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 72
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In handling the large interests entrusted to him, Mr. Somerville has established an enviable reputation for his capability and square dealing, and he is justly popular among the citrus growers of Southern California. In politics he is a protectionist and a stanch supporter of the Republican party. Mr. and Mrs. Somerville are the parents of one daughter, Mrs. Ethel Hamner.
FERRIS J. NUNNELEY
An active operator in important Pomona realty who has become especially prominent during the late war on account of his volunteer work in war activities, is Ferris J. Nunneley, a native son, born in Butte County, on March 2, 1886, the son of James and Emma (Gaby) Nunneley, the former a native of Ohio, who crossed the great plains by ox team to Butte County in 1853, where he became an early settler, and the latter a native of California. Enjoying the distinction of being a charter member of the Pomona Chamber of Commerce, our subject is still a live and honored member of that efficient organization.
The lad Ferris went to the public schools at Chico and later to the Lincoln high school in San Francisco, and afterward took a course in bookkeeping at the San Francisco Business College. Coming to Pomona in 1907, he filed on a homestead of 160 acres in Palo Verde Valley, and proved up on the same, dividing his time between the homestead and Pomona; and having sold the acreage in 1911, he bought a five-acre orange grove on North Towne Avenue, which he still owns. This he has improved, developed and brought to a high state of cultivation, so that it is now a good producer. He has also owned other orange groves in the Valley, buying, selling and improv- ing them ; and among them was a ten-acre grove in the Packard Tract, which he had title to for three years. Besides his other activities, he
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carries on a general real estate business; and as he is thoroughly familiar with soil conditions and land valuations, his patrons find that he is an agent out of the ordinary.
Mr. Nunneley is not only a faithful and alert member of the First Methodist Church, but he is Scout Master of the Boy Scouts of the church, and leads some sixty boy members in their strenuous duties. He regards this organizing the most pleasing thing that he has done, and finds great happiness in taking the boys out every month. Each summer, too, he takes them to camp-Lytle Creek Camp in the San Bernardino Mountains-and there they have good bunks, a mess house and headquarters. Mr. Nunneley is also active in the Sunday School work of the church. He belongs to the Knights of Pythias of Pomona, and was a keeper of the records and seals during the time when the Pythian building was being erected in East Holt Avenue.
After serving as director of the Packard Water Company, Mr. Nunneley was elected the company's president in May, 1919.
Of late Mr. Nunneley has been associated with the Service Pub- lishing Company of Washington, D. C., which is compiling a record of the soldiers who served in the recent war, and also a record of the Red Cross and other organizations that assisted in the great work. He has Pomona Valley for his district, and has been collecting the valuable data from this section which will be incorporated and published later. During the war Mr. Nunneley was also a member of the examining board, and a lieutenant in the drives of the Chamber of Commerce ; and he received from the United States Treasury Department a medal for the selling of war saving stamps.
At Pomona, on October 12, 1910, Mr. Nunneley was married to Miss Pearl Reed, a native of Indiana, who was reared from her baby- hood, or since 1887, in Pomona. She is a graduate of Pomona Col- lege. They have one daughter, Virginia.
LINDSAY M. MILLS
Contributing substantially to the placing of realty and its develop- ment in Pomona and throughout the Valley on a sound, broad basis, a native son, of Canadian extraction, Lindsay M. Mills has amply and handsomely justified the decided welcome accorded his family on their entrance into "the States," by becoming one of the most efficient and desirable of her aggressive and progressive citizens. As a member of the well-known firm of Bangle & Mills ( some idea of whose volume of business is elsewhere given in this work in the sketch of E. E. Bangle, another enterprising citizen and broker), Mr. Mills has stead- ily sought to influence and guide the trend of real estate sales in this section so that not only would a lively business be done, but that, through honesty and justness in dealing, values sought for would be at-
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tained and preserved, and such a sound and substantial foundation be created as might be proof against panics and those deteriorations so de- structive to a community, and often the cause of a setback from which a town slowly or never recovers.
Born in Riverside County, on January 29, 1889, Mr. Mills was the son of Archibald and Susan ( Miller ) Mills, members of a family hailing from Canada. He attended the excellent grammar and high schools of Riverside, and finished with a course at the best business college there; and after following mercantile employment for a time in that town, he associated himself with the General Fertilizer Company of San Bernardino and Los Angeles. Becoming familiar with the busi- ness, he traveled for some time on the road; and in 1912 came to reside at Pomona.
Here he entered the real estate field as a general operator, mak- ing a specialty of selling San Joaquin Valley lands; and after three years of management for himself, during which time he put over some large deals, he formed that partnership with E. E. Bangle of Pomona, under the firm name of Bangle & Mills, which has proven of such benefit not only to the two pushing partners, but to the communities whose interests they have looked upon as their own. Particularly as large operators in orange groves and alfalfa ranches, Messrs. Bangle & Mills have been very successful; nor would anyone who has ever dealt with them envy or begrudge them any of their prosperity.
As a patriotic, able-bodied citizen, loving justice and zealous for freedom, Mr. Mills, true to the Canadian traditions of his family, and equally American in his ideals, was in the great World War and was ready when the armistice was signed (and only prevented by that his- toric event) to go into action. As early as June, 1917, he enlisted with Battery D of the One Hundred Forty-fourth Field Artillery (the Grizzlies), trained at the Presidio, at San Francisco, and at Camp Kearny, and went overseas with the Fortieth Division, in the summer of 1918. He went into training on the 155 G. P. F. French field guns, and was thus fully prepared in every way to be of service to the great Allied cause; but sent back to the United States, he was ordered out of service in February, 1919, after which he resumed the real estate business he had laid down when he went to the front.
On June 17, 1919, in Pomona, occurred the marriage of Mr. Mills, when he was united with Miss Martha V. Krehbiel, born in Mc Pherson, Kans., who came to California with her parents, and is a graduate of Pomona high school and Pomona business college and was very popular in the younger social set. Greatly interested in the growth of the Pomona Valley, Mr. Mills believes its best interest can be furthered by the Chamber of Commerce, in which he is a very active worker and considers it the best asset of the county.
Socially, Mr. Mills is as much a favorite as he is popular in busi-
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ness and in army circles. He is active in the First Presbyterian Church of Pomona, standing openly for religion and truth, and is a welcome member of the Knights of Pythias and was a charter member of Chas. P. Rowe Post, No. 30, American Legion, at Pomona, and, in the same self-sacrificing way he enlisted, still stands ready to uphold the patriotic principles of the Legion.
SHELLBURN M. KEPNER
Since becoming a citizen of Pomona Valley in 1910, Shellburn M. Kepner has been identified with several of the important interests here represented, all of which have benefited by his business ability and general progressiveness. Born in Pennsylvania, Mr. Kepner has a heritage of Scotch blood, his paternal grandfather, Benjamin Kepner, having been a native of the land of the heather and came to Pennsyl- vania in his early days, locating in Juniata County. Shellburn's father, Henry Kepner, was born in Juniata County, Pa., and married Caroline Kloss. Of a family of seven children, Shellburn was the fourth in order of birth, being born at Port Royal, Pa., November 6, 1853. He was brought up on the farm and received an excellent education in the public schools and at Tuscarawas Academy. After finishing his school days, he followed farming for a time. In 1881 he was married to Miss Emma McCulloch, a daughter of James and Mary A. (Beal) McCul- loch, born in Pennsylvania, of Scotch-Irish descent. Grandfather Samuel McCulloch, born in the north of Ireland, came to Pennsylvania, locating in Tuscarawas Valley, where he built a mill, always known as McCulloch's mills. Mrs. Kepner received her early education in the local schools, and also attended the Tuscarawas Academy.
Shortly after their marriage in 1882, Mr. and Mrs. Kepner moved to Shenandoah, Page County, Iowa, bought 160 acres of land and engaged in farming and stock raising. Later they bought eighty acres more, developing a splendid farm. While here Mr. Kepner served on the school board and was an enterprising and progressive citizen. In 1899 they sold their farm and removed to Boise City, Idaho, where they bought land and engaged in stock raising, continu- ing there successfully for a number of years, when they decided to locate in California. On August 1, 1910, they came to Pomona and purchased a residence, and in January, 1911, he bought his present orange grove on Foothill Bouvelard and later bought ten acres more adjoining, the whole tract now being in oranges and lemons. They have added many improvements to the place, where they occupy a beautiful stucco residence, built along the lines of Spanish architecture. With three associates, he developed water by sinking deep wells and installed a pumping-plant for irrigating their orchards.
Mr. and Mrs. Kepner are the parents of four children: Mary
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Caroline, wife of A. S. Mack of Eureka ; Roy M., an orange grower, who resides near his parents ; Helen MI., a graduate of Flagstaff Nor- mal School, was a teacher here and is now the wife of W. E. Bailey and resides at Beaumont, Cal., and Margaret Clementine, Mrs. G. I. Billheimer of San Pedro; she was a graduate of Bonita high school and then attended Oregon Agricultural College at Corvallis, Ore.
Mr. and Mrs. Kepner are both Presbyterians, but now are mem- bers of the San Dimas Union Church, Mr. Kepner being a trustee. Mrs. Kepner is a member of the Wednesday Afternoon Club, San Dimas, and a leader in the social life of the community. In 1919, they made an extended visit of three months throughout the East, going via Seattle and Yellowstone Park back to Boston, New York, Pennsylvania and Iowa, where they visited their old homes, returning on the Santa Fe and taking in Grand Canyon on their way home.
During his residence in Pomona Valley, Mr. Kepner has become very prominent in the affairs of the community. He was an organizer and is a director in the Farmers and Merchants Bank of La Verne, a member of the La Verne Orange Growers Association and of the La Verne Lemon Growers Asosciation, and president of the board of trustees of the Bonita Union high school. He has two splendid orange groves which he has brought up to a high state of cultivation. Their beautiful home is presided over gracefully by his estimable wife, who is active in civic and club work and a highly accomplished woman.
P. J. NEILLY
An experienced orange grower, whose success in creating valuable citrus groves has given him great faith in California orange lands- a faith he is desirous at all times of sharing with others-is P. J. Neilly, who was born at Barrie, forty miles north of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on August 16, 1865. His father was Matthew Neilly, who came of good old Scotch Presbyterian stock in the north of Ireland; and while yet a lad, he crossed the briny deep with his parents and settled at Toronto in the New World. There he grew up and in early man- hood married Miss Elizabeth Hill, a native of Toronto, whose par- ents were English, from the world's metropolis. They were farmer folk in Ontario, and so spent their entire days there; devoted to their ten children-eight sons and two daughters-among whom the subject of our sketch is the fourth youngest in the order of birth.
Reared on his father's farm, he received a good education in the public schools and perhaps such a training as would be especially valuable to one growing up in agricultural Canada ; but wishing to see the great West, he started working his way to Vancouver, B. C., ar- riving on the Coast in the "boom" year of 1886. During this ad- venturous migration, he followed the carpenter's trade, and soon
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afterward came to Tacoma, Wash., where he engaged in contracting and building. He also went into the realty field, and bought and sold until the boom burst, when having overreached, like many over- confident people of that period, he lost heavily.
In 1895 he came to Los Angeles and continued contracting and building, as well as real-estate speculation; but having learned a lesson in Tacoma, he escaped the disaster of many and made some money. Next he went to Arizona, where he followed mining and was in charge of construction at various mines from the North to Tucson; and then, once again, he followed contracting and building. After that he crossed to Cananea, Mexico, where he spent six years as foreman of public construction with the Cananea Copper Company, and he was there during the riots when the Mexicans surrounded them, and they were besieged five days and had six men killed. The Americans all stood guard until Colonel Coscoliski, commander of the Rurales, ar- rived.
Soon after that Mr. Neilly received an offer from the Helvetia Copper Mining Company in Arizona to become their foreman of construction, and as a consequence of the inducements, he decided to return to the States and again cast in his lot in Arizona, and only after three years in that responsible position there, did he return to Los Angeles. He had been employed for eleven years steadily, without losing a day's pay; and with such a record took up new problems in a new field with courage and cheerfulness.
On returning to California Mr. Neilly made citrus culture his bus- iness, for he had long desired to enter that field; and in 1910 with his brother he came to Claremont and bought eleven acres on the Foothill Boulevard, which he sold a year later at a big profit. They then bought another grove, which they immediately improved and beautified, making of it very valuable property; and in April, 1919, they sold it at a big advance, when the brothers dissolved partnership. He thereupon purchased ten acres on Harrison and Mountain avenues, Claremont, as well as a residence adjoining, and Mr. Neilly now owns a desirable place of eleven and a half acres. He has a splendid, full- bearing grove of Navels and Valencias; and a large modern residence with beautiful surroundings, Partly as a sequel to his activity in these fields, Mr. Neilly is a director in the College Heights Orange and Lemon Growers Association.
In Los Angeles, August 16th, 1905, Mr. Neilly was married to Mrs. Mildred Ann (Shaw) Conklin, a native of Lincoln County, Mo. Mrs. Neilly is a daughter of Bethuel and Cordelia (Walker) Shaw, born in Lincoln County, Mo. Mr. Shaw's father was born in the north of Ireland and his mother in Kentucky, of English parents. They moved to Black Hawk, Gilpin County, Colo., in 1870, where Bethuel Shaw engaged in mining until his death, while his widow
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now makes her home in Denver. Mrs. Neilly is a cultured and re- fined woman, who has become an invaluable helpmate to her husband. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias of Pomona, and both he and his good wife are active as members of the Congregational Church, at Claremont. In national politics a Republican, Mr. Neilly knows no partisanship in his loyal support of every movement for the uplift and the upbuilding of the locality.
JESSE W. HOUGH
A native son of California, and with forbears who were pioneers of the state, Jesse W. Hough was born in Santa Barbara, Cal., October 24th, 1885, a son of Theodore H. and Helen (Clarke) Hough. The father combined ranching with his profession as a teacher, and came to the state in 1874, the mother having been here since 1871, and they were married in the Golden State. The father passed on in 1888. His widow came to Claremont in 1896 and built a home here and took an active part in Congregational Church work and the upbuilding of Claremont. She served a term as selectman of the town of Claremont and was one of the original stockholders of the Claremont Water Company and of the Claremont Improvement Company and for years was a member of the Rembrandt Club and of the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Jesse W. Hough was the only child of his parents, and received a splendid education, his first schooling being in the public schools of Claremont, then to the preparatory school and Pomona College, from which institution he was graduated with the degree of B. S., in 1908. He attended Stanford University one year, and then Yale for two years, leaving the latter with the degree of Master of Forestry in 1911. After finishing his college courses, Mr. Hough spent one year as forest assistant of San Bernardino in the United States Forest Service. Since that time he has been engaged in orange culture in Claremont, developing a ranch of seven acres, in which he finds his scientific knowledge of material aid.
The marriage of Mr. Hough at San Dimas, November 4, 1915, united him with Miss Martha Gore, a native of Illinois but reared in San Dimas, who also is a graduate of Pomona College, class of 1908, with the B. S. degree. She afterwards taught in San Dimas schools. To Mr. and Mrs. Hough two children have been born, Phoebe Anne, and Theodore Holmes. The family are members of the Congregational Church.
Having grown up with this section of the state, Mr. Hough is naturally a believer in even greater development for Pomona Valley than has been demonstrated in the past decade. Every facility is here for future progress, together with the men of broad and wise vision
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necessary for such advancement, all of them pulling together for the best interests of the commonwealth. With such men at the helm, no future prosperity is too great to be possible.
Fond of outdoor life and exercise, Mr. Hough joins in with the social life of the community in golf, and other sports, and also finds congenial recreation in hunting.
CHARLES. E. OTTO
An enterprising merchant of Pomona who has done much to advance trade here, especially in one or two fields in close touch with local life, is Charles E. Otto, the vice-president and manager of the Avis Hardware Company. He was born at Paterson, in Passaic County, N. J., on February 1, 1883, and there attended the grammar and high schools. When twenty-five years old, he removed to Cald- well, Essex County, the same state, and began his business career with the Grossman Bros. Hardware Company, in which large establishment he gained a thorough knowledge of the business.
In the fall of 1912, seeking a larger field, he came west to Cali- fornia and in November pitched his tent in Pomona. For a year, he was one of the salesmen of the A. B. Avis Hardware Company, and then for four years he took the management of that business. On March 1, 1918, he located in El Centro, in the Imperial Valley, and there became assistant manager of the Imperial Valley Hardware Company, which operates seven stores in the Valley, and does a very extensive trade; but on March 1, 1919, he returned to Pomona and put on a special sale for the reduction of stock with the Avis Company. On May 1, the corporation referred to was formed, and Mr. Otto was made vice-president and manager. Besides carrying a full line of strictly modern hardware, and doing the largest hardware business in the Valley, the Avis Company have recently added an auto-ac- cessories department. Commenting on the announcement of the in- corporation of the company, the Pomona newspaper said:
"Mr. Otto is one of the enterprising young business men of Po- mona. He is thoroughly familiar with the hardware trade, and has had a wide experience in every phase of the work. He is enthusiastic over the future of this locality and believes that Pomona is so situated as to make necessary its rapid growth as a business and trading center, as well as one of the choicest residence localities in the state."
The marriage of Mr. Otto and Miss Mary Louise Rickerich, a native of Caldwell, N. J., and the daughter of William and Louise Rickerich, occurred at Caldwell on April 12, 1912. Mr. Otto is a member, with his wife, of the First Congregational Church, and Mrs. Otto is also active in the Ebell Club, while her husband is a popular Mason.
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CLEMENT ROBERT MAY
No industry in the history of the country has taken greater strides than the automobile business, and among the leaders in this business in Southern California, Clement Robert May stands foremost. He is a native of Iowa and was born in Ollie, Keokuk County, in that state, August 28, 1879. His father, Martin L. May, now deceased, was a farmer by occupation, and his mother, before her marriage, was Miss Isabell De Armond, who now makes her home in Pomona.
Clement Robert is the oldest child in a family of four boys. He was educated in the public schools of Hedrick, Iowa, and as a young man of eighteen engaged in the shoe business, continuing this occupa- tion six years, and in the meantime handling a side line of bicycles.
He came to California in 1905, first locating at Los Angeles, where he followed the occupation of motorman for a year and a half. He then came to Claremont in 1907 and engaged in the bicycle busi- ness in a modest way and a year later embarked in the automobile business, in which he has been very successful. He occupies a building 55 feet by 140 feet in dimension and employs ten men. He handles the Buick car, a machine of exceptional merit, and the well known G. M. C. and Reo trucks, and his garage is well equipped for the care of machines.
He married Miss Dora Sechrist, October 24, 1900, at Hedrick, Iowa, and they are the parents of one child, Burdette by name. Mr. May is a member of the Baptist denomination and also active member of the Claremont Chamber of Commerce; is a member and vice- president of the California Automobile Trade Association, with its slogan, "Clean and attractive places of business," and his public spirit never fails in any emergency for the city of his adoption.
WILLIAM ELLIS JOHNSON
The proprietor of the Mission Ice Cream and Confectionery Store, William Ellis Johnson is a native of Rochester, Minn., and was born August 20, 1890. He is a young man of progressive ideas and a decided talent for business, as is evidenced in the steady advancement he has made since entering business life. He came to Claremont, Cal., with his parents in 1905, at the age of fourteen, and completed his education in the Claremont schools. The father had conducted a bakery and confectionery store in Minnesota, and it was in his father's store that young Johnson acquired a knowledge of the bakery and confectionery business. After completing his schooling he was asso- ciated with a nursery company in San Bernardino, and afterward re- turned to Claremont, where he conducted a clothing and pressing establishment on Harvard Avenue, known as "The College Tailors."
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He made a success of the business, disposed of it and purchased "The Mission," formerly owned by J. B. Anderson, and located at 235 West First Street, of which he took possession August 1, 1919, al- though he had previously spent three years in Mr. Anderson's employ. The Mission occupies a building by itself on the business street of Claremont and is the most attractive store on the street. Both ex- terior and interior are of Mission design, and under the able and efficient management of its owner, its location and beautiful artistic appointments attract the best class of patronage and it enjoys a large business.
Mr. Johnson was united by his marriage with Miss Alma Daw- son, a native of Pomona, and of their happy union two interesting children have been born, Virginia Irene and Pauline May. Fraternal- ly Mr. Johnson is junior deacon in the Claremont Lodge No. +36, F. & A. M., and is a member of the I. O. O. F. at Claremont.
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