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 36
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Pitching his tent at Downey, Mr. Martin bought fifty acres of land from the Governor, and farmed the same until 1867. Then he
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returned to El Monte and ran the old El Monte Tavern, although from 1868 to 1871 he raised bees in the San Dimas section. In 1871 he moved his 200 hives of bees to where Claremont now stands, and there took a preemption claim of 156 acres, and he was in the bee business there until 1884, when he sold out. This relation to the bee industry leads him sometimes to tell of an experience, in the Centennial Year, with a bear. Proverbially fond of honey, Bruin came down from the mountains and robbed him of eight stands of bees, eating honey, bees and all. About six weeks afterward Mr. Bear again visited him and robbed him of four stands more, bees and honey.
After selling out his ranch in 1884, Mr. Martin removed to Pomona and bought fifteen acres at the corner of Fifth and Towne avenues, and these he planted to deciduous fruits. Two years later he was elected one of the supervisors of Los Angeles County, running on the Democratic ticket against a strong Republican ticket, and he was the first and last supervisor to be elected who resided in the extreme end of the Pomona district. He served for four years, and during his term of office more bridges were built in the east end of the county than ever before, among them being the old El Monte wooden structure, half a mile long, and San Gabriel bridge. During his term also the County Court House was built in Los Angeles, and the County Farm on the Downey Tract was also started. The Supervisors bought 112 acres from the same person, Andy Ryan, paying $100 per acre ; houses were built and the land developed, and later more land was bought, and this was the first County Farm. Mr. Ryan is the same interesting character referred to by the pioneer, Harris Newmark, when he says in his "Sixty Years in Southern California : 1853-1913": "Andrew W. Ryan, a Kilkenny Irishman commonly called Andy, after footing it from Virginia City to Visalia, reached Los Angeles on horseback and found employment with Phineas Banning as one of his drivers. From 1876 to 1879, he was county assessor, later associating himself with the Los Angeles Water Company, until, in 1902, the city came into control of the system."
Mr. Martin also served for eight years as justice of the peace in the San José Township, when he resigned. He was a member of the school board of Pomona in the early eighties, and three times he ran for assemblyman in his district, and at one election, in a strong Republican district, was beaten by only seventeen votes. For two years he was street superintendent of Pomona, and for another two years he was a night watchman in Pomona, and since he never slept on the job, during that time not a house nor a store was broken into. Three months after he resigned, Gerard's Butcher Shop at the corner of West Second and Main streets, was burglarized, and the safe was stolen and taken to an empty lot west of the town and opened. In those early days, he shot wild duck and geese where Pomona now stands.
P. M. Jeaque
Minuir & League.
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Selling out his East Fifth Street ranch in 1896, Mr. Martin bought a home on Fifth Street, near town, where he lived a number of years, and took up the bee industry on a ranch where Claremont is now located. He recently sold his ranch in Antelope Valley, but he is still interested in bee culture.
Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Martin, and five are still living: Thomas C., Hugh, Robert A., and Maggie, now Mrs. Mark Piercy of El Monte, and Floretta Caroline, now Mrs. Ed- ward Ward of Pasadena. Mr. Martin is past master in the Lexington Lodge of Masons, No. 104, of El Monte, and with eight others organized Pomona Lodge No. 246, F. & A. M., in 1876, and he was their first master. He served five years and is now the only living charter member. The lodge held its meetings in the old Central School in a room rented from the Odd Fellows. He was also Scribe of the Royal Arch Masons and the Eastern Star.
ROBERT M. TEAGUE
Occupying a distinctive place in the history of the citrus industry of Southern California, Robert M. Teague has made an invaluable contribution to the fruit growers throughout the state through his many years of painstaking and skillful work in the propagation and improvement of nursery stock. He was born in Davis County, Iowa, on May 6, 1863, the son of Crawford Pinckney and Amanda (May) Teague, referred to in more detail in the sketch of D. C. Teague, an older brother of Robert, who was next to the youngest in a family of eight children ; he was brought to California by his parents across the great plains in a wagon drawn by horses, being six months en route.
Robert grew up at Santa Rosa and there attended school, sur- rounded by an environment peculiar to the Golden State and which undoubtedly appealed, and not in vain, to his every faculty. From a lad he learned farming as practiced in those days, driving the big teams in the grain fields, much of this work now being done by trac- tors. When seventeen years of age he came to San Dimas, in 1880, and with his father and brothers engaged in raising grain on the San José Rancho; all this time he was studying the soil and climate, so he was prepared, therefore, for the general awakening in 1889, just after the great "boom" here and took advantage of the conditions by embarking in the citrus nursery business, in which from the first he was unusually successful. In 1889 he purchased twenty acres of the San José tract on Cienega Avenue, where he raised nursery stock and also set out oranges for a grove of his own. Then in 1901 he pur- chased twenty-five acres on Bonita Avenue in San Dimas, then a hay field and with no water on the place. He secured water and piped it to the land and started a nursery on the place as well as
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setting out an orchard, with a border of palms, the consensus of opinion being that his grove presented the most beautiful appearance of any place in the district. He also purchased forty acres of bottom land, developing water on it and installing an electric pumping plant and this he set out to lemons, later selling this land but continuing the growing of trees in his nursery.
Mr. Teague now owns ninety acres on La Habra Heights, which he will devote to nursery stock and citrus orchards. In his nursery his stock includes oranges, lemons, pomelos and limes, as well as sub- tropical trees, such as avocados, Feijoas, Cherimoya and Jujubes. His experimenting in subtropical fruits has proven them a commercial suc- cess. He is preparing and setting out the whole of his La Habra Heights holdings in orchards and nursery, and in the budding of his nursery stock he takes buds from record trees only. His headquar- ters continues on his home place at San Dimas, the business now being conducted as the R. M. Teague Citrus Nursery. He is the owner of a half interest in the California Cultivator, published in Los Angeles, and at one time was a half owner of the Pacific Rural Press, but sold his interest in the publication in 1909. A firm believer in coopera- tion, he is a member of both the San Dimas Orange Growers Asso- ciation and the San Dimas Lemon Growers Association, believing it the only way to make a success of citrus culture.
Mr. Teague was one of the organizers of the California Associa- tion of Nurserymen, in which he has taken an active part. When bud selection started he saw the feasibility of it and that it meant better stock and naturally a greater success for the grower. With others he was instrumental in organizing a bud selection department of the association for the purpose of keeping records, thus having a reliable bud supply in all lines, and at the same time to standardize the varie- ties. He was at one time a member of the Pacific Coast Association of Nurserymen. So steadily fortunate was he in obtaining the de- sired results that he has remained an active leader in that field for thirty years, and year by year has built up such a trade that he had the largest citrus nursery in the world, employing from thirty to 150 men and during the season of 1912 shipping some 286,000 trees. One may imagine the mental labor alone involved when it is considered that quality and not quantity has always been one of the undeviating stan- dards of this dependable house, and that every tree is well tested before being disposed of to the patron. Mr. Teague's fondness for nature has, of course, been one of the fundamental reasons for the marked success he has made.
On November 29, 1892, at Pomona, Mr. Teague was united in marriage with Miss Minnie E. Cowan, a native of Thornton, Ind., the daughter of E. A. Cowan, a pioneer of Pomona. He had been married in Indiana to Sarah Turner, of whom he was bereaved
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when Mrs. Teague was only five years of age. Mr. Cowan removed to Mahomet, Champaign County, Ill., and in 1889 came to Pomona, where he resided until his death. Mrs. Teague, who was the only child of this union, was educated in the public schools of Indiana. Gifted and gracious, she has proven a real helpmate, taking the keenest interest with her husband in the many problems he has met and mas- tered, and so sharing with him the credit for the splendid results. She is very popular in social circles and is a member of the Wednesday Afternoon Club of San Dimas, and has taken an active part in the work of the Red Cross.
Mr. Teague is a member of the Los Angeles Chamber of Com- merce, the Pomona Lodge of Elks and the Los Angeles Athletic Club. It is readily seen that the careful work and experimenting that he has accomplished during his years of raising nursery stock has been of the greatest importance to fruit growers. His honest, straightforward policy of allowing none but the best and most perfectly budded trees to be sold and shipped has been the means of raising the standard and quality of fruit grown, to the great satisfaction of his patrons. His reliability and integrity is unquestioned and it is the consensus of opinion that when "Bob" Teague, as he is familiarly called by his many friends, says a thing is so, it is so, and in any transaction his word is as good as his bond. It is to men of his type that Southern California owes much of its greatness, for by his research and careful work in the line of the propagation of trees he has been the means of contributing a great share to the abundance of wealth of its peoples.
. JAMES M. MITCHELL
Few if any pioneers have left behind them, on closing the book of life, a more enviable record than the late James M. Mitchell, for his clearly-cut ideal was to serve others besides himself, and in his laudable ambition he reached his goal. He was born in Franklin County, Ohio, November 1, 1835, a son of John Mitchell, a native of Ireland of Scotch parents. When James M. was five years old the family removed from Ohio and settled at Cumberland, Ill., and there the lad grew up and attended the country schools, while he worked on the farm with his father. Later he became a farmer on his own responsibility, and raised cattle and hogs with success. In 1853 he returned to Ohio with the family and there he owned a farm of 200 acres.
In .1869 Mr. Mitchell took a trip to California but, although much pleased with what he saw here, went back to Ohio and farmed until 1874. Once more he visited this state and for ten years had a dairy ranch near Los Angeles. Ohio again drew him to her borders and he farmed there for three years, then gave his 200-acre farm to
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the Ohio Wesleyan College at Delaware, for which he received an annuity of four per cent. for the rest of his life. On coming to Cali- fornia in 1877 to remain, Mr. Mitchell located at Pomona, and here for many years followed orange growing. He owned sixty-nine acres of Navel and Valencia oranges, all developed by himself, and was well and widely known as an authority on citrus culture. He was also inter- ested in a marmalade factory, and was one of the incorporators of the Pomona Sanitary Laundry. He also owned valuable real estate here.
Mr. Mitchell was first married in 1860 to Miss Anna Phillips, now deceased. In 1904 he was again married, this time to Mrs. Anna Lindsay, a native of lowa. She was the mother of four children by her first husband. Mr. Mitchell was a member of the Methodist Church and for forty years was a class leader, and he filled other offices in the church. He was active in the prohibition movement and all other movements for the general good in the county and state. He died, mourned by a large circle of friends, in 1908.
LEWIS C. MEREDITH
A far-seeing, experienced pioneer rancher who helped convert the barley fields of the San José tract, a part of the old San José Rancho, into the blooming orchards of oranges and lemons of today, is Lewis C. Meredith, a pleasant and affable Quaker gentleman who was born on a farm in Wayne County, Ind., September 17, 1847, the son of James and Mary (Malsby) Meredith, both of whom are now de- ceased. The father was born in Chester, Pa., and the mother in Maryland and they moved westward and became pioneer farmers in Indiana. They were the parents of three boys and two girls and Lewis C. was the third child and he is the only son now living. He has two sisters now living, Mrs. Margaret M. Samuels of La Verne and Mrs. Lydia Russell of Oneida, Kansas.
Lewis was seven years of age when his parents moved to Jay County, Ind., where he received a good education in the public schools. From a boy he had assisted on the home farm, so after his school days were over, he continued to be of much assistance to his father until 1870, when he decided to go West, his first location being on a farm in Mills County, lowa, where he was successfully engaged in husbandry until 1877. He then moved still farther west, locating in Nemaha County, Kans., where he also followed farming for a period of ten years. In both states he was a pioneer at farming and helped break the paths of civilization.
In the fall of 1877, when the Coast was agog with the sudden development of California and Easterners were pouring in on every train, Mr. Meredith decided to come to the Golden State. He located at San Dimas and bought property. When he came here his intention
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Levio . b. Meredith
Grace &. Meredith
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was to retire, and without a thought of going into horticulture, but after building a residence, he purchased six acres in the San José tract, paying $200 an acre. It was raw land when he started improvements, set it out to oranges and lemons and prepared to cultivate and care for them. He made a success and soon after bought twenty-seven acres at $100 per acre. This was also raw land, but Mr. Meredith, nothing daunted, cleared and leveled it. He saw the value and great need of water, sunk a well and obtained a good flow of water and installed an electric pumping plant; this enabled him to grow a splendid orchard, now all full-bearing Navel and Valencia oranges, and lemons. His ranch with its comfortable modern residence is beautifully located on Bonita and Grand avenues. Believing in cooperation, he was one of the original members of the San Dimas Orange Growers Association, as well as the San Dimas Lemon Growers Association, having served as a director in both. He is a stockholder in the First National Bank of San Dimas and is one of the original stockholders and directors of the American National Bank of Pomona. Aside from his activity in horticulture in Southern California, Mr. Meredith set out and im- proved a twenty-acre orange ranch in Edison, Kern County, which he still owns.
In Jay County, Ind., on March 4, 1875, occurred the first mar- riage of Mr. Meredith, when he took for his wife Miss Amanda Griest, of whom he was bereaved January 20, 1910. After remain- ing a widower for six years, he was again married, February 12, 1916, the ceremony occurring at Los Angeles, where he united with Miss Grace E. Swerdfeger, a native of Brown County, Kans., and a daugh- ter of Charles and Eliza (Spencer) Swerdfeger, born in Canada and Indiana, respectively, who became pioneer settlers in Brown County, Kans., where they aided in developing that country, emerging from its early ups and downs of droughts and grasshoppers to well-to-do farmers and stock raisers. Mrs. Meredith came to Pomona in 1895 and graduated at the Pomona High School and the Los Angeles State Normal, after which she attended the University of California at Berkeley. She then engaged in educational work, following the pro- fession of teaching for twelve years. A cultured and refined woman, possessing much business ability, she encourages her husband in his horticultural and business enterprises. Two lovely daughters, twins, have blessed this latter union and they bear the names of Mary Louise and Lois Elizabeth.
Mr. Meredith is a member of the Society of Friends, but is broad and liberal in his views. There being no church of his denon- ination in the neighborhood, with his wife he attends the Methodist Episcopal Church of La Verne, of which she is a member. Mr. Mere- dith is a Republican and an Elk, being a member of Pomona Lodge No. 789. Being very optimistic for the future greatness and possi-
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bilities of the soil and climate of this section, he has always had a live interest in both the progress of Pomona Valley and the preserva- tion of its historical annals.
JAMES ARNOLD BLAISDELL, D. D.
California may well be proud of the caliber and inspiring ideals of so many of the educators attracted to her rapidly-expanding com- monwealth, and few of such builders of the great American Republic deserve more prominent mention than James Arnold Blaisdell, D. D., the scholarly and aggressive President of Pomona College. He was born at Beloit, Wis., on December 15, 1867, the son of James Joshua Blaisdell, born in Caanan, N. H., a graduate of Dartmouth in 1846, for forty years professor of philosophy in Beloit College-that insti- tution of learning so influential in the development of Wisconsin society and, therefore, an effective, splendid memorial to its founders, among whom, it may be remembered, was the self-denying missionary, the Rev. Aratus Kent, who once begged to be sent to a field of labor "so hard that no one else would like it." Mrs. Blaisdell was Susan Ann Allen before her marriage, a native of New Hampshire, a graduate of Mt. Holyoke Seminary in the class of 1847, a pupil of Mary Lyon. She survives her husband and makes her home with President Blaisdell.
Having been graduated from Beloit College in 1889 with the degree of B. A., Mr. Blaisdell entered the Hartford (Conn.) Theo- logical Seminary, where he pursued his theological studies from 1889 until 1892, when he was ordained a minister of the Congregational Church, receiving in the same year from Beloit College the additional Master of Arts degree. On December 29 of that year, also, he was married at Beloit to Miss Florence Lena Carrier, of that city and a graduate of the Mt. Holyoke (Mass.) Seminary, in the class of '92. From 1892 until 1896, Rev. Mr. Blaisdell was pastor of the Congre- gational Church at Waukesha, Wis., while from 1896 to 1903 he was in charge of similar work at Olivet, Mich., the seat of Olivet College. Returning to his native city and his Alma Mater in 1903, he spent the next seven years as professor of Biblical literature and ancient Oriental history in Beloit College; and in 1910 came West to Claremont as the leader of the faculty of Pomona College.
Since his advent in California Doctor Blaisdell has participated more and more in the intellectual and educational life of the state, and especially of Pomona and the Valley, and through his professional work, his addresses and contributions to the advanced press has steadily built up a reputation of much value to the aspiring institution com- mitted to his guidance. Four children-J. Brooks, Paul C., Allen C. and Florence Barbara Blaisdell-have one by one added to the life of the president's family circle, and both Doctor and Mrs. Blaisdell
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have been untiring in their efforts to elevate both the standards of young Christian manhood and of decent American citizenship, so that during the recent crisis of the Nation, no one was ever in doubt as to the attitude and the activity of Pomona College, its trustees, instruc- tors and students in the great work of supporting the government in all its war programs. During the war he was sent abroad by the Con- gregational Churches on a tour of investigation of conditions in Japan, particularly in regard to educational values. He had the privilege during the war of traveling all over Japan and of addressing audi- ences, universities and other assemblies in regard to America's attitude toward the war. He also visited Korea and China. After four months spent abroad he returned home, and since that time has been in con- tinual demand for addresses regarding the situation in the Far East.
In 1910, the year when Professor Blaisdell was made President of Pomona College, Beloit College, in recognition of his accumulating scholarship during years of epoch-making work for the advancement of truth and the assurance of a better humanity, conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity; nor would anyone, familiar with the personality, the accomplishments and the influence of this zealous rep- resentative citizen, who has done so much to extend the fame of Po- mona, deem the honor otherwise than worthily and wisely bestowed.
RICHARD BARRETT WHEELAN
The memory of those who have so lived that they have blessed the world by their living, their work and their striving, is always held dear by all who know the source of such blessings, and this is certainly true in the case of the late R. B. Wheelan, who was born at St. Louis, Mo., on August 4, 1858, and reared in Pike County, Ill. Later he removed to Hume, Bates County, Mo., where he lived on a farm.
In 1885 Mr. Wheelan first came West to California, and fortu- nately cast his lines in the pleasant waters of Pomona, securing work with the Pomona Land and Water Company. Next he moved to Los Angeles, where he was first a motorman, and then a conductor, on the Los Angeles Electric Railway. After six years' service with that company, he bought an orange grove of twenty acres at San Dimas, and there he erected a home. Later, he came back to Pomona and established here a wholesale and retail cigar business. He became very popular, made many friends, was always willing to help anyone in distress, and prospered as the result of his large-heartedness, fidelity and enterprise. When he sold out his business, he bought a brick block in Pomona, which he later traded for a ranch of 100 acres six miles southeast of Chino.
At Butler, Bates County, Mo., on July 27, 1881, Mr. Wheelan married Miss Julia Fender, a native of North Carolina and the daughter of John A. and Malinda Fender. Two children blessed
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their union, Ethel H. Wheelan and Hattie L., wife of L. W. Seney. On March 28, 1912, Mr. Wheelan died, mourned by many circles and especially by his fellow members in the Pomona Elks, the Odd Fellows, the Foresters, the Loyal Order of Moose and the Fraternal Brotherhood. Mrs. Wheelan is a popular member of the Women of Woodcraft, the Fraternal Brotherhood and the Fraternal Aid, where her charming personality is highly appreciated.
After the lamented death of her husband, Mrs. Wheelan was afforded an excellent opportunity to display her unusual business ability, and in 1912 she took the apartment house at 145 East Pearl Street, which she owns and conducts, while she resides in a pretty, modern bungalow in the rear.
ELMER STRALEY
An expert rancher especially well-versed in orange culture is Elmer Straley, who was born in Fayette County, Ohio, on April 12, 1861. In time he removed to Van Wert County in the same state and located at the town of Van Wert, thirty miles east of Fort Wayne, where he engaged in the manufacture of drain-tiling, for which he employed from nine to thirty-four men. He put in thousands of miles of drain pipe in the state and built up a reputation for quality that was capital itself. At the same time he followed grain farming on his farm of eighty acres, and he also was manager of a farm of 160 acres near by.
In 1894, Mr. Straley came out to California and was fortunate in choosing Pomona for his home and new field of operations. For the first two years he picked oranges, in the employ of others; and later he contracted to pick the fruit, making up his own crew of from thirteen to twenty men. This line of activity he followed for fifteen years or more, and during that time he hauled over a million boxes to the packing houses.
Mr. Straley bought his present ranch of ten acres, at the corner of North Garey and Cucamonga avenues, in North Pomona, in 1899, and set the land out to seedling stock which he budded to Navels and Valencias, devoting half of the acreage to each. He also, little by little, assumed charge of the development of other orchards in the district. His crop in 1919 made up 4,000 picked boxes. He also owns a ten-acre ranch of Navel oranges in the San Dimas district. More than that, being well versed in orange culture, he has bought and sold a number of good orange groves. He is a member and stockholder in the Pomona Fruit Exchange.
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