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 98

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 98

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The countryside was open and wild in those days, only a few scattered dwellings and settlers marking the growth of the territory from the time when the Indians pre- dominated; and many hardships were experienced and had to be borne as best one could. Water was wanting; and Mr. Hansen was one who helped to construct the Cajon ditch, later known as the Anaheim Union Water Company, the cost of which was shouldered by the few ranch owners then in that area. So far had Mr. Hansen progressed in establishing something worth while for himself and his family that he had set out his land to vineyards, and had harvested two crops when on June 5, 1886, at Fullerton, he passed away, lamented by all who really knew him.

After Mr. Hansen's death, his widow pushed on bravely alone with the great additional responsibility of rearing the four children which had blessed the happy union; and how well she got along may be judged from the fact that she had- occasion to consult an attorney only once or twice. Now her holdings include sixteen acres of the original tract which she has set to Valencia and Navel oranges, which is managed by her son-in-law, Lee O. Myers, who himself owns another twenty acres. In addition, Mrs. Hansen owns a fine cotton and alfalfa ranch of sixty acres in the Palo Verde Valley, and this is made profitable by the wise management and personal attention of Mrs. Hansen's oldest son.

The four children referred to are Mettinos, Lena, Mette and Emma; and all but the latter are still living: Mettinos is a rancher at Palo Verde and has six children; Lena is the wife of John E. Wagner; and Mette is Mrs. Lee O. Myers. Each child has some particular accomplishment of which any parent might well be proud, and each has profited by the Christian example of their lamented father, whose walk in life was simple, unassuming and just. In religion Mrs. Hansen is a Lutheran and believes in the golden rule of doing to others as you would be done by. She is now one of the few remaining pioneers of the Placentia section and has very materially helped to build up the county.

Mette Hansen .

907

HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN DIERKER .- Few orange orchards in all California can show a higher state of improvement, for the time devoted to it, or a more promis- ing development, than the tract of ten acres, brought to its present level through the experience, insight and industry of its owner, Benjamin Franklin Dierker, who came to Orange for the first time in the early nineties. He was born in Monterey, Cuming County, Nebr., in October, 1877, the son of the esteemed pioneer, Henry Dierker, and the seventh oldest of the family. He attended the public schools there until he was fifteen, and then came to Orange, Cal., where he continued his school work. After that he pursued a commercial course at the Orange County Business College, at the conclusion of which he worked with his father.

He bought forty acres at Olive, at $100 per acre, and set out oranges and walnuts; and at the end of four years he sold it for $14,000. Then he spent a year in the employ of the Pixley Hardware Company, but selling his residence, he returned to Nebraska, where he bought a farm of 280 acres, on which for three years he raised corn and stock. Disgusted, however, with the cold winters, and longing for the balmier climate of California, he again disposed of what he had and returned to Orange.

In 1909 Mr. Dierker bought his present place, some ten acres on West Palmyra Street, at that time mere vacant ground; and he set out Valencias now doing well. He laid cement pipe lines, built a two-story, ten-room house, and made it one of the show places of the county. He also joined the Santiago Orange Growers Association, and helped along the excellent work of that live organization.

During this later residence at Orange, Mr. Dierker married Miss Rozella Kloth, who had moved with her parents from Minnesota to Orange. They attend the Lutheran Church, as do also their children, Nelson, Alfred, Thelma and Marie, and undertake their share of both church and civic work.

AMANDUS W. BEACH and MRS. AUREL BEACH .- A member of the Chris- tian Science faith and practice whose influence in these days of rapid modern advance- ment has been effectual and helpful to many, is Mrs. Aurel Beach of Orange. Her husband, who passed on in 1913, was widely known as a good and farseeing man; and when he was called to lay aside the toil and responsibilities of this world, his faithful helpmate continued the good work he had begun.

He was born in Ashtabula County, Ohio, on August 5, 1838, and moved to Ne- braska in 1857, where he located at Weeping Water, in Cass County. He resided there until the fall of 1862 when he enlisted in Company H of the Second Nebraska Cavalry and was mustered in for nine months' service against the Indians. He really served thirteen months, and in November, 1863, was honorably discharged. Then he started back to Ohio, and on December 24, 1863, arrived at Painesville, in Lake County. The next day-Christmas-he was married there to Miss Aurel Paine, who was born near Painesville, Ohio, in LeRoy Township, on January 26, 1839. Her great-grandfather, Eleazar Paine had served in the Revolutionary War, and in 1802 moved with his family to Connecticut Western Reserve in Ohio, and there in what was then Geauga, and later, Lake County, he founded Painesville. At that time, the grandfather, Hendrick E. Paine, a native of Connecticut, was fourteen years old, and he served in the War of 1812. About 1855, Hendrick Paine removed from Painesville to Monmonth, Ill., and there he died. Henry Paine was Mrs. Beach's father, and he was a native of Ohio, where he was born in 1810. He was a forge man and manufactured Paine's Plows and later was a farmer in LeRoy Township, and also a justice of the peace and a commissioner of Lake County. His wife was Harriet N. Tuttle, a native of Austinburg, Ashtabula County, Ohio, and her parents came from Connecticut in 1811. Great-grandfathers Tuttle and Mills were Revolutionary soldiers. The grandfather, Ira Tuttle, was a farmer and a brick manufacturer. The parents, who died in LeRoy, were blessed with ten children; eight of these are still living, and six are over seventy years of age. Mrs. Beach was educated at the public schools and at Madison Seminary, and from her seventeenth year taught school in Lake and Geauga counties. She then went to Monmouth, III., to rest, but again taught for eighteen months, after which she returned to Ohio, in which state she was married.

In the spring of 1864, Mr. Beach returned to Nebraska with his bride and located at Weeping Water. There were only three log houses in the little burg at that time, and a grist mill, and the Beach dwelling was a log house. For a while he did teaming for the mill, hauling flour to Nebraska City and bringing back lumber, and there, in her own house, Mrs. Beach taught school for a few weeks. In the meantime, while they improved their homestead, they hegan farming. In November, 1865, Mr. Smith, their brother-in-law came out and bought eighty acres of Mr. Beach; and a year later Mr. Beach's brother bought the balance of the property. For about eight years Mr. Beach was busy as an agriculturist on the Bellows farm, and while there Mrs. Beach

908

HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

was severely injured through the overturning of their buggy. They then went back to Ohio for her health but remained for six years, and then returned to Weeping Water, where he was a clerk for several years. They also bought a farm near Weeping Water, which they conducted from 1880 until 1900, when they sold out. In the mean- time, the Missouri Pacific Railway built in, and Mr. Beach sold the company twenty- three acres; and then, when the branch was built to Lincoln, he sold more of the land. They continued to reside in Weeping Water until 1910, when they came to Orange and located on South Center Street.

Mr. Beach died on July 3, 1913, and Mrs. Beach sold the house and lot and took a trip back to Weeping Water, where Mr. Beach was buried. He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was past commander of the post at Weeping Water, also past commander of Gordon Granger Post, at Orange. Two children passed away in Nebraska, Henry Paine, who died when he was twenty months old, and Harry Paine, who lived to be four and a half years old. In November, 1913, Mrs. Beach returned to Orange, and she has made her home here ever since. Mr. Beach was a Republican, and both husband and wife were ardent Christian Scientists.

This interest in Science work arose and developed largely because of personal experience. Mrs. Beach was in very poor health from an accident, having been injured in the overturning of their buggy, and she was given up by the local physician. She went to Omaha, where she was healed by a Christian Science practitioner, in 1886. Mr. Beach had consumption, and was also healed in the same year. That same year they took instruction and began to practice. In 1888, while in Ohio on a visit, she found her oldest sister thought to be passing away with heart failure. The sister requested Mrs. Beach to treat her, and she recovered and lived for fifteen years. The healing brought so many cases that Mr. and Mrs. Beach remained there for several months. Mr. Beach was successful in particular to a wonderful degree as a practitioner, but they had to return to Nebraska to look after business affairs. In 1902 they made another trip back to Leroy, Ohio, and traveled throughout the East, and after another sojourn in Nebraska, they came to Southern California.

GEORGE HILL PIRIE .- An enterprising, progressive citizen who understands the many problems of citrus-growing, is well informed on earlier days, and very en- thusiastic for the building up of Orange County, is George Hill Pirie, a native of New York City, where he was born in 1857. His father was George Pirie, a native of Scot- land, who came to New York as a stonecutter, became an American citizen, and mar- ried Christina Hill, also a native of Scotland. Moving to Cedar County, Iowa, he engaged in agricultural pursuits, and there both he and his good wife died. Of the four boys and two girls in the family, three sons and one daughter are still living and of these, George and a brother Alexander are the only ones in California.

Brought up on a farm in Iowa, George Pirie was educated at the public schools, and in 1882 came to California, where he located in Orange County. For a while he worked at ranching, and for a time he owned a ranch; then he was foreman for Dr. I. Adams ranch, and directed the extensive operations there in the growing of walnuts, oranges and other fruit, continuing there for eighteen years. When his health was impaired, he resigned and then purchased a ranch which he still owns.

Mr. Pirie has been very successful each time that he made a "buy," and one of his fortunate purchases is the corner of Olive and Chapman streets, where he has re- constructed the buildings, and has built up other properties in town. He laid out ten acres on North Lemon Street, and sold the same as the Pirie Home Tract, disposing of it in lots; and he also sold at an advantage some ten acres he once owned on North Glassell Street.

A Republican in national political affairs, Mr. Pirie takes a live interest in civic life, and strives to do what he can, under Republican auspices, to elevate politics; but in local matters he recognizes no such political bonds or partisanship differences, and always tries to support the best men and the best measures.

HENRY W. DUKER .- An enterprising contractor who has abundantly demon- strated that he can both successfully build houses and cultivate citrus fruit, and who has thus shown his desire to build up the town and community to the highest standard possible, is Henry W. Duker, who first came to California in the latter part of 1904, and who has been more and more identifying himself with the Golden State ever since. He was born at River Park, Chicago, Ill., on October 27, 1868, the son of Henry Duker, who was for a while a contractor and then a farmer at River Park. He was a native of Hanover, Germany, and there married Miss Caroline Ude. In 1886 they removed from Chicago to Iowa; and in that more western home-land they died. They had eight children, among whom Henry was the second eldest, and is now the only one living in California.

I lo Mancerhan. Esther O Mauerhan

911

HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

He was reared on a farm, and at the same time attended the local public schools; and removing with his folks to Fort Dodge, Iowa, he continued to assist his father on the farm until he was twenty-three years of age. Then, on October 27, 1892, at Fort Dodge he was married to Miss Elizabeth Bartsch, a native of Chicago and the daughter of William and Rose (Straus)) Bartsch-the former, a carpenter and builder who died there, the latter a gifted domestic woman, who had come to settle in Iowa, and there was educated. For a while Mr. Duker continued farming, owning a nice farm four miles north from Fort Dodge; but in 1904 he sold out and located at Orange, Cal.

For the first three years he lived at the corner of Washington Avenue and Shaffer Street, and then he built his extensive house on East Palmyra and Shaffer streets on a lot he had bought when he first came here. Since 1904 he has been engaged in contracting and masonry, and he has done the masonry work on many notable structures including the Jorn Building, the Ehlen and Grote Building, the Barker Build- ing, and various machine shops and garages. He was associated with R. W. Miller in the erection of the Lutheran Church here, and he has also carried through much good contracting in other parts of Orange County. In 1919, he completed his own new cement residence, on Batavia Street, a fine location with an orange grove of three and a half acres. This type of building is the latest word in home-structure and the most durable of any kind. He is interested also in horticulture, and has an orange grove of seven acres elsewhere, a miniature "show place" in itself. His interest in citrus culture has made him, naturally, a member of the Santiago Orange Growers Association.

Nine children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Duker. Amelia lives at Santa Ana; Emma is at home; Otto is in the San Fernando Valley; Walter assists his father; Ada is also at home; and there are Edna, Reinhold, Martin and Ernst. Mr. Duker belongs to the Lutheran Church, where he has served as a trustee.

J. C. MAUERHAN .- An old settler in Orange County who may point with pride, as the result of long years of hard labor, to his having improved what is now some of the most valuable acreages of the district, is J. C. Manerhan, who was born in Wuertemberg, Germany, in 1861, the son of J. C. Mauerhan, Sr., who was a general farmer and a viticulturist and brought his family in 1872, following the death of his wife in 1871, out to America and Holton, Kans. He had four children, and cared for them tenderly; and not satisfied with the Middle West, he came on with them to California in 1875. For a while he was a florist at San Francisco; in 1882 he came south to Anaheim and there he cultivated a farm of twenty acres on the Ball Road until his death, on January 6, 1910, aged seventy-one.

J. C. Mauerhan was brought up in Kansas from his eleventh until his fourteenth year, when he came to California and worked at various things. In 1883 he came to Los Angeles and in 1885 to Anaheim, and then went to Santa Ana in 1886, and was in the employ of the Santa Ana Soda Works. He continued in the manufacture of soda water for seventeen years, and while thus occupied built a residence on Sixteenth and Spurgeon streets. He also owned half a block lying between Sixteenth and Seventeenth streets on Spurgeon which he improved. In addition, he had title to three acres on C Street, set out in trees.

During these years, Mr. Mauerhan was engaged in general farming on the May- berry tract near Tustin, and on February 12, 1904, confident of the future of the Ana- heim agricultural lands, he bought his present ranch of fifty-five acres, clearing away the brush and the wild cactus, leveling and otherwise improving the property. He sunk a well and installed a gas engine. He set out walnuts and some oranges, and later bought another twenty acres of raw land, making seventy-five acres which he has improved from the wild state. Now he has forty-five acres in walnuts, and thirty in oranges and lemons.

At Los Angeles January 2, 1884, Mr. Manerhan was married to Miss Esther Schulz, a native of Milwaukee, Wis., who came to California with. her parents when she was sixteen years of age, in 1880. Her parents, J. C. and Mary A. (Martin) Schulz were farmers in Wisconsin and later in Blackhawk County, Iowa, and in 1880 they came to San Francisco. In 1882 they located at Anaheim and were farmers on the Ball Road where the father died; their mother still lives in the old home, eighty-four years old. Mr. and Mrs. Mauerhan have six children as a blessing to their fortunate union. Charles is a contractor and builder in Los Angeles, and is married and has three chil- dren. Frank, who is also married, is a neighboring rancher, living next to our subject. Conrad, married and the father of two children, assists his father. Gertrude is Mrs. Nelson of Placentia; she is the mother of five children. James and Ralph are employed in the oil fields; all the sons but Charles, who was employed in Government ship yards, were soldiers in the World War, and one of them, Frank, served over seas. .

912

HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

HARVEY HILE .- A far-seeing, enterprising young man whose energy, tenacity and hard work have enabled him to convert a wild stretch of raw land into a fine, productive property, is Harvey Hile, who has been identified with Orange County for the past decade. He was born in Logansport, Ind., in 1878, the son of Daniel Hile, a native of Germany, who came to Indiana when a young man of eighteen or twenty, became a farmer at Logansport, where he retired, and died near Goodland, Ind. He had married Miss Dora Kiese, and she, too, passed away in the Hoosier State. They had four girls and five boys, all of whom, save one of the sons, are now living; and of the boys, two are in California, one in Mackay, Idaho, and one in Florida.

The second youngest, Harvey Hile was brought up on a farm at Logansport, and remained at home until he was sixteen, when he began to paddle his own canoe. He worked on a farm for four years, and then he was in the car shop of the "Big Four" Railway at Indianapolis. During three years of apprenticeship he learned the car- builder's trade, and then, for six months, he was a blacksmith in the Atlas Engine Works in that same city. In 1903, he went to Boise City, Idaho, and for two years was with the Graves Transfer Company, when he took up concrete work and became a finisher of sidewalks, curbs and foundations. After that, he was one of the workmen at the Big Giant Gold Mine, and he was next in the employ of the Government as foreman of concrete work in the building of the New York Canal in Idaho.

Induced by the accounts of a sister-in-law, who had been here and liked California, to try his fortune in the Golden State, Mr. Hile came here in 1910, settled at Anaheim, and with his brother, John H., who has a ranch adjoining his own, rented land and raised sweet potatoes. For a couple of years he did well, but too much competition ruined the market. In 1910 he bought his present ranch, raised sweet potatoes for a couple of years, and in 1914 set the acreage out to Valencia oranges, and planted potatoes and beans. He now has some twenty-two acres set ont. He belongs to the Anaheim Citrus Association, and takes a very live interest in all the problems per- taining to horticulture in Southern California.

At Boise City, Mr. Hile was married to Miss Lucy Dove, a native of Indiana, a charming lady of accomplishments, who came to enjoy a circle of devoted friends; and she died on June 12, 1917, mourned by all who knew her worth. In politics a Socialist, Mr. Hile belongs to the Woodmen of the World at Anaheim.

JACOB W. CARRIKER .- A fine old gentleman with an enviable war record is Jacob W. Carriker, one of the very successful orange culturists of Orange, to which enterprising town he came in 1902. He was born at Statesville, in Cabarrus County, N. C., April 13, 1842, the son of Daniel Carriker, who was also born there. In 1850, he brought his family to Hillsboro, Montgomery County, Ill., where he broke up a stretch of prairie he had purchased and made of it a first-class farm. He continued there in agricultural pursuits until 1874, when he removed to Nebraska; and at Harvard, in that state, he died. Mrs. Carriker, who was Miss Sophia Sides before her marriage. was a native also of Cabarrus County, N. C., and died in Illinois in 1866. She was the mother of seven children, four of whom are living; and among them, Jacob was the youngest.

Reared in Illinois from his eighth year, Jacob Carriker attended school held in a log house with puncheon floor and having slab benches and desk; at first a private, and then a public school. In August, 1862, he enlisted in Company D of the Hundred Twenty-six Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and was mustered into service at Alton, I11., on September 4, 1862. He went on to Columbus, Ky., slept between corn rows, and had the measles: then to La Grange, where he again had the measles and a relapse, and where he almost died. Recovering, he fought with his company at the Siege of Vicksburg, at the taking of Little Rock, Ark., and at Duvall's Bluff, Clarendon, and continued his service in Arkansas until the close of the war. At Pine Bluff, Ark., on July 12, 1865, he was mustered out of service.

Returning to Illinois, Mr. Carriker bought and improved land, and built for him- self a house, hewing the logs he needed in the construction; and at Jacksonville, 111., he was married to Miss Mary J. Taylor, a native of that state, after which he followed farming. In 1874, he sold out and located in Hamilton County, Nebr., where he homesteaded 160 acres, and laid claim to 160 acres of timber, all of which he improved. He was the pioneer farmer there in the raising of grain and stock, but with such obstacles as grasshoppers, droughts and hail storms, he found the going at times rather uphill.

In the fall of 1902 Mr. Carriker came to California and located at Orange, and here bought the eight corner lots at Center and Maple streets, then a grain field. He built his residence at the corner, and then sold the balance of the lots. Later, he bought a lot at the corner of Grand and Maple streets, and there he owns four houses.

Slevy De Buchheim Mande a. Buchheim.

915

HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

He also bought an orange ranch of nine and a half acres at McPherson, took four crops from it, and then sold it for $12,000 more than he paid for it.

Mr. Carriker's first wife died in Nebraska in 1882 and. left him with six children. Elmer resides at Orange; Nora, Mrs. James Benson, at Hastings, Nebr .; Cordelia, Mrs. Soward, and Cornelia, Mrs. Howard Benson, are in Giltner, Nebr .; Frank lives at Burwell, Nebr .; Mattie, became Mrs. Frost and lives at Santa Ana.

When he married a second time, Mr. Carriker chose Miss Maggie Risk, a native of Point Pleasant, W. Va., as his wife; she was the daughter of William Risk, who had married Elizabeth Kennedy, and the ceremony was performed at Hastings, Nebr., in 1889. Both of her parents died in West Virginia. One son, Howard Judson, resulted from this second union, and he now has a motorcycle store in Orange, and another at Santa Ana.

Mr. Carriker is a Republican in national politics, though nonpartisan in his support of all local issues and movements of a worthy nature, and belongs to the Orange post of the Grand Army of the Republic. Both Mr. and Mrs. Carriker are members of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, and there Mr. Carriker was a steward, as he has been for years a class leader. He was also a class leader in Nebraska, and in Orange he has served on the building committee and in other ways has advanced the growth of the congregation,, its property and its work.

HENRY WILLIAM BUCHHEIM .- A member of one of Orange County's worthy pioneer families whose members have contributed so largely to the agricultural development of the county, particularly in the San Juan Capistrano district, Henry W. Buchheim is carrying on the good work of his family, being extensively engaged in ranching at Serra or San Juan-by-the-Sea.

The fifth of a family of twelve children, Henry Buchheim's parents were Frank S. and Caroline (Zymon) Buchheim, hard-working and industrious farmer folk who made their home in Minnesota before coming to California. The following are the other children born to these worthy parents: Lydia, the eldest of the family, now Mrs. Hemenway, is engaged in ranching on the Santa Margarita ranch, where she is in partnership with her brother, Aaron, who is the second in order of birth, and whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work. John is engaged in growing sugar beets near Garden Grove; Jacob is a rancher at Downey; Emma is deceased; Josie is Mrs. Van Whisler, the wife of a rancher at El Toro; Paul assists his brother Aaron in his ranch- ing operations and is also interested in the orange and walnut industry in Ventura County; Frank is married and resides in Santa Ana; Fred passed away at the age of twenty, leaving a son, Carl, and a widow; Emil has also been engaged on Aaron Buchheim's ranch since receiving his honorable discharge from the army. During the World War he made an enviable record serving as first gunner on a French "75" during his period of service in France with the light artillery of the Sunset Division; Minnie, who is the wife of Henry Hoeffner, resides in Nebraska. Frank S. Buchheim passed away in Santa Ana in 1904, at the old home place on East Seventeenth Street, where Frank Buchheim now lives, the mother surviving him until January 20, 1915.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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 98

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