USA > California > Riverside County > History of Riverside County, California > Part 68
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The marriage of Mr. Mitchell was solemnized in Forestville, N. Y., December 30, 1868, and united him with Miss Harriett Godfrey of that place. They are the parents of five children. The eldest son, Harry E., is connected with the Sherman Institute.
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The second child, Frank E., is a citizen of Chicago, where he is employed as searcher of records with the Chicago Title & Trust Company. The third son, Claude W., of Berkeley, Cal., is a graduate of the University of California in the mechanical and electrical engineering department and now holds a position as electrical inspector for the board of fire underwriters of the Pacific. The youngest son, Ray R., a civil engineer, has charge of a crew of workmen in the Philippine Islands. The youngest child and only daughter, Miss Alice M., holds the position of deputy treasurer of Riverside county.
GEORGE J. YONG
A citizen of business experience and since the year 1905 a resident of the vicinity of Elsinore, George J. Yong has built two wineries and set out two vineyards and has successfully demon- strated the adaptability of this section of Riverside county for grape growing. A native of the state, he was born in Anaheim, November 10, 1876, a son of George and Marie Yong, natives of Switzerland and France respectively. George Yong, Sr., came to this state in an early day and is now a resident of Orange county.
George J. Yong received his education in St. Vincent's Col- lege, Los Angeles, and at the age of eighteen he became his father's assistant on his ranch near Santa Ana. Four years later he struck out for himself, going to Santa Barbara, where he worked for two years, from there going to Temescal and engaging in horticul- tural pursuits. His next move was made about three years later to De Luz, San Diego county, where he set out a vineyard and erected a winery. Coming to Riverside county in 1905 he first settled about three and a half miles from Elsinore and here he set out a vineyard and erected a winery. After he had put the place on a paying basis he sold it and in 1909 removed to his present place, where he bought a tract of raw land that was covered with brush. Here he has erected a comfortable house and cleared part of the land, now having about forty-five acres in wine and table grapes of a fine variety. Some of his land is devoted to nursery stock, including a fine grade of orange trees, and the balance of his seventy-nine acres is rapidly being cleared and set to vines. His winery on this place has a capacity of sixty thousand gallons and is equipped with all modern appliances. The entire ranch shows the thrift of its owner.
Mr. Yong has been twice married, the first marriage taking
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place in Los Angeles in 1897 and uniting him with Louise Norman of Oxnard, by whom two children were born: Walter, born in 1898, and Emma, born in 1901. In 1909 he was united in marriage with Miss Jessie Thomas, a native of Indiana. A stanch Democrat, Mr. Yong is intelligently interested in political affairs, though he never has desired office at any time, preferring to devote his attention to the conduct of his own affairs and is untiring in his efforts toward the progress of the community. He is a member of the Eagles and Native Sons of the Golden West, and is much re- spected by his neighbors and friends as a progressive citizen of Riverside county.
WALTER SCOTT CLAYSON
The profession of law has in all ages and in every part of the civilized world attracted to its practice many of the brightest minds and keenest intellects among the ambitious youths seeking the development of their talents along congenial and favorable lines. Doubtless no calling presents greater difficulties at the outset, but in the end to him who in patience runs his course there comes the reward of high professional standing, a satisfactory financial success and a frequent association with movements for the perma- nent welfare of community and commonwealth. Invariably men of the profession are to be found on the side of progress, interested in forward movements and contributors to local measures of educa- tional, civic or moral worth.
At the outset of his career as an attorney Mr. Clayson has won recognition among the rising young lawyers of Riverside county and it is confidently predicted that the future holds suc- cesses for him along the line of his chosen calling. His office is at Corona, where he has made his home since 1901 and where he has a large circle of friends and well-wishers. Born in Redwood Falls, Minn., January 25, 1887, a son of Walter S. and Charlotte P. Clayson, he received a grammar-school education in his native city. After the removal of the family to California in 1901 he entered the high school of Corona and continued the regular course of studies until his graduation in 1905. Already he had selected the law as his chosen work in life and his high-school studies had been energetically carried forward with that object in view.
After leaving the high school Mr. Clayson matriculated in the law department of the University of Southern California and entered upon the study of legal authorities with ambition and per-
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severance. At the conclusion of the course he passed a rigid exam- ination and received his degree of LL.B. in 1908. Immediately afterward he was admitted to the bar of California by the court of appeals and the federal court, since which he has engaged in professional practice at Corona. In this place he is a leading Republican worker, a contributor to civic measures and a welcomed guest in the most refined circles of society. Mr. Clayson is an enthusiastic worker in the Knights of Pythias lodge, and at present is Chancellor Commander of Corona Lodge, No. 291.
JOHN W. AMSTUTZ
An experience with diversified lines of activity in various cities of the east preceded the removal of Mr. Amstutz to California and qualified him for a forceful and progressive identification with the commercial history of Riverside, where for some years he has been a partner in the undertaking firm of Ward, Amstutz & Glenn. The principles of the business were studied under the tutelage of pro- fessional embalmers in the east. No labor was spared whereby his qualifications for service might be enlarged. Already he had enjoyed the advantage of a general business experience and after he had mastered the science in its modern system of usage he was abundantly fitted for all the intricate details connected with the undertaking business. Thorough knowledge of the work, unerring tact and unfailing courtesy are the keynote of his growing popular- ity in his specialty.
Born at Smithville, Wayne county, Ohio, January 10, 1865, John W. Amstutz is a son of Peter and Sarah Amstutz, of that state. From the age of six until he was sixteen he attended the local schools and later he was a normal student at Orrville, Wayne county, where he completed a specified course of study at the age of eighteen. He then went to Cleveland, Ohio, and began to study the drug business in a wholesale house, where he remained for three years meanwhile learning every detail of the occupation of a drug- gist. Fortified by this practical experience, he secured a clerk- ship in a retail drug store in Cleveland. After one year in that pharmacy he returned to Orrville and for a year clerked in a retail drug store. His next location was at Kenton, Hardin county, Ohio, where he bought an interest in a wholesale and retail drug store and continued until 1898. Upon selling out that business he removed to Michigan and for a year owned and conducted a drug
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store at Battle Creek. With the sale of that business his connec- tion with the occupation of a druggist ceased.
A thorough course in the Pennsylvania College of Embalming detained Mr. Amstutz in Pittsburg, Pa., for some time and enabled him to graduate in 1900 with a degree of efficiency and skill in the art. For six months after graduation he was engaged by a firm of undertakers to take charge of their embalming business. Next he went to Michigan and settled in Marshall, where he conducted a furniture store and also engaged in undertaking. By passing a rigid examination he was granted a state license. In 1905 he came to Southern California and established his home at Riverside, where now he is prosperously identified with the firm of Ward, Amstutz & Glenn, undertakers and embalmers. The duties of business demand his entire time and leave him little leisure for participation in political affairs, in which, indeed, he takes no part aside from voting the Republican ticket. His interest in the benevolent and elevating work accomplished by fraternal organizations has led him to identify himself with various of these, among them being the Improved Order of Red Men, the Knights of Pythias and the Masons in the blue lodge. At Orrville, Ohio, October 10, 1890, he married Miss Laura Thomas, a graduate of the musical depart- ment of Wooster University and a lady of the highest culture, who shares with him in the good-will of the people and with him maintains a helpful connection with the work of the Presbyterian Church. They are the parents of two sons, the elder of whom, Karl, is a musician of local reputation. The younger, Harry, is now a student in the Riverside schools.
HOMER STEPHENSON
An increasing identification with the horticultural activities of Riverside places Mr. Stephenson in a position of importance and gives him prestige as an orange-grower. Shortly after his removal to this city from Kansas during the year 1893 he bought a tract of five acres and began to raise oranges. The business was conducted on a small scale at first, but as he found himself more and more interested in the occupation and increasingly successful in its prosecution he bought adjacent tracts and now owns sixteen acres of valuable orange land. Coming to the west from the great grain fields and corn lands of Kansas, he entered upon an occu- pation radically different from that in which he had engaged,
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but one requiring equally with agriculture skill, industry, good judgment and watchfulness. As a farmer in Kansas he was suc- cessful and the same may be said of his experiences in California, for here as there he has exhibited intelligence in the conduct of his land and skill in its cultivation.
Born in Trumbull county, Ohio, March 27, 1844, Homer Stephenson is a son of Decatur and Phoebe Stephenson and as a boy received such advantages as the country schools afforded. At the opening of the Civil war he was eager to go to the front and serve under the stars and stripes. When only eighteen years of age, in 1862, he was accepted as a volunteer in the Union service and became a private in Company B, One Hundred and Fifth Ohio Infantry. With his regiment he went to the south and fought for the Union on many a sanguinary and fiercely-contested battle- field, always serving faithfully and well. When the war had come to an end and the need of soldiers no longer existed he received an honorable discharge in June of 1865 and returned to his home with a record for bravery of which he and his might well be proud.
The need of more extended educational opportunities than the public schools afforded had impressed itself upon the mind of the young soldier, who upon his return from the army entered the Normal Institute at Orwell, Ashtabula county, Ohio, and for the three ensuing years carried on the regular studies of that school. On his return to Trumbull county he engaged in teaching school, but in 1869 removed to Illinois and for one year taught near Aurora. The course of travel took him westward to Kansas, where he settled in Sedgwick county and took up a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres. While holding the claim he earned a livelihood by teaching school. Little by little the claim was put under cultiva- tion and improvements were made. As his means increased and the returns from the farm justified enlarged expansion he bought a tract of two hundred and forty acres and this too he brought under cultivation. For a long period he tilled the soil of his landed pos- sessions in Kansas. When eventually he sold the land, amounting to four hundred acres, it was at a large advance over its cost and he was enabled to leave the state with a neat capital for investment in California, where he settled in 1893. Since then he has been contentedly pursuing the occupation of a horticulturist in River- side and has identified himself with civic affairs to an extent in- dicative of his progressive spirit and loyal devotion.
Ever since the organization of the Grand Army of the Re- public in the country Mr. Stephenson has maintained a warm interest in its enterprises and his connection with the post at River- side has been one of the most pleasant incidents of his life in this city. Pleasant also has been his share in the work of the
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Methodist Episcopal Church at Riverside. The denomination has in him a liberal contributor to its missionary movements and a warm believer in its doctrines. Although not active in local poli- tics, he stanchly upholds Republican principles. While residing in Kansas he was married in Harvey county, that state, in May of 1876, his wife being Miss Dora Morgan, a native of Ohio. They became the parents of ten children, eight of whom are living, two having died in infancy. Those living are: Mrs. Stella Ayres, of Highgrove; Decatur, on his father's ranch; Laura Stocking, of Riverside; H. Bruce, a graduate of the University of California and now a lieutenant in the constabulary in the Philippine Islands; Morgan, of Arlington; Lillian, Beulah and Gladys, at home with their parents.
CHARLES L. SMALL
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In industrial circles of Riverside, Charles L. Small has long been recognized as a man of energy and ability, his progressive spirit having greatly aided in the success of the wholesale fuel and feed business established by his father, H. K. Small, in 1902, and which the son has served as secretary and treasurer since its organ- ization.
The Small family is of eastern origin and for generations its members contributed to the well-being of the state of Maine, four generations at least claiming that New England state as their birth- place. (For a complete history of the famliy the reader is referred to the sketch of Henry K. Small, which appears elsewhere in this volume.) Charles L. Small was born in Aroostook county, Me., De- cember 1, 1874, the son of Henry K. and Emma Maria (Carr) Small. During his boyhood the family home was transferred from the far east to the extreme west, settlement being made in Orange county, Cal., where he continued his studies in the public schools until the year 1892. Subsequently he assisted his father on the home ranch near Riverside, and still later, in 1902, joined his father in. the establishment of the fuel and feed business which for more than a decade has been successfully conducted under the name of H. K. Small & Sons.
The marriage of Charles L. Small and Miss Inez Loveland of Riverside, occurred June 10, 1904, and four children were born to them. As an enterprising and honorable citizen Mr. Small enjoys the high regard of friends and associates , who predict for him a most encouraging future. He is a member of Riverside Lodge No. 282, I. O. O. F., and is a stanch Republican, thoroughly optimistic concerning the welfare of his party.
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GEORGE N. REYNOLDS ...
Long in the hearts of his many friends and associates will live the memory of George N. Reynolds, a pioneer merchant and revered philanthropist of Riverside, who passed away September 21, 1911, and whose life was an example well worthy of emulation. His char- acteristics of sterling integrity and keen executive ability united with broad and generous sympathies and a deeply religious nature found adequate expression not only in the management of his own wide financial interests, but in countless benevolent enterprises as well. His career was remarkable not only for the wonderful suc- cess he achieved from an infinitely small beginning, but for the con- tinued generosity displayed by him even throughout the years in which he laid the foundations of his future vast interests.
Born November 24, 1860, at St. Catharine, Ontario, Canada, Mr. Reynolds was the only son of Robert and Catherine (Nicoll) Reynolds, the father's death occurring when the boy was quite young. Subsequently the mother married William Caldwell and taking charge of her daughters, Isabelle, now deceased, and Mar- garet Robinson, who now resides in Kingston, Canada, placed her boy in the hands of his uncle, Joseph Nicoll, who conducted a nurs- ery and green house in Cataraque. During his residence with his uncle he attended the country school several winters, completing his education at Cataraque, Ontario, and in 1880 he came to River- side, Cal., securing employment on a ranch which was later chosen for the site of Chemawa Park. After five years, during which time he had risen to the position of foreman of the Everest rancho, he determined to engage in business with the small capital of $1200, which he had saved from his earnings, and in 1885 established a mercantile store in the room which now forms the south half of the Newberry grocery store. Nine years later, his trade having grown too large for his small quarters, he removed to the Castleman block on the spot where the First National Bank now stands. In 1896 he added to his store the north room now occupied by the Hinde Hardware Company, his stock comprising men's clothes, furnishing goods and shoes. Shortly thereafter, however, having reached the limit of expansion along special lines, he decided to establish a department store, feeling sure that this field offered unlimited op- portunities for a man of confidence and training. To that end was erected the building now occupied by Frankenheimer & Lightner. and in which the Reynolds Department Store located October 7, 1896. As new departments were added it became apparent that more room would be required and the venture appearing to justify his next move he erected in 1900 his present building, consisting of
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three stories and basement and covering 100x157 feet. In 1903 he purchased the Casa Palma Hotel which he remodeled under the name of the Reynolds Hotel building, his many real estate trans- actions being directed with a view to the development of Riverside in whose future he ever maintained unswerving faith.
Mr. Reynolds enjoyed the distinction of operating the largest department store in Southern California, with the exception of Los Angeles, and was the largest individual tax payer in Riverside county, having erected a greater number of business blocks than any other person or corporation. Following is a list of business property owned by him, his residence holdings also having been con- siderable: The Reynolds Hotel Building on Main street; the two- story brick block 50x100 feet adjoining; a building between this structure and the Pennsylvania building; one hundred and fifty- seven feet of a store building on Ninth street east of Main; one- fourth of a block on Ninth and Orange occupied by the Russ Lum- ber yard; one hundred and seventy-five feet of unimproved prop- erty on Orange between Ninth and Tenth; and the College building on Main street between Seventh and Eighth, which he built for a store building and later sold. He was also active in the develop- ment of Hall Addition, a rapidly growing and desirable section of the city. An enthusiastic believer in civic improvements Mr. Reyn- olds lent much aid towards establishing and improving roads, schools, parks, in fact, everything that tends to beautify a city and its environs. His donations toward public improvements are a matter of special mention and include the fountain and lily pond presented to White Park in 1909, and Fairmount Park improve- ments aggregating several thousand dollars.
During the past few years of his life Mr. Reynolds traveled extensively, having made three trips abroad, including a year's tour of the world, his keen observation and appreciative nature render- ing his journeys not only pleasant but profitable. On June 1, 1911, owing to ill-health, he was forced to relinquish the activities of his life, his son Charles L. relieving him of all responsibility. Mr. Reynolds held active membership in the Riverside Chamber of Com- merce from the time of its organization, having served several years on its directorate, also. He was a valued worker in the Busi- ness Men's Association of the city and upon his death his fellow members tendered to the bereaved family a beautiful tribute to his memory in the form of a resolution setting forth the incalculable inspiration and encouragement his life has been to them. In truth, the entire city paused in mourning during his funeral services, for he was widely known and loved. A member of Evergreen Lodge No. 259, F. & A. M., and Riverside Lodge No. 643, B. P. O. E., he was affiliated, also, with the Victoria Club. A stanch Republican,
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he was deeply interested in political developments, though never desirous of office. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church, his religious life being that of a consistent Christian whose per- sonal success never for a moment dulled his sympathies for those less fortunate than himself.
Mr. Reynolds was united in marriage November 29, 1888, in Riverside, with Miss Laura T. Low, a daughter of J. D. Low, who, in 1883, brought his family to California from Chicago. With a manliness which has proved a deep solace to his mother, their only son, Charles Low Reynolds, has taken upon his own young should- ers the financial responsibilities of his father, whose noble charac- teristics he bids fair to exemplify in his own career.
THOMAS A. KISE
Although his identification with the business interests of River- side does not cover a long period of years, Mr. Kise already has be- come known through his efficiency as a painter and finisher. At his headquarters, No. 565 West Eighth street, he may be found busily engaged with important contracts of finishing, renovating pianos and furniture until they appear as new and taking charge of other high-grade work. Recently he installed an electric elevator to pro- vide for the handling of automobiles, other vehicles, pianos and furniture, between the ground floor and his finishing rooms on the second story. The elevator will accommodate vehicles 17x9 feet and is therefore of capacity for the largest automobile in the city. Since he came to his present location he has established a large business in piano refinishing and a constantly increasing trade in carriage and automobile painting. The business has grown to such an extent that the shop has come to be recognized as one of the best equipped in the state. This gratifying result with pianos is due to some extent to the kind of polish used in his work, which is his own manufacture, guaranteed as to quality and used in all of the work that goes from the shop.
A son of George W. and Melvina Kise, the gentleman whose name introduces this article was born at Springfield, Mo., Feb- ruary 26, 1872. George W. Kise was born on a farm in Marion, Ohio, and there grew to manhood and at the age of eighteen years enlisted for service in the Mexican war. After the war he located in Arkansas, where he followed stock buying with good success. He was also interested in the state militia and when the Civil war broke out he was importuned to organize a company and drill them
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for service in the Southern cause, but being a Northern sympa- thizer he refused, and was threatened with death unless he com- plied. He then ran away and hid in a swamp for two weeks before he was captured and taken back. Finally he organized a company and drilled them and, gaining the confidence of the men, induced them to join him in making their escape to join the Northern army. Under cover of darkness they built a raft and the entire company embarked and floated down the river and soon were inside the lines of the Federal army. They were assigned to the Second Kansas Cavalry and Mr. Kise was made first lieutenant and served with distinction during the war. Afterward he was honorably discharged and returned to Springfield, Mo., where he again took up stock buying and where he died at the age of seventy-eight years. His wife was a native of Virginia and they were united in marriage in Ft. Smith, Ark. During the Civil war she was a nurse on the bat- tlefields. She now makes her home in Riverside and at the age of seventy-eight years is hale and hearty.
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