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 39
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Thomas A. Williams was reared in Pomona and educated in Los Angeles, and for a time worked on ranches, and was foreman of the I. W. Lord ranch at Cucamonga. Like his father, however, he was a natural builder and learned that trade in all its branches, from the blueprints up, under his father. A natural architect and designer, he has met with remarkable success and has drawn the plans and designed some of the most artistic homes in the Valley. In 1906 he started his contracting business and there is hardly a street in Pomona that he has not erected a fine home on. He built all the artistic residences in the Kenoak tract, the finest residence section of Pomona; among them are the Fred H. Baringer residence; Paul Higgs home; John I. Yeend; and Mr. Williams' own beautiful resi- dence, one of the finest in the city. Besides his local work, Mr. Wil- liams has built sixteen fine residences in Redlands, nine in La Verne, and many in Uplands, San Dimas, Claremont, Anaheim, Rivera and Lankershim. He has erected twenty-four houses for himself in Po- mona, three of which are in the Kenoak tract. One outstanding fea-
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ture of his work is the fact that he will not contract to build a cheap home alongside of a fine residence, but is consistently a designer and builder of high-class homes, of distinct architecture, and in this respect has done much to make the residential section of Pomona one of the most beautiful in Southern California, the place renowned for its wonderful streets full of homes which compare with any in the world.
The marriage of Mr. Williams united him with Anna May Pal- lett, who was born in Rivera, Cal., a daughter of a pioneer of the state, James R. Pallett; he crossed the plains with ox teams in early days and located in Rivera, Los Angeles County, where he was a large landowner and walnut grower; he also owned a part of the land on which Long Beach now stands, and at one time ranched at Cuca- monga. His wife, Mary Whitfield before her marriage, was one of a family who were among the first settlers at Spadra. Mrs. Williams died, in Pomona, June 7, 1918, leaving three daughters : Helen, Lota ; and Violet, all natives of Pomona.
In fraternal organizations Mr. Williams is a member of Po- mona Camp No. 7425, M. W. A., and of Pomona Lodge No. 789, B. P. O. Elks. He is a member of the Pomona Security Company and is developing the Ganesha Park tract for the company. In the midst of his many business interests he has found time to take part in the social and fraternal life of the Valley, and in civic affairs has proven a man of worth to the community, interested in everything that makes for local reform, improvement and expansion.
JOSEPH L. COLVIN
To have lived a life of real experiences, full of good works for humanity in general and contentment in his lot on earth, Joseph L. Colvin has been an example of such endeavors in the communities in which he lived and his passing has left a vacancy in the ranks of Pomona's public-spirited men. He was a Kentuckian by birth, born in Covington, April 30, 1844, a son of John and Amelia E. (Newport) Colvin, of Quaker parentage on both sides, the father a lawyer in the Southern State, and a farmer in Illinois, whither he had moved about 1850. Joseph L. received his education in the public schools in Mt. Palatine, Ill., and graduated from the law department of Wesleyan University of Bloomington, Ill., in 1876.
Moving to Iroquois County, he farmed there for fifteen years, and also practiced law in the meantime. Always active in public af- fairs, he was a strong advocate of the temperance movement and was equally opposed to tobacco in any form. His marriage, which oc- curred in LaSalle County, December 27, 1882, united him with Miss Ada Bassett, a daughter of Barzilla Bassett, and they farmed in Iro- quois County ten years, and in 1893 came to Pomona Valley and here 20
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Mr. Colvin invested in ranch properties and became well known throughout the Valley for his interest in public affairs as an advocate for advancing the educational and moral life of the community, as well as its civic and financial progress. A Democrat in politics, he voted, however, for the man best suited for office, regardless of party affilia- tions, and he served on the jury in many cases, his law training causing him to frequently be chosen foreman of that body, and it was while serving in that capacity that he contracted a cold and died from the results.
During his many years of residence here Mr. Colvin passed through all the experiences of the early settlers, discouragements were numerous, but he stuck to his task and was successful in the end; a very companionable man and fond of young folks, he was popular in the community, and his death, occurring on Easter Sunday in 1912, was sincerely mourned by all who had come in contact with his fine character.
Since his death Mrs. Colvin has continued in her place in the com- munity life, where she is active in social affairs, and is also successfully carrying on the ranching activities, which comprise twenty acres in walnuts and ten acres in alfalfa, and is a member of the Walnut Grow- ers Association.
EDWY M. DAY
A pioneer citizen of Pomona Valley, who, during his more than a quarter century residence here, has contributed his share in the de- velopment of this section of the Golden State, is Edwy M. Day. He is a native of the Empire State, having first seen the light of day on January 28, 1851, in St. Lawrence County, N. Y.
At the age of thirteen he moved to Henry County, Ill., where he lived on a farm until 1868, when he migrated farther west, locating in Nemaha County, Nebr., where he followed farming and stock rais- ing. Having a desire to see more of the great West, especially the Golden State, Mr. Day came to Pomona, Cal., in 1891, where he pur- chased seventeen acres of land west of Chino; later he bought forty acres more. He improved and developed his Chino ranch and installed a pumping plant for irrigating his land, upon which he raised alfalfa and fruit. After living on his ranch for twenty-one years he moved to Claremont, where he remained five years, when he located in Pomona, where he has since resided.
In Nemaha County, Nebr., E. M. Day was united in marriage with Eliza Wagner, a native of New York state, who is now deceased. This union was blessed with three children: Albert C., of Chino; Mrs. Blanche A. Neibel, of Pomona, and Claude M., who resides at Ocean Park.
У. Н. Гладия
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The second marriage of Mr. Day united him with Hattie Palmer, a native of Nebraska, the ceremony being solemnized in Los Angeles. Mr. Day is a member of the First Christian Church at Pomona. Dur- ing his long residence in the Pomona Valley he has always been inter- ested in those movements that had as their aim the upbuilding of the best interests of the community.
JASPER N. TEAGUE
Although he has passed his sixty-third milestone, Jasper Newton Teague, a. Pomona Valley pioneer of the seventies, is still in the vigor of life. He was born in Davis County, Iowa, August 20, 1856, and is the son of Crawford Pinckney and Amanda (May) Teague. The father was born in Washington County, Ind., November 6, 1823, and was a son of John and Mary (Thomas) Teague, natives of North Carolina, of Scotch descent. Greatgrandfather Alexander Thomas served in the Revolutionary War under General Washington. C. P. Teague was married October 8, 1846, to Amanda R. May, who died in California in 1881.
In 1865 C. P. Teague, with his wife and eight children, crossed the plains by teams and wagons, arriving in the Sacramento Valley after a weary trip of six months, enduring many hardships and dan- gers. When he ferried across the Sacramento at Reading and paid the ferry charge he had thirty-five cents left-all the capital he had to start with in a new country. Three weeks later he moved to a farm on Deer Creek, six miles south of Tehama, where he farmed for two years; then he removed with his family to Sonoma County, near Santa Rosa, and engaged in farming on Mark West Creek until 1878. In 1878 he became interested in farming on the San José Rancho in Los Angeles County and moved here in 1881. His death occurred at San Dimas in 1910. Mr. and Mrs. C. P. Teague were the parents of eight children: David C. of San Dimas; Drusilla is Mrs. Theodore Staley of Orange County; Lodema A. is Mrs. Willis Gaulden of Santa Rosa ; Harvey T. died at the age of forty-five; Jas- per N., the subject of this review; Olive A., Mrs. S. 1. Allen of Sebastopol; Robert M. of San Dimas; Flora E., Mrs. Harry New- man of San Francisco.
Jasper Newton as a lad attended the log schoolhouse in Davis County, Iowa, and when nine years of age crossed the plains with his parents, riding horseback most of the way. He attended school in Sonoma County, topping off his education at Christian College in Santa Rosa. In 1878 he came to Southern California as his father's representative in Azusa, working with the engineer corps in the sur- vey of Mound City for the old Mound City Land and Water Com- pany, subdividing 4,000 acres of the Dalton ranch. He returned to
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Sonoma County for teams and implements and he was then accom- panied by his brother, David C., and they located at what is now San Dimas, then Mud Springs, and here they started in grain farming.
There was an old adobe chimney left standing on the creek and Mr. Teague and his brother built a California house up against it and lived there for two years. They bought two hogs and cured the meat but had no place to smoke it, so placed a box containing the meat over the chimney of an old bake oven left on the place, and this improvised affair was the first smoke house in San Dimas. They ran a ditch from the cienega to the house, which gave them an ample supply of good water. They hauled lumber over the sandy roads from Los Angeles to build the house and continued raising grain until the California Southern Railroad was built in the fall of 1886. In that year the brothers dissolved partnership and divided their hold- ings. Jasper N. took the Pomona land and set out an orange grove on Mountain Avenue; he obtained water from the old Loop & Meserve ditch brought from the San Antonio Canyon. He also followed gen- eral contracting, leveling and excavating, doing much of the early leveling and excavating for orange groves in the locality. During the grain season he 'engaged in threshing until 1902, when he sold his holdings and moved to Los Angeles, and there he now makes his home in his beautiful residence at 1649 St. Andrews Place. During these years he has been making a specialty of raising cauliflower, having 320 acres devoted to the growing of this vegetable, his being the largest cauliflower ranch in the world, and for the past ten years he has been known as the Cauliflower King. Shipping to all the large Eastern cities, but principally to New York, always in precooled cars, he has his own packing house. On his ranch he raises two crops a year, first raising potatoes or corn and then cauliflower, employing twenty or more hands in the growing, picking and packing. Mr. Teague also owns an orange and walnut ranch of 130 acres in the San Fernando Valley near Mission 'Acres, under water from the Los Ange- les aqueduct. Here he has splendid orchards of Valencia and Navel oranges and both Eureka and Placentia Perfection walnuts. On his ranch he employs the latest machinery and makes use of two tractors, as well as twenty head of horses. Aside from horticulture, Mr. Teague also raises beans, lettuce and melons.
On November 3, 1883, at Los Angeles, Mr. Teague was united in marriage with Miss Anna C. Burdick, who was born at First and Broadway, Los Angeles, the daughter of Cyrus and Amanda Burdick, who were pioneers of Los Angeles when the present court house site was a cow pasture. Cyrus Burdick removed to Pomona about 1870, where he built his home and resided with his family. He built the first schoolhouse there; before this his children had gone to school on the Phillips ranch near Spadra. Mr. Burdick also had the first spring
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wagon in town. Mr. and Mrs. Teague are the parents of seven chil- dren : Lena R., Mrs. Burrows, resides in Los Angeles; Pearl E. is Mrs. George Retzer of Hollywood; Ross is on his father's ranch in the San Fernando Valley; Harry C. is with Company B of the Three Hundred Sixty-fourth California Regiment of the Ninety-first Di- vision who went to France and had the honor of seeing much fight- ing and going over the top three times, being commissioned a first sergeant; George J. was also in France in the photographic depart- ment and is now a photographer at White Salmon, Wash .; Claude A. is a cauliflower farmer, residing on a forty-acre ranch near Los An- geles ; Bernice is attending Los Angeles high school.
Mr. Teague has made an unqualified success of raising vege- tables, accomplishing it by close application and personal supervision of all his holdings. The wonderful results he has obtained, working on a large scale as he does, have proven the falsity of the idea that Americans cannot compete with Japanese in growing and marketing vegetables. He also raises a large acreage of spinach, and for har- vesting this crop he has invented a machine like a bean cutter that cuts four rows at once. Thus a car can be cut, packed and loaded in a day. Always a very busy man, with his extensive interests to super- vise, Mr. Teague has always kept abreast of the times, being a leader in all progressive movements ; he is well read and well informed and is a very interesting conversationalist. He has made a success of life financially and has gained a high place in the esteem and confidence of his fellow citizens. Politically he is an ardent protectionist and hence a strong Republican.
MOSES PETTY
One of the earliest pioneers of the Valley, who came here when Pomona was but a small settlement and has taken an active part in both the upbuilding of the city and in making it an ideal home environ- ment, Moses Petty can rightfully be called a representative man of this district. He is a native of Illinois, born in Petty Township, Law- rence County, April 8, 1839, a farmer and carpenter by occupation. On April 20, 1861, he enlisted for service in the Civil War, in Com- pany I, Eighth Illinois Infantry, under General Prentiss and Colonel "Dick" Oglesby, and served in the Sixteenth Western Division. After three months' service he was discharged for disability and returned to Illinois to engage in farming in his native county.
In 1887 Mr. Petty came to Pomona and built his present home, 1124 West Second Street, where he has since resided; at that time his and two other houses were the only houses west of White Avenue. For seven years he was street and park superintendent and graded many of the streets in Pomona, about forty miles yearly. He assisted in laying out Ganesha Park, and was also active in the development of the
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Service Farm, planting forty acres to walnuts. In addition to this public development work, Mr. Petty bought thirty-five acres of land on Towne Avenue and Reservoir Street, and this he planted to alfalfa and cut 350 tons of hay yearly ; this land he sold after fourteen years of operations there. He was later inspector of nine and one-half miles of road work built in Pomona, and among other public duties served two years on the city council. He is now a half owner of the Cooperative Business Block on West Second Street, and has other real estate interests ; he also is superintendent of the Service Farm.
Always an active temperance worker, both in Pomona and in the state as well, Mr. Petty helped materially to drive the liquor traffic out of Pomona, which elimination was a most important factor in the rapid growth and prosperity of this section and making it an ideal educational center.
The marriage of Mr. Petty, occurring in May, 1862, united him with Jane Wagner, a native of Ohio, but raised in Illinois, and five children, three of whom are dead, blessed their union. The two living are: H. H. Petty, manager of the Cucamonga Packing Company, and Mrs. Elizabeth Freymonth. Mrs. Petty is a member of the Presby- terian Church. Mr. Petty is a member of Vicksburg Post No. 61, De- partment of California and Nevada.
WILLIAM HENRY ARNOLD
The biographical history of California is made up of the life stories of men which read like romances of a different world from that of the cultivated and populated state of today. Many of our worthy pioneers suffered hardships and privations unknown to this genera- tion, in order that their descendants might reap the reward of their forebears' bravery and endurance. Such a pioneer was William Henry Arnold, a native of Shelby County, Ala., where he was born February 1, 1826. He followed farming in his native state until the gold days of the early fifties, when stories of fortunes awaiting the adventurous, in far-away California, reached the Southern plantations, and he joined the trail of Argonauts to the coast, and with his wife, who was before her marriage Adeline Pridgeon, a native of Georgia, he crossed the plains in an ox-team train, a long and hazardous journey in those days. They arrived safely in Sacramento, and Mr. Arnold engaged in freighting to the mines as a first occupation, while getting his bear- ings in the new country. He later sold his teams and mined for gold in El Dorado County, and finally bought a tract of timber land in Shady Creek, Nevada County, and there ran a sawmill.
After these various pioneer enterprises, Mr. Arnold came south to Los Angeles, in 1868, and from that city drove down the Valley where Pomona now stands, and farmed for thirty years at Spadra,
Edun V. Keiner
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cultivating a twenty-seven-acre ranch, which is now owned by his daughter, Mrs. Ida F. Collins of Pomona.
No praise is too great for these sturdy pioneers, who gave of their best years to the upbuilding and development of our wonderful state. They lived to see Pomona grow into the beautiful city it now is, surrounded by a Valley of prodigal fruitfulness and beauty ; their efforts were rewarded and their lives are an example for future genera- tions. Mr. Arnold passed to his greater reward December 23, 1918, aged ninety-three years, and his wife to hers in 1908, leaving two children, Mrs. Ida F. Collins of Pomona and Frank Arnold of Victorville, Cal.
EDWIN T. KEISER
A resident of Pomona Valley for the past twenty years, Edwin T. Keiser has watched the march of progress through this wonderful region and has kept up with the trend of events in every way possible to a man of business acumen and initiative. Born in Woodford County, Ill., June 29, 1875, Mr. Keiser is the son of William T. and Elizabeth (Stoner) Keiser, the father, a farmer in the Eastern state, fought in the Civil War with the Confederate Army, and a brother of his was with Stonewall Jackson in Virginia.
Three children were born to William T. and Elizabeth Keiser : Edwin T., the first in order of birth, was educated at Mt. Morris College, at Mt. Morris, Ill., graduating from that institution in 1898. On the third of July, that same year, he came to California, locating at La Verne, and with his brothers started in to develop thirty acres of orange land. Later the whole family came West and the father purchased 160 acres, then gave each of his boys ten acres to develop. Having learned the orange culture by finding employment with Mr. Palmer on his first arrival here, Edwin T. sold his interest in his brother's ranch, and then taught three years at La Verne College while developing his individual orchard, and was a member of the board of trustees of the college during that time.
Later, Mr. Keiser came to Pomona and engaged in the fruit business, representing the Citrus Union and the Fay Fruit Company. He also reinvested in orange property, and four years ago took the position of field agent for the California Fruit Growers Exchange, which position he has creditably filled since that time. A man of adap- tability and studious by nature, Mr. Keiser at one time took up the study of law under the late Judge Garrett for three years, never, how- ever, taking his examination for the bar. He is actively interested in the upbuilding of Pomona, both educationally and along civic lines, and has been prominent in Republican politics; he was chairman of the Johnson and Eshelman Club and of the Pomona Valley Republican
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Club, and since 1911 he has been a member of the Republican State Central Committee. He was elected president of the Pomona City Board of Education in 1919 on a revisionary platform and has given his personal attention to advancing the best interests of the schools. He belongs to the Pomona Chamber of Commerce, and was one of the "Four Minute Men" during the World War, and chairman of the district.
The marriage of Mr. Keiser, on July 8, 1897, united him with Miss Evelyn Teague, a native of Ohio. Theirs was a college romance, for they met while both attending Mt. Morris (Ill.) College. Three children have blessed the marriage : Helen, Edwin Terence, and Gaius Leland. The family attend the Brethren Church. In 1911 Mr. and Mrs. Keiser toured Europe on pleasure bent, but devoted some time to educational purposes. Actively interested in the development of the Valley since his first selection of it for a home, Mr. Keiser has done all in his power to advance the best interests of Pomona and surround- ing territory. He has seen it grow from a small beginning to a point of development really remarkable in so short a time, and fully ex- pects an equally rapid advance in the next decade. The environment justifies such expectations, and also the manner of men who make up the bulk of the citizenship in this section of our wonderful state.
CASSIUS C. JOHNSON
Few more consistent, practical or well-balanced careers have contributed to the development of Pomona and Claremont than that of the late C. C. Johnson, whose death, September 3, 1906, was mourned by the citizens of both towns as that of a personal friend. His remains were interred in the cemetery at Pomona, in which town so many years of his active and useful life had been passed.
Indiana was Mr. Johnson's native state, and he was born in Greencastle, April 1, 1854, one of the younger children in a family of ten born to his parents, Dixon and Nancy (Sewell) Johnson, both of the latter being natives of Kentucky. Among the early settlers in Indiana who had crossed over the Ohio River from Kentucky was Dixon Johnson, who settled down as a farmer in that new country, but he was evidently not satisfied with the country for a permanent location and some time after the birth of his son, Cassius C., he removed to Vinton, Iowa, near which city he purchased a large farm. It was there that his earth life came to a close, leaving to mourn his loss a widow and a large family of children. The mother passed away some years later in Willow Lake, S. D. As he was a mere child when the family removed from Indiana to Iowa, C. C. Johnson was reared almost entirely in the latter state, attending first the public school of Vinton and later Vinton Academy. Although reared on a farm he had no taste for farming himself, and as soon as his school days were over
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he secured a position in a dry goods store in Vinton, with the idea of learning the business. When one has definite ideas of a line of business which he wishes to follow and with persistency applies himself to its mastery, the victory is half won, and thus it was with Mr. John- son, for in a short time he was enabled to start in the dry goods business on his own account. The failure of his health, however, brought about a change in his plans and after disposing of his interests in Iowa he came to California in 1881. The following year he purchased a ranch of thirty acres on the corner of San Bernardino and Towne avenues. Here he developed water, set out orchards, and later he subdivided the ranch into one-acre and four-acre tracts, also opening Towne Avenue. In the meantime he had been employed in the weighing department of the Southern Pacific Railroad for about one year.
In 1895 Mr. Johnson removed to a foothill ranch east of San Antonio, comprising several hundred acres. He gave this up, however, in the fall of 1900 and removed to Claremont, in order that his children could attend Pomona College. After locating here he engaged in the real estate business, and among other transactions with which his name was associated was the laying out of a forty-acre tract on North Harvard Avenue, which he sold off as C. C. Johnson's Addition to Claremont, and he also laid out another forty-acre tract adjoining, known as College Avenue Addition. This business is still being carried on under the name of his son, J. D. Johnson. In 1902 he erected the fine residence now occupied by the family, located on North Harvard Avenue. Far from being self-centered and interested in his own private affairs only, Mr. Johnson was, on the other hand, broad-minded and generous. He was a director in the Citizens' Light and Water Company, was the organizer of the Cooperative Water Company, which was located on his ranch, also assisted in the organization of the Claremont Lumber Company, the Citizens' State Bank and the Clare- mont Inn Company, of which latter he was president. For many years he had served efficiently as school trustee of Claremont and also served as selectman.
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