dis- tance of one and a half miles south from First Street, Santa Ana. On February 23, 1907, they succeeded in passing a bill in the California Legislature, permitting com- munities to organize for the purpose of protecting land along rivers, washes and can- yons, from the overflow of streams. At that time E. E. Keech was attorney for the protection district, Clyde Bishop the assemblyman, and John W. Anderson, state senator for the district. The old First Street Land and Improvement Company was disorgan- ized, and the Newbert Protection District came into existence. On August 24, 1907, a board of directors of the Newbert Protection District issued bonds to the extent of $185,000, to aid in the district's development, and Mr. Timmons served as the head of that organization for the first year, and during the ensuing year and a half was its

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secretary; and only when it was thoroughly organized, did he resign. This organization threw up levees for nine miles on both sides of the Santa Ana River, including the first mile and a half of development of the First Street Land and Improvement Company, which protects the ranches along the river, saving the crops against the flood waters.

On January 12, 1892, Mr. Timmons was married to Miss Lulu R. Cash, a native of Oakland, Ill., and the daughter of L. S. and Rowena (Sargent) Cash. She attended the graded schools of Oakland and later attended the Wesleyan University at Bloom- ington, Ill .; her father was a Virginian, while her mother came from Ohio. Two sons blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Timmons: Howard C. is a teller in the First Na- tional Bank of Santa Ana; and J. Herbert is associated with his father in the real estate business. Both of these promising young men have military records of which they may well be proud, having served in the same company during the late war. Mrs. Timmons is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Santa Ana, while Mr. Timmons is a well known figure among the Elks. In national politics he is a Repub- lican and has been a director in the Chamber of Commerce, and always worked to secure enterprises that would aid the building up of Santa Ana. Mr. Timmons' enter- prise is not only directed to the development of Orange County, but extends into other portions of California. Thus we find him an organizer of the Oak Ridge Orchards Company, of which he is president. This company acquired nearly 1,000 acres adjoin- ing Templeton, San Luis Obispo County, on the southwest, which they are improving and developing to orchards of pears, prunes, apples and almonds.

MRS. LYDIA A. HEMENWAY .- A thoroughgoing business woman who is making a splendid success in her ranching activities is Mrs. Lydia A. Hemenway, who maintains a partnership with her brother, Aaron Buchheim, on the Santa Mar- garita ranch, southeast of El Toro. Mrs. Hemenway was born near Melrose, Minn., the daughter of Frank S. and Carolina (Zymon) Buchheim. Her father was a native of Germany, having come to the United States when he was but eleven years old. He settled in Minnesota prior to the Civil War and had enlisted in the Union Army and was ready to serve, when the war closed. The mother was born in the same part of Germany as her husband, and came to America when she was seventeen years of age, their marriage taking place in Minnesota.

The eldest of twelve children, seven of whom were born in Minnesota, Mrs. Hemenway came to California with her parents when she was nine years old. The family settled near Santa Ana, having purchased a twenty-acre ranch on Seventeenth Street, which is still a part of the Buchheim estate. Frank S. Buchheim died in 1904. at the age of sixty-one, the mother passing away eleven years later, being seventy- one at the time of her decease. Mrs. Hemenway spent her girlhood days on the home ranch, and received her education in the Santa Ana schools. Her first marriage occurred in 1890, when she was united to John Rumbonld, a native of England, three children being born to them: Mabel is the wife of Hiram Whisler, a rancher on the Irvine ranch, and they are the parents of two children-Irene and Elmer; Ralph Rum- bould, a rancher near Westminster, married Alice Skinner of Santa Ana, and they have one son, Robert; Roy Rumbould married Adelle McDonald, and two children, Margaret and Barbara, were born to them. The second marriage of our subject united her with Rupert Hemenway, and one child was born to them, a daughter, Ruth.

In 1908 Mrs. Hemenway formed a partnership with her brother, Aaron Buch- heim, and they now operate 1,300 acres of the Santa Margarita ranch. Together they own their buildings, implements and work stock and equipment. In 1919 they had 250 acres in wheat and 800 acres in barley, 300 acres of which was cut for hay, the remaining 500 acres being harvested for grain, and the year 1920 they harvested 13,465 sacks of grain. They have also been extensively engaged in raising beans. They find the best results are obtained by summer fallowing, thus letting the ground rest a year and materially increasing the yield. The motive power for operating the ranch is furnished by five eight-horse and mule teams.

A woman of unusual energy and business acumen, with the faculty of getting on harmoniously with all her employees, Mrs. Hemenway is highly regarded in the whole community, and her generons, kindly spirit leads her to take a public-spirited interest in all the neighborhood affairs. She is endowed by nature with a strong intui- tion and is a very accurate judge of human nature; thus she is able to select help that she can depend on, and with the success that comes to her she is more and more enjoy- ing the increasing business, and apparently does not mind the cares that big business brings, but, on the other hand, she is not content unless she is actively at the helm guiding and directing the operations. She is well read and well posted and is an interesting conversationalist. Would we had many more women like Lydia Buch- heim Hemenway!

Lydia C. Hemenway

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

WILLIS F. MITCHELL .- A hard working, highly intelligent, successful young ranchman, whose honors have been increased through a meretorious naval record in the service of his country, is Willis F. Mitchell, son of Superintendent W. G. Mitchell, in charge of the great Irvine or San Joaquin ranch. He is really best known by the familiar name "Bud" Mitchell, and as such is about as welcome a native son, where- ever he goes, as anyone in Orange County. He was born at Tustin, on August 11, 1896, one of three children, and enjoyed the most favorable home advantages under the loving care of his mother, who was Emily Sarah Green before her marriage. His older brother was Ralph John Mitchell, who served in the World War as a sergeant in the the U. S. Army, in time honorably discharged; a sister, Florence Margaret, who is now in the Orange high school, is the youngest of the family.

Willis Frederick, the second in order of birth, grew up on the San Joaquin ranch, and helped his father farm when he was yet a youth, at the same time that he attended the local public schools. In June, 1917, he was graduated from the Orange high school, and in the following September he enlisted in the U. S. Navy at San Pedro, and served as a seaman gunner on the Cruiser U. S. S. "Seattle," convoying troops overseas and later on the oil tanker "Wico." crossing the Atlantic six times. On their last trip over, they accompanied the Italian ship, "Silvia," and he was an eye- witness to her being torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine, and beheld the Silvia, which had a cargo of a million dollars worth of steel, plunge down to her watery grave. He himself had the pleasure of firing six of the fifteen shots sent at the sub- marine, 100 miles from the Straits of Gibraltar; and whether through expert handling of their own vessel, or merely good luck, the United States steamer delivered its cargo of gasoline safely at the various Mediterranean ports. He was seven months in actual service, and finally landed at Philadelphia on November 10, 1918, and was honorably discharged at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on January 23, 1919. Arriving home, he lost no time in doffing his naval uniform, cherished though that was, for the ranchman's garb. Now he is an active member of the American Legion, at Orange. He has always been interested in athletics, particularly baseball; was a member of the Orange high school team that won the Southern California championship in 1914. He is now captain of the Orange baseball team.

Mr. Mitchell is farming 180 acres in lima beans, and on seventy-five acres he is raising barley hay, so that he is cultivating 255 acres in all. He operates as far as possible according to the last word in science, and profits by careful observation and comparison with previous experiences. It is likely to be only a question of time for him to be among the leading ranchmen of his district.

FRED H. WEISEL .- A horticulturist of Anaheim who very worthily represents, as the son of the late Peter Weisel, another citizen of prominence, one of the broad- minded builders of the community, is Fred H. Weisel, who came to Orange County in the early nineties, when he was one year old, and who has therefore been identihed with Southern California all his life. He was born at Milwaukee, Wis., in 1890, the son of Peter Weisel, a native of Germany who came to Milwaukee when he was seven- teen years old and there learned the machinist's trade. He followed the building of steam engines until 1892, when he came out to California, bringing with him his family, and soon after bought the old cannery. This he enlarged, and he was one of the first here to make a success of canning fruits, managing it for several years.

When he came here, Peter Weisel bought twenty acres on Ball Road, now the Royer ranch, which he improved with walnut trees, and where he made a home place; later he bought more land and, after bringing that to a high state of development, sold all that he had and in 1903 located in Anaheim. After a while, he took a trip back to his old home in Germany; and there, in 1906, having fulfilled his mission as an industrious mortal who had been permitted to enjoy some of the good things in life. he passed away, in his seventieth year. His body was sent on to Anaheim for inter- ment, and he was buried in the local cemetery. Mrs. Weisel, who long resided at Ana- heim, died here in 1919, at the age of seventy-two.

Nine children blessed the mating of this worthy couple. Della is Mrs. Larsen of Hollywood; Josephine is Mrs. Krastle of Anaheim; P. J. Weisel lives at Santa Fe Springs; Flora is the wife of Joseph Hiltschen of Anaheim; Elsa is Mrs. Schellens of Olive; Hettie is the wife of Dr. Houck of Anaheim; Hans V. is the well known attorney of the same city; Gretchen is the wife of Dr. Syer of Los Angeles; and Fred H. of this review. Reared and educated in Anaheim, he was duly graduated from the Anaheim high school, in 1909, and began ranching with eleven acres of his own at the corner of Olive and Sunkist, which he set out to Valencia oranges; with others he sunk a well and formed a water company, and in 1919 he sold what he had and bought twenty acres on South Sunkist Avenue, already set out to Valencia oranges. He built his residence,

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sunk a well and then joined the Anaheim Orange and Lemon Association, in which he has always been especially interested.

On August 15, 1912, and at Anaheim, Mr. Weisel was married to Miss Margaret Tedrick who was born near Hutchinson, Reno County, Kans., the daughter of George and Belle (Duckworth) Tedrick, natives respectively of Ohio and Iowa. Her father was engaged in educational work, teaching in Kansas, and in 1908 came with his family to California, where he followed ranching. He then entered the civil service, and has been so engaged ever since. The eldest of their three children, Mrs. Weisel was grad- uated from the Anaheim Union high school in 1911. She belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church.

ROBERT B. JOHNSON .- A substantial citizen of Orange County who enjoys good reading, is interested in local annals and takes pride in family ancestry, is Robert B. Johnson, who was born in Stark County, Ill., on a farm northwest of Peoria, on July 12, 1870. His father was Andrew Jackson Johnson, a native of Illinois, who had married Miss Margaret Campbell, a native of Pennsylvania. As a farmer, he had 240 acres of rich corn land, which he sold in 1888, when he went to Nebraska. Eight of their children survived, and Robert is the youngest son.

He enjoyed a thorough, common school education in Illinois, and later graduated from the Norfolk, Nebr., high school. In 1896, he entered the Rush Medical College, from which he was graduated with honors as a member of the class of 1900. He spent his vacation at home, and the same year, 1900, began practicing medicine at New Salem, Ill.

After a couple of years, however, Mr. Johnson decided that he preferred mer- cantile life, and he became a partner in a dry goods business at Norfolk, Nebr. On September 23, 1903, he was married to Miss Nelle F. Ingalsbe, a native of Illinois, who was a teacher. One child, born in Nebraska on September 27, 1907, and christened William B. Johnson, was born of this happy union.

In 1908 Mr. Johnson came to California and in the summer of the same year bought eight and a half acres of oranges and apricots near Orange. Soon afterward, he purchased eleven aeres in the far-famed frostless belt at Villa Park. He erected buildings there, and made other improvements. Now, with the help of a nephew, Harlan S. Johnson, who lives with him, Mr. Johnson is operating forty-four acres. lle belongs to the Villa Park Orchards and the Central Lemon associations, contributes what he can by a live, intelligent interest, in the advancement of the citrus and walnut industries, and under the banners of the Republican party works hard for higher civic standards-better citizenship.

DAVID OLIVER STEWART .- Among the native-born sons of California who for years has ocenpied a place of prominence, partienlarly in the Huntington Beach district, is David Oliver Stewart, who possesses in a large measure those qualities that make for success in the upbuilding of a country, enterprise and determination, which he no doubt inherited from his father. The latter, Oliver C. Stewart, a native of Utah, came to the state as a pioneer in the early days, and farmed for many years in San Bernardino County. In 1869 the family removed to Ft. Worth, Texas, where they remained until 1879 when they returned to San Bernardino and in 1880 came to Orange County and settling in the famous peat lands near Westminster, being among the first settlers in that locality. Oliver C. Stewart died at the age of sixty-six, his wife, Martha (Brush) Stewart, born in Illinois, also being deceased.

Of their four children, David Oliver was the eldest. He was born in San Ber- nardino County on July 31, 1867, and when a babe of two years removed with his parents to Ft. Worth, Texas, where they remained till 1879 and in 1880 they came to Westminster, now Orange County, where he received his education in the public schools. He began to learn the rudiments of farming at an early age. helping his father on the home place. Until he was twenty years of age he continued to assist his father, who was at that time extensively engaged in general farming. On the land which the father had purchased was a tule swamp which was practically worthless. They inaugurated a system of drainage, however, that was very successful and proved to be the beginning of reclamation work in that district. The rich land thus made available was found especially adapted to the raising of celery and they were very successful in its production.

In 1888, David Oliver Stewart began farming for himself and on a tract of land that he purchased he began raising potatoes, corn and barley. He was unusually suc- cessful and never had a crop failure in the long term of years that he continued in this field. For a time he gave up his active farming interests, going to Huntington Beach to live. He was one of the first to recognize the value of beach property and bought

EMHaven.

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

sixty acres at the low price of thirty dollars an acre, afterwards disposing of forty acres of it for $300 an acre. For about ten years Mr. Stewart has been vice-president of the First National Bank of Huntington Beach and he appraises practically all the loans on lands made by that bank. His ability and many years of experience as a rancher and his long and intimate knowledge of men and acres in Orange County make his judgment authoritative in these matters, and there is perhaps no man in this region so well informed on land valnes as he. Mr. Stewart is also again actively engaged in ranching, raising sugar beets and lima beans. Notwithstanding his responsible duties in connection with his banking interests he is not afraid to roll up his sleeves and work and he does practically all the cultivating and planting on his twenty-seven-acre ranch in the Del Mar district, adjoining Huntington Beach.

In 1887 Mr. Stewart was married to Miss Alice Nixon, the ceremony being per- formed at Westminster. She is a native of Cedar Vale, Kans., and came to California with her parents when only two years old. She is the daughter of Andrew and Hannah (Conklin) Nixon, natives of Kansas and Ohio, respectively. The father was drowned on the coast where Huntington Beach now is, being probably the first victim. He came here and took up land on the present site of Huntington Beach, but was dis- possessed by the Stearns Rancho Company, the family being ousted soon after the father's accidental drowning. There were three daughters in the Nixon family: Alice, Mrs. David Oliver Stewart; Ella, Mrs. John Graham of Bolsa; and Lilly, the wife of John Slayback of Hemet, Cal. Mr. and Mrs. Stewart are the parents of four children: Earl, who married Miss Gladys Abbott, died November 27, 1919; Sylvia is the wife of Daye Compton of Monroe, Mich .; Maud is Mrs. Clarence Shermer of Pasadena; Rena is the wife of Harry Lindsay of Ogden, Utah. Mr. Stewart has always been very active in the municipal affairs of Huntington Beach, having helped to incorporate the city; he was a member of its first board of trustees and has since served two addi- tional terms. His opinion is always highly regarded for it is to such progressive and far-seeing men as he that the city is indebted for its growth and development.

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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 91

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