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 49
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He resided at La Verne several years, and then moved to I.os Angeles. In 1909 he purchased a ten-acre orange grove on North San Dimas Avenue, and the same year he moved onto it and en- gaged in citrus culture. The orange orchard is fortunate in its loca- tion, being one of the most desirable home sites in Southern Cali-
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fornia. In 1910 he was elected a director of the San Dimas Orange Growers Association, and in 1919 was elected vice-president of this association. He is also a director and vice-president of the First National Bank of San Dimas, as well as of the San Dimas Savings Bank.
In Covina occurred the marriage of Mr. Billheimer, when he was united with Miss Anna L. Overholtzer, a native daughter, born at Tracy. Her father, Samuel A. Overholtzer, crossed the plains to California in 1864 and engaged in farming in San Joaquin County for many years. He then located at Covina, where he became a citrus grower. Mr. and Mrs. Billheimer's union has been blessed with two children, Glenn I., a graduate of Bonita high school, who learned the lumber business under his father and is now holding a responsible position with the E. K. Wood Lumber Company at San Pedro; and Vera, a student at "Broad Oaks," Pasadena. Always interested in education, he is a trustee of Bonita Union High school, and has taken an active part in making for that school the high and accredited stand- ing it enjoys, having served two years as president of the board.
In his religious convictions Mr. Billheimer is a member of the Christian Church, in politics he supports the Republican platform, and in his fraternal affiliations he is a member of San Dimas Lodge of Masons, a member of the Maccabees and of the Woodmen of the World. Mr. Billheimer is never idle, but an inveterate worker, lead- ing a strenuous life because it is not alone his own business that en- grosses all of his time, but he devotes much of it to matters and posi- tions to which he has been selected by his fellowmen; thus in his liberal and enterprising way giving of his time and means as far as he is able towards the improvement and advancing the standard of education and morals in the community. He is a very domestic man, enjoying and taking pride in his family and home. He is well and favorably known for his integrity and honesty of purpose, as well as his quickness of perception and sagacity of judgment, and is deserving of having his name perpetuated in the annals of the history of Southern California as a man who has done his share in helping to develop the country and in adding to its material wealth.
FRED C. JACOBS
One of the rising young men of Pomona, who has evidenced his ability and given promise of a brilliant, because a highly-useful future, is Fred C. Jacobs, the assistant manager of the Pomona Fruit Growers Exchange, and a successful orange grower as well. He was born at Jamestown, N. D., on December 27, 1883, and when three years of age came west to Denver, Colo., with his parents. He attended the Denver public schools and later learned stenography and typewriting. For a while he was in the employ of the Denver & Northwestern
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Pacific Railway, and later entered the service of the Rocky Mountain Fuel Company. When, after four years with that well-known concern, he left their employ, he had attained to the responsible position of traveling auditor.
In 1909 he came to Pomona, and engaged as bookkeeper with the Pomona Fruit Growers Exchange, a position he filled with his usual conscientious application to routine duty until he was given a still better chance to show what he could and would do as assistant manager. He is now also secretary and manager of the Claremont Citrus Association.
When Mr. Jacobs came to marry-at Denver, Colo., and on May 15, 1909-he chose for his bride Miss Zoe L. Burdette, a native of West Virginia and a member of a family distinguished through the famous humorist, Bob Burdette, of late years also a resident of Cali- fornia; and two sons have come to bless their happy home. Fred B. is the older, and the other is named Byron P. Jacobs. Both were born in Pomona. Mr. Jacobs is a Knight Templar Mason, and for three years he served as secretary of the local bodies.
CAPT. CHARLES J. FOX
Although a native of England, where he was born at Manchester, October 31, 1842, Capt. Charles J. Fox has no memory of the land of his birth, for he was but one year old when he accompanied his parents to the United States on a sailing vessel, which made the trip in three months.
He was reared at Pontiac, Oakland County, Mich., and is a veteran of the Civil War, having enlisted in 1864 in the Fourth Michi- gan Infantry. He was lieutenant in his company and later captain in Company H, under Col. J. W. Hall, and saw service in Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas. He still carries the bullet by which he was injured in guerilla warfare in one of the many skirmishes that he participated in in Tennessee, and among the relics in his home is the gun he was shot with, which was taken from the guerilla, and which he prizes very highly. He served on the general staff at San Antonio, Texas, and had charge of cleaning up the city. In those days San Antonio had but fifteen thousand population. The Captain wears the button of the Loyal Legion, of which he was a member, and after brilliant service, he was mustered out at Houston, Texas, May 26, 1866. At the close of the war he returned to Pontiac, Mich., and was appointed and served several years as revenue assessor in Michigan. He was also the proprietor of a clothing store at Pontiac, which he sold in 1888, and went to Seattle, Wash., where he engaged in the making of brick, twelve miles from Seattle. He founded, laid out and built up the town of Pontiac, Wash., and was its first postmaster. He was a member of the firm of the. Pontiac Brick and Tile Company, which did a large business, and their brick was used in many of the
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public buildings, among others the Denny Hotel Block, the Court House, and the Burke Block at Pontiac, Wash.
In November, 1890, while on a visit to Pomona, Cal., Captain Fox purchased twelve acres of one-year-old orange trees in the Packard Orange Grove tract, from J. E. Packard, and in 1893 came to Po- mona to locate permanently, where he has since lived on his orange grove. The place is very productive, is well kept and is one of the attractive places among many beautiful homes in Pomona.
The marriage of Captain Fox was solemnized in Michigan, June 2, 1881, and united him with Miss Arabella W. Kirby, a native of that state. ' The children born of their union are: Charles Kirby, a civil engineer of Los Angeles; Lillian Buirne, who was secretary of the Red Cross at Pomona during the late war; and William H., a mechanic of Hollywood, Cal.
Mrs. Fox is a very active member of the Daughters of the Amer- ican Revolution, and Captain Fox is one of the original members of the Pomona Fruit Growers Exchange, being the seventeenth person to sign up for the exchange. In his religious convictions he is a mem- ber of the Episcopal Church. He was a member of the Dick Richard- son Post, G. A. R., at Pontiac, Wash., and still keeps the memory of past days green in associating with the boys who served their country in its great stress in the sixties by membership in Vicksburg Post, G. A. R., at Pomona. He is also a member of the Loyal Legion of California, is identified with the Masonic order at Pomona and is a Knight Templar.
JOHN WILFORD KEISER
Among the progressive, energetic young men of Pomona Valley, J. Wilford Keiser deserves mention. He is the youngest son of William T. and Elizabeth (Stoner) Keiser, and was born in Wood- ford County, Ill., May 7, 1881. He was seventeen years old when he came with his parents to Pomona Valley in 1898. He attended one term at Lordsburg College, then began the occupation of farming on his own account, renting a part of his father's ranch at La Verne. He raised grain and hay for eight years, and also set out a ten-acre orange grove. He sold the orange grove, purchased a lot on Third Street at La Verne, built a home, and conducted the La Verne Fuel and Feed Store for two years. He was the third one in the family to own this business. He next bought a twenty-acre ranch in the Chino district and raised alfalfa and beets for eight years. Disposing of this, he rented 120 acres of land in Pomona Valley, in San Bernardino County, on which he has raised barley and oats for the past four years. The barley runs fifteen sacks to an acre and oats cut for hay average one and one-half tons to the acre. He recently bought a six-acre orange grove of eighteen-year-old trees in Val Vista Tract, west of Ganesha
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Park. In 1919 he had seven acres planted to tomatoes, which were sold to the cannery.
On June 25, 1902, he married Nancy A. Bowman, a native of Indiana, and they are the parents of two children: Glenn W., born September, 1904, and Howard, born July, 1916.
Mr. Keiser is a member of the Brethren Church. He is the owner of a new, modern home at 915 South White Avenue, Pomona, also a tract of ten and one-half acres in the Packard Orange Grove Tract, which he intends setting to walnuts and to make his home place.
WELCOME A. BAUMGARDNER
A progressive rancher and his wife of a very aggressive type, who have come to play an enviable part in the development of agricul- ture in the Pomona Valley, is Welcome A. Baumgardner, who was born in Cabell County, W. Va., on February 15, 1852, and there reared on a farm. His father was James Baumgardner of West Vir- ginia, and he married Elizabeth Wilson, daughter of Samuel Wilson.
Welcome Baumgardner learned both the trade of a blacksmith and how to be a good farmer, and he had a shop at Huntington, W. Va. In 1888 he removed to Carroll County, Mo., near Carrollton, and there he had another shop. Whatever he did, he sought to attain the best results, and the experience acquired in these earlier years proved later of the greatest value when he threw himself in with the trend of progress along the bustling Pacific.
In 1910 he located at Pomona, and the following year bought liis present ranch of five acres of apricots and peaches. This grove was badly run down, but by intelligent management and hard work, he brought it up to a fine state of advanced cultivation. The three acres of apricots produced six tons the first year, thirteen tons the second, thirty tons in 1918, and twenty-two tons in 1919. Mr. Baumgardner continues to take the best care of the place, and he has built there for himself a modern bungalow. His peaches are of the Tuscany cling variety. Originally, Mr. Baumgardner came to Pomona on account of climate and opportunities, and has become a good "booster" for the Valley and its unrivalled climate.
While at Barbersville, W. Va., in 1873, Mr. Baumgardner was married to Miss Isadora Bowen, a native of West Virginia, and the daughter of Dyke and Sarah Ann (Davis) Bowen, and by her he has had eight daughters and one son, and all but the latter are still living-a rather remarkable record of health and longevity. Bertha has become Mrs. James A. Parker of Fresno, Cal .; Mownie is Mrs. J. B. Wilson of Carrollton, Mo .; Minnie is Mrs. J. A. Farley of Oklahoma; Alma is Mrs. Eugene Middleton of Pomona; Nannie is Mrs. Virgil Roundtree of Pomona ; Grace is Mrs. Otto Williams of Elmer, Arizona ; and Sarah is Mrs. C. W. Willis of Norborne, Mo.
N. a. Baumgardner
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The eighth daughter, Miss Merle Baumgardner, and the only child at home, is an accomplished musician, with a specialty of the piano. She has studied with Professor Anderson of Los Angeles, and Pomona teachers, and is at present teaching piano in Pomona, being one of the youngest teachers of real proficiency in this difficult field in Los Angeles County.
Besides the eight daughters of whom these devoted parents are naturally so proud, Mr. and Mrs. Baumgardner boast of twenty-four grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Mrs. Baumgardner is the treasurer of the Citrus Belt Milk Goat Association, and has a fine herd of pure blooded Toggenburg milk goats, with which she has taken leading prizes at a number of the goat shows in the Valley.
LOUIS CARL KLINZMAN
The world over, all cities and towns are judged in their material progress by the resourcefulness, expansion and solidity of their banking institutions. The beautiful town of La Verne, in the Pomona Valley, is indeed fortunate in having as the president of the Farmers and Merchants Bank, one of its strongest and most up-to-date banking concerns, Louis C. Klinzman, a former Nebraska banker and successful farmer in that state.
L. C. Klinzman was born on April 14, 1859, in Franklin County, Pa. When ten years of age he went to Peoria County, Ill., where he was reared on a farm, and when fifteen they removed to Chenoa, Livingston County, in the same state, where he completed his educa- tion. In 1885, Mr. Klinzman migrated farther westward, locating in York County, Nebr., where he became a prominent and prosperous farmer, owning two farms, each containing one-quarter section. The town of McCool Junction, Nebr., was laid out on his land, and Mr. Klinzman was one of its founders and most prominent business men. He was one of the organizers and a director of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of McCool Junction, Nebr., and still owns farming lands there.
The lure of the Golden State appealed to Mr. Klinzman so strongly in the year 1909 that he succumbed to its enticing offers and migrated to California, locating at La Verne. During that same year he was instrumental in the organization of the First National Bank of La Verne, becoming one of the directors. Mr. Klinzman's conserv- ative policy as a financier and sound business judgment soon became recognized and he became thoroughly established in the confidence of the citizens of La Verne and vicinity as a financial leader. In February, 1916, he organized the Farmers and Merchants Bank of La Verne, and became its president. Ever since opening its doors the business of this bank has steadily and securely increased. It is capital-
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ized at $25,000, and aside from its commercial business also conducts a savings department. The present officiary of the Farmers and Mer- chants Bank is as follows: L. C. Klinzman, president; George B. Cross, vice-president ; Dayton S. Newcomer, cashier. The board of directors is composed of J. H. Price, Harry Belcher, S. M. Kepner, H. B. McCurdy and J. C. Pierson.
In 'Monticello, Ill., on February 14, 1885, Louis C. Klinzman was united in marriage with Lena Hammersmidt, a native of Germany who came to America when twelve years of age. This.union has been blessed with five children: Flora E., wife of Chester McFadden of Nebraska; Lena P., assisting Mr. Klinzman in the bank; Louis L., who is managing his father's ranch in Nebraska; Mary Catherine, Mrs. J. M. Overholtzer of Pasadena; and Henrietta W., at home. Religiously, Mr. Klinzman is a member of the Church of the Brethren and one of its trustees, and he has also served as member of the board of directors of La Verne College. He is one of the most progressive citizens of La Verne and has made his influence for good felt in the various departments of activity in the development of civic affairs.
OSCAR G. KEISER
The climatic and horticultural advantages offered by Pomona Valley form a combination of diversified attractions drawing hither a splendid class of citizens, not only from all sections of the United States, but from other lands. The subject of this review, Oscar G. Keiser, is a native of Woodford County, Ill., where he was born on April 12, 1877.
W. Thomas Keiser, his father, was born in Augusta County, Va., September 5, 1845. During the Civil War, he served with the Con- federate Army and was engaged in making saltpeter for explosives; afterwards he became a member of the home guards. When the war was over Mr. Keiser moved to Woodford County, Ill., where he was successfully engaged in farming 200 acres, raising oats, corn, hogs and cattle.
Desiring to see more of the great West, and especially the Golden State, W. Thomas Keiser migrated to California in 1898 and pur- chased 160 acres of raw land, located south of La Verne. Two years later he planted thirty acres to oranges, built three homes on the tract, and gave ten acres to each of his three sons. The remainder of the land he sold, and is now living retired from the active and arduous cares of ranching.
When W. Thomas Keiser was married he chose for his life partner Elizabeth Stoner, a native of Pennsylvania, and this union was blessed with three sons: Edward T .; Oscar G .; and John W. Mr. Keiser, Sr., is a member of the Church of the Brethren at La Verne.
F. H. Baldwin
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Oscar G. Keiser accompanied his father to La Verne in 1898 and assisted him in the development of the orange grove. After selling the ten-acre grove given him by his father, Oscar engaged in the feed and fuel business, for eight years, at La Verne, when he sold his business and purchased a ranch near Chino and engaged in raising sugar beets and alfalfa. In 1918 Mr. Keiser traded his Chino ranch for his present orange grove of ten acres, located on North Alexander Ave- nue, Pomona, formerly known as the Lindsey Ranch. It was on May 22, 1917, that Oscar Keiser took possession of his present orange grove, and since then has greatly improved the place and has brought the grove up to a high state of production.
On January 5, 1898, in Woodford County, Ill., Oscar G. Keiser was united in marriage with Ida Salathe, a native of Illinois. Three children have come to bless the home life of this happy couple, Esper, Verda and Lyle. The family attend the Church of the Brethren, at Pomona.
FRANK H. BALDWIN
For the past two decades Frank H. Baldwin, proprietor of the Glenholm Ranch, situated in the Packard Tract at Pomona, has been a resident of Pomona Valley; possessing the inherent qualities that insure success-sagacity, industry and thrift-he has, during his years of residence here, been a part of the growth and development of his section of the state, and has taken an active interest in the projects which have come up from time to time, advancing the resources of this productive region to their present stage of intensive cultivation. A native of Illinois, Mr. Baldwin was born in Yorktown, Bureau County, January 20, 1861. When he was a young lad his father removed to near Watertown, N. Y., and there operated a woolen mill, and at the age of ten Frank H. started to work in the mill. He afterwards re- turned to Illinois, and rented land for two years and farmed in White- side County, later purchasing the property. He first owned 120 acres, to which he made additions until his place comprised 240 acres, and he engaged in the dairy business, also raising sheep and fine horses.
In 1899 Mr. Baldwin came to Pomona, and in the fall of that year purchased his present ranch, which originally consisted of twelve and one-half acres with trees coming two years old. He added to this acreage until the place now includes twenty-three acres, twenty of which is planted to oranges, two acres to walnuts, and one to a family orchard. On acquiring the property, seven acres of the ranch had been set to prunes, which he replaced with oranges. His success as an orange grower was assured from the beginning, and his place is known as one of the best improved ranches in the Valley.
Nine years after locating in Pomona, Mr. Baldwin sold his Illinois property and bought 140 acres near Chino, for which he paid
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$40 per acre; he sunk a well on the place and with 150 inches of water seeded ninety acres to alfalfa. In four years time he sold the property for $30,000. In 1909 he purchased 1,957 acres near Creston, San Luis Obispo County; this he kept for a short time and then traded a part of it for a 200-acre ranch near Wasco, Kern County, which he still owns. Sixty acres of this land has been seeded to alfalfa and thirty acres is in grapes. Later he disposed of the balance of his San Luis Obispo property at a cash sale. His Pomona ranch is highly productive, and is an example of what thorough methods of cultiva- tion and management can accomplish in this section; he has twelve- inch cement pipes for irrigating purposes, and for some years was a director in the Packard Tract Water Company. His fruit is mar- keted through the Pomona Fruit Growers Exchange, and he is a firm believer in cooperation as a means of advancing the best interests of ranchers in any section.
In Whiteside County, Ill., in 1889, Mr. Baldwin married Miss Alma E. Lane, a native of that state, and they had two children, H. Lynn and Alene; the mother died in September, 1908. His second marriage, which occurred in Pasadena, Cal., in 1910, united Mr. Baldwin with Mary E. Lane, a cousin of his first wife, and they are the parents of a daughter, Lorena.
Prominent in Masonic circles, Mr. Baldwin is a member of Pomona Lodge No. 246, F. & A. M., Pomona Chapter No. 76, R. A. M., Pomona Council, R. & S. M., and also Pomona Chapter No. 110, O. E. S. Mrs Baldwin is present Worthy Matron of Pomona Chapter No 110, O. E. S., in which she has been an active worker and efficient officer. Mr. Baldwin has proven himself a real factor in the upbuilding of Pomona Valley and holds a prominent place among its representative citizens.
JAMES W. LAMONT
Pomona Valley has been notable in the past as a center for the successful production of citrus fruits, but its future promises even greater possibilities for that industry. The inauguration of exchanges throughout the country has played an important part in the citrus fruit industry in bringing producer and consumer together without the aid of the middleman.
James W. Lamont, who holds the responsible position of manager of the La Verne Lemon Association at La Verne, was born on a farm near Aurora, Hamilton County, Nebr., December 1, 1872. Like many of our prominent men in commercial life, his early education was received in the country schools. At the age of seventeen he entered the employ of the Wells Fargo Express Company in Nebraska. Later he was with the Adams Express Company throughout Colorado, Wyo- ming, Montana, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas as express
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messenger and relief agent. This service covered a period of sixteen years on the lines of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. In 1905 he resigned his position to come to California, and located at Long Beach, where he learned the undertaking business with A. C. Walker, and also speculated largely in real estate during the boom of 1905-6. Disposing of his real-estate holdings, and, resigning from the Walker Company, he became interested in the citrus fruit industry of Southern California, with which he has since been associated. He located at Santa Paula, and after being in the employ of C. C. Teague for fifteen days on his large ranch, became assistant foreman of the ranch, retaining the position for five years. In 1914, when the La Verne Orange and Lemon Citrus Association established their lemon packing plant, he was called to the position of foreman of the plant, a position he held until the organization of the La Verne Lemon Asso- ciation, September 1, 1919, when he was selected as its manager. Five years ago the shipment of lemons was but fifty carloads. Their busi- ness has grown to such an extent that they now ship about 200 carloads of lemons annually.
Mr. Lamont married Miss Alta Jones, also a native of Hamilton County, Nebraska, and they are the parents of a daughter named Marion Jeane. Fraternally, he has been associated with the Knights of Pythias for the past twenty years, and is a member of Pomona Lodge No. 107 of that order.
HUGH A. THATCHER
A rancher so closely and honorably identified with the develop- ment of Pomona Valley and vicinity that he looks forward with keen interest to the further preservation of collected annals of the neighbor- hoods, is Hugh A. Thatcher, who is best known as the controlling spirit of the Pomona Packing Company. He was born in Van Buren County, Iowa, on July 13, of the famous Centennial Year of 1876, the son of Amos D. Thatcher, who was a farmer and did valiant service in the Civil War as a lieutenant of the Fifteenth Volunteer Infantry of Iowa, and is still living, at the age of eighty-two. Mrs. Thatcher was Malissa C. Hartzell before her marriage, and she is now deceased. There were five children in the family, and the subject of our review was the youngest of the group.
He received his early education in the public schools of Topeka, Kans., and in Pomona, Cal., and later took an academic course in the University of Southern California, for he had come with his family to the Golden State in 1889, just after the great boom, and for two years had lived at San Diego. Later, they removed to Pomona, where Hugh entered the drug business as an apprentice. Eventually, he spent fourteen years in the drug trade in various places, established in busi- ness for himself about half the time.
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