USA > California > Sacramento County > History of Sacramento County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, 1913 > Part 55
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served two terms as past master, and in all local movements for the general welfare he has been actively interested. During December of 1889 Mr. Junior was married in Sacramento to Miss Minnie Gardner, an estimable young lady, born in Sutter township, this county. She is the daughter of Daniel Gardner, who came to California around the Horn in the early '50s. In 1910 their new residence was built and it presents an artistic appearance, being a bungalow with cobble-stone front, the stone having been brought for that purpose from Natoma.
SIDNEY M. PHILLIPS
To business men of Sacramento and San Francisco the name of Sidney M. Phillips is known as that of an influential citizen, prog- ressive in his association with commercial enterprises, devoted to the development of Northern California and engaged in important busi- ness pursuits that give employment to his trained mental energies. Honesty of character and earnestness of purpose have stamped the impress of his individuality upon associates. In view of the fact that scarcely yet has he reached the prime of mature manhood his success is particularly noteworthy and indicates the possession of originality of mind as well as high aspirations of soul. Metropolitan advantages in San Francisco, where he was born in February of 1879, offered abundant opportunities for the development of a mind unusually keen. It was his good fortune not only to attend the public schools, but also to enjoy collegiate instruction, and thus he entered upon business ac- tivities fully prepared to cope with every difficulty and master every intricate problem.
The house of M. Phillips & Co., wholesale dealers in rice, gave to Sidney M. Phillips his initial training in the fundamental elements of all business, and he remained in San Francisco with this firm for some years. During 1904 he established in Sacramento the wholesale rice and cracker firm of S. M. Phillips & Co., and at the same time became a resident of the capital city. As the Sacramento representa- tive of a number of leading automobile companies he established an agency at No. 1224 M street, but in 1908 he built a modern garage at No. 1609-11 M street and removed his agency to that address. In addition, he established the Phillips Drayage and Warehouse Company on Front and P streets. Upon leaving Sacramento August 1, 1911, to resume residence in San Francisco, he retired from the automobile business, but the warehouse is still conducted under competent and trustworthy management. In San Francisco he is a member of the firm of M. Phillips & Co., located at No. 9 Main street., wholesale
Lagle
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rice and bean importers and exporters, with branches in Sacramento, Honolulu, H. T., Seattle, Wash., Los Angeles, Cal., and Portland, Ore. With all the heavy responsibilities of a business so extensive he has not allowed his Sacramento interests to be lessened or neglected, but by occasional visits he keeps in close touch with every department of the work at this point, where he has built and now occupies a ware- house 120x150 feet in dimensions.
During June of 1910 occurred the marriage of Sidney M. Phillips to Miss Blanche Lewis, daughter of a retired business man and in- fluential citizen of San Francisco. In addition to enjoying the usual classical educational advantages, Mrs. Phillips was also afforded ex- ceptional opportunities in music. Possessing talent in this art, she has become an accomplished pianist. Her skill has become recognized in the musical circles of San Francisco and Sacramento, where her standing is that of an artist unusually gifted by nature and thor- oughly equipped by education for the highest successes offered by the profession. Grace and hospitality mingle with the other elements that endow her mind and character. A love of the most refined in literature adds its influence to the cultivation of her mind and gives her prominence in the Tuesday and Saturday clubs of Sacramento, as well as in a number of clubs in San Francisco.
JOHN LAWRENCE NAGLE
By far one of the most important and extensive industries in Northern California today is fruit culture, and, in this field, re- plete with financial opportunities, ought to be found men of broad training and keen business judgment. In truth, to such gigantic proportions has grown the enterprise, launched scarcely forty years ago in a country rich with possibilities for its success, that were the exact number of workers in that connection to become known, astonishment would reign supreme in the minds of those who know little of the extent of this carefully organized, perfectly controlled source of production.
In his vital association with the fruit industry during the past twelve years, the manager of the California Fruit Exchange of Sacramento, John L. Nagle, has attained thorough familiarity with every phase of his work and in his direct conservative methods and ability to master every problem that arises, is recognized as a man perfectly adapted for his position.
Mr. Nagle was born September 5, 1877, in Boston, Mass., where he received a preliminary education in the public schools. At the
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age of sixteen he entered Mount St. Mary's College at Emmitsburg, Md., at which place he remained for three years, and in 1896 en- tered Georgetown University at Washington, D. C., from which in- stitution he graduated in 1899, and later entered the employ of Haskell-Adams & Co., importers, of Boston, Mass. After serving these people two years as salesman he was selected to handle the account of Nelson-Morris & Co., beef packers, of Chicago, in San Francisco. His associations with the latter firm took him into the fruit districts of Northern California. Becoming impressed with the opportunities offered in the growing of fruit he determined to engage in the business, and for this purpose he located in New- castle, Placer county, in 1901. Two years later he was joined by his brother from Boston, and together they purchased large tracts of land and planted the same to deciduous fruits ..
In 1904 Mr. Nagle was appointed manager of the Newcastle Fruit Growers' Association, a branch of the California Fruit Exchange, which position he held until 1910, when he was made manager of the California Fruit Exchange, the largest independent deciduous fruit marketing organization on the Pacific coast.
The California Fruit Exchange has grown in the past twelve years from a shipment of two hundred cars to two thousand cars, and now embraces associations from the Imperial Valley to Shasta county, handling the products of over one thousand fruit growers and distributing the same through all the principal markets of the United States and Canada. On account of its affiliation with the California Fruit Growers' Exchange of Los Angeles, the largest citrus organization in the world, it is enabled to employ a force of salaried agents, numbering over one hundred, located in all of the large markets of this country.
Mr. Nagle has increased his holdings in Placer county, and. is now one of the largest fruit growers in the northern part of the state. On account of his close relationship with the Exchange, most of his time is taken up in Sacramento, though he looks after his personal properties once a week.
For years Mr. Nagle took an active part in athletic sports and for two years held the one-mile record for the southern states. He was also enthusiastic in foot-ball and base-ball, but, owing to pres- sure of business, has found it impossible to devote any time to that field of pleasure. Widely known as a man of exemplary principles and progressive spirit, he enjoys the high regard of his friends and associates and in all public movements of worth may be counted upon to lend material assistance.
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RALPH KNIGHT
The interests of occupational employment have taken Mr. Knight into various parts of the country and have given him a broad knowl- edge not only concerning his native commonwealth of California, but also in regard to much of the south and east. Brief sojourns in many well-known cities and temporary association with a number of indus- trial and railroad corporations have made him conversant with the opportunities afforded by different regions and with the condition of workmen connected with various large corporations. He was, however, connected with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company in a larger degree than with any other organization and for five years was engaged as foreman of the drafting department in the company's shops at Sacramento, filling the responsible position with an energy which is one of his characteristics and with an intelligent comprehen- sion of the work acquired through former associations with similar departments elsewhere. However, in 1912 he resigned his position to engage in mechanical engineering.
In the city where he now resides Mr. Knight was born during May of 1869 into the home of Capt. William L. and Mary D. Knight. The local schools afforded him excellent advantages in the primary and grammar department, after which from 1880 until 1884 he studied in the public schools of Oakland and then completed his education by a year's course in the Spencerian Business College. His entrance into the world of industrial activity was made as an apprentice ma- chinist in the printing press machine shop of Hare & Berryman, printers, at San Francisco, with whom he continued for a year. Re- turning to Sacramento lie engaged as an apprentice machinist with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company and during 1892 completed the trade in these shops, after which he went back to the coast and for two months worked as machinist with the South San Francisco Land Improvement Company. The five months following were spent in San Luis Obispo, Cal., as a machinist. Upon his return to San Francisco he took a course in mechanical drafting in a school of engineering, where he studied for one year, later until 1896 engaging as a machinist with the Southern Pacific Company in Oakland. Next he spent two years as a machinist in the government employ at Mare Island Navy yard, where he held a position in the steam engineering department. During April of 1898 he returned to Oakland as a machinist with the railroad company and afterward with the same company at Duns- muir, Siskiyou county, to work in the railroad shops at that point, where he continued from 1900 until March of the next year. From March until June he was with the Southern Pacific at Tucson, Ariz., as a machinist. The following month was spent at Denison, Texas,
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as a machinist in the shops of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, and he then worked for a similar period at Pine Bluff, Ark., as a machinist with the St. Louis & Southwestern Railroad. The next posi- tion was at Little Rock, Ark., with the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad.
A brief experience concerning conditions and environment in In- diana came to Mr. Knight when for two months he worked at Lafay- ette, that state, as a machinist with the Chicago, Indiana & Louisville Railroad. From Indiana he traveled across the line into Ohio and secured employment as draftsman with the American Steel & Wire Company, of Cleveland, with whom he continued until December of 1902. From that time until November of 1903 he held a position as draftsman with the Baldwin Locomotive Works at Philadelphia, Pa. Returning to Ohio he became draftsman with the Columbia Chemical Company at Barberton, but in March of 1904 he decided to resign and return to the south. After spending three months in Tucson, Ariz., as machinist with the Southern Pacific Railroad, he came back to Cali- fornia, where he entered the Southern Pacific shops at Rocklin, Placer county. During July of 1904 he was employed at Ogden, Utah, as a machinist with the same company, but in a very short time he returned to the company's Sacramento shops, where he was employed as a ma- chinist until November of 1905 and then entered the drafting room as a draftsman, being promoted in 1907 as foreman of the department. In 1912 he resigned to engage as a mechanical engineer, opening an office in Sacramento, where he is practicing. He is loyal to his native commonwealth and maintains an active association with the Society of California Pioneers. Politically he votes with the Repub- lican party, fraternally holds membership with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and in religion adheres to the doctrines of the Chris- tian Science Church.
HON. GROVE L. JOHNSON
The subject of this sketch, Hon. Grove L. Johnson, was born in Syracuse, Onondaga county, state of New York, March 27, 1841. His father, grandfather, great-grandfather and great-great-grand- father were born in America. His mother, her father and her grand- father were all born in America. He can therefore truly claim that he is an American in the fullest sense.
Mr. Johnson's father died when he was but fifteen years of age, since which time he has supported himself by his own exertions. He studied law in the office of Sedgwick, Andrews & Kennedy, the lead-
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ing law firm of Syracuse, N. Y., and was admitted to the bar April 2, 1862, just six days after he became twenty-one. He early in life took an interest in politics as a Republican. Although but fifteen years of age he made many speeches for Fremont in 1856 and when but nineteen years old he campaigned for Lincoln in 1860. He was elected school commissioner of the city of his birth in 1862, although not twenty-one years old and could not take his seat for some time, awaiting his majority.
The fact that his brother was serving as a commissioned officer in the west was the immediate canse of the coming of Mr. Johnson to California in October of 1863, when he arrived in Sacramento after a tedious overland journey from Atchison, Kans., in a stage- coach that covered the distance in twenty-two days and nights. Im- mediately after his arrival he was made quartermaster's clerk under his brother and served in that capacity in California, Arizona and Washington. During April of 1865, with the close of the war, he received an honorable discharge and in May of the same year he returned to Sacramento, which city he since has considered his home, although public duties often have called him temporarily to other points. After having held a position as chief deputy in the county assessor's office for two years he was made swamp land clerk for the board of supervisors of Sacramento county, heing the first to hold the office, also the sole incumbent, for at the expiration of seven years the swamp lands were formed into different districts instead of being managed by the board of supervisors, hence there was no longer need for a swamp land clerk of the supervisors.
After having held a position as clerk in the office of the surveyor- general of California for two years Mr. Johnson opened an office in Sacramento, Cal., for the practice of law May 1, 1873. Since that time he has risen to a high rank in his profession, not alone in his home city, but throughout the entire commonwealth and indeed the whole great west. Deliberate in action, logical in thought, ripe in experience and concise and clear in his reasoning and most eloquent in his addresses, he possesses the attributes of a successful attorney and has won his laurels worthily and well. He was very successful as a criminal lawyer and during his practice lost only two cases. He defended seventeen persons accused of murder and saved all but one from hanging. He won the Hurtado case, when the Supreme Court of California, upon the strength of his argument, changed the rule of testimony in murder cases where temporary insanity was the defense.
He carried to success the litigation growing out of the attempt to take the State Capitol from Sacramento to San Jose. In other important lawsuits he won decisions from the Supreme Court against learned and able antagonists and at times obtained decisions that were new to our state. He has always been a friend to the poor
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and has done more unpaid work as a lawyer than any other man in California.
The building up of an important clientele did not engross his attention to the exclusion of public service. Always he has stood for what was best for the interests of the city and commonwealth. In a long and influential public career he has proved absolutely honest and incontestibly courageous and perhaps no citizen of Sac- ramento has done more than he in the molding of public opinion. As a member of the State Bar Association and as president for more than twelve years of the Sacramento Bar Association, he has main- tained an intimate association with matters of law and jurisprudence. With justice he might be denominated a Nestor of the bar, not only on account of his long service as a practitioner, but also in recog- nition of his deep knowledge of fundamental law. As a public speaker either politically or on general topics he has no superior in the west. He always captivates his audience.
From young manhood Mr. Johnson has been active in the work of the Republican party. At the California Republican state con- ventions of 1884, 1888, 1892 and 1908 he officiated as chairman of the committee on resolutions and also wrote the party platform that was adopted by the delegates. During 1896 he was a delegate to the St. Louis national convention of his party. Elected to the Assembly in 1877, two years later he was chosen to serve as state senator for four years. In 1894 he became a member of congress from the second congressional district of California. Two years later, when again nominated, he suffered defeat with the balance of the Republican ticket. At the elections of 1898, 1900 and 1902 he was chosen a member of the state assembly and would have been re-elected in 1904 had not illness prevented him from being a can- didate. Elected to the state legislature in 1906, he served with sneh distinction and fidelity that he was again chosen for the same position in 1908. In each session he was chairman of the judiciary committee. Every bill of a general nature introduced before the legislature was read by him. So painstaking was he in the pre- sentation of every important matter to the members of his com- mittee that they were accustomed to remark, as they proceeded to the judiciary committee room, they were going to "Johnson's law school." No measure associated with his public career has been more important than that of securing while a member of congress the placing of the work of improving and cleansing the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers on the regular appropriation schedule, so that appropriations are made each year for the work withont special orders, thus entirely removing a great public measure from the realm of politics.
The first marriage of Mr. Johnson took place in Syracuse, N. Y., and united him with Miss Annie W. de Montfredy, who was born
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in Syracuse and died in 1903 in California. September 1, 1908, he was united in marriage with Miss Helen Alice Hassett, a native of San Francisco and a daughter of Hon. W. J. Hassett, ex-mayor of Sacramento. By his first marriage he became the father of five children, namely: Albert M., who died in Oakland in 1907 at the age of forty-six years; Josephine, Mrs. A. R. Fink, of Sacramento; Hiram W., now governor of California; Mabel, Mrs. Bruce L. Dray, of Pasadena; and Mary, Mrs. H. E. O'Neal, of Tacoma, Wash., who died in Sacramento. The eldest son, Albert M., ranked as one of the most brilliant and promising attorneys of the state and as one of the most eloquent orators in the west. The inspiration of his career is not forgotten, although its untimely end was a source of deep regret to friends.
From May, 1911, to February, 1912, Mr. and Mrs. Johnson trav- eled in Europe, making an extensive tour, not only for purposes of pleasure and recreation, but also in the interests of research and study. Upon his return he gave a series of interesting lectures con- cerning the old world, dwelling particularly upon its people, history and institutions, its present status and future possibilities. In the midst of a career embracing large public interests and important private duties, he has not remained aloof from fraternal associations, but has enjoyed his comradeship in a peculiar degree. At this writing he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of all its branches, the Improved Order of Red Men, the United Ancient Order of Druids, the Foresters of America, the Knights of Pythias, the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks. He has served as Great Sachem of the Improved Order of Red Men of California and Grand Master of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of California and is a P. C. F. of the Foresters and a P. C. of the Knights of Pythias and a P. N. A. of the United Ancient Order of Druids. He is an honorary member of the Typographical union, having received that recognition of his services in the legislature in behalf of the printers of Cali- fornia.
HENRY J. KILGARIFF
Born in New Orleans August 22, 1855, Henry J. Kilgariff was only three years old when he began to be a citizen of the capital city of California. His father, Martin Gilgariff, was a native of County Galway, Ireland, a sturdy yeoman of the old Irish school, and along the levees of the lower Mississippi he found profitable employment as a contracting stevedore. The business of loading and unloading
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the commerce of the great Crescent City was a paying one, but life in that hot, fevered locality was not healthful, and Martin and Honora Kilgariff removed their household to California. In Sacramento the father engaged in the same employment until his death in 1862.
At seventeen Henry J. Kilgariff closed his school term and began the struggle for self-support. Any job that paid was accepted by the young laborer. A little flyer into politics made him a page in the legislature for three sessions. He then entered the service of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company in the humble capacity of messen- ger. Sticking to his job through the years he is now assistant freight agent in the employ of that great corporation.
Mr. Kilgariff was married in Sacramento in November, 1895, to Miss Regina Hassett, and they have three children, namely, Helen, aged fifteen; Margaret, eleven years; Martin, age nine; all attending school. Mr. Kilgariff's fraternal relations speak clearly of his social standing and popularity. In the lodges of the Elks, Knights of Col- umbus and Young Men's Institute he is well and favorably known. He is also a member of St. Francis Xavier Church and a Democrat in his political belief.
JOSEPH D. CORNELL
The father of the prominent lawyer whose name is the title of this notice, James Cornell, came by way of Cape Horn in 1850 and began his career here by mining on the American river in Sacramento county. His success was indifferent and eventually he turned his attention to ranching, which he pursned with considerable success. He is passing the declining years of his life at his home ranch, which he improved from a wilderness, it being located on the Folsom road, fourteen miles southeast of Sacramento. His wife, who before her marriage was Miss Susan Cleary, bore him six children, all of whom are living, Joseph D. being the third oldest.
It was in the public schools and in the grammar school that Joseph D. Cornell was educated in the English branches. His legal studies he pursued in the office and under the direction of Albert M. Johnston. Being admitted to the bar in 1900 he practiced with his preceptor till his demise in 1906. Mr. Cornell then opened a law office of his own and has engaged in the practice of his profession not only in the courts of Sacramento, but throughout the state. His present offices are in the Peoples Bank building. Owing to his careful preparation for his profession and the attention which he has given to every detail of his work, no less than to his manifest talent for his calling, he has been successful even beyond his expectations in building up a profit-
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able clientele, to the varied interests of which he has devoted himself indefatigably and most conscientiously and with characteristic ability. While the Hon. Theodore Bell represented his district in Congress Mr. Cornell was his very efficient private secretary, in which position he was enabled, by association with leaders in both great political parties, to acquire an intimate and definite knowledge of public affairs of our great and growing country, a knowledge which has done much to win for him the high esteem as a citizen which he deservedly enjoys.
Mr. Cornell is a member of the Eagles and of the Native Sons of the Golden West, in which organizations, as well as in all other relations of his life, he is patriotically helpful.
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