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 41
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At the Cathedral in Los Angeles, Mr. Yorba was united in mar- riage with Miss Sarah Valla, on November 28, 1900, the ceremony being performed by Bishop Montgomery. She is a native of Los Angeles and a daughter of Antonio Valla, who for fifty years was a citizen of Los Angeles, occupying a prominent and influential position in its commercial and financial development. A descendant of a famous Italian family, Antonio Valla was born in Genoa, and in 1857, while still in his early manhood, he turned his attention towards America, and after a four months' journey by sailing vessel around Cape Horn and up the coast of South America, he arrived in San Francisco; two years later he came south to Los Angeles, where he resided until his death, on September 26, 1908. In the early days he owned the southeast corner of Seventh and Spring streets, Los Angeles, where he had his residence for many years. Mr. Valla was actively
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engaged in the merchandise business until 1870, when he became inter- ested in the wine industry, establishing one of the first wineries in the vicinity. Always a firm believer in the future of Los Angeles, he was a pioneer in the upbuilding of the business district; he built a business block at First and Los Angeles streets at a cost of $47,000, when bankers of the city prophesied his financial ruin, but his judgment was proved to be well founded, and when he retired in 1888, he had accu- mulated a fortune. Mr. Valla's marriage united him with Trinidad Moya, a native daughter of Los Angeles, and a member of one of the most prominent old Spanish families. Mrs. Valla spent her last days at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Porfirio J. Yorba, her death occurring on September 26, 1917, just nine years to a day after her husband's decease.
Three sons have come to bless this union and are the pride and ambition of Mr. and Mrs. Yorba, Gilbert, Marco and Edmund, and all three attend the Pomona high school. Mrs. Yorba, a refined and cultured woman, completed her education at Notre Dame College, San José, and she presides gracefully over the household, aiding her husband in his ambitions and dispensing the true, old-time California hospitality. The family are members of the Roman Catholic Church in Pomona, and besides belonging to the Knights of Columbus, Mr. Yorba is a member of Pomona Lodge, No. 789, B. P. O. Elks.
JUDGE W. A. GARRETT
Prominent among the legal fraternity in Pomona and vicinity, Judge W. A. Garrett for many years took an active part in public affairs here and from the standpoint of honesty and integrity he was a man whose high standards won for him marked honor and respect. A native of Illinois, his birth occurred at Maquon, November 19, 1860; when he was nine years of age the family moved to Iowa, and two years later to Nebraska, and his early education was at Oxford, that state. He later attended the Franklin Academy, and was fortunate in being able to study law in the office of a very brilliant attorney named E. A. Fletcher, and began practicing at Holdrege, Nebr. Although he acquired a broad education, it was secured through his own efforts, and he contributed much to every community in which he lived. In 1886 he was admitted to the bar, and for two years he served as county superintendent of schools at Holdrege; and while still superintendent was elected county judge of Phelps County, Nebr., serving in that office for twelve years. Following this he practiced law for about four years and then, his health being broken by overwork, he sought the California climate, coming to Pomona to reside.
In March, 1905, Judge Garrett became a part of the public, edu- cational and social life of Pomona; an attorney of unusual breadth of
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knowledge, few men held the respect of clients and the members of the profession as did he. Few attorneys had a better grasp of the subject of law, and on its history and application he was an expert and was continually consulted by his associates who sought his advice in un- ravelling practically every difficult problem which came up. He was of an analytic turn of mind and naturally adapted for the work, and his loss was keenly felt in Pomona, for to the many who sought his advice he willingly gave counsel. There was nothing in his character which suggested ostentation or display, but as a public man he held a position of unusual trust, and contributed largely, through his thought and action, to the community's interests. Judge Garrett passed away February 10, 1919.
CHARLES H. HARDON
Varied and interesting have been the experiences of Charles H. Hardon; a man of education and talent, he has traveled widely, seen much of the every-day world and real life and derived much valuable experience. Born June 14, 1864, he is a native of Urbana, Champaign County, Ohio. When he reached six years of age the family moved to Contoocook, N. H., and there he was raised, on a farm, and received his preliminary education in the public schools of that country district. In 1875 he returned to Ohio and took a four years' course in Urbana University.
Returning to New Hampshire, Mr. Hardon followed the lumber business and farmed until 1888. That year he went to Washington, D. C., as clerk in the Geological Survey; from here he became chief clerk in the Department of Stone. During the taking of the 1890 cen- sus, and while in this work, he visited nearly all states of the East and Middle West, gathering up the scattering ends of the work .. After finishing these travels, Mr. Hardon located for a time in Fulton, N. Y., and then, in 1894, came to Pomona. He entered the employ of the Pomona Land and Water Company after his arrival, as engi- neer. When the present pumping plant, owned by the Irrigation Com- pany of Pomona and located at Pomona Junction, was erected, in 1900, he assisted in its construction, and since that date has been chief engi- neer of the plant, with the exception of three years from 1910 to 1913, which he spent in Cuba as consulting irrigation engineer on a sugar plantation, during which time he traveled all over the island, seeing the beauties of that tropical country and gaining knowledge as well.
While in Washington in government work, Mr. Hardon met Evangeline White, of New York, the lady who later became his wife, and who was a clerk under him in the Department of Stone. She is a native of New York state, and received a fine musical education. An alto singer, she taught music in Ripon College, Ripon, Wis., and
U. C. White
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studied voice and taught with Madame Seiler in Philadelphia, Pa., in which city she was a member of the first quartet in Trinity Episcopal Church, and was also choir master and leader in the Congregational Church at Meadville, that state. Mrs. Hardon also appeared success- fully in different operas, among them singing the role of Buttercup in "Pinafore." On coming to Pomona she taught music for six years in Pomona College. One daughter, Helen, has blessed the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Hardon.
ULYSSES E. WHITE
A busy, influential attorney fortunate in a valuable experience through private practice and responsible public service in various capacities, is Ulysses E. White, a native of Howard County, Ind., where he was born near Tipton on April 4, 1867. His father was J. J. White, whose life story is sketched in detail elsewhere in this volume, the devoted husband of Miss Lucy J. Long.
The rural schools of Kansas, to which state the family had moved in 1871, when Ulysses was four years of age, gave the boy his first educational opportunities, and he continued his schooling in San Diego County, Cal., when the Whites later came further west. They returned to Kansas, and once more, as has been the case with so many who have come to know the attractions of the Golden State, they pitched their tent in California, this time near Escondido.
In October, 1883, J. J. White brought his wife and children to Pomona, and Ulysses spent three years in the Pomona schools, and then took a three-year course at the high school. He next took up shorthand and graduated from the Shorthand School in Chicago. After that, he entered the law office of P. C. Tonner, and for two years studied privately with that well-established lawyer. For several years, too, he acted as stenographer to W. A. Bell and C. E. Sumner, and all this time he studied privately in law offices until 1897.
In the meantime, Mr. White was stenographer for the Assembly Judiciary Committee, and in 1897 was clerk of the Senate Judiciary. In 1897 he was appointed Justice of the Peace to fill the unexpired term of H. S. Finney; and in 1898 he was elected Justice of the Peace for a four-year term. Then he ranched for eight years, and acquired robust health as well as a closer touch with the world of Nature.
Having resumed the study of law, Mr. White was admitted to the bar in January, 1914, and has been practicing ever since. When Judge Barnes resigned in 1918 Mr. White was appointed Justice of the Peace to fill the vacancy, and in the fall of 1918 he was reelected justice for a term of four years.
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On April 15, 1897, Justice White was married to Miss Hattie H. Dexter ; and two sons, Gerald B. and George D., now bless their union. He belongs to the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Foresters ; and in national politics is a Republican.
HENRY LE BOSQUETTE KUNS
The president of the First National Bank of La Venue, Henry L. Kuns has been prominently concerned with the industrial and civic development and upbuilding of Southern California, as was his father, David Kuns, and is one of the most influential citizens of Los Angeles County.
Henry L. Kuns was born November 19, 1847, on the old Kuns homestead farm in Cass County, Ind., seven miles below Logansport, situated on the banks of the Wabash River. He is a son of David and Margaret S. (Lamb) Kuns, the father being born at Dayton, Ohio, and the mother in the vicinity of Wheeling, W. Va. The orig- inal representative of the Kuns family in America came from Holland about 200 years ago and settled in Pennsylvania. They were Dunkards in their religious faith, and thus opposed to war. The name of Kuns has ever stood sponsor for the deepest Christian faith and has char- acterized the lives and labors of the various generations of descendants in the United States.
John Kuns, the grandfather of Henry L. Kuns, was a youth when he accompanied his parents down the Ohio River, about 1815, to establish a home in the wilds of Montgomery County, Ohio, in the vicinity of the present city of Dayton. In 1826 he removed with his parents to Carroll County, Ind., where he secured a tract of land on the Wabash River. He built the first grist mill that was operated in that county, located in the pioneer village of Delphi. While en route down the Ohio River he made the acquaintance of Miss Hannah Wolf, and before he had reached his destination their wedding was solemnized. Their eldest son, David Kuns, the father of the subject of this review, was reared on a farm in Indiana, educated in the rural schools and followed farming in Indiana until 1853, when he disposed of his interests and moved to Piatt County, Ill., where he acquired 400 acres of prairie land which is now owned by his only child, Henry L. Kuns. David Kuns resided in Illinois until 1892, when he came to California and established a home at Lordsburg (now La Verne). With four others he established Lordsburg College, now La Verne College, which today stands as a noble monument to the generosity of this honored pioneer whose integrity of purpose and high ideals of citizenship were unquestioned. He continued to reside there until his death, March 12, 1906, having reached the age of eighty-six. His life was gentle and gracious and was always animated by the must
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lofty ideals and probity of purpose, and he left as a heritage a good name, which the wise man of old said "was rather to be desired than great riches," and his son deems it a great honor to uphold his name. Mrs. Margaret S. Kuns passed away in October, 1905.
Henry L. Kuns was reared to the age of six years in Cass County, Ind., when the family moved to Piatt County, Ill., where he grew to manhood. His early education was received in the district school, after which he attended the high school at Monticello and subsequently spent two years at Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Ind. After leaving school he engaged in farming in Piatt County, Ill. In 1874 Mr. Kuns came to California, where he spent six months touring the state, then returned to his Illinois home, and four years later he brought his family to California. He first located in the vicinity of Gilroy, Santa Clara County, where he was successfully engaged in fruit raising. In 1892 he moved to Merced County, having 5,000 acres of land in the San Joaquin Valley between, Los Banos and Newman, 1,000 acres of it being planted to alfalfa. He made the preliminary survey and engineered the construction of five miles of the outside branch of the San Joaquin Canal, which was the means of bringing 6,000 acres of land under irrigation, and this was accomplished after Henry Miller said it could not be done. After living fourteen years in the valley, he sold his ranch and in 1906 moved to La Verne, where his parents were then residing, and, being aged and feeble, he gave them his devoted care until their death.
Possessing large and successful financial experience, and being recognized as a leader in monetary affairs, a progressive and yet con- servative man of business, it was but natural that Mr. Kuns was prevailed upon to organize the First National Bank of La Verne, be- coming the principal stockholder, and he served as its president for many years, until he sold his stock, when he resigned. His broad experience and mature judgment have made him a most valuable factor in regulating the policies of the bank and have done much to make it one of the most solid financial institutions in the county. He also owns valuable orange groves in the La Verne section. Since 1912 Mr. Kuns has been interested in the Waterman Mining and Milling Company, that owns a quartz lead on the central belt of the mother lode, which extends one-half mile on the lode; later he purchased a larger interest, and he is now president and manager of the company. Soon after the close of the war, he began plans for developing it, and in October, 1919, began sinking a shaft, and the mine is already showing fine. His generosity and benevolent spirit are exemplified in the founding of a noble memorial to his parents and his son David. Mr. Kuns purchased a tract of about eighteen acres near La Verne, which was improved with a building originally designed for a hotel, during the boom days. This he fitted up for a home for orphaned children and presented the property to the Women's Home Missionary
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Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The home is known as the David and Margaret Home for Children, and an extended sketch of this worthy institution will be found upon another page of this volume. Mr. Kuns continues to give this noble charity his keen interest and financial support, one of his recent donations being an additional fifteen acres of land on which he expects to erect another building, thus making it possible to give this loving care and training to a larger number of children.
On March 28, 1870, Mr. Kuns was united in marriage with Miss Mary E. Pearce, daughter of Joseph and Mary (Silcot) Pearce, the ceremony being solemnized in Scioto County, Ohio. Four children were born to them: Henry Arthur; Margaret M., who is now Mrs. Warren Williams; David, deceased; and Ora, the wife of James M. Johnson of La Verne. Mrs. Kuns passed away in 1915.
One year after the death of his wife, Mr. Kuns was married again, being united with Mrs. Lillie ( Pearce) Bartlett, born in Illinois, who is a niece of his former wife. She is a daughter of Captain John W. Pearce, who served in the Civil War, after which he was engaged in the hotel business in Oakland, Coles County, Ill., where he died ten years ago.
While still looking after his landed interests, Mr. Kuns is at present looking after and active in the management and development of the Waterman Mine.
WILLIAM T. FLEMING
A native son of Pomona, born into the family of Peter Fleming, whose life is sketched elsewhere in this history, and one who has grown up with the town, William T. Fleming has reached a position of prom- inence in the business, civic and social life of the community.
William T. Fleming, the first child born to his parents in Pomona, received his education in the public schools of the city, in Pomona Col- lege, and Santa Clara College, Santa Clara. On finishing his educa- tion he was first employed in the pumping plant of the Consolidated Water Company of Pomona, and later conducted a retail cigar store in town for a number of years. In 1914 he established the Pomona Cigar Company, factory and jobbing house, with R. B. Vaughn as partner. They have a strictly modern manufacturing plant with an output for 1918 of half a million cigars, their leading brands being the K. of P., Claremont and Van Loo. The firm does a large jobbing business, with a branch house at San Bernardino, and have built up an extensive and far-reaching trade since they have been in business.
Public spirited, as was his father, Mr. Fleming served four years on the city council, from the second ward. During that time many im- provements were made in the city; a new city hall and city stables erected; Garey Avenue and Second Street paved, as well as minor im-
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provements. Fraternally, Mr. Fleming is a member of the Woodmen of the World and of Pomona Lodge No. 789, B. P. O. Elks. A man of broad vision and progressive spirit, he has taken an active interest in all movements for bettering conditions and surroundings in his native city and can be depended upon for substantial support at all times.
Mr. Fleming chose for his wife Theodora L. Loney, also a native of Pomona, and daughter of James Loney, a pioneer orange grower in the Valley. Two children have blessed their union, William C. and Katherine, who will doubtless grow to be a credit to the family name and home city.
WILLIAM W. McMULLIN
A particularly aggressive manufacturer of prominence in a town long noted for its proportion of progressive, "big" men, William W. McMullin, the brick manufacturer, was born at Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on July 13, 1864, the son of William and Frances (Golding) McMullin. Since he was twenty-three years old he has been engaged in brick manufacturing, spending three years in New York City.
When Mr. McMullin returned to Toronto, he established a part- nership with his brother, James H., and followed brick-making for five years in that city. Then they removed, first to Victoria and then to Nelson, British Columbia, and in each place continued the same line of trade. They would establish a yard, put it on a paying basis, and when it was in a first-class condition, sell, to the advantage of both the vendor and the buyer. They followed this plan until 1900, when they came to Pomona and located permanently. Mr. McMullin was in the pottery business in Los Angeles for a year. James H. McMullin died in 1910, closing a most useful career.
On coming here, the McMullins bought out the brickyard located on Ninth Avenue that had been started by John Whyte, and they soon had a daily capacity of 35,000 brick, the product of a clay bank, thirty feet deep, on the property. Their plant was of modern machinery and operated by steam power. This Mr. McMullin now controls, apply- ing the patent rights for a cement brick with a waterproof facing which is as satisfactory as if the brick were pressed and which may be sold at a much lower price. He also makes a brown brick which is very satisfactory, his whole output, in variety as well as quantity, contrib- uting greatly to the important problems attending building in and around Pomona, where lumber yards act as agents and dispose of most of the stock within a radius of fourteen miles of the city. This brick plant is the only one within twenty-five miles of Pomona, and practi- cally all of the brick used in local building since 1900 has come from this plant, and eight per cent. of the brick used outside in the Valley. Mr. McMullin is a director in the Mutual Building and Loan Associa- tion of Pomona.
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In various ways Mr. McMullin has found it both possible and agreeable to serve his fellowmen in a public-spirited capacity. For four years he was city councilman from the second ward, his services beginning with 1913, and during his term of office nine and a half miles of pavement were laid and a storm dike built on San Antonio wash, to prevent storm water from flooding the city. A Republican high in the councils of that party, he has also been a member of the Public Welfare League, and still serves there, and he is an ex-member of the Pomona Board of Health. He was active in all drives of the war, such as the promotion of the various bond loans, the support of the Y. M. C. A. and the Red Cross, and thus attested to the full his unswerving loyalty and Americanism.
At Toronto, Ontario, Mr. McMullin was married to Madge Gamble, a native of Canada, who is a highly appreciated member of the First Methodist Church and the Ebell Club and who was also active in needed war work. Two sons have blessed their union : Arthur E., who was a plastering contractor, and is now associated with his father, has two children, Willis and Virginia ; and William Hugh, a dentist of Los Angeles. Mr. McMullin belongs to the Woodmen of the World and the Odd Fellows, Pomona Lodge No. 246, and has passed all the chairs in each. He is fond of fishing and enjoys the outings in the mountains.
SELDEN I. FORD
A rancher who, commencing life with little else in the way of capital than character, good health, willingness to work and a fine record for Civil War service, finally made a real success in several im- portant lines of endeavor, is Selden I. Ford, who was born at Bath, Grafton County, N. H., on May 16, 1843, and reared in Illinois. At the outbreak of hostilities between the North and South, he enlisted in the Fifty-third Illinois Infantry, and was later changed to the Fifteenth Illinois Cavalry, with which he served with distinction until the end of the war. He saw hard service in Mississippi and Arkansas, and in June, 1865, was mustered out at New Orleans.
On his return to Odell, Ill., Mr. Ford entered a wholesale house as bookkeeper, and in that position he remained for the period of eleven years. Then he became a banker in the same town, enjoying the confi- dence of the many who knew him, and for four years had charge of a private bank.
In 1885 Mr. Ford came to Pomona and bought twenty acres south of the town, which he planted to deciduous fruits and grapes ; but in time he sold the ranch and bought an orange grove of fifteen acres, at the corner of East Holt Street and Central Avenue, and this property he still owns. There he grows both Navel and Valencia
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oranges, and such has been his good luck as the result of experience and application to the study of the problems involved, that the ten acres has at times produced 8,000 boxes. Through his output, in fact, Mr. Ford has come to be known as one of the successful orange grow- ers of today.
At Odell, Ill., on December 4, 1871, Mr. Ford was married to Mary L. Warner, by whom he has had three children. Besides a daughter, Stella M., there is a son, Frank W., who is manager of the Claremont Citrus Association, and another son, Harry G., who is in charge of his father's extensive ranch.
Mr. Ford is a welcome member of Vicksburg Post, G. A. R., and of the Blue Lodge and Chapter of the Masons. He belongs to the Congregational Church, and has been its auditor for many years. He is active in whatever circle he finds himself, and in that respect Mrs. Ford is quite his equal.
PHILIP G KLEIN
An early settler of Pomona who has had the good fortune to play an important part in the development of water in Pomona Valley, thereby blessing both the generation in which he has become prominent and those Californians of the future who are destined to inherit the results of his wise forethought and hard, intelligent labor, is Philip G. Klein, a native of Germany, where he was born on June 24, 1860. When he was eight years old, he was brought to America and reared in Erie County, Ohio; and there he grew up to work on a farm. After a while he was employed in the railroad shops of Sandusky, in that state, and he left there to come to California.
When he came to Pomona, in 1887, his ability was soon recog- nized and his services were secured by the Pomona Land and Water Company, for which concern he bored wells during the next nine years. Later he undertook well-boring for himself, and, operating for years with hand tools, bored many and deep wells all over the fertile Valley. He made a special study of water resources in this part of California ; he secured results often superior to those of his most aggressive com- petitors, and accomplished much of the greatest importance in relation to the future water supply of the district.
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