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 33
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About 1890, Mr. Armour bought the little drug business of the late William C. Hamner, who had a small wooden building for his business where the George & Harris hardware store now stands. From the day Mr. Armour took control, he prospered; for early and late he was at his business, he put his whole thought and zeal into his enterprise, he knew no weariness, and he was always genial and courteous. About two years later he moved into the new Union Block,
88. amour
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for his business had gone forward by leaps and bounds, and there he was in business for over twenty years. He was always successful, for a man of his character and temperament could not help advancing and prospering in any field. He was wrapped up in Pomona, her interests were his interests and he gave liberally of his time and means to further every project that had for its object the advancement of the business, social and educational growth of the entire Valley. He was one of the organizers of the Home Builders Loan Association of Pomona, was elected its first president and continued in office until he died. He was a prominent Odd Fellow, Knight of Pythias and held membership in several other fraternal orders. In the passing of E. E. Armour, therefore, Pomona lost a citizen of peculiar and unde- niable worth. "He was," as the Pomona Review said of him "honest, upright, prudent, loyal and wise. He has been in every movement for the betterment of his town and State. He has been a liberal and charitable giver, a man of good deeds and steadfast purpose. He was a true friend, quiet and domestic in his tastes, of strict integrity and strong patriotism." In politics he was a Republican.
On December 11, 1881, E. E. Armour was united in marriage with Miss Cora Myers, daughter of Henry and Louisa (Boardman) Myers, and they had two children born to them: Harry Willard, born at Chagrin Falls, Ohio, who attended Pomona College and graduated from the University of California, Department of Phar- macy, where he also did post-graduate work later. He continues the business established by his father in Pomona; he married- Sue Wheelock and they have a son Richard Willard Armour. The second son, John Lester, was born in Pomona, attended Pomona College, went to Pennsylvania, where he graduated from the University of Penn- sylvania as an architect, and also received his Bachelor of Science degree. When war was declared against Germany he enlisted in June, 1917, having spent three months-from April until June-under government direction studying in the ordnance department, in which he later was commissioned first lieutenant and served one year in France with the United States forces.
JOHN WEBER
With the passing years the ranks of the California pioneers are being rapidly depleted, but the inestimable service rendered to succeed- ing generations entitle them to the honorable place accorded them in the annals of history and in the hearts and minds of their successors.
Among the pioneers of Pomona Valley, the late John Weber is worthy of special mention. He was born in Clinton County, Ill., June 14, 1855, and reared on the farm and secured his early education in the neighboring district schools. Later he attended Westland College,
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at Warrington, Mo., and for eight years taught school in his native state. He came to Pomona November 15, 1887, and purchased the Pomona Soda Works, supplementing the business with an agency for the Pomona Ice Company. For two years Frank Martin was his partner. Later Mr. Weber ran the business alone for a number of years, at 150 Main Street, and finally disposed of the works and retired.
In 1880 he was united in marriage with Elizabeth Koob, a native of Clinton County, Ill., and six children were born of their union. Philip H. graduated from the Pomona High School and Cooper Medical College at San Francisco. He is a practicing physician of Oakland, Cal., and married Miss Ruby Hughes of San Francisco. Fraternally he is a Mason and an Elk. Edna is the wife of L. H. Browning, and the mother of three sons. Bertha is a talented musician. She graduated from the Pomona High School, attended Pomona College and the University of Southern California, studied organ under Prof. W. F. Skeele of Los Angeles and Professor Butler of Pomona College and was organist at Trinity Methodist Church, Pomona, for six years. She is a composer of music and an artist on the pipe organ. At present she is teaching music at Giant, Cal. John R. is a graduate of Pomona High School and of the University of Southern California Law School. He did newspaper work in Fresno, and enlisted in the war from Fresno. He was sent to Camp Kearny, joined the Fourth Division, and was attached to the One Hundred Fifty-seventh Ambulance Company and the One Hundred Fifteenth Sanitary Train, stationed at Toul, France. He reenlisted and is now at Coblenz. Frances, a graduate from the Pomona High School, is in the employ of the Southern Pacific in San Francisco. Olive L. died at the age of eighteen.
Mrs. Weber is prominent in Pomona social and fraternal circles and is a member of the Ebell Club and associated with several frater- nities. Mr. Weber died September 13, 1912. He was a man of fine education, kind and genial in his disposition, an upright and pro- gressive citizen and had many warm friends.
FRANK L. PALMER
A well-trained, practical orange grower, familiar with the latest scientific methods in advanced agriculture, and highly favored through a valuable experience in positions of responsibility, is Frank L. Palmer, who was born in Stonington, New London County, Conn., on March 31, 1852. When only seventeen he came west to California, and for thirteen years was a resident of Oakland. He was long attached to the United States Surveyor-General's office, and was also secretary of a large corporation in San Francisco.
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Having made a reputation for good judgment and exceptional executive ability, Mr. Palmer came to Pomona in 1883 as the secretary and treasurer of the Pomona Land and Water Company, an enter- prising concern that had just been formed; and that position he held, representing the business end of the company, until 1891, when he resigned to take the management of the Seth Richards Ranch in North Pomona, and here he grew and brought up to a profitable bearing age a grove of 25,000 orange trees and maintained that grove in profit- able condition for more than twenty years. When it became desirable for the executor of the Richards Estate to dispose of this property, Mr. Palmer organized a company known as the Richards Orange Grove Company, purchased the property and then began its subdivision into smaller parcels. His associates in business were D. C. Crook- shank, F. L. Somers, H. J. Nichols and A. P. Nichols, and they are among the largest growers of oranges in the Valley.
Besides sharing in this responsible undertaking, Mr. Palmer is a director in various irrigating companies in the district, associated with the Pomona Land and Water Company. He is also vice-president and director of the Indian Hill Citrus Association of North Pomona. He has his own orange groves in the Valley, and has personal interests in Tulare County.
While at Oakland, in 1879, Mr. Palmer married Martha L. Belcher, a daughter of Frederick P. Belcher, born in San Francisco and a descendant of an early pioneer family that crossed the great plains in the still more strenuous days of '49. Five children have blessed the fortunate union; Franklin C. being the eldest, succeeded by Frederick B., Donald Day, Roger Sherman and Gertrude, who served in France, active in base hospital work. The last three are graduates of Pomona College, of which thorough institution Mr. Palmer was trustee for a number of years. He is a charter member of the Pilgrim Congregational Church of Pomona, although at present a member of the Congregational Church of Claremont.
MRS. ELLEN D. WESTERMAN
One of the pioneer educators and for many years principal of Lincoln School, Mrs. Ellen D. Westerman is well and favorably known in Pomona. She is a native of La Crosse County, Wis., where she was educated in the public schools, and taught school in La Crosse for three years.
When she came to Pomona, in December, 1887, she was Mrs. Ellen D. Kibbee, a widow. She began teaching in the public schools of Pomona in September, 1888, and has served under every city super- intendent of schools since. She has been a grade teacher in the Tenth Street, the Central and Kauffman schools, and has been principal of
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Lincoln School since 1909. Four years after coming to Pomona she married H. B. Westerman, pioneer attorney of Pomona, of the firm of Westerman & Broughton. He was a native of Texas, and when a small child crossed the plains to California with his parents. After completing his schooling he studied law in the San Francisco School of Law, and came to Pomona in the early days, where he practiced for years. He was a prominent Mason, and died in 1894.
Mrs. Westerman's only child by her first husband is now Mrs. Marjorie K. Deay of San Bernardino County, and the mother of two children, Dudley and Doris by name. By her second husband, one daughter, Dorothy Estelle Westerman, was born; she died when twenty-one, on January 1, 1915.
Mrs. Westerman is a member of and secretary of Pomona Chapter No. 110, O. E. S., is a member of the Episcopal Church, and is active in Red Cross work.
JOHN E. ADAMSON
A thrifty citizen of Pomona who has always felt a deep interest in and affection for the thriving town ever since he came here to settle in the late eighties, is John E. Adamson, the experienced orchardist in charge of the Lemon House at the Pomona Fruit Growers' Exchange. He was born near Guelph, Ontario, Canada, on December 31, 1867, the son of Thomas Adamson, the brick manufacturer. His wife was Lydia Shepherd before her marriage, like himself of English nation- ality; and both are now deceased. There were nine children in the family, and John is the youngest of the two boys. He began his educa- tion in the excellent public schools of Canada, and later studied assidu- ously privately. He first took a course in mechanical engineering, then in electrical, and later studied hydraulic work. Coming to Pomona in 1888, he has always considered it his home, although his professional work frequently took him far away.
Mr. Adamson was engineer for the San Antonio Power Com- pany in 1894, then worked for the San Diego Electrical Railroad Company, beginning with 1896, and the San Diego Land and Town Company in 1899. In 1901 he returned to Pomona as engineer for the Del Monte Irrigation Company, with which concern he continued for five years.
In 1906, satisfied that he had worked long enough for the devel- opment of other people's interests, Mr. Adamson decided to give all of his time in the future to the improving of his own groves; and being splendidly fortified through study and practical experiment, has been able to bring his holdings to a high state of cultivation, and to make of his ranch properties show places worthy of the great show county. This reputation for experience and success and a live interest in the
John E. adamson
John
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progress of California has naturally brought about a demand for Mr. Adamson's services in the Chamber of Commerce ; nor has he failed to give his heartiest cooperation there.
In Pomona on July 11, 1892, Mr. Adamson was married to Miss Margaret W. Reid; and three children have blessed their union. John Edgar was in the United States Medical Corps at the Presidio Base Hospital; Helen Frances is attending the high school; and Dorothy R. is in the Junior high school. Mr. Adamson is non-denominational, but he and his family seek to support all Christian endeavor.
In national politics a Republican, Mr. Adamson seeks to make civic duty something above partisanship. He served two terms as a member of the Pomona School Board, and he has been president of Orange Grove Tract Water Company since 1907. Fond of both fish- ing and mountain climbing, Mr. Adamson favors the cultivation in our popular education of "a sound mind in a sound body."
MRS. SYLVIA LUCILE POWERS MANLEY
The American people proudly boast that the public school is the cradle of their free institutions, but it is to the pedagogue who rocks that cradle that credit must be given for the potent influence in shaping the future of American manhood and womanhood.
Among the pioneer teachers in Los Angeles County, Mrs. Sylvia L. Powers Manley is a worthy representative, for she has taught in the public schools of Pomona for twenty-three years. She is a native of Green Lake County, Wis., and is of Scotch lineage. Her father, Dr. James MacNish, was a physician who came from Philadelphia via Fort Dearborn, now Chicago, to Wisconsin in pioneer days, crossing the country by ox team, and was one of the first medical practitioners in Wisconsin. He took up land upon which the town of Geneva now stands. His father before him was a physician and surgeon in the old country. Mrs. Manley was educated in the public schools of Berlin, Wis., graduated from the high school and took a three years' course in the Berlin, Wis., Normal School. She taught in the high school of Bay View district in Milwaukee, and also in the high school at Omro, Wis.
She was been twice married. Her first husband, S. W. Powers, was a native of Ohio, who located at Kearney, Nebr., where he was general stock agent for the Union Pacific Railroad. He was killed in a railroad accident in 1887. He was the father of her three sons, James McNish Powers, deceased, who founded the Powers Shoe Com- pany of Pomona, and who left a wife and two children, Marlyn and Maxine; Sihon W. Powers, who attended Pomona College and is now associated with the Santa Barbara Daily News; and Walter F., who is manager of that publication.
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Mrs. Manley was a widow when she came to California, in 1890. In 1891-92 she taught school in Ontario, San Bernardino County, and in 1893 came to Pomona, where she taught school until June, 1915, and left a record to be proud of. She was principal of four different schools at Pomona, and has served under all of Pomona's school superintendents except the first one. She made a specialty of physiology and history. She was a deaconess of the Congregational Church for a number of years, and for ten years was treasurer of the Pomona Chapter of Eastern Star. She is a member of the Ebell Club and takes an active interest in educational matters and in all affairs per- taining to the welfare of Pomona, where she has many stanch and warm friends.
SAMUEL SANDERS BECK
Among the newer population being formed in the state, it is becoming more and more of a rarity to find a family descended from the old Argonauts of the "days of '49"; that interesting and romantic period in the state's history when men and women braved the perils and hardships of the long journey to the land of their dreams. Some realized their visions; others settled down to the more prosaic callings of agriculture and business, and these were the real builders of the state, who laid the foundation for its present ranking as one of the richest in the Union.
Samuel S. Beck is the representative of one such family. Born in San Francisco, July 29, 1861, his father, Nathaniel A., came around the Horn in a sailing vessel, in '49, from Boston, Mass., and followed mining for a time, later engaging in the tanning business in San Fran- cisco. His mother, Elizabeth Field before her marriage, crossed the plains to California in 1847, and here their marriage occurred, a young couple starting in life in a new and totaly different surrounding from that of their rearing in the older cities. Samuel S. was educated in the public schools of San Francisco, attending the Lincoln Grammar School. He later came south to Porterville, Tulare County, and there followed the mercantile business for three years. He then went to San Bernardino, and there followed his trade of painter, which he had learned in San Francisco and worked at in his native city for a time.
From San Bernardino, Mr. Beck came to Pomona, in 1887, and worked for the Oakes Brothers, painting contractors, and later engaged in painting contracting for himself, and for a number of years he did practically all of that sort of work done in Pomona, employing from twenty-two to twenty-five men. He contracted for the painting of the First National Bank Building, and many of the fine homes and build- ings in the city and surrounding territory. In Claremont, he secured the contract for the painting of the Pomona College buildings.
Since 1905 Mr. Beck has been engaged in sign painting in
Who and What
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Pomona, doing everything in that line of work, including window lettering, store signs and banner illustrations.
The marriage of Mr. Beck united him with Miss Naomi Witfield, a native of England, and they reside in the home which Mr. Beck erected on North Gordon Avenue, where he also owns five building lots. Fraternally, Mr. Beck is a member of the Foresters and of the Pomona Lodge, No. 789, B. P. O. Elks. A man of substantial aims and sound business judgment, he has matured two series of shares in the Mutual Building and Loan Association, considering this system of investment both safe and profitable and worthy of support. Mr. Beck is one of Pomona's most loyal citizens, and in his estimation the Valley is unsurpassed as a place of residence, providing as it does both an ideal climate and home surroundings, and with progressive and enterprising business establishments to form a nucleus for the fertile Valley. He is public spirited and takes pride in furthering the upbuilding of this section of his native state.
JOHN HENRY LEE
In nothing more perhaps, and with swifter strides, has Cali- fornia come to the front than in the science of horticulture, for which rapid advancement and definite accomplishment it must thank, among others, John Henry Lee, the well-known fruit grower of San Dimas, who takes pride in the fact that he is a native son of the Golden State and who has always proved his loyalty to the land of his birth. He was born in Blucher Valley, Sonoma County, on November 20, 1852, the son of William G. and Alethea A. (Ross) Lee, both natives of Ohio and early settlers of Oskaloosa, Iowa. They came across the plains in 1849, the glorious year of the Argonauts, traveling slowly by ox teams, and once in the Promised Land, settled at Placerville. Later they went to Sonoma County, and for a while they underwent all the gripping experiences, hard times, privations and suffering of the '49ers.
Mr. and Mrs. Lee were the parents of ten children, among whom John Henry was the eighth in order of birth. The lad attended the public school in Bloomfield for a while, but having to go to work early he learned the printer's trade on the Salinas Standard, beginning at the early age of fifteen, and he assisted in getting- out the first edition of the first paper published at Salinas. He also worked at Bakers- field in 1871 on the Southern Californian, now the Californian, and wherever he followed his trade he won a reputation for thorough and superior work. He next started the Kern County Record at Bakers- field, which he edited and published until 1883, when he sold out to the Bakersfield Gazette. When he came to Pomona Valley in 1883 he established the Pomona Courier, a live newspaper of its time.
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Later it was merged with the Times and published as the Pomona Times-Courier and Mr. Lee was connected with its publication for thirteen years. He was then engaged in the real estate business for a period of five years and for twelve years was city recorder of Po- mona. He has always been a tireless and uncompromising worker for the cause of temperance and as city recorder or police judge he had some of the most bitter trials in connection with the illicit sale of liquor, in all of which he was true to his oath of office and the decisions he rendered were the means of ousting those engaged in the illegal . traffic. His record was that of a far-seeing, painstaking and strictly reliable official who believed that "public office is a public trust" and allowed nothing to interfere with his discharge of his duty as he saw it.
As the years went by Mr. Lee acquired valuable acreage in the heart of the city of San Dimas, and in the intervening period of nearly twenty years he has developed a fine orange grove. Although well known among the old-timers of Pomona, and enjoying many ties such as would naturally bind him to the city, these San Dimas interests led him, about 1911, to remove to that growing city; and with its affairs he bids fair to be more and more associated in an important way.
In 1874, at Bakersfield, Mr. Lee was married to Miss Belle Gage, a native of Stockton and the daughter of Orris Charles and Ann Eliza (Farner) Gage, born in Kentucky, who were pioneers of Stockton, where the mother died. The father afterwards removed to Kern County and passed away at Kernville. The youngest of a family of four children, Mrs. Lee was educated at Stockton and Modesto, and when seventeen years of age she came to Bakersfield, where she met and married Mr. Lee. Mr. and Mrs. Lee are the parents of four daughters : Mrs. Ora Mills of Lawndale, Mrs. Winnie John- son, Mrs. Hazel Williams, and Mrs. Gretta Foresman of Los An- geles. One of the agreeable rewards of so many years of strenuous activity is the high esteem in which Mr. and Mrs. Lee and their family are held.
CAPT. FRANKLIN COGSWELL
It is true that when an individual is endowed by nature with the valuable traits of determination and perseverance their success in life is usually a foregone conclusion. These characteristics were dominant in the character of the late Franklin Cogswell, veteran of the Civil War and pioneer of Pomona Valley. He was born in Connecticut, November 14, 1838, and brought up in his native state. He served with the Thirteenth Connecticut Regiment throughout the Civil War with distinction and was advanced to the rank of captain. After the war closed he saved up $3000, with which he went South, bought mules and hired eight negroes, intending to raise cotton. The negroes died
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of cholera and he lost all of his money in the venture, having nothing left of value but his shotgun.
His brother and father came to California in 1854 via Cape Horn and located in Lake County. Franklin wrote them of his misfortune and the brother sent him money with which he joined them in Lake County. After spending six months there he located at Sacramento and taught school for eleven months. With the money thus saved he went to Montana and invested in a band of sheep, but ill-fortune still pursued him, and in three months' time he lost all of the sheep by death. He realized $300 from the wool that he picked from the dead sheep, and with this money came to Pomona Valley in 1874. Despite the reverses that he had experienced, he was determined to succeed, and perseverance and determination won the day. He passed through the Valley to Chino ( and once remarked that he would not have given fifty cents per acre for the land at that time), and engaged in sheep raising .. This time he met with success. In the early days there were few houses in the Valley and they were far apart, and he herded his sheep all over the Valley. From that time he prospered and increased in store. After a few years he sold his sheep and located in Pomona, where he became a stockholder in the First National Bank, of which he was also director. In the meantime, he bought thirteen acres of land south of Pomona, which he planted to alfalfa and later set to walnuts. This was the family home for more than twenty-five years, or until the children were ready to enter Pomona College, when he sold this property and moved to Claremont, where he built a home and passed the rest of his days in retirement from the active duties of life.
He was married in Pomona, March 24, 1886, to Miss Mary Florena Vultee, a native of New York, who came to California in 1885. Two children were born of their union, a son and a daughter. Theresa, a very talented young woman, graduated from the Pomona High School and from Pomona College, after which she attended the Emerson College of Oratory, Boston, Mass., and was teacher of read- ing and dramatics in the Los Angeles Normal School for three years. During the World War she went to Camp Kearny in Y. M. C. A. work, and later went to France as a canteen worker in the Y. M. C. A .; still later, she was with the Army of Occupation in Germany. The only son, Franklin, Jr., attended the Pomona High School and is a graduate of Pomona College, supplementing this with a business course in Harvard College. He entered the One Hundred Forty-fourth Field Artillery at San Francisco and was with them at Camp Kearny. Later he was transferred to Battery E, Seventh Field Artillery, U. S. A., and sent to France in June, 1918. He took part in the late battles of the war, was at the front in active service up to the close of the war, then became a member of the Army of Occupation in Germany. After his discharge, in Germany, he engaged in Y. M. C. A. work there, where he now is.
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