USA > California > Los Angeles County > History of Pomona Valley, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the valley who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 26
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There were seven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Connor, four boys and three girls, and Frances Ada was the second oldest child. She was educated in the public schools and was a member of the class of '78-the fourth class graduated from the Los Angeles high school. The same year she received a certificate to teach from the county school authorities. For a year she taught school at Cucamonga, and then was among the first teachers at Pomona, and remained here for three and a half years, after which she was a teacher in the schools of Los Angeles and was vice-principal of the Castellar Street school.
In May, 1875, the last old-fashioned public school May Queen celebration was held in the Arroyo Seco on Pasadena Avenue. It had all of the old trimmings and ceremonies. In an account of the celebra- tion, it is spoken of as the Historical Picnic of Los Angeles, and Mrs. Patten is referred to as the historical May Queen.
From the summer of 1885 until the entrance of the United States into the World War, Mrs. Patten gave her time and attention to her home and the rearing of her talented family, but she felt the call of duty and did her bit by educational work from 1914 to 1918 in Ameri- canizing foreigners, giving lectures to teachers and practical demon- strations on that phase of work known as the Camp School. Her program of industrial work included teaching English to foreign mothers; and her song lessons were adopted by the California State Immigration Commission and were published in Primer No. 11 for Foreign Women, designed for use throughout the state.
On New Year's Day, 1883, at Los Angeles, Miss Connor was married to Charles M. Patten, a native of Merrimac, Essex County, Mass., where he was born on June 8, 1849. He was the son of George Pickering and Sarah Elizabeth (Little) Patten and the family descended from Colonial and Revolutionary stock. The father was a carriage maker and for a time Charles M. Patten followed carriage painting ; but on coming to California in September, 1874, he engaged in railroad work with the Southern Pacific. He was one of the train crew that brought out the people for the auction of the first town lots sold in Pomona, and fired on the train that went to the driving of the gold spike at Lang Station, cementing Los Angeles with San Fran-
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cisco. Now an invalid, he is retired on a pension and has the honor of having been chief for ten successive years of his division lodge of locomotive engineers. Mr. Patten is a descendant of William Patten of Cambridge, Mass., the family history dating back to 1635, accord- ing to Thomas W. Baldwin's Patten genealogy, and he is the first of his line to establish the California branch of the family.
Mr. and Mrs. Patten are the parents of three sons and a daughter : Francis Alan, an attorney of Los Angeles, graduated at the Los Angeles Polytechnic, read law with Judge Bordwell and was admitted to the bar after a course in the Law School of the University of Southern California. When the war broke out he gave up his practice and entered the service and won promotion through merit as regimental sergeant major in the judge advocate department at Camp Lewis. He served from September 6, 1917, until his discharge, in May, 1919. He is a member of the Delta Chi legal fraternity and is a talented amateur violinist. James L. is a graduate of the Los Angeles Polytechnic and the Law School of the University of Southern California. He, too, was practicing law at the beginning of the war, but enlisted in the second unit, Stanford Ambulance Corps; while in France, December 3, 1917, he reenlisted in the United States Aviation Corps and served as a second lieutenant until discharged, February 3, 1919. He is recognized as an orator and was the president of the student body during his Polytechnic and University days; he is also a natural musician and an especially fine performer on the flute. He is a member of the Phi Delta Phi, Phi Gamma Delta, Ram's Head Society, Chaparral and University Clubs. Clement Millard, called "Jack" by his friends, is a graduate of Los Angeles high school and was president of the student body there. He is now working his way through Stanford University, and did his share of war work. Sarah E., a graduate of Los Angeles high school and Los Angeles Poly- technic, is the first young girl to graduate from the Law School of the University of Southern California with the Master's degree. She has made a specialty of sociological questions and gives promise of reach- ing a high mark. She is married to Frank P. Doherty, who entered the Second Officers' Training Camp, obtained a captain's commission, was stationed at Camp Lewis from December, 1917, to June, 1918. He went to France as captain of Machine Gun Company of the Three Hundred Sixty-first Infantry, Ninety-first Division. He was promoted to major for bravery in battle on September 29, 1918; he was in the St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne salients, and on October 4, 1918, was again cited for bravery, was wounded October 9, 1918, rejoined his regiment in Belgium and was commander of the First Battalion of the Three Hundred Sixty-first Infantry. He was discharged April 30, 1919, and is now practicing law in Los Angeles. Mr. and Mrs. Doherty are the parents of three children: Frank Wilder, James Alan and John Edmund.
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CHARLES M. STONE
Prominent among the leading and successful citizens of Pomona is Charles M. Stone, president of the First National Bank. Born in Burlington, Vt., August 4, 1863, the son of Micah H. and Mary (Gilmour) Stone, he was the second child in a family of six children. Educated in the public schools of his native city, he was graduated from the Burlington High School with the class of 1881. His first position was with a large wholesale lumber company, but he gave this up to become bookkeeper in the Merchants' National Bank of Bur- lington, then the largest commercial bank in Vermont.
Mr. Stone resigned his position with the bank in December, 1887, to come to Pomona, where for two years he was bookkeeper and cashier for the Pomona Land and Water Company. He was then offered the position of assistant cashier of the People's Bank of Pomona, which he accepted. Later he became cashier and was elected a director of the bank, retaining his position until the institution was merged with The National Bank of Pomona, when Mr. Stone assumed the responsible post of cashier of the consolidated institution. Resign- ing this office in January, 1904, he became cashier of the First National Bank, of which he was later made a director. In August, 1914, he was elected vice-president, and in November, 1915, became president of the bank and chairman of the board of directors.
This institution is the largest and strongest bank in the locality and has been conspicuously identified with the development of the entire Pomona Valley. Supporting every worthy project that has had for its aim the promotion of the best interests of its citizens, and the development of the resources of the community, the bank under the guidance of Mr. Stone has made rapid strides, commensurate with the increase of Pomona's growth in population, and now ranks with any of its size and capitalization in California. The position occupied by the bank in the financial world is due to the fact that its capable officers, board of directors and employees ever work in harmony to the end that the institution shall always be in the van of progress in the diversified and helpful service it renders to its increasingly large clientele.
Mr. Stone was married in Pomona to Miss Mabel Buffington, a native of Onawa, Iowa, and three children have been born to them. Edmund Parker, the eldest, responded to the call of his country, be- came a lieutenant in the United States Army, and is now employed in the Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank of San Francisco; George Gilmour, the second son, and Marian, the daughter, are students in the Pomona High School.
Fraternally, Mr. Stone is a Knight Templar, a thirty-second degree Mason and a Shriner. He is an active member of the Pomona Chamber of Commerce, a director of the Savings Bank of Pomona;
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the Southern Counties Gas Company; the Pomona Cemetery Associa- tion; the Harold Bell Wright Picture-Story Corporation; the Cali- fornia George Junior Republic; and the Masonic Temple Association of Pomona. Mr. Stone has entered heartily into the development of Southern California, especially of his adopted city and its environs, where his influence is felt for good along many lines of activity and where he holds an assured place as an efficient, progressive business man and citizen.
WALTER SCOTT CARSON
Wonderful have been the changes in Pomona Valley witnessed by Walter Scott Carson, the esteemed pioneer, who has given his best efforts and years to build up and improve the former barren lands by intensive farming. He was born near Chester, Randolph County, Ill., July 14, 1860. His father, David Carson, was a native of Gallo- way, Scotland, who after completing his early education went to sea at sixteen years of age, and for sixteen years he sailed the briny deep, passing through many hardships and exciting experiences as well as narrow escapes. When thirty-two years of age he quit the salt water and spent two years on the Mississippi River, when he settled down in Randolph County, Ill., and there he married Susan Mclaughlin, a native of North Carolina whose father also hailed from Scotland. David Carson was an honest, industrious farmer and through his years of work he acquired a competence. He was a great reader and always well informed and stood high in the esteem of the whole community. He died in 1872 and his wife three years later.
Of the eleven children born to this worthy couple all but one grew up and seven are still living. Walter Scott was ninth in order of birth and was reared on the Illinois farm and educated in the schools of the vicinity. Being the oldest boy in the family it was necessary for him to go to work from the time he was a lad, so when he was only nine years old we find him driving a team in the fields; he was always handy with horses, having no difficulty in handling them, and this part of the farm work he always especially enjoyed. After his mother's death the farm was sold, and he then went out into the world to make his way. He continued working on farms during the summers and attending school in the winters; during these years he suffered much from chills and fever and he determined that as soon as he was of age, when he would come into his inheritance, he would migrate elsewhere, so in 1881 he started for California, arriving in Pomona on August 18 of that year.
Pomona was then only a small village with two stores, a livery barn, a blacksmith shop and a saloon. Mr. Carson found employment under M. G. Rogers on a ranch, where he continued for a period of two and a half years, when he went to work for the Pomona Land and
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Water Company. He began as a teamster, soon became foreman, and then superintendent of all outside work for the last two years. In all he served the company for five years, and during this time they sunk artesian wells and had sixty flowing wells when he resigned to engage in the real estate business in Pomona. Later he engaged in cement contracting, building cement lines and reservoirs. While building the reservoir on the Loop place at Claremont, Mr. Carson was waited upon by a committee from the city council of Pomona, asking him to accept the position of city marshal, the first incumbent of the office having been requested to resign soon after taking the office.
Mr. Carson accepted the position and filled his term with zeal and ability. However, he refused to be a candidate for reelection. When he became city marshal there were sixteen saloons in Pomona, but this number was reduced to six through making a high license rate. The new jail was also built during this time and the cooler dispensed with. After finishing his term of office he purchased a ten- acre ranch on Cucamonga Avenue in North Pomona. He dug out the vines and planted oranges, continuing there for three years when he sold it; after this he teamed for one year and then bought six acres at La Verne which he improved to olives and peaches and one acre of lemons. When six years had passed he found that he had not realized a dollar on the olives and peaches, so he dug them up and set out oranges. He had watered the lemons for six years from a tank filled by a windmill, and he then secured water from the ditch. He also purchased twenty-two acres in La Verne; it had no water on it and was set out to olives and prunes .. In view of his former experience he grubbed these out and planted oranges instead, watering them with water hauled in a tank for two years. He then bored a well and installed a pumping plant and water system, afterwards disposing of the place. He then continued on his six acres and also purchased thirteen and a half acres of raw land on the Base Line Road, which he levelled and set out to oranges, at the same time building a residence on the upper part of the place. Having sold the original six acres he gave his time to his ranch in Live Oak Canyon, bringing it to a high state of cultivation, when he sold it at a good profit, retaining his residence. He now owns a small grove on Bradford Avenue which he is caring for and building up with his customary zeal.
Mr. Carson's marriage, which occurred in Pomona, united him with Rachel Van Zant Meredith, who was born in Pennville, Ind., and who is a niece of L. C. Meredith of La Verne. They are members of the Presbyterian Church of Pomona and prominent in its circles. In politics Mr. Carson is an ardent Republican. It is to men of his energy and perseverance that much of the present success of the orange industry is due, for he, with other early pioneers, went through the experimental stages, thus discovering the best and most successful crops from a commercial standpoint for Pomona Valley.
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CALEB WHITE
Very few of the men who lived in Pomona were identified with the history of California for a longer period than Caleb E. White. He was one of the '49ers who were led to cast in their lot with the then unknown West at the time of the discovery of gold here. The wonderful improvements that have brought this state to a foremost position among the great commonwealths of America he witnessed and he deservedly occupied a position among the public-spirited pioneers to whose self-sacrificing efforts the organization and develop- ment of the state may be attributed.
Mr. White was born in East Randolph, now Holbrook, Mass., February 5, 1830, a son of Jonathan and Abigail (Holbrook) White, natives of the same place as himself. His father, who was the son of a Revolutionary soldier, was for years engaged in the manufacture of shoes at Holbrook. During his boyhood our subject had some experience in the nursery business at Holbrook, where he attended the grammar and high schools. When nineteen years of age he started for California, being one of a party of fifteen who purchased the brig Arcadia, and sailed from Boston for San Francisco via the Straits of Magellan. After a tedious voyage of 263 days they sailed through the Golden Gate October 29, 1849. In 1850 Mr. White embarked in the general mercantile business in Sacramento, as a member of the firm of White & Hollister. However, this firm was dissolved in a short time. Subsequently he engaged in the nursery business on a ranch on the American River, and also for seventeen years was a member of the firm of White & Hollister at Courtland, in the raising of fruits. At a later date he became interested in sheep raising with James Denman, having a sheep ranch of 6,000 acres at Florence, Los Angeles County.
The year 1880 found Mr. White a pioneer of what is now the city of Pomona. He was one of the prime movers in securing the organization of the city, and served as a member of its first board of trustees. He became one of the well-known horticulturists of the region. His place consisted of seventy acres, of which sixty acres were in orchard. In addition to the management of this property, he served for ten or more years as vice-president of the People's Bank of Pomona, owning the bank building; he was one of the trustees of the University of Southern California. The Republican party always received his allegiance and its candidates his vote. He was invariably found on the side of progress and development, and his support was given to measures for the benefit of the city and the development of its resources. Fraternally he was a Mason and in religion a member of the Pomona Methodist Episcopal Church.
The marriage of Mr. White took place in Sacramento, Cal., November 13, 1857, and united him with Mrs. Rebecca Ann Holship,
13
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neé Ferguson, born in Nashville, Tenn., December 12, 1835. She crossed the plains with her husband and baby, and were the only ones in the train who had horse teams. They brought with them two negro slaves, who were emancipated after arrival in California. Mr. and Mrs. White have two living children : Nannie C., born in Sacramento,. is the wife of Charles L. Northcraft, of Patagonia, Ariz., and Harry R., of Pomona, who was born at Courtland. Helen M., who passed away in March, 1920, was the wife of Hon. R. F. Del Valle, of Los Angeles, and was very prominent in club life, especially in the activities of the Native Daughters of the Golden West. Mr. White died at his home on September 2, 1902, and his wife passed to her reward on December 12, 1910.
ALBERT L. TAYLOR
Prominent among those who, having once gazed upon the fertile, promising Valley of Pomona, came eventually to settle here, must be mentioned Albert L. Taylor, a resident of Grand Avenue and well known in Pomona social circles. He was born near Placerville, El Dorado County, Cal., on December 8, 1853, the son of Albert T. Taylor, a native of Maine, who married Mary L. Towle, also from the Lumber State. Albert T. Taylor crossed the great plains as a '49er, and made the last 500 miles of the journey alone and on foot, while his wife came around the Horn in a sailing vessel. For a while he was in the merchandise business at Placerville, then he was a mer- chant in Sacramento, and then he went to Carson City, Nev., where he engaged in raising garden truck and small farming. Still later, he removed to Santa Cruz, and then to Westminster, and from there to Monrovia, and at the latter place he died, in 1911.
Young Albert Taylor worked for several years at Westminster and 1875 passed through Pomona Valley. It was not until eight years later, however, that he located at Pomona, where for four years he followed well drilling, owning his own outfit. Since then he has engaged in house moving; and as he established a reputation as a pioneer in that rather difficult field, it is not surprising that his territory extends from El Monte to Cucamonga. He has tackled a number of extremely difficult propositions in his time, among them being the moving of a two and a half story house from north of Indian Hill to Claremont. He also moved the Iowa Hotel from Uplands to Ontario-the structure being used by Chaffee College for a dormitory. In carrying out the reconstruction work on the school building at Walnut, he moved it, raised it up, and built a story under it. Thus, during a very busy career, he has literally seen all the changes in the Valley since 1883, and still he is active in the moving enterprise.
Some years ago, Mr. Taylor bought a fifteen-acre ranch at 488 East Grand Avenue, where he planted fruit trees and handsomely
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developed the land. In 1912 he built a fine house, and has sold all but about three acres, and now he has one of the choice homes of the vicinity.
On July 16, 1885, at Pomona, Mr. Taylor was married to Mrs. Eliza Decker, a native of Ohio, who came to Pomona Valley in 1884 with her mother, Nancy Edgar, who is still living at ninety-six years of age, at Campbell, near San José. Mrs. Taylor died in July, 1911, and left three children by her first husband. George E. Decker is in Los Angeles ; Col. C. W. Decker, practicing medicine in Los Angeles, became a lieutenant-colonel in the United States Army and saw service in the hospitals of France during the late war; while a daughter is Mrs. L. F. Norton of Los Angeles, who graduated from Pomona College in 1901. The only child born to Mr. and Mrs. Taylor died at the age of twenty years. Mr. Taylor is a member of the Fraternal Aid Association.
Mr. Taylor has been identified with every progressive movement for the benefit of the Valley. He took and proved up a 160-acre homestead in the Palo Verde Valley, which he still owns.
PATRICK RILEY
The title of pioneer is justly merited by Patrick Riley, for he came to Pomona Valley when development work here was just start- ing, and during his lifetime was identified with the upbuilding of both its water and railways, besides his individual agricultural interests. He was known as a man who did things; obstacles never discouraged him and he gave his strong will and vigorous activities to the accom- plishment of whatever was at hand in pioneer labors for the future generations.
Born in Cavan, Ireland, March 17, 1847, when fifteen years of age Patrick Riley came to America to seek his fortune in the new world. He worked in New York City, and in Philadelphia, Pa., and then, in 1864, came to San Francisco, and engaged in construction work on the Central Pacific Railway, in the bridge building depart- ment; he worked north on the Sacramento division and there became interested in mining activities, and on his return to San Francisco followed mining speculations for a time, in one deal making $25,000, but as so many did in those days, lost the amount in later speculations. In his railroad work he had also been engaged in the Truckee division and in that city his marriage occurred, in April, 1878, to Kate Nagle, also a native of Ireland, born in Tipperary. She came to the United States at the age of seventeen.
In 1881 Mr. and Mrs. Riley came to Pomona; before their arrival, he had bought sixteen and one-half acres of land here on Holt
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Avenue, and here the young pioneers made their home and have lived since that early day, their three sons being born on the old homestead. Mr. Riley set out ten acres of his land to vineyard, but later the vines were taken out and Navel oranges planted from the seed and budded, and after her husband's death Mrs. Riley planted the remainder of the orchard and they now have the entire acreage in oranges, in a thriving and productive condition.
During pioneer days here Mr. Riley helped to build the old motor railway to North Pomona, his early experience in railway work making him a valuable man for that work. He was also foreman on the construction of early water systems in Pomona. Up to that time drinking water had been taken from wells dug on the ranches and irrigating was done through open ditches. Mr. Riley was active in the Catholic Church, and in the Foresters of America; a man of pleasing address, always jolly and full of wit, he had many friends in the Valley who mourned his passing, which occurred December 6, 1905. His faith in the future of this section never varied and in the years since his death it has been proven a farsighted vision.
Four children blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Riley: Mrs. E. D. Ralls of Pomona ; Edward, a soldier in the Spanish War, now deceased; John; and Francis, the two latter sons assisting their mother in the care of the home ranch.
ROLLIN T. BURR, M. D.
A Pomona physician of long experience who can summon a volume of personal reminiscence and is noted not only for his learning and skill, but for his many good stories of early days, is Dr. Rollin T. Burr, who came from Mt. Vernon, Knox County, Ohio, where he was born on August 10, 1843. He was reared in Louisiana, how- ever, and in 1869 graduated with the degree of M. D. from the New Orleans Medical College. For two years, during his studies, he was interne at the New Orleans Charity Hospital. After his gradua- tion, for six years he practiced in Central Texas. Leaving there in pursuit of health, he rode horseback from Texas to the Colorado River, a distance of 1,500 miles, 1,000 miles alone, with saddle bags and rifle.
In 1877 Doctor Burr passed through Pomona, going from Ari- zona en route to visit his family in Texas, and so had a good chance to see the now flourishing city when it was only a village, or perhaps rather a small cluster of houses and homes. The impression, however, was sufficiently favorable to induce him to return to Southern California, when he resigned from the Army service, to locate first in El Monte, until in 1883 when he came to Pomona. He is thus the oldest doctor in age and point of service in Pomona Valley, for when he located here there was only one house north of the railroad track.
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