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 30
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David H. Collins followed farming and stock raising with his father and brothers in Sonoma County. For two years he was in Arizona and helped lay out the town of Prescott in that state, also followed mining for a time. Then, in 1867, he came to Southern California and located at San Jacinto and with his brother, Germain Collins, engaged in stock raising, continuing in that occupation until 1874, in which year he came to Santa Ana and followed ranching.
From 1881 to 1883 Mr. Collins was in the dairy business, on his Chino ranch, with 600 cows, leasing land and stock from Richard Gird. In 1883 he came to Spadra, bought 200 acres of land in the San José School District, one mile west of Spadra, and engaged in grain-raising on a large scale; in addition to his ranch property, he
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rented land and combined his raising of grain with the breeding of fine horses.and Durham cattle.
Always with the public welfare at heart, this fine old pioneer served in public office even while busily engaged in development work; a Republican in politics, he was a member of the county central com- mittee, and also served as deputy county assessor. In fraternal organ- izations he was a member of Pomona Lodge No. 246, I. O. O. F.
David H. Collins was twice married; the first time in 1867, to Zille Martin, a native of Sonoma County, Cal. She died in 1881, leaving five children: Fred, Bessie, Gertrude, Grace, and John, a druggist at Cutler. On April 20, 1882, Mr. Collins was united in marriage with Ida F. Arnold, and one son was born to them, Henry LaFayette, who entered service in the very beginning of the World War, 1914, as chief yeoman in the United States Navy, and assisted in the capture of the German raider Vicksburg in the Pacific Ocean.
A true helpmate to Mr. Collins during their thirty years of life together, after his death Mrs. Collins sold the home ranch, in 1912, and moved to Pomona, where she conducts the Fifth Avenue Apart- ment House.
HENRY M. REED
During the period of his residence in Pomona Valley, dating from 1882, H. M. Reed, pioneer of Pomona, has seen the arid and treeless country develop into a veritable garden of luxuriant beauty, citrus groves displacing the fields of grain and well-paved roads inter- secting the Valley in lieu of the old sand roads through which the horses and mules of that early day had to amble knee-deep in dust.
Mr. Reed is a native of Montgomery County, Ohio, and was born December 6, 1848. His father, John G., and mother, Lydia (Yoe) Reed, natives of Schuylkill County, Pa., are deceased. The father, a carpenter by trade, followed that occupation in Ohio and Indiana, and continued it after coming to Pomona, October, 1875, where he purchased a quarter block of land at the corner of South Thomas and West Sixth streets, upon which he built the house in which his son now lives. He was the father of four children: Henry M. Reed of Pomona; David C. Reed of Del Mar, San Diego County, Cal .; Mrs. T. J. Emerick of Summerland, Cal., and Mrs. Catherine Beem, of Strawberry Park, Cal.
H. M. Reed was reared in Shelby County, Ind., where he re- mained until nineteen years of age, when he removed to Johnson County, Ind., going thence to Brookson, White County, in the same state. He was employed as a farm hand in Indiana, and upon coming to Pomona in 1882 worked at the carpenter trade with his father. Many of the old homes are now standing in Pomona which he built.
Frank Farcelow
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In 1903 he entered the employ of the city as teamster, and helped grade and construct many of Pomona's streets. He is now retired.
His marriage united him with Miss Ella F. Haff of Indiana, who bore him three daughters: Mrs. Pearl Nunneley of Pomona, Mrs. Hazel Reynolds of El Centro, Cal., and Mrs. Helen Blakemore of Pomona. In his religious convictions Mr. Reed is a member of the Methodist Church. He is a respected citizen of the community and enjoys the confidence and esteem of a large circle of friends and acquaintances.
FRANK GARCELON, M. D.
When the Grim Reaper called Dr. Frank Garcelon to his reward on June 24, 1914, Pomona Valley and Southern California lost one of the old-school physicians who had endeared himself to a very wide circle of friends through his humanitarian methods and his skill in diagnosing and in the treatment of diseases. He was of that school of family doctors, almost extinct, who ever have been looked upon, not alone as physician, but as counselor and friend.
Frank Garcelon was born in St. Albans, Maine, June 6, 1848, a worthy representative of the old New England type of family, long prominent in the history of Maine. His early education was obtained in the schools of his locality, after which he matriculated in the Uni- versity of Maine, from which he was graduated with honors, then began the study of medicine at the University, completed the course, graduated from Bowdoin later, and then took up post-graduate work in Bowdoin Medical College.
His first independent practice was in Livermore Falls, Maine, where his talents were becoming well known and he was building up a practice, but in 1883 he was called to Abilene, Kans., by the serious illness of a sister, and during the years he remained in that state he experienced some of the pioneer life in Kansas. It was in January, 1888, that he located in Pomona, but the following year the family moved to Chico, where the Doctor had a sister living. For about a year he remained there, when, on account of the heaviest rains ever experienced in the state, causing tremendous losses to the people, Dr. Garcelon decided he would return to Pomona, which he did in 1890, and from the time of his second arrival here he was in continuous practice until shortly before his death.
During the early years of his practice here he was often called upon to travel long distances to visit the sick and afflicted, his patients living as far west as El Monte and eastward into San Bernardino County and south to Riverside. He first was associated with Dr. C. W. Brown and Dr. Thomas Coates, under the firm name of Brown, Coates & Garcelon, but eventually he practiced independently for many
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years. For more than twenty years he maintained his office in the Phillips Block, only closing it about a year prior to his death, during which time he was confined to his home with ailments that caused his death.
Dr. Garcelon was the last of five brothers in a family of eleven children, three of whom showed their patriotism by their service in behalf of their country during the Civil War ; one died in Libby prison ; another was with Sherman in the march to the sea, and was killed during the trip; and a third was also a victim of the war, dying in a hospital in New Orleans; a fourth died in South America. His sisters were Mrs. Helen Warren; Mrs. Lydia Stewart; Mrs. C. W. Brown; Mrs. Louise Pettengill; Mrs. Amanda Pettengill; and Mrs. George Hunton.
Dr. Garcelon was a member of all the Masonic bodies in Pomona, and was largely instrumental in organizing Southern California Com- mandery No. 37, K. T., here, of which he was the first Eminent Commander ; he was a member of the Scottish Rite Consistory in Los Angeles. Through his efforts and untiring zeal the Pomona Valley Hospital owes more for its existence than to any other man, and he was the dean of the faculty on its opening; no one had thought of any other for the honor. He was the friend of all physicians who sought to be worthy of the calling. It is said of Dr. Garcelon that he seldom sent a bill to a patient for services, nor asked one dollar from any one in his life. He believed every one to be honest and that they would pay when they could. It is also true that he never refused a call, no matter how far he had to go, nor did he ever take into consideration the weather conditions. He was a skilled physician, often called in counsel in difficult cases, and as long as he was needed he was on hand to attend the patient.
His professional duties did not entirely absorb all of his time to the exclusion of all other interests; he was approachable and was always ready to aid, so far as in his power, all worthy projects for the advancement of the interests of the people of the Valley and the up- building of the state of his adoption. No one ever sought his aid and was denied. He was highly esteemed by his associate physicians, for he was always abreast of the times and held membership in the Los Angeles County Medical Society; Southern California Medical Asso- ciation, of which he served as president at one time; and the American Medical Association.
The marriage of Dr. Frank Garcelon on May 27, 1877, united him with Miss Eleanor Coffin, a native of Maine, and they became the parents of two children : Dr. Harris Garcelon of Victorville, Cal .; and Eleanor, who married George B. Jess of Van Nuys.
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JAMES W. FULTON
To be the descendant of one of the old pioneers of California, one of the '49ers who paved the way for the present prosperity enjoyed by their descendants, is an honor which is getting to be distinctive, since so many of the old families in the state have died out and left no one to carry on the work started by their forefathers. The interest which attaches to the biography of California pioneers is not that of curiosity, but a visible expression of the gratitude which all men feel towards those forerunners of civilization in the far West. Himself a native son, and the only living descendant of a pioneer family, James W. Fulton has ably carried on the work of development in the state in which his father had a large part, and mention of both these able men is due in compiling the history of any part of California, and particularly that of Pomona Valley.
Born in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, July 30, 1857, James W. Fulton is the son of James and Malissa (Wilson) Fulton, the father a native of Indiana, who crossed the plains to California with ox teams in the year 1849, and mined during those exciting times in the state's history. He later engaged in stock raising and the dairy business, first at San José, and then in Sonoma County. In 1878, with his son, James W., he traveled all over the northern part of the state, Oregon and Washington, and upon their return the father went to Texas and bought a band of sheep which he leased out there. He came to Southern California and located at Rivera, near Whittier, Los Angeles County, where he was joined by his son. From that locality he went to the Azusa Valley and there bought a tract of land. This ranch his son was put in charge of, and James, Sr., remained on the Rivera ranch, both engaged in stock raising on a large scale.
In 1883, James W. Fulton sold out his ranch and went to Texas, where he remained about two years, and while there sold his father's sheep and returned, and in 1885 father and son located on a tract of raw land in the Pomona Valley, comprising seventy-five acres; later this land was subdivided and sold, and is now all built up, a part of the residence section of North Pomona. James W. later set out a forty- five-acre orange grove and devoted his ranching activities to citrus cultivation. In later years he retired from active horticultural pursuits and sold this ranch, though he still is the owner of a twenty-five-acre apple orchard in the Yucaipa Valley, an evidence of his progressive ideas in trying out new development work in the state.
Since his first residence in the Valley, James W. Fulton has taken an active part in the development work of this section, and he is now rated as one of the most prominent and representative men in the Valley. His years of diversified work and travel have given him a broad vision and keen insight into the future possibilities of a com- munity, and with the public spirit found in all real Californians, he has
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been a factor in the advancement and growth of both Pomona and her surrounding territory. He was a director and one of the founders of the first orange growers' association in the Valley ; he is president and one of the founders of the Home Builders Loan Association of Po- mona; a director and one of the organizers of the State Bank of Pomona; and a director and one of the founders of the Home Tele- phone Company of Pomona.
The marriage of Mr. Fulton united him with Anna McCune, born in Greencastle, Pa., and they had a son, Wilford, now deceased. They are members of the Christian Church and active in the good works of that body.
SAMUEL B. CLIFTON
Among the valiant men who serve the country faithfully in the capacity of United States forest rangers, is numbered Samuel B. Clifton, a Southerner by birth. He was born in his native state of Alabama, March 6, 1859, in Cherokee County, and at the age of fourteen, in 1873, accompanied his parents when they removed to Conway, Ark. His father was a stock raiser and butcher, and Samuel B. was associated with him in this occupation until 1886, when he came to Pomona Valley, Cal. In those early days the present site of the thriving city of San Dimas was a waving field of grain, and in the thirty-three years of Mr. Clifton's residence in the Valley he has wit- nessed many changes equally great. In early days he did day work on the ranches in the Valley, which in those days were devoted prin- cipally to grain farming, there being only a few oranges trees in the Valley. He next engaged in the important industry of water develop- ment in the Valley, and worked at tunneling for water for the La Verne Land and Water Company. He worked on the Edgemont Ranch, and also for L. M. Wicks in water development, constructing pipe lines, etc. In 1901 he entered the United States Government service as forest ranger, the position he now occupies. His territory includes the San Dimas, Live Oak and Palm Canyons, and his duties are to prevent forest fires, fight fires, prevent cutting of timber, and to prevent people from leaving camp fires burning. These are his summer duties. In the winter he has charge of a crew of men engaged in making trails and fire breaks. He has built a fire break from San Dimas Canyon to San Antonio Canyon nine miles long and fifty-two feet wide, and in all has built fifty miles of trails and fire breaks. The whole mountain district which he serves is a network of trails, which makes it an easy task to get the fire fighters quickly to the blaze. He has a fine record in his district, where no large fires have ever occurred and many small fires have been quickly extinguished. He has also played an important part in the development of the orange inudstry in the Valley. He purchased a ten-acre unimproved piece of land at
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the mouth of San Dimas Canyon, cleared the land, developed a supply of water for irrigation purposes, planted the property to Navel oranges, and in ten years' time sold the place for a good profit. He next bought eight and one-half acres of unimproved land at the mouth of Live Oak Canyon, which he similarly developed and disposed of in nine years' time. He was married in Arkansas in 1879 to Kate E. Pettit, born in Missouri, of whom he was bereaved March 3, 1915. Of the seven children she bore him, four are living: Audrey, who presides gracefully over her father's home; Bessie, the wife of Robert Estep of San Dimas; Charlotte, the wife of V. Fugate of El Segundo, Cal .; and Ross, who is in the employ of Hamburger's Department Store in Los Angeles. Self-made in the widest use of the term, he is a man of broad ideas, liberal and progressive, and enjoys a wide popularity in a community which owes much to him for the furtherance of its development.
PATRICK W. DOYLE
One of the early settlers of Pomona who adjusted himself to the pioneer conditions here and aided materially in the development work then being put forward, Patrick W. Doyle will be remembered as one of the worthy pioneers of this section. Born in Kildare, Leinster, Ireland, he was the youngest of nine children born to Patrick and Catherine (Wall) Doyle, the mother also a native of Kildare. Patrick W. received his education up to his thirteenth year in private schools in Ireland; the mother died when he was young, and the father brought his children to America in 1849. He followed farming near Auburn, N. Y., and later died there.
Patrick W. Doyle went to Rochester, N. Y., and there learned the carpenter trade and followed it there until 1864. He then went to Cleveland, Ohio, and there became a contractor and builder and followed that work in Cleveland for twenty-one years. In 1885 he came to California and located in Pomona. He bought a nine-acre ranch in the Kingsley Tract, one of the first to buy and build a home in that tract. The land was piped for irrigation and domestic use, and a pumping plant established. Mr. Doyle set out prunes on his land, but later took them out and set out oranges, Navels and Valencias. The family home is still on this ranch, situated on the corner of San Antonio and Olive avenues.
In addition to his citrus development, Mr. Doyle engaged in con- tracting and building in Pomona, and followed that line for many years. He built the first Catholic church here and superintended the building of the present church. He erected the packing plant at Clare- mont, and many fine homes and business blocks in Pomona. During all his residence here he proved himself a man of worth, with the welfare of his community at heart and willing to work toward that
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end, and his death was mourned by a large circle of friends as well as by his devoted family. His death occurred November 17, 1917.
On January 1, 1868, Mr. Doyle married Helen Max, a native of Germany, and she survives him. They were the parents of eight children, as follows: James, now deceased; Edward, of Riverside County ; Thomas, deceased; Alice M., residing at the old home ; Anna, Mrs. McGarry of Los Angeles; George of Seattle; Mary; and William, traveling auditor for the Santa Fe Railway.
T. HARDY SMITH, M. D.
A physician who, following exceptional scientific and technical preparation for his work, and years of illuminating practice, has come to take front rank among the best representatives of medicine and surgery in Pomona, is Dr. T. Hardy Smith, who was born at Nor- folk, Va., on July 26, 1855. His father, Prof. William A. Smith, was president of Randolph-Macon Callege at Boydton, Va., and under his fortunate supervision, the lad took up the study of Latin and Greek at the age of nine years. Later, Professor Smith was made president of Central College at Fayette, Mo., and there Hardy studied until he graduated with the degree of A. M. Then, for three years, he engaged in the wholesale dry goods business at St. Louis, Mo.
In 1879 Mr. Smith began the study of medicine, and three years later he was graduated from the St. Louis Medical College with the degree of M. D. He practiced medicine with success at St. Louis up to 1887, and during the time when he was enlarging his experience in the most helpful way, by actual clinical and laboratory work, he was professor of physiology at Beaumont Hospital Medical College, St. Louis, an institution that has had much to do with directing the trend of educational and scientific affairs in the city that some years later was hostess to the world.
Doctor Smith arrived at Pomona on August 24, 1887, and here he resumed the practice of medicine in which he has continued ever since. For six years he was health officer of Pomona, and a member of the Pomona branch of the Los Angeles County Medical Society and also of the American Medical Association. He has also served for thirty years as the local surgeon of the Southern Pacific Railroad, and the same for the Pacific Electric Railroad since the line was built into the Valley.
At Pomona, Cal., on June 25, 1895, Doctor Smith was married to Frances Helena Flood, a native of Canada and a descendant of Ed- ward Blake, the distinguished Canadian statesman who did so much to safeguard both the distribution of public money and the delicate relations between the rapidly growing Dominion and the mother
M. Leparken
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country. Mrs. Smith has become active in both Red Cross and church work and has thus made herself invaluable in Pomona society and social and civic work. Doctor Smith belongs to Pomona Lodge No. 789, B. P. O. Elks, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Woodmen of the World and the Fraternal Brotherhood.
MARCUS L. SPARKS
That adverse conditions build up the strong and break down the weak has found convincing expression in the life of Marcus L. Sparks, whose dauntless spirit has surmounted many obstacles and drawn helpful lessons from disheartening circumstances. His reputation as one of the most substantial citizens of Pomona rests upon a solid foun- dation of actual merit, upon honesty of purpose and never-failing devotion to the best interests of his community. Born in Wilkes County, N. C., March 30, 1853, Mr. Sparks is a son of Joseph and Mary (Gray) Sparks, both natives of North Carolina. In 1867 the father left the South and with his family located in Kansas.
Seeking both adventure and greater opportunities, in 1875 young Marcus came to California, and first settled in the Sacramento Valley. He arrived in the state with just $8.25 for his capital, and $8.00 of that went for blankets, so he may be in all truth called a self-made man. For five years he worked along the Sacramento as farm hand on different ranches.
On July 9, 1880, Mr. Sparks came to Pomona Valley, and here he immediately became a landowner, buying five acres for ranch pur- poses, and also working for wages, receiving the munificent sum of $1.25 per day for his services. Later, he bought a team and wagon and did grading work, and setting out trees and vines. In 1886 he bought twenty-two acres of land near Pomona. On this property water was developed, two artesian wells sunk, with fifty inches of water. This acreage became valuable and he sold the ranch for $25,000, which sum gave him his start in business and on the road to prosperity.
In the fall of 1889 Mr. Sparks bought Pomona property and built a home on Holt Avenue and Main Street, and on December 20 of that year he purchased twenty acres north of La Verne, one-half of which he set to oranges. In the spring of 1890 he hauled the water in tanks to irrigate his orchard in its first year's growth. With the persevering spirit which makes for success, he kept adding to his hold- ings until he had 152 acres in productive ranch property, built a packing house and established a pumping plant, overseeing the work with characteristic thoroughness and energy.
Selling out his ranch holdings, in 1908 Mr. Sparks came to Pomona to reside, and became president of the San Antonio Meat
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Company, dealers in wholesale and retail meats, with a large modern packing plant covering twenty acres, on East Holt Avenue, and also maintaining the Palace Meat Market on Second Street, one of the most successful business enterprises in Pomona.
For the past thirty-nine years an active and important factor in the development work being done in the Valley, Mr. Sparks has dem- onstrated at all times his loyalty to this section and has taken a vital interest in pushing forward all movements for the ultimate good of Pomona and surrounding territory. He has seen many changes in that time, for when he first came to the city he found but two small general stores in operation; in one of these the post office, about six feet square, was located. The settlement also boasted one saloon, one blacksmith shop and one little restaurant run by the little Spaniard, old Saboni, that all old-time residents will remember. Where most of the fine orange groves now stand was a desert waste, and it has taken all these years of ceaseless toil and untold expenditures to bring them up to their present stage of beauty and profit. To the men who have assisted in this reclamation work all praise is due, and future generations will have them to thank for providing the stepping-stones to even more wonderful work awaiting their hands.
In the midst of his full and busy life, Mr. Sparks has found time to give to civic matters at all times, and also to further, as far as was in his power, the educational advantages of his districts. He was a trustee of the LaVerne grammar school, and was president of the board of trustees of the Bonita high school. In church matters he serves as trustee of the First Baptist Church of Pomona. Among his other important business associations, he has been president of the La Verne Citrus Association, and of the San Dimas Land and Water Company.
Mr. Sparks wås united in marriage to Miss Nancy Michael in Butte County, Cal., June 27, 1880. To this union were born : Nellie M., now Mrs. Levi Ehresman; Elsie, Mrs. William Keating; Minnie, who died aged nineteen months; Eva, Mrs. George E. Jones. Mr. and Mrs. Sparks have eight grandchildren.
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