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 31
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DR. THOMAS COATES
In the passing of Dr. Thomas Coates, September 8, 1900, Po- mona experienced a loss that deprived the community of a valuable promoter of the city's prosperity, and that his friends and acquaint- ances deeply deplored.
Doctor Coates was reared in the state of New York. His ten- dencies were in the direction of the medical profession, and in early manhood he was a student at Rush Medical College and at Ann Arbor, Mich., graduating from the former institution with the degree of
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M. D. He practiced his profession in Clarence, Iowa, and in 1883 came to Pomona, where he, with Captain Smith, founded the first bank in the place, the Pomona Valley Bank, of which he was cashier. This bank was later merged into the First National Bank of Pomona, with Stoddard Jess as president, and Doctor Coates as vice-president, which position he held until his death. Later he took up the practice of medicine in Pomona, in which profession he was associated with Dr. Frank Garcelon.
He became very prominent as an exponent of the medical science and was recognized as a fine practitioner. Progressive in his ten- dencies, he was one of the first men to plant orange trees in the Valley and sent to South America for the young trees. At one time he owned five ranches in the Valley. He was a large owner of Pomona real estate and a prominent man in the community.
His marriage united him with Miss Sarah Emma Cross, a native of Pennsylvania, who died May 12, 1917. Five children were born of their union. The two older, Thomas and Edith Rose, are deceased. The surviving members of the family are: Mrs. Jessie Coates Burle- son of Pomona, Mrs. W. Harold Stokes of Pomona, and Charles M., an orchardist in Pomona Valley. Doctor Coates was a member of the school board of Pomona and a trustee in the First Presbyterian Church.
Mrs. Jessie Coates Burleson's husband, Dr. Frank D. Burleson, came from the northern part of the state and practiced dentistry in Pomona up to the time of his death, which occurred in August, 1900. He was born in Sutter Creek, Amador County, Cal., and was a member of one of the old pioneer families of the state. His father crossed the plains with an ox team in the early days. Doctor Burleson was a mem- ber of the Native Sons of the Golden West. Thomas Coates Burle- son, the son of Doctor and Mrs. Burleson, is the only grandchild of Dr. Thomas Coates.
EDWIN T. PALMER
Numbered among Pomona's highly-esteemed pioneers is Edwin T. Palmer. Mr. Palmer is a New Englander, and was born at Ston- ington, Conn., May 10, 1854. He was educated in the schools of his native state and as a young man learned the drug business and con- ducted a drug store in his native city for ten years.
He came to Pomona in 1884, which in those days was a small country village, and opened a grocery store in the old Palmer Block on Second Street. This block was one of the first two-story buildings built in Pomona. Later he engaged in packing and shipping fruit. As an independent shipper he erected a small packing house and shipped fruit as far as old Mexico. He continued this business for fifteen years, and in the meantime formed a partnership with Harold C.
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Dewey in the real estate and building business. During the three years of his partnership with Mr. Dewey they erected over twenty buildings in Pomona.
During recent years Mr. Palmer has devoted his time to planting and developing orange orchards in the Valley. He purchased twenty acres in Pomona Heights, planted the land to trees and disposed of ten acres of the property, retaining ten acres. He also owns an eight- acre orange ranch near Ontario, which is planted to Valencia and Navel orange trees and which is in full bearing.
His marriage united him with Miss Carolyn Huntoon, one of Idaho's native daughters, and they are the parents of one child, a daughter named Patricia. In his religious associations Mr. Palmer is a member of the Congregational Church, of which is one of the charter members.
JOHN W. ROMICK
Early settlers of Pomona Valley, Mr. and Mrs. John W. Romick came there when what is now covered with the luxuriant green and fragrant blossoms of orange trees was arid desert land. The citrus industry was then in its infancy and it took stamina and perseverance to show results after years of labor and hardships. John W. Romick was born near Newman, Douglas County, Ill., February 15, 1857, a son of G. W. and Frances J. (Ingrum) Romick. His parents were farmers in that state, and the father came to Pomona in 1900, at the age of seventy years, and engaged in orange growing, his death occur- ring ten years later, at the venerable age of eighty years. The mother survived him two years, passing away at the age of seventy-six years.
The eldest child in a family of six boys and six girls, John W. received his education for the battle of life in the public schools of Illinois and Kansas, the family having moved to the latter state when he was a lad of eight years. After finishing his schooling he farmed for a time in Kansas, then came to California, in 1887, and settled in Pomona Valley. He purchased land, improved a desert ranch and set it out to oranges. He made a success of this venture through per- severing industry and the thrift that goes into the upbuilding of any community, and later, in 1902, purchased his upper orange grove of twenty-seven acres, located on Cucamonga Avenue in Claremont. Here he built a comfortable residence and suitable farm buildings, setting out the balance, so that he now has a splendid grove, bearing fine fruit. To the care of this orchard he gives all of his time and best efforts. He has now spent thirty-two years in citrus culture and is one of the oldest orange growers in the Claremont district. He is well pleased with the locality, considering it the most satisfactory of any in the state.
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&. w. Romick
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The marriage of Mr. Romick on August 26, 1880, united him with Miss Ida Brown, who was born in Ingham County, Mich., a daughter of Dr. Marcus Everett Brown and Eliza M. (Walker) Brown, both born in Michigan. Dr. Brown was a prominent physician and surgeon, who afterwards died in Oregon. His wife died in Kansas .. Mrs. Romick came out to Kansas in 1879, where she met Mr. Romick, the acquaintance resulting in their marriage. Two chil- dren blessed their union: Esther Frances is a graduate of Pomona College and now is the wife of Stuart Wheeler of Claremont; and J. Ray, who died when thirteen months old. The family are members of the Congregational Church, and enter into the social and college life of Claremont.
Since first making his home here, Mr. Romick has shown a deep interest in the development and upbuilding of the Valley, and is counted as one of its representative citizens. While never seeking public office, he has been active in the civic life of the Valley, and in furthering educational and commercial advantages. He is a director of the First National Bank of Claremont, and also holds a like position in the El Camino Fruit Exchange.
FRANK E. ADAMS
A man of rare attainments and a successful orange grower of the Pomona Valley is found in Frank E. Adams, who came to Pomona thirty years ago and ever since has been closely identified with its best interests. A native of New York, he was born in Vernon, Oneida County, May 6, 1852. He received a good education during his boy- hood, then entered Whitestown Seminary, New York, where he took a preparatory course. Entering Amherst College, Amherst, Mass., he was graduted with the class of '75, and wears the gold key of the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity of Amherst. He began teaching in Falley Seminary at Fulton, N. Y., after which, for two years he read law. In 1878 he was elected a teacher in the Oahu College at Honolulu, Ha- waiian Islands, and spent the next three years in that institution as teacher of Latin, Greek and mathematics. He resigned in 1881 and returned to the United States, and the following year entered upon a business career in Humboldt, Iowa, where he continued successfully for eight years, disposing of his interests there to come to Pomona, Cal., in 1890.
Upon locating here he at once entered into the spirit of the times and was interested in everything that had for its obiect the building up of the Valley. He bought a six-acre ranch on West Holt Avenue, made valuable improvements on the property and later added another five acres to his holdings when he purchased a place in the Alvarado Tract. This was set to lemons, but later budded to oranges, and has proven a wise investment, as the grove is a fine producer, the land
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being very rich and adapted to citrus crops. To the development of his holdings Mr. Adams has given much thought and is recognized as an authority on orange and lemon culture.
The marriage of Frank E. Adams on June 30, 1885, at Clover- dale, Sonoma County, united him with Miss Caroline E. Jones, a native daughter, whose father, the late Rev. W. L. Jones, as a home mission- ary from the state of Maine, came to California, via Cape Horn, in 1854, the trip being his wedding journey. He located in Campton- ville, Yuba County, then a thriving mining camp; later he held other charges in various parts of the state, and in 1878 went to the Hawaiian Islands, where for five years he was president of Oahu College. He returned to California and died at Cloverdale, Sonoma County, in 1908, after an unusually interesting career and mourned by a wide circle of friends. Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Adams three children have been born : Myron F., who was attending Pomona College at the time of his death in 1908; Carolyn A., who is a graduate of Pomona College and is now a teacher of Spanish and Latin at the Bonita High School; and Eugene S., a graduate from Pomona High, who joined the United States forces in September, 1917, trained at Camp Lewis, and in July, 1918, went overseas with the Three Hundred Sixteenth Ammunition Train, Ninety-first Division, and served nine months in France. He was on his way to the front when the armistice was signed. He was discharged as bugler at the Presidio in San Francisco on May 14, 1919, and is now at home in Pomona.
Mr. Adams served for three years as a member of the Pomona Board of Education, one year acting as president of that body; he is an ex-member of the Pomona Library Board; secretary of the Currier Tract Water Company ; was one of the organizers of what is now the Pomona Fruit Growers Exchange, and for years served as a director; and is a member of the Pilgrim Congregational Church, of which he served fifteen years as financial secretary, and was very active in the campaign for increasing the church membership. As a broad-minded, intelligent and well-educated gentleman, Mr. Adams has wielded a strong influence for the betterment of the social, moral and educational conditions of this highly favored section of California, and he and his wife have a wide circle of friends in Pomona Valley.
HIMON N. PIERCE
One of the "old-timers" of Pomona Valley, and a man of true public spirit, Himon N. Pierce has been a worker for the advance- ment of this section for the past thirty years, and during that formative period of the Valley's growth has given of his time and knowledge without stint to help develop its latent resources and bring them to the present state of perfection. . Born in Chittenden County, Vt., October
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28, 1858, Mr. Pierce is the son of John C. Pierce and Ruth (John- son) Pierce; the parents were farmer folk back in old Vermont, and raised a family of five children. Himon N. was educated in the public schools of his home town, and began helping on the farm from a lad and from eleven years of age paddled his own canoe.
On reaching manhood, he worked as a sawyer five years, and also learned butter making and followed that trade three years. He then farmed four years, and after these occupations decided to come West to newer fields. He arrived in California October 25, 1888, and in November of that same year came to Pomona. After locating here Mr. Pierce started to work for the Pomona Land and Water Com- pany and has been connected with that company and its successors ever since. He put in some time with the company which supplied the water for the Loop and Meserve tract, this company later being known as the North Palomares Irrigation Company, and he is now superin- tendent of water for this company, looking after its property at the Canyon. He owns five and one-half acres in the town of Claremont, on the corner of Third and Alexander, that he devotes to oranges and lemons, and has made of it a beauty place.
The marriage of Mr. Pierce united him with Miss Gertrude M. Pierce, who, though of the same name, was of a different Pierce family. Two children have been born to them, Wright M., a photog- rapher by profession, and Salome, who resides with her parents. Mr. Pierce has been identified with all public movements during his many years of residence here, and numbers his friends by the score in the community. He is a great lover of the beauties and wonders of nature, especially of the mountain regions, and is an ardent hunter and fisher- man. In politics he votes independently, putting man before party.
FREDERICK J. SMITH
Among the pioneers of the Valley who have weathered the vicissi- tudes of fruit growing in early days, Frederick J. Smith has labored faithfully to bring to success his efforts of a lifetime in this section of California, and can now look backward with pride in his achievements. A native of England, he was born April 12, 1861, in Bradford, York- shire, a son of George Belk and Margaret ( Russell) Smith, of English and Scotch extraction, the father a civil engineer by profession. They raised a family of four boys and an equal number of girls, and have both passed to their reward. The youngest son in the family, Fred- erick J. was educated in the schools of England and in private schools, graduating from International College, London.
At the age of twenty, in 1881, after traveling over Southern Cali- fornia on horseback, he picked out Pomona as the place for his future home, there being only three business buildings here at the time, a
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general merchandise store, postoffice, and drug store. After his arrival Mr. Smith at once began raising fruit, peaches, apricots, olives, pears and grapes, and shortly afterwards put in oranges, his oldest orange grove being thirty-one years old. In the early days water was at a premium, when it ran from the headwaters in an open ditch about nine miles to his tract, and fruit-growing was not the straight road to success it has grown to be in later days, and the young orchardist went through all the grief and worry and financial stress that is the common experience of the early deciduous fruit growers. Success finally crowned his work, however, and he now has ninety-seven acres in orange orchards, with a pipe-line system. He planted seventy acres to grapes, then, water having been secured, he set out lemons, the fluctuating prices in deciduous fruits making them a hazardous undertaking in early days; from eighty dollars a ton they dropped to five and six, both peaches and apricots, though the establishment of canneries later led to more profitable prices. The above prices show how hard it was for the early fruit grower to succeed.
The wonderful growth of Pomona in the last thirty-odd years is a criterion of the sort of men who have been of the warp and woof of her progress, and Mr. Smith holds a deserved place in that galaxy of men. Since his first becoming a part of the community he has been an earnest worker for the better interests of this section of the state; for ten years he was president of the San Antonio Fruit Exchange; is now president of the Growers' Fumigation and Supply Company; president of the Canyon Water Company; and vice-president of the Pomona Fruit Growers Exchange. Also past president of the Chamber of Commerce, and is now a member of its board of directors. Deeply interested in the advancement of the Valley, he is a firm believer in its possibilities and has worked to make it the garden spot of the orange belt. A lover of nature, Mr. Smith takes his recreation in mountain climbing, and is a member of the Sierra Club of California, at one time climbing Mt. Whitney with these intrepid climbers, who are known throughout the coast for their feats.
The marriage of Mr. Smith united him with Miss Louise Cary of Troy, N. Y. The Cary family came to America in the second ship after the Pilgrims, in early Colonial days, and the progenitor of the family in America, Deacon John Cary, was the first Latin scholar in Plymouth Colony. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Smith : Dorothy Louise, a graduate of the University of California with the degree of B. S., and of the Johns Hopkins Hospital of Balti- more, at home; and Russell Cary, who served his country in the World War in the heavy artillery and was doing intensive training in France when the armistice was signed. He is now at home. Mr. Smith was very active on the first loan drive, worked for the Y. M. C. A. and the Red Cross war fund drives and has been chairman of all of the
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roll-call membership drives for the Red Cross. Mrs. Smith was organizer and active chairman of the activities of the Red Cross during the war, in which Pomona secured an enviable record.
GEORGE DILLMAN
A pioneer from the Hoosier State who has made his contribution toward the progress of Pomona and vicinity in the development of water in this productive Valley, is George Dillman, favored both in his own career and the success of his children. He was born in Wayne County, Ind., on August 31, 1855, and when a young man moved with his family from place to place, living in Iowa, Missouri and Kansas. When he left the latter state in 1878 he located at St. Louis, Mo., and there established a reputation for both ability and reliability in the service of the Vulcan Steel Works.
This reputation he very naturally cherishes, for he comes of the best of German and American stock, with family traditions linking his ancestors in the most interesting manner with our early history. On his father's side his forbears came to America from Germany in 1754 and settled in Pennsylvania, so that his great-grandfather was a soldier under General George Washington and wintered at Valley Forge in that period described by President Wilson in his history, when he says that the services of Baron Von Steuben, the German patriot who came over to help the American colonists, and who drilled Washington's soldiers, was a more valuable and important aid, if less spectacular, than that rendered by the French patriot, Lafayette. On his mother's side, his ancestors came over in one of the trips of the Mayflower. In time, George grew up in the harvest fields of the Middle West and had his share in the prosperity of a country his forefathers had sacrificed so much for, in founding and defending.
For twenty-five years after coming to Pomona-in 1886-Mr. Dillman followed well drilling with Palmer Ashton as a partner, and together they put down hundreds of wells in the Pomona Valley, in Orange County and in Pasadena. For the first fifteen years they de- pended upon hand tools, but later steam power was introduced, and then they were able to advance far more rapidly. Among the wells sunk were those for the Consolidated Water Company of Pomona, the Pomona Land and Water Company, and the Del Monte Water Com- pany, and they also put down many wells north of Claremont, and for two years he was the superintendent of Sycamore Water Company at that place. One of the wells was for the Consolidated Water Com- pany, when a fourteen-inch hole was drilled for 850 feet.
In recent years, Mr. Dillman and his partner, Palmer Ashton. have been engaged in developing an orange and a lemon orchard in the Claremont section. When they took hold of the area, a ranch of
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twenty-three acres, it was raw land, but they set out seventeen acres in oranges and six acres in lemons, and although the trees are young, they are doing well and bearing handsomely. The same foresighted- ness and high business principles for which Mr. Dillman was long noted as a well-driller have made him an honored fellow ranchman.
Mr. Dillman was married at St. Louis, Mo., in September, 1881, to Miss Sarah F. Coons, a native of Kentucky, and three children have blessed the union. Stanly went to Tampico, Mexico, and established a machine shop and boat-building plant, with which he has been very successful; Ethel married Samuel Gurnsey, and has one daughter, Francisca; while the younger child is Louise. The family attend the First Christian Church. Mr. Dillman belongs to the Modern Woodmen.
WILLIAM HENRY BARTLETT
An experienced and successful rancher and orange grower, who has always taken a deep interest in every rational movement to advance the best and most permanent interests of Pomona Valley, and has never failed to contribute such assistance and cooperation as he could, is William Henry Bartlett, who was born in Cheshire County, N. H., on February 4, 1839. He grew up on a farm and attended the country schools; and in 1854, when he was fifteen years old, he accompanied the family to Iowa, locating first in Clinton and later in Scott County.
Those were pioneer days for that state, when the country was sparsely settled and men had to work hard, early and late, and undergo much not altogether agreeable or easy to bear; and yet Mr. Bartlett, who later dealt in grain, cattle and hogs, all of which he raised in abundance and shipped in carload lots, became a prominent farmer and prospered so well that he remained in the state for thirty-eight years. He was a member of the Grange at Round Grove, Scott County.
After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett settled in Victor, Iowa, in 1881, where they farmed for thirteen years, after which one year was spent in Nebraska. Then, in February, 1894, they arrived in Pomona, and Mr. Bartlett, in partnership with his brothers, C. H. Bartlett, now deceased, and H. E. Bartlett, bought twenty-six acres of land in the Claremont section on East Cucamonga Avenue, and this they planted and developed into a fine orange orchard. Later they bought forty acres of unimproved land near Upland, which they planted to oranges and lemons ; H. E. Bartlett withdrew from the com- pany and took twenty acres of the Upland ranch as his portion of the property ; and at the death of C. H. Bartlett the rest of the property was divided, W. H. Bartlett retaining the twenty-six acre ranch on East Cucamonga Avenue, which he still owns. His home place, a fine
W.36 Bartlett
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example of residential property, at 350 East Holt Avenue, and ex- tending through to Center Street, has been the family seat for many years; it is well improved with flowers, shade and ornamental trees and a few orange trees.
On February 23, 1881, at Durant, Iowa, Mr. Bartlett was mar- ried to Miss Virtura A. Emery, a native of Fairfield, Maine, but who was reared and educated in Iowa from the age of thirteen. She has been an able helpmate and is the mother of three sons, Harry L., William E., who served on the Pomona exemption board during the war, and Edward F., who was stationed at Camp Kearny for eight months. She is an active member of the Congregational Church and contributed to the efficiency of the Red Cross drives during the war. Now the sons are caring for the ranch and making their home there. For many years Mr. Bartlett served as a director in the El Camino Citrus Association of Claremont, and also of the Del Monte Water Company.
JEFFERSON M. HATHAWAY
A pioneer of California, and one of the very first to settle in this section of the state, Jefferson M. Hathaway during his life took an active part in the growth of Pomona from its very beginning and lived to see its remarkable development from barren stretches of sage and cactus to the garden spot of Southern California. He was born in Jefferson City, Mo., January 2, 1832, and when fifteen years old went to Lamar County, Texas. In 1853, with a brother and sister, he crossed the plains with ox teams to California ; they drove a band of cattle on the long journey, and for a short time located at El Monte, Los Angeles County. From there the young pioneer went to San Ber- nardino County and bought a ranch on Warm Creek, east of San Bernardino, and engaged in ranching. Here his marriage occurred, February 16, 1860, to Martha M. Russell, a native of Paris, Lamar County, Texas, and one year after his marriage he sold his ranch and went back to El Monte for three years; then to Rincon, San Bernar- dino County, where he bought 320 acres and farmed it for fifteen years, nine of which he served as justice of the peace.
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