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 71
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Maj. Homer Leo Duffy was educated in the public schools of Pomona, and then took a course at Williams Business College. His first employment was with the Edison Company, and he has been with
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this concern for the past eighteen years, a record which speaks for it- self. Studious and ambitious, he put in his spare time in study, and has risen to his present position through his own energetic efforts. For- merly cashier for the company, in 1916 he was promoted to the posi- tion of chief clerk and now fills that important post.
Besides his business interests, Major Duffy has been active in mili- tary affairs in the Valley. On March 16, 1900, he enlisted as a private in the National Guard, was elected second lieutenant, and after serving one and one-half years in that capacity, he was elected captain for six and one-half years. He made a record during this time and while at the head of his company every man qualified as a marksman or better and received the grade of "excellent" with regard to equipment, etc. Major Duffy himself has made a record in shooting and target prac- tice. In March, 1916, he was appointed a major in the California Quartermaster's Corps, and that year was called into the Federal ser- vice, and mustered out January 10, 1917.
On May 9, 1917, Major Duffy was married to Ruth L. Brewer, a daughter of H. L. Brewer of Pomona, and a native daughter of Pomona Valley. Her father and mother, who were born in Cali- fornia, came to Pomona in 1887, and both are living here now and are among the early pioneers. Mrs. Brewer attended the Pomona schools when a girl. In fraternal affairs Major Duffy is a member of the Elks; the Knights of Columbus, in which order he is a grand knight; and of the Fraternal Brotherhood. In politics he supports the Re- publican party. A man of fine character, Major Duffy has interested himself in all movements for the advancement of his section, and is well known throughout the community.
ALFRED M. FOWKES
A splendid illustration of the value to a community of a worth- while institution of such a nature that, continuing to operate, it is bound to expand, and expanding, it enriches and advertises the more the town of which it is such an important and promising part, is afford- ed by Alfred M. Fowkes, the enterprising manufacturer of sweater coats and knit goods, whose well-appointed factory is at 274 East Second Street, Pomona. He was born at Philadelphia, on March 14, 1876, and after enjoying the excellent public school advantages of the city, he entered the employ, when a young man, of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, to do office work.
With seven years' experience and recommendation, Mr. Fowkes next embarked in business for himself, establishing a wholesale metal refinery ; and after that he took up the manufacture of knit goods, with a specialty of Cardigan jackets. In 1906 he came west and to Po- mona, and for a few years tried his hand at real estate and land specu-
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lations, building and the buying and selling of houses and orange groves ; but then he returned east for a few years and came back only in 1914.
The next year he established his present business-an enterprise that has come to mean so much to Pomona, for it is the only manufac- tory of its kind in Southern California, east of Los Angeles. It is, too, a growing industry, for it was started with one hand-knitting machine, and since then new and modern machinery for weaving has been added from time to time, and at present all the machinery is run by electric power. Zephyr and worsted are used in the manufacture of sweaters; the skeins are wound from shuttles onto spools by electric power, and the cloth is then woven in slips on new power machines, after which they are joined by sewing machines, run by electric power, and the sweater is complete. The large department stores of Los Angeles take nearly all of the output, although some are sold at retail to Pomona people. Inasmuch as this has proven to be a rapidly-growing indus- try, larger and more commodious quarters will soon be taken; and then, more than ever, the sweaters will appear in all colors and styles. Six people are regularly employed in the factory, and it is naturally only a question of time before the industry will afford many more Pomonans employment.
While at Philadelphia, on February 8, 1899, Mr. Fowkes was married to Miss Jennie Kephart, a native of Philadelphia, whose parents represented old pioneer families. Now the happily-mated couple have two children, Alfred M., Jr., and Beatrice. He is a mem- ber of the B. P. O. Elks of Pomona.
EARL FREDENDALL
Holding an assured position among Pomona's citizens and in her business enterprises is Earl Fredendall, proprietor of the Fredendall Mercantile Agency in the city of Pomona. He was born at Wash- ington, Kans., January 13, 1886. His parents, T. B. and Eva J. (Collins) Fredendall, came to California with their family more than twenty-five years ago, locating in 1893 at Ontario and afterwards re- turning to Kansas. But the memory of California's sunny skies and other attractions lingered with them, and ten years after their first venture in establishing a home on the Pacific slope they returned, locating permanently at Pomona in 1903, in which vicinity they are now living on an orange ranch.
In a family of six children, consisting of three boys and three girls, Earl is the second child. He was educated in the public schools and graduated from the Pomona high school with the class of 1906, afterwards taking a year's course in Pomona College. He then was employed in the lumber business in South Pasadena, and spent one
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year in Missouri in his father's store. He established his present business in April, 1910. In the extremity of his country's need, he joined the United States service and was admitted to the Field Artil- lery, Central Officers' Training Camp at Camp Zachary Taylor, near Louisville, Ky. At the time of the armistice he returned home at his own expense.
Mr. Fredendall married May 10, 1919, Miss Ola Thompson, a native daughter of California, born at Claremont. In his political convictions he is an adherent of the principles advocated in the plat- form of the Republican party, and fraternally he affiliates with the Masonic order, being master of Pomona Lodge No. 246, F. & A. M., and is also a member of the Elks and of the Chamber of Commerce. He is deeply interested in the Pomona Valley and its development. Public-spirited in its broadest sense, he takes an active interest in the betterment of the community in which he resides in every possible way.
LOUIS FERRELL
The success in life reached by Louis Ferrell has been solely through his own efforts, and he deserves the credit due any man who has, through his industry and thrift, established a successful business of his own and maintains the same, with honesty and fair dealing as the basis of his success. Born in Howard County, Mo., Apirl 4, 1881, he is a son of Andrew Summers and Juanita (McMullen) Ferrell, the former a farmer by occupation, who fought with the soldiers of the Confederacy in the Civil War. The family first came to California in 1891, remaining in Los Angeles one year, and then returned to Mis- souri. The lure of the West proved too strong, however, and 1898 found them living in Pomona, where the father's death occurred, and where the mother now makes her home.
The youngest of two children, Louis Ferrell attended school in Missouri, Los Angeles and Pomona, and as a young man learned the trade of stone mason. In 1904 he engaged in business for himself in Pomona, as a concrete contractor, and has since that time been active in the business life of the city. He follows concrete contracting on a large scale, sometimes employing as many as 100 men. Among other contracts, Mr. Ferrell constructed the stone work on the Presbyterian and the Christian churches in Pomona, the paving of Holt Avenue from San Antonio Avenue west, and many of the sidewalk.s in the city.
Deeply interested in the upbuilding of Pomona Valley, Mr. Fer- rell has won the respect of his home city as a public-spirited and en- thusiastic worker for the development of this district, and especially the water facilities of the Valley. He has been active in the war drives during the country's need, and in all ways has proven himself a man worthy the respect and friendship he has won in the community.
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ROLLIE A. STINE
A native of Southern California, and the direct descendant of California pioneers, Rollie A. Stine was himself a pioneer in the line of business he chose for his life work, and the family history is most interesting as an example of life in the Golden States from the days of '49 up to the present era. In the "gold" days of romance and hard- ships side by side, the first of the family came west, Grandfather Stine, a genuine '49er. A few years later his son, Charles R. Stine, who had been born in Ohio, crossed the plains to the state, using horses as far as Salt Lake City and ox teams from there to the gold mines of Tuolumne County. With his three brothers, John, Eugene and Amos, he hauled freight from the mines to Stockton, and later he located near Petaluma, Sonoma County, where he followed ranching.
Charles R. Stine chose for his second wife Miss Mattie Weekly, a native Californian, and in the early seventies they came to Tustin, when Santa Ana was a mustard patch and there were only two orange trees in this section, and they were in the city of Orange. He helped dig the Santa Ana irrigation ditch from the Santa Ana Canyon, the first in the district, taking part payment in stock and part in money for his labor. Later, he followed ranching, and is now living retired at Chino. He brought his violin with him to Tustin and played for many of the dances held by the Spanish in early days. Three children were born to this pioneer couple : Flora, Mrs. W. H. Delphey of Chino; Rollie A. of this writing, and William A. of Balboa. By a former marriage there were two sons, Charles and Orla, both living in Los Angeles.
Rollie A. Stine was born at Tustin, then Los Angeles, but now Orange County, on January 12, 1878, and was educated in the Tustin grammar and the Chino high schools. As a boy he worked on the stock ranches, and later, in partnership with his brother, William A., he engaged in stock raising, ranching and dairying on rented land near Chino; and while riding the range in the early days of this section he had a personal acquaintance with old Spanish families and became familiar with their happy life in those romantic times, and can recall many interesting experiences at rodeos, dances and other gatherings, when the early Spaniards proved their title as the most hospitable of peoples.
In 1907 Mr. Stine located in Pomona, and for a while engaged in the breaking and sale of horses. Then he established the first van and storage business in the Valley, starting with horse power and changing to motor power. His business has steadily increased as the efficiency of the service given became known, and he now maintains a storage warehouse and office at 203 North Park Street, where he has as full and fine an equipment as may usually be found in a city four
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times the size of Pomona. In the features of compact loading and careful handling he gives the best possible satisfaction, and with the enclosed vans as a guarantee against damage by the elements, the care- fulness of handling the smallest articles as well as those most valuable to the owners, he maintains a business which is kept to the top notch of modernity, and has succeeded as such methods applied to business always do succeed. In fact, it would be difficult to conceive of modern Pomona and environs without Stine's van and storage outfit. He is also agent for the Transcontinental Freight Company.
On December 23, 1902, at Chino, Cal., Mr. Stine was married to Miss Emma S. Fintel, a daughter of John F. Fintel, an early settler of Pomona, who followed ranching successfully and is now deceased. Five children have blessed their union: Leland R., Gladys, Clayton, Evelyn and Loren.
CLYDE A. GATES
A Californian by adoption who has been in the Golden State only a few years, but by foresight, good judgment and hard work has been so successful that he has made his presence felt and has widely extended his influence for good, is Clyde A. Gates, a member of the well-known firm of Boyd & Gates, the wide-awake real estate dealers, whose offices at 103 South Garey Avenue are a Mecca to many. Not only has he attained eminence in the field referred to, but he is one of the leading orange growers of the Valley, and so has much to do with influencing the trend of events there.
Mr. Gates was born at Laporte City, Iowa, on December 23, 1872, and was reared at Fort Dodge, in the same state, where he at- tended the public schools and then studied at a good business college.
As a young man, he clerked in a mercantile house at Fort Dodge, and then he became traveling salesman for a wholesale grocery house. Next he went to Sioux Falls, S. D., and was the first exclusive auto dealer there, setting the pace both as a retailer and a wholesaler, while handling the Ford and acting as agent for the Buick.
In 1910 Mr. Gates came to Pomona, and bought twenty-six acres of an orange grove on East Kingsley Avenue, located in the northeast Pomona tract. This grove, consisting of many fine Navel and Valencia trees, is twenty years old, and it has yielded as much as $14,000 gross yearly. He made many improvements there, remodeled the residence, creating twelve rooms, and in other ways much enhanced the value.
Mr. Gates entered into real estate dealing shortly after arriving in Pomona, buying, selling and owning property. In the spring of 1919, he made a partnership, to operate in realty, with Sidney R. Boyd, the name of the firm this time being styled Boyd & Gates. They
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deal in orange groves, alfalfa ranches, city property and country ranches. They handle only their own property, and do not work for others on a commission basis.
When, at Fort Dodge, Iowa, and on February 26, 1896, Mr. Gates was married, he chose for his wife Miss Letha Nash, a native of Iowa, and three children have blessed their union. Howard C., aged twenty-two, enlisted soon after the war was declared, and as a United States Navy radio officer, was on the Pacific Mail steamship Cour- ageous in the Pacific service for over two years. Walter N. has reached his twentieth year, and Ronald B. is sixteen. The family attend the First Presbyterian Church, and Mr. Gates is both a thirty- second degree Mason and a Shriner, and also a Knight of Pythias.
D. MAT TOLTON
Pomona owes much to her pleasant reputation among motorists created by the excellent service station and auto supply shop of D. Mat Tolton, whose headquarters are at 200 North Garey Avenue, from which place he feels the pulse of the motor world and especially keeps in touch with motoring in Southern California. He was born at Attalla, Etowah County, Ala., on February 28, 1884, and was reared on a farm, while he attended the country schools. For a while he fol- lowed a mercantile career, first in a general merchandise store near his home, then in a grocery store, and later in a gent's furnishing store in Attalla. There he joined the Odd Fellows, and he still holds his mem- bership in the lodge of his old home town.
He arrived at Pomona in December, 1909, and for a short time worked at the Pomona Fruit Growers Exchange packing house, and next he clerked in the Star and then in the Curtis Grocery. He after- ward started a business of his own in Pomona, opening Tolton's Tailors, a cleaning, repairing and tailoring establishment, but at the end of four years he sold out, and then homesteaded 160 acres in Kern County. He proved up on the same, and he still owns 120 of the original acres.
Mr. Tolton served a four years' enlistment in the California National Guard, and he went to the Mexican border in 1916, when his enlistment expired and he was discharged. He returned to Pomona and entered the employ of the Hub Clothing Company, where he was busy for a year and a half. In November, 1918, he was called for in the last draft, and was seven days in the service of the World War when the armistice was signed.
Returning to Pomona, he started, in January, 1919, in the auto- mobile business with a service station at 200 North Garey Avenue ; and from the beginning he has been very successful. He carries a full
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line of auto accessories, and has the exclusive agency for the Kokomo tires, and he also carries the Fisk tires. Mr. Tolton also deals in second-hand machines; and in three months made a record sale for cash, such was the confidence of the buying public in his judgment and fair dealing, of no less than forty first-class cars.
Mr. Tolton was united in marriage on June 26, 1919, at Santa Ana, to Mrs. Elizabeth Smith of Pomona. Fraternally he is a member of the Knights of Pythias.
PROFESSOR B. P. STOUT
Preeminent among the many reasons for which Pomona is to be heartily congratulated may be mentioned the advent and continuance in that progressive city of Prof. B. P. Stout, the assistant pastor and director of music of the First Baptist Church-evangelist, scholar, orator and patriot, through whose combined gifts and zeal that church has grown by leaps and bounds since he took the congregational helm. He was born in Hunterdon County, N. J., and there attended the public schools as well as the Lee Institute. He learned the watch- maker's trade and became a most practical expert in that field, master- ing also a knowledge of diamonds, and for some years he was one of the leading business men of Hightstown, N. J., and afterwards of Philadelphia, Pa.
Later he took up the work of an evangelist, which he has fol- lowed with such signal success for the past twenty-five years, preaching and singing the gospel of Jesus Christ in nearly every state in the Union. He has led the singing for many of the noted evangelists, among them Gypsy Smith, W. E. Biederwolf, L. W. Hunhall, Billy Sunday and others of fame. Wherever he was persuaded to go, there he sprang into an enviable popularity through the originality of his methods and the intensity of his zeal, so that many communities sought to retain him permanently.
In the spring of 1919 he came to Pomona as musical director in a revival meeting that was held by the First Baptist Church; and the leaders of the church, the Rev. J. Harvey Deere, D.D., and his asso- ciates, were so much pleased with his singing and the interest he stimu- lated that they asked him to name the terms for which he would con- sent to become assistant pastor and musical director. Satisfied that at last the field for which God had originally intended him had been opened to his view, he assented and was immediately elected to the position by the church authorities.
This highly complimentary engagement to assist in the build- ing up of Pomona comes, after all, as a natural culmination to a career thus far steadily rising and brilliant. Professor Stout was musical director in evangelistic work and revival meetings all over
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the United States for years, and in many churches regardless of de- nomination, and while he was a resident of Philadelphia, noted for its high musical standards, he was a member of a quartet and a soloist in the First Methodist Church at Germantown. This quartet gave many concerts, and did much to increase an appreciation of good music. He has a wonderfully powerful high baritone voice, which was fully developed under the direction of the most noted teachers. He was also associated with the music of the Temple Church of Philadelphia. In 1905 Professor Stout came to Pasadena, and since then has made that city his home, although returning often to the East in the prosecu- tion of his important work.
Professor Stout gives "Sermons in Song," something quite orig- inal with him and of his own composition, and some of his numbers have been composed by him and are sung with great effect. In the Story of the Cross, he relates the life of Christ; while he also offers "Mother," "Home and Heaven," "The Prodigal," "God's Call to Men," and other original compositions far superior to those usually presented by the average earnest but less gifted evangelist. He is a member of the International Association of Evangelists, and also of the Hightstown, N. J., lodge of Masons.
In the city of Trenton, N. J., Professor Stout took for his com- panion in life Miss Susie Bamford, a native-of Trenton, N. J. She also has musical genius and religious inspiration, and often sings with him, so that she has been of the greatest assistance to him in his rescuing work. Hers is a beautiful mezzo-soprano voice; she, too, has studied under famous teachers; and she is among the most proficient of the graduates of the Model Musical Institute of Trenton, N. J. Fortu- nate would any community be that numbered two such gifted and zealous uplifters among its citizen-residents as Professor and Mrs. Stout.
HOMER E. ROBBINS, PH.D.
Among the younger professors at Pomona College, Claremont, Cal., one who holds a very important position is Homer E. Robbins, Ph.D., professor of classics and chairman of the committee on ad- mission. He is a native of Oakland County, Mich., and was born near Pontiac, June 5, 1881. His education, the foundation of which was laid in the public schools, was completed at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, from which institution he was graduated and from which he has received three degrees, that of B.A. in 1905, M.A. in 1906, and Ph.D. in 1916. After graduating he taught the classics at Holderness School for Boys at Plymouth, N. H., and later was teacher of Latin and Greek at Washington and Jefferson Academy, Washington, Pa. He afterwards returned to the University of Mich-
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igan at Ann Arbor for two years' graduate work, and next was pro- fessor of Latin at Transylvania College, Lexington, Ky., from which institution he accepted a call to Pomona College, Claremont, Cal., in 1915.
Although a comparatively young man, Professor Robbins has had a wide experience in teaching classics and is gifted with high ideals and marked executive ability, traits of character of inestimable worth to a man in his profession.
His marriage, August 29, 1912, at Washington, Pa., united him with Miss Lena Richmond, a native of Cattaraugus County, N. Y., and reared in Bradford, Pa., and two children have been born to them, Eleanor Mabel and Esther Alena. With his wife, Professor Robbins is a member of the Congregational Church at Claremont, and frater- nally he was made a Mason in the lodge of which Daniel Webster was a member, Olive Branch Lodge No. 16, Plymouth, N. H., and is now master of Claremont Lodge No. 436, F. & A. M., and a member of Acacia Masonic Fraternity at the University of Michigan.
WILLIAM D. SOMERVILLE
A resident of California since 1890, who has become a well- informed and successful horticulturist, particularly in citrus culture, is William D. Somerville, born in Terre Haute, Ind., on March 25, 1868, the only child born to David D. and Hannah (Hoffman) Somer- ville, natives of Indiana. His father, who was of Irish descent, was reared on an Indiana farm, enlisted and served in the Civil War as first lieutenant in an Indiana regiment. He died before William was born, passing away on December 25, 1867. The mother survived him seven years, passing away in 1875.
From the age of seven years William D. made his own way in the world, working on farms for his board and going to school, later put- ting in all his time on the farm. In those days much was expected of him, and, as he says, he worked two shifts a day-eight hours in the forenoon and eight hours in the afternoon. But he stood up under this strenuous life and it made a man of him. He was always intensely interested in the Pacific Coast country and decided to come to Cali- fornia to live, so on July 22, 1890, he arrived at Redlands. For a time he was on a survey corps, doing land surveying, and became a transitman, continuing at civil engineering for four years, when he returned to Indiana, where he was married, being united with Miss Edna Wolf, also a native of Indiana. The young couple immediately returned to California, locating at Riverside, where he followed citrus culture. He was with the National Orange Company for a period of eighteen years, beginning at the bottom by digging holes and setting
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trees, but was soon placed in charge of a small grove. For the last twelve years, however, he was superintendent in charge of their 800 acres of citrus groves, a position he filled ably and well, being espe- cially qualified for this responsible work.
In January, 1916, he resigned his position to accept the superin- tendency of the Evergreen ranch, a post he is now ably filling. His close application and experience of many years in citrus growing has placed him among the best-informed men in his line of work, and it is no doubt due to his care and close application to the orchard that the Evergreen Ranch, which comprises 200 acres of oranges and lemons, is one of the best bearing in the La Verne district. Mr. Somerville con- siders this one of the best sections in the state for raising Navel oranges and has purchased a full bearing Navel orchard on the base line northwest of La Verne.
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