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 95

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 95

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

forty acres of the best land in the district, for which he refused $50,000 in September, 1920. His land yielded 137 bushels of shelled corn and 100 sacks of marketable potatoes to the acre the first year, and these were grown in close proximity to tons of pumpkins, which naturally absorbed much of the richness of the soil. Samples of this remark- able showing were placed on exhibition at the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago, in 1893, and created a great sensation. Probably this exhibit, more than any other display from California, had a tendency to place the resources of Orange County in the proper light before the world in general. It was said by J. C. Joplin, who had charge of the exhibit, that the fact of this exhibit having been grown in con- junction on the land the same year created the interest. Mr. Winter's name appeared on the exhibit and resulted in a large correspondence from incredulous and inquiring observers, which he personally answered. The next year his acreage exceeded the former production. Another of his exhibits created wonderment at the Chamber of Commerce at Los Angeles, and he has made a number of creditable exhibits at the county fairs. He was the first man in Orange County to bring knowledge of the won- derful peat lands at Wintersburg to the world's attention. He cut a piece of peat two by twelve by fifteen inches in dimension, and encased it in a glass container, so that the wonderful composition could be carefully viewed and examined. Not content with past success, Mr. Winters began to branch out in agriculture on a larger scale. He purchased twenty acres where Wintersburg now stands and followed the purchase by another twenty acres in the Fountain Valley district, four miles southeast of his present home, which he sold.

He was among the earliest celery raisers in Orange County, and for several years grew and marketed, on an average, twenty acres of celery per annum. About the same time he became the owner of 1,280 acres of land in Nye County, Nev., and has bought and sold land at various times since that, in most instances to good profit. Owing to his knowledge of the culture of celery, he was chosen president of the Cali- fornia Celery Company in 1898. He served in this capacity two years, and- placed Orange County celery on the New York and other Eastern markets. In 1897, when the railway was built through what is now Wintersburg, by James McFadden, he cooperated with Mr. McFadden and donated the right of way for station and yardage. He also donated ground for other town site purposes. In recognition of his valued services his fellow-townsmen, headed by James Kane, circulated a petition that the town be named Wintersburg, in his honor, and it was so named. Mr. Winters has recently built a beautiful and commodious bungalow residence in the suburbs of Win- tersburg, where he and his family reside and keep up the old-time hospitality for which California of olden days was renowned. Their guests are treated to the best there is in the culinary line, and Mr. Winters, who keeps up the old Ohio idea of a family orchard and vegetable garden, takes pride in the fact that the major portion of the meats, fruits and vegetables served in his dining room are the product of his orchard and vegetable garden, in which he grows fifty varieties of fruits. Mrs. Winters is a member of the Presbyterian Church at Westminster. Mr. Winter's energy, keen judgment and efficiency, in combination with his versatility and thoroughly disinterested progressive spirit, entitle him to the high esteem which his friends and fellow-towns- men accord him, and the wealth and success he has wrested from crude but promising materials commend itself to the consideration of the younger generation who may be imbued with ambition and possess the adequate energy and continuity of purpose to surmount the obstacles that lie in the pathway of success:

SIMON TOUSSAU .- A pioneer who has seen much of California grow from a wilderness and who is, therefore, a natural lover of the Golden State, is Simon Toussau, a native of France, where he was born at Oloron, in the Basses-Pyrenees, on November 12, 1877. His father, John Pierre, was a farmer who died in October, 1919; and his mother, Marie Sarthou, in her maidenhood, passed away the same month. They had seven children, six of whom are now living, and four are in California. John is a cement worker in Anaheim; Rose is Mrs. Sesima, of the same place, and conducts the French Laundry there; Pierre is a grain farmer, residing near Fullerton; and the youngest is the subject of our review.

He was brought up as a farmer's boy, and in 1898 performed the military service expected of him as a member, for a year, of the Eighteenth Infantry. On getting his honorable discharge, and thus securing himself as a patriotic citizen in good standing for the future, he came to America, and in April, 1901, arrived in California.

He located in Fullerton, where he was employed by August Toussau a sheepman for three years, and he ranged his sheep where now acres of improved, fruitful ranches may be found. For four years he was in the employ of the Southern California Lumber Company in San Pedro, and while there built the residence which he sold

Mand Mrs. David F. Sharratt

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again, in 1920. He was two years with the Anaheim Lumber Company, and when he quit their yard he bought this ranch of ten acres on the Ball road, now handsomely set out to Valencia oranges in full bearing. He also cares for forty acres or more of other orchards. In 1920 he completed a large two-story modern residence, where he lives with his wife and two children, Madeline H. V. and Albert.

At Anaheim, on February 11, 1904, Mr. Tonssan was married to Miss Marie Poyet, a native of Los Angeles, of French parentage. Her father, Jean B., was born in Lyons, France, became a marble cutter, and did superb work on cathedrals in France, and in 1871 came out to Los Angeles, where he engaged in ranching in the Verdugo. Then he moved to Fullerton, where he bought land, and there he died. His wife was Victorine Amet, a native of Paris, and she died at Santa Ana. They had three girls and one boy, and the son and two of the daughters are still living. Believing that growers must organize and unite to market their product, Mr. Toussau is a member of the Anaheim Orange Growers Association.

DAVID F. SHARRATT .- Among the most interesting pioneers of Orange County must be mentioned D. F. Sharratt, a retired citizen of Wintersburg, who was born at Waterford, Maine, on April 18, 1838, the son of Frederick Sharratt, a native of England. As a sailor he came to New England, and in Maine married Elizabeth Whitcomb, a native of that state. He became one of the under-officers of a trading sailing-vessel, which ran into a tropical gale; the vessel foundered, and Mr. Sharratt was drowned. Besides a widow, he left two sons, the subject of our review and an older brother, William Frederick, who has resided in the Hawaiian Islands since 1855.

Mrs. Sharratt later became the wife of George W. Cummings, and with them Mr. Sharratt moved from the state of Maine to Wisconsin, in 1850, and settled at Oasis, Waushara County. He squatted on Government lands on the Menominee Indian Reservation, and from his fourteenth to his twenty-seventh year worked at lumbering. In 1865 he was married to Miss Mary Dwyer, a native of Ireland, who was brought to America in her mother's arms.

Mr. Sharratt left Wisconsin in 1870 and went to Kansas, where he settled at Blue Rapids, Marshall County, and bought railway lands. He improved his holding and then sold ont at a profit, and after that worked in a flour mill at Blue Rapids for three years. In 1881 he came with a covered wagon and his wife and children to Montana, and went into the Bitter Root Valley.

In the fall of 1895 Mr. Sharratt said goodbye to Montana and pushed westward to California, and in the spring of 1896 he arrived at Big Rock Creek, in the Antelope Valley. Later, he came down to Wintersburg and bought twenty acres of land; and noticing wild celery growing here, he became the pioneer celery grower in the Smeltzer district, and was one of the most successful celery growers in this section, where, at one time, over 6,000 acres were devoted to celery culture. This incident alone in the life of this observing and aggressive pioneer will furnish a cue as to his real character and the spirit of advancement which has long actuated him.

Mr. and Mrs. Sharratt have four children still living. Emory F. is in the Bitter Root Valley, Mont .; Edith E. is the wife of S. H. Atkins, a rancher in the Imperial Valley; Wallace F. now works on the Sharratt home ranch, although he also has lands at Watsonville; and W. H. Sharratt lives at the latter place . A twin-brother to Wallace died in Kansas when he was two years old.

Mr. and Mrs. Sharratt attend the Baptist Church at Huntington Beach and par- ticipate in such good works for social uplift and the general improvement of the com- munity as they can devote time and labor to. He is a Progressive Republican, and is never weary in contributing to raise the standard of civic ideals.

BLUFORD C. BAXTER .- An interesting example of one man's struggle toward success in this, his native state, and his unaided achievement of that end after many discouragements and ups and downs may be found in the life story of Bluford C. Baxter. Born February 25, 1866, in Mendocino County, Cal., he is a son of John and Mary (Taylor) Baxter, the former a native of Tennessee, and the latter of Mis- sonri, both now deceased. The father crossed the plains to California in 1849. coming from Missouri, and cut timber in Mendocino County, later ranching in Los Angeles County in the early seventies, near Compton. He also took up Government land two and one-half miles south of Anahcim, and still later located at Wilmington, before the city of Long Beach was started.

Bluford C. Baxter attended the country schools in Mendocino, and then at Little Lake, near Whittier, Los Angeles County, and also at Los Nietos. As a young man he worked for wages on ranches in Kern County. Locating in Los Angeles he ran a transfer business for fifteen years in that city. He finally decided on the Placentia

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district for further endeavors, and rented land for ranching activities, and was the second man to plant and raise sweet potatoes on a large scale, cultivating as high as 150 acres of that edible and producing from 100 to 250 sacks to the acre. He was called the Sweet Potato King and had a special brand, of first quality, which sold readily at advanced prices, being shipped in carload lots to the mining district of Arizona. In 1906 Mr. Baxter bought twenty acres of raw land on East Orangethrope Avenne and raised sweet potatoes at first, then, in 1910, he planted his acreage to Valencia oranges and now has a finely producing grove, improved with cement pipes and laterals for irrigating. He owns his own home in Placentia and is a stockholder in the Placentia Mutual Orange Association. Among his interesting reminiscences of earlier days in the county is the fact that he helped haul the first load of lumber for the first oil derrick erected in Orange County; this was located at Olinda, and Doheny, the present oil king, was the man who drilled for oil, in the interests of the Santa Fe Railway. The present scope of the oil industry in this district was beyond the wildest dreams of those days and is but an instance of the wealth still to be unearthed in this wonderful county.

The marriage of Mr. Baxter, which occurred November 25, 1914, united him with Margaret Hurless, a native of Iowa, and one daughter, Phyllis, has been born to them; they also cherish an adopted daughter, Claudine. As a self-made man who has succeeded against obstacles, Mr. Baxter is a fine example of an American and Californian, and with characteristic loyalty he adheres to the theory that the man who grasps his opportunities can hardly help but succeed in this truly Golden State. Mr. Baxter is at present residing in Beaumont, Cal.

WILLIAM WINFRED BUSHARD .- How the ever-interesting traditions of an estimable family are perpetuated in the successful career of the younger generation is pleasantly illustrated in the life story of William Winfred Bushard, one of the four children-three sons and a daughter-of John B. and Mary V. Bushard, well-known residents of Orange County. John B. Bushard belonged to an ancient family of French origin, established in Canada by John Bushard, who was the first to emigrate to America. He developed a farm near Rosser Point, and in the homestead that he himself built, he passed away at the ripe age of three score and ten. One of his most virile children, born at La Kedze, Canada, near La Prairie, was James Bushard, who grew up in his native land, but later removed to the States and became an extensive farmer in Clinton County, N. Y. He married Miss Amelia Trombley, granddaughter of John Trombley, such a pioneer settler there that his name was given to an indentation called Trombley's Bay. The old man used to tell of his long tramps through dense timber to Saranac or Plattsburg, with a sack of corn on his back, to the nearest mill, and then the tramp back again with the bag of flour. John B. Bushard was one of a large family of nine-four sons and five daughters-born of this union, his advent into the circle occurring at the old homestead in Clinton County, N. Y., on March 20, 1843.

John B. grew up to follow agricultural pursuits and as a young man pushing westward to Minnesota, he may have anticipated Horace Greeley in his advice to youth. He tarried for a while in St. Paul, and then went to Brown County, where his parents had bought a quarter section of land for himself and brothers. He had hardly com -. menced to cultivate his share of the investment when the awful contest between the North and the South broke out in all its fury; and in 1861, he enlisted for two years. The war not having yet come to an end, Mr. Bushard reenlisted, joining Company A of the Minnesota Cavalry, and becoming quartermaster of Major Hatchie's battalion, he was stationed, first at Fort Snelling, and then at Fort Abercrombie, and served until 1866, when he received his discharge at the former place. He participated in several battles, among them Mail Springs, Somerset, Ky., when the Union Army won one of its first victories; and later he was at other battles, including that of Gettysburg.

When the Civil War was ended, John B. Bushard came out to California, and some time afterward, five sisters and two of his brothers followed him. He arrived in the period prior to the railroads, when teaming and hauling being prime necessities, were well paid enterprises, and he engaged in transportation from Cerro Gordo to Bakersfield and Los Angeles, and also between the latter city and Prescott, Ariz. There was plenty of money for the risks involved, but the wild depredations of Indians, and the often unrestrained lawlessness of some of the miners contributed to rob the venture of its permanent attraction. When he gave up teaming, Mr. Bushard went back East for a year, and on his return to Los Angeles, entered the real estate field there, and acquired some valnable property in East Los Angeles and elsewhere. He came down to the "Gospel Swamp" district in what is now western Orange County, and bought a squatter's claim of 1,800 acres; but the Stearns Rancho contested his title, and he was dispossessed. He then went to Ventura County and bought some two thousand acres,

Nellie & Bishop

Ferri S Bishop

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

which he improved and sold at such a profit that he was able to return to the "Swamp" and purchase the land, once lost to him, from the Stearns Rancho.

On June 11, 1876, John B. Bushard was married at Los Angeles to Miss Mary Virginia Page, a native of Michigan and the daughter of Louis E. Page, for many years well-known as a resident of Los Angeles, where he died on September 25, 1906. He was born at Rochester, N. Y., in 1831, and forty years later came to Los Angeles, where he was a carriage manufacturer and the senior member of the firm of Page and Gravel. John B. Bushard's death was the result of a runaway team accident, and occurred on January 1, 1905, in his sixty-first year. He was buried in Santa Ana Ceme- tery. Four children were born to the honored couple-a daughter, Marie Junette, residing at 1340 West Twenty-third Street, Los Angeles, with her mother; and the sons, George H., William W. and Louis J.

These three brothers live on their respective ranches two and a half miles east of Huntington Beach, each owning sixty acres of the original John B. Bushard estate. The land, which is in a very fertile district near the ocean, is devoted to the growing, principally, of lima beans and sugar beets, and also celery. Once it was covered with willows and tules, and was very marshy; but the elder Bushard, with the aid of his sons and good neighbors, W. D. Lamb, W. T. Newland and Casper Borchard, all early settlers, drained the morass, transformed the "Swamp" into one of the most productive and attractive parts of the county, and laid out the Talbert Road.

William W. Bushard resides on the old John B. Bushard home place, which he has brought to a high state of cultivation, assisted by his devoted wife, who was Miss Addie J. McGowan before her marriage. She was a native of Texas, and a daughter of the John McGowan so well known in that state, where he was a doughty county sheriff. Mr. and Mrs. Bushard have one child, William Winfred, Jr.

FERN S. BISHOP .- Noteworthy among the prominent contractors and builders of Orange County is the name of Fern S. Bishop, who has the distinction of erecting and equipping more walnut packing plants than any man in the state. Although a native of Story County, Iowa, where he was born Jannary 5. 1876, he has been a resi- dent of Orange County since the age of five years. His parents were Amos D. and Anna (Knight) Bishop, natives of Michigan and Vermont, respectively. His father is still living, his mother having passed away in 1905. The family migrated from Iowa to Santa Ana in 1881.

Fern S. Bishop received his early education in the public schools of Orange and while quite young started to assist his father on the home ranch. Later he learned the trade of a carpenter with C. McNeil of Santa Ana, with whom he remained for five years. Mr. Bishop is a natural mechanic, and his ingenuity has led to many clever inventions now used in the walnut packing industry, among which is a labor-saving device used in packing walnuts: he also invented and patented a vacuum culling machine which eliminates the light weight nuts, or culls, through a blower system under high pressure of air; also he has invented an all concrete walnut bleacher or washer. His aim has been to invent such machines to be used in walnut packing houses that will increase the capacity of a plant and lessen the expense. Another machine invented and patented by Mr. Bishop is known as the cleaning machine for mouldy walnut meats and all of his machines have been demonstrated a marked success. Mr. Bishop is con- sidered an expert on matters pertaining to the packing of walnuts and is frequently called into consultation when important questions are to be considered. While in the employ of Mr. McNeil he was foreman of construction on the packing plant of the Santa Ana Walnut Growers Association.

In September, 1914, Mr. Bishop entered the building and contracting business for himself and has erected and equipped the following packing houses: the Guggenhime packing house and the Gowen and Willard packing house of Santa Ana; the Anahein Walnut Growers Association packing house; the Fullerton Walnut packing house; the Golden Belt house of Fullerton (now the Benchley Packing Company); the Walnut packing house at Walnut. In Ventura County Mr. Bishop built and equipped the Saticoy packing house and reequipped the Santa Paula plant. At Whittier, Los Angeles County, he built and equipped the Whittier Walnut Growers Association house. It has a daily capacity of sixty tons. He also has to his credit the erecting and equipping of the packing houses at Irvine, at San Juan Capistrano, the Cudahy plant at Hunting- ton Park and the Chino Walnut house. In 1920 he completed the packing house for the La Puente Valley Walnut Growers Association, the largest house of the kind in the world, with a capacity of 150 tons in ten hours, and it is the consensus of opinion that it is the most modern house for packing walnuts now in use, being fully equipped with machinery and appliances invented and patented by Mr. Bishop. He is now build- ing a plant for the California Walnut Growers at Vernon for the manufacture of char-

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

coal from walnut shells. In addition to these buildings, Mr. Bishop has erected many fine residences in Orange County, among which we mention those of John W. Hete- brink, Fullerton; E. A. Bastian, Placentia; Mrs. C. W. Curry and Ray Bishop, in Santa Ana.

In Santa Ana, on December 12, 1894, Mr. Bishop married Miss Nellie Deck, who was born at Upper Alton, Ill., a daughter of J. H. and Lavina (Short) Deck, who were natives of that state. Her father served in the Civil War as a member of an Illinois regiment. The Deck family came to California in 1882, locating at San Pedro, but soon afterward moved to Santa Ana, where they improved a ranch and where Mr. Deck still resides. His wife died here in March, 1913. Mr. and Mrs. Bishop are the parents of two children: Clara, who is the wife of H. C. Hibbard of Santa Ana and the mother of one son: Harold Bishop married Miss Lela West, and they are the parents of one daughter. Harold Bishop is associated with his father in business, being his foreman of construction. The successful career of Fern S. Bishop is a striking example of what energy and resourcefulness, wisely directed, and centered on a definite goal, can accomplish.

MRS. IDA J. HUGHES .- A most estimable woman of high ideals, pleasing per- sonality and an interesting conversationalist is Mrs. Ida J. Hughes, the widow of the late M. F. Hughes, a progressive rancher who passed away in September, 1918. Mrs. Hughes was born in 1856 in what was then the Territory of Kansas. She is the daughter of Jehu and Sarah H. Wilson, natives of Ohio and North Carolina, respectively. Mrs. Hughes was reared and educated in Kansas and attended the University of Kansas, after which she conducted a millinery business for three years in Lawrence, Kansas.

On January 4, 1882, she was united in marriage with M. F. Hughes, a native of Missouri, born in 1854, where he was reared and educated. He followed farming throughout his life, and although always a busy farmer he never neglected his duties to the state and nation, but always manifested the deepest interest in political matters, in which he was an ardent supporter of the Republican party.

On December 1, 1911, Mr. and Mrs. Hughes located on their ranch in Orange County, Cal. At that time the land was in a poor and unproductive condition and the buildings were small, but with his usual enterprising spirit Mr. Hughes began to improve and develop the place. He installed a splendid water system by sinking a well to the depth of 315 feet, securing thereby sufficient water to irrigate 100 acres; he also built a modern seven-room residence. Today the ranch is in a high state of cultivation and is chiefly devoted to raising oranges, although some walnuts and lemons are produced.

Mr. and Mrs. Hughes were the parents of three sons: Elmer J., the superin- tendent of a large ranch near Seal Beach, married Miss Delia Mulvihill, and they have a son, Paul V .; Charles F., also a rancher, married Miss Melba K. Allen; Everett V. married Miss Catherine Reynen, and they are the parents of two children, Joseph E. and Elizabeth A. Mrs. Hughes is affiliated with the Friends Church and the entire family are greatly esteemed in the community.

MISS BLANCHE L. DOLPH .- A talented, public-spirited and generous lady, who feels a fond interest for California, for here she regained her health, is Miss Blanche L. Dolph, whose musical tastes and gifts have contributed toward the happi- ness of others, and whose fortunate investments since she came here have enabled her to assist others in their difficulties or distress. Miss Dolph was born at Scranton. Pa., the daughter of Edward Dolph, one of an early French-American family, whose name was originally De Wolf, later contracted to Dolph. His father was Alexander Dolph, a farmer near Scranton. Becoming a coal operator at Scranton, Edward Dolph became well posted on coal formation and thus discovered the outcropping on his .father's farm, which proved to be a rich vein of coal, which has been and is a source of wealth to the family. In time, therefore, Mr. Dolph became a large and influential coal operator in Scranton, and there, too, in earlier days he had married Miss Elizabeth Wadhams, descended from an old English family. They had five children, two sons and three daughters, and the youngest, Edward S., is manager of the Dolph's interests at Scranton. Lewis Cass was the oldest son and third child of the family, and he died when he was twelve years old. The eldest born is Miss Florence Dolph, who resides at 2021 Ocean View Avenue, Los Angeles. Another sister, Mrs. Josette N. Robertson, lives at Scranton. Mrs. Dolph outlived her husband eight years and died in 1898 at Scranton. Senator Dolph of Oregon is a relative.

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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 95

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