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 62
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The marriage of Professor Johnson took place June 13, 1872, and united him with Miss Belle Campbell, who was born in Pettis county, Mo., and who died December 7, 1909. There were two daughters in the family, of whom Miss Belle, a member of the Saturday club and a popular society woman, now presides over her father's home. The other daughter, Edna Pauline, married H. Taubner Goethe, a farmer and stock-raiser living in Napa county, where he owns four hundred acres of choice land. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Goethe consists of two children, Edna Elefa and Taubner Johnson.
FRANCIS R. MCKENZIE
The immediate subject of this notice is manager of Henry's Law and Collection Company, at No. 606 I street, Sacramento, Cal., one of the oldest and most reliable institutions of its kind in the city. Francis R. Mckenzie was born at London, Ontario, Canada, July 14, 1880. His father, Roderick Mckenzie, was a pioneer there, and rep-
n.cwilling
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resented one of the old and honored families of that province; and his mother, Jane (Simmons) Mckenzie, was descended from ancestors of high social and business standing.
In the public school and high school of his native city, Mr. Mc- Kenzie was carefully educated. His first venture into business life was in connection with the enterprise of one of the leading wholesale clothing concerns of London, and his career at Sacramento dates from the year 1899. In the year last mentioned Mr. Mckenzie be- came identified with Henry's Law and Collection Company, for the management of which he showed a peculiar adaptability that early marked him for the success he has achieved. In 1909 he purchased the business, and since then has been the sole owner. In 1906 he married Miss Annie Davies, of Florin, Sacramento county. Frater- nally he affiliates with the Elks.
WILLIAM LADD WILLIS
William Ladd Willis was born in New York City, the son of Charles T. and Jane S. Willis. One great-grandfather, on his father's side, was Lyman Hall, one of the signers of the Declaration of Inde- pendence, and the other, who lived at Newton, N. J., spent his for- tune in raising and equipping a troop of horse for the patriot army, and was a friend of General Washington. The latter passed through Newton on his way north in 1779 and stopped to take dinner with his friend. It happened that it was the time of christening the son of his host, and Washington became one of the sponsors, and the boy was named George Washington Willis. The mother of the subject of this sketch was the daughter of one of the early merchant princes of New York, Thomas S. Walsh.
Charles T. Willis died when his son was seven years old, and the family moved to Unionville, N. Y., where the son grew to manhood. His school education was gained at various academic institutions and at Troy (N. Y.) university. In the winter of 1860-61 he embarked in wholesale business in New York City, but the Civil war breaking out in the spring the general depression of business and the failure of many western firms to whom his firm had extended credit, forced him to close up his business at a heavy loss. He embarked in various lines for some years, and in 1871 came to Sacramento county, where he engaged in farming near Elk Grove, and teaching, until 1892. He then became a member of the editorial staff of the Record-Union, and continued the association for thirteen years. In 1879 he was tendered an appointment on the county board of education, of which he re-
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mained a member for twenty-three years, or until his removal to Auburn, where he resided for nearly two years and then returned to Sacramento, this city having been his home ever since.
In 1886 Mr. Willis was selected by the state board of education to compile the state speller, which had been in use in the schools for twenty years. He also assisted in the compilation of the first set of state readers. In the past four years he has been connected with the Carmichael Company in the real estate business. In 1872 he married Mrs. Emily Haines of Middletown, N. Y., by whom he had three chil- dren, Mrs. Jennie L. Brothers, now of Berkeley; Mrs. Clair Morrill, of Suisun, and William B. Willis of New York, an architect in the office of McKim, Mead & White.
JOSEPH EDWARD WALKER
The city of Sacramento numbers among its prosperous and enterprising citizens Joseph Edward Walker, whose place of busi- ness, located at Nos. 1018-20-22 Fifth street, is one of the most flour- ishing places in the city today. He is the son of John L. Walker, a native of New York City, who early moved to Calumet, Mich., where Joseph E. was born.
John L. Walker was for seventeen years a timber contractor for the Calumet & Hecla Copper Company, at Calumet, Mich .. whither he had removed, and at the end of that period he went to Neihart, Mont., where he was the timber contractor for different coal com- panies in the state. He is now living retired in Sacramento, his wife having died in Montana. Before her marriage she was Agnes Mosher, whose birth occurred in Montreal, and to her union with John L. Walker there was born a family of eight children, of whom Joseph F. was the fifth in order of birth.
On November 25, 1883, Joseph Edward Walker was born in Calumet, Mich., whence he removed with his parents to Neihart, Mont. After completing the course in the public schools he learned the trade of baker in Neihart, going from there to Arizona, where he followed the trade of baker and cook, and for one year was with the Greene Consolidated Copper Company, at Cananea, Mex., in this capacity. From there he went to Los Angeles about 1902, hold- ing positions with several of the leading hotels and cafes there. Next he was chef in Eureka, Cal., until the rush to Goldfield, Nev., when he decided to remove thither, and opened a restaurant in the new camp. Such was his success there that he later ran two bnsi nesses of this kind, also having restaurants at Manhattan, Ely and Wonder. It was in 1908 that he finally located in Sacramento
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as his permanent place of residence, and starting the restaurant which he called the Gilt Edge ('afe in the old Newburgh mill on Fifth street, he built up a most prosperous business, selling it out a year later at a good profit. This place has been remodeled into a business place from the old mill place, but it remained for Mr. Walker to use his energy and excellent taste in fitting it for a cafe, such as he finally owned. After selling this place he opened the Bon Ton Cafe on K street, which proved a profitable undertaking, and a year later he sold it for $12,000, this in itself indicating the exceptional ability Mr. Walker had for conducting and building up a business of this sort. Since New Year's Day, 1912, he has con- ducted the Walker's Cafe, having remodeled the building on Fifth street, where it is located, and by placing new fixtures and giving it the finishing touches which only an experienced hand like Mr. Walker's could accomplish, he enjoys most satisfactory returns. It is now the largest cafe in the city, giving proof of his close applica- tion to the details of the work and his unusually clever executive ability. He has profited by his more than ten years' experience in this line of work in many progressive cities in the country, and was quick to see the opportunity of a fruitful field for his labors in the city of Sacramento.
Mr. Walker's first marriage occurred in Eureka, Cal., when he married Miss Kittie MeGrath, a native of Eureka. Her death oc- curred twenty months after her marriage in Goldfield, Nev. In July, 1908, he married in Ely, Nev., Miss Carrie Rindahl, born in Michi- gan, and to this union has been born one child, Naomi. Mrs. Walker is a popular member of the Ladies of the Maccabees, while her husband unites with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and also the Order of Eagles. A staunch Republican in political principle, he is actively interested in all civic movements for the advancement of the general welfare, and as the successful and progressive pro- prietor of his most profitable business fills the place of a patriotic citizen.
GEORGE MOORE TAVERNER
The president of the Bank of Elk Grove, who also enjoys the distinction of having been one of the original promoters and founders of this prosperous institution, claims identification with the Native Sons of the Golden West by reason of his lifelong association with Sacramento county, where his birth occurred January 23, 1877, in the home of Thomas Moore and Esther Ann Taverner. The Anglo- Saxon lineage of the family is indicated by the genealogical records.
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which furnish authentic proof concerning the identification of many successive generations with England. The shire of Devon was the native place of Thomas Taverner and April 5, 1833, the date of his birth. English schools afforded him fair educational opportunities and prepared him for the task of self-support. While his kindred were content to remain amid scenes familiar to their entire lives, his own aspirations turned toward America and in 1850 he crossed the ocean to the new world, locating first in St. Thomas, Ontario. Only a few years had passed since the discovery of gold in Cali- fornia and the tide of emigration still flowed toward the Pacific coast in great volume. Induced to join the pioneers of the west, he came via the Horn to San Francisco in 1852 and thence to Sac- ramento county, where he settled at Elk Grove.
The sturdy, persevering nature of the young Englishman was displayed in his determination to acquire land. Although he came without moneyed capital, his was the no less powerful capital rep- resented by a determined ambition and willing hands. The wages of his work as a rancher were frugally saved. Little by little he accumulated a small sum of money. This was invested in raw land. From that small beginning he rose to a position among the largest land-owners in Sacramento county, where at the time of his death, January 10, 1893, he held the title to twenty-eight hundred acres. The unusual success won by his persistent efforts proved his fine qualities of mind and his energy of character. Throughout all of his life he adhered to the doctrines of the Church of England, in which faith he had been reared in the home land. Politically he voted the Republican ticket after he became a citizen of the United States. Deeply interested in Masonry, he held membership with Elk Grove Lodge, Sacramento Chapter and Council, also the Sacramento Com- mandery, K. T., and for years he was a leading worker among the Masons of Sacramento county and a generous contributor to the philan- thropies of the order.
The marriage of Thomas Taverner took place in Sacramento in 1873 and united him with Miss Esther Ann Hirst, a native of Lan- cashire, England, by whom he became the father of four children. The two daughters are Mrs. C. V. Upton, of Elk Grove, and Mrs. C. L. Bader, of Sacramento. One son, John T., is now in Nevada, while the other son, George M., has spent his entire life in and near Elk Grove, having in early life engaged with his father in the rais- ing of sheep, which he followed alone after the death of that parent. . Eventually he disposed of his flocks and October 24, 1910, effected the organization of the Bank of Elk Grove with a capital stock of $25,000, a considerable portion of which is held by himself. As a financier he is keen and capable, progressive vet duly cautious, and the institution of which he is the head has proved a distinct help to the commercial development of the town. Ever since attaining
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his majority he has voted with the Republican party. For some years he has been prominent in Elk Grove Parlor of Native Sons, in which now he officiates as past president. Like his father, he is an admirer of Masonic principles and a contributor to the philan- thropies of the order, in which he ranks high among the members of Elk Grove Lodge, No. 173, F. & A. M., of which he is past master, Sacramento Chapter No. 3, R. A. M., Sacramento Council No. 1, Sacramento Commandery No. 2, K. T., Isaac Davis Lodge of Per- fection No. 4, A. & A. S. R., and is also a member of Islam Temple, N. M. S., of San Francisco.
JOHN L. WOODS
Genealogical records indicate a long and honorable citizenship of the Woods family in Maryland, where descendants of the original settler still are to be found prominent in business and active in public affairs. Several branches of the family have been transplanted from the early eastern headquarters into various portions of the west, and one of these branches is worthily represented by John L. Woods, an honored pioneer of California. It has been his privilege to witness the development of the west since the year 1852, when he first came, a boy of ten years, from his native city of Baltimore in company with his parents. He recalls the appearance of Sacramento in 1852, prior to the fire and the great flood, and as he contrasts its aspect then with its present beauty and its substantial construction he realizes afresh the magnitude of the transformation wrought by the intelligence and enterprise of the citizens. When he was sent to the schools he found them occupying buildings poorly constructed and illy equipped, while the method of instruction was far inferior to that of the present century. It will therefore be seen that he had few advantages from an educational standpoint, yet he impresses a stranger as a man of broad information and varied knowledge. His father, John Lee Woods, who was born in Baltimore in 1816, had enjoyed excellent ad- vantages in that cultured city, but when he exchanged a city home for frontier existence he was unable to prevent his family from under- going hardships and privations, with few of the advantages his am- bitious spirit craved for them. When he died in 1897, at the age of eighty-two, it was with the realization that the removal to the west had proved to the distinct advantage of the family in their ultimate enjoyment of the great prosperity that came to the country. His wife passed away in 1896, at the age of eighty-three years.
Although a blacksmith by trade, John L. Woods devoted much of
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his active life to mining, and he has worked in the mines of California, Colorado, Montana and Alaska, meanwhile experiencing many hard- ships and at times incurring actual danger from the hostility of the Indians. This was particularly the case while he mined in Montana during 1866, at which time the enmity and the attacks of the savages reached their climax. Considerations of health led him to discontinue mining many years ago, but he still owns an interest in a very valu- able mine at Grass Valley. Upon leaving the mines and coming to Sacramento in 1886, he embarked in the mercantile business on Fourth street and continued in the same place for five years. Upon selling out the business he began to manufacture cider, and for twenty- two years he conducted a large business in that line, meanwhile fur- nishing the most of the cider sold in San Francisco. It was huis custom to sell to wholesale firms, which entailed less annoyance than small sales to retailers. While he still owns the business, he no longer gives it his personal attention, having practically retired from all active cares. During 1872 he married Miss Mary Higgins, who was born in Ireland and died in California. Of their five children the sole survivor is Mary, the wife of Robert E. O'Neal and the mother of one son, Robert Lee O'Neal. His second marriage took place in 1891 and nnited him with Mrs. Josephine C. Lewis, who was born in New York and accompanied her parents to California at an early age; her father, Michael Van Norman, died in February of 1897, while her mother, at the age of eighty-nine, is still living. In her family there are five generations now living, while Mr. Woods proudly claims four generations on his own side. As he has been devoted to his family and true to his friends, so also he has been loyal to the commonwealth of his adoption and the land of his birth. At the opening of the Civil war in 1861 he offered his services to the Union, and was ac- cepted at Auburn, Cal., where his name was enrolled as a private in a California regiment of volunteer infantry. The regiment was not called to the east, hence saw only little of active service. Upon the organization of the Grand Army of the Republic he became interested in its philanthropies and patriotic enterprises and for years he has been prominent in Sumner Post No. 3, of which he served as com- mander at one time. Fraternally he has been a member of the For- esters and an officer in the local camp.
JAMES ALLEN WILDER
The honor of lifelong identification with California and the dis- tinction of influential association with the agricultural interests of Sacramento county may be claimed by James Allen Wilder. In ad-
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dition, he is proud of the fact that his father, Benjamin Wilder, was one of the pioneers of that memorable year of 1849. The family of the mother, who bore the maiden name of Elitha C. Donnor and who was born in Springfield, Ill., October 11, 1832, was even more early in its efforts to reach the coast, and the sad fate of their expedition aroused a wave of sympathy throughout the entire world. They had started for the coast in 1846, when Mrs. Wilder was a girl of fourteen. Unfortunately, delays prevented them from completing the journey ere cold weather commenced. They were confronted by the fear of being obliged to spend the winter on the east side of the mountains. Their alternative was the attempt to cross the Sierras. They chose the latter, and most of the party perished in the snows of the moun- tains, but this young girl was one of the survivors who, almost starved and well-nigh exhausted, reached the American settlements on the 12th of March, 1847. She had been snowed up in the Sierras for months. During 1854 she became the wife of Benjamin Wilder, who was born in Rhode Island March 27, 1821, descended from colonial residents of New England.
The schools of Rhode Island and those of Springfield, Ohio, af- forded Benjamin Wilder exceptional advantages for that day, and when only seventeen he was able to successfully teach school, which work he pursued for the ensuing five years. At the age of twenty- two he traveled south to New Orleans and secured employment as a bookkeeper, but in 1848 he returned to Springfield, Ohio. The news concerning the discovery of gold in California caused a change in his plans, and he forthwith began to prepare for a trip to the coast. From 1849 until 1852 he worked in the mines, and then for two years he ran an old-fashioned stage coach out from Sacramento to Jackson, Amador county. During 1855 he began to be interested in the stock business and in 1856 he bought a Spanish grant comprising five thou- sand two hundred and twenty acres, but unfortunately he lost the place in 1861, all being wrested from his possession with the excep- tion of one section of land. Discouraged by his ill luck, he returned to the mines, where he remained about ten years. Again, in 1872, he resumed agricultural pursuits, and this time he settled in Franklin district, Sacramento county, where he engaged in raising grain and stock until the infirmities of age necessitated his withdrawal from active labors. His death occurred in 1898 at the old homestead. His wife still continues to reside at the old family home, having been a resident of California for sixty-six years.
During the sojourn of the family at Camp Pocahontas, a mining camp in Eldorado county, James Allen Wilder was born March 25, 1862. As a boy he lived at Placerville, the same county, and attended the public schools. When his father settled on a farm he began to assist him in the cultivation of the land and the care of the stock. Eventually he was trusted with greater responsibilities and long before
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his father's demise he had relieved him of the greater share of the heavy tasks on the farm. Since the death of his father he has con- tinued farming operations for himself, owning two hundred and fifty head of cattle as well as other stock, besides which he is also running his mother's place of four hundred and eighty acres of land. Sep- tember 6, 1911, he was united in marriage with Mrs. Ora Mary Bryant, who was born at Fort Scott, Kan., and has made California her home since 1890. Upon the farm he has made improvements as needed, and the property now ranks as one of the best-improved in the vicinity of Bruceville. Having worked with steadfast devotion on the farm, he has had no leisure for participation in public affairs, and has taken no part in the same aside from voting the Republican ticket. The only fraternity in which he has become an active member, the Knights of Pythias, receives his cordial co-operation in benevolent and civic enterprises.
LLOYD G. WARREN
In view of the fact that he is still at the beginning of what prom- ises to be an exceptionally useful career, the success that already has rewarded the purposeful and intelligent efforts of Mr. Warren easily places him among the most efficient business men of Sacramento, where as president and manager of the Warren Lumber Company he holds a leading association with a growing commercial concern of the capital city. It has been a matter of surprised comment among new acquaintances to observe in him a most accurate judgment as to the relative merits of different qualities of lumber and a keen discrimina- tion in the making of purchases for his yards. Such qualifications as he possesses would lead to eventual success in practically every line of enterprise, but indicate especial adaptation for his chosen calling, in the pursuance of which he is winning the confidence of customers and the regard of other men of business.
The Warren family was established in the west many years ago and claims identification with commonwealth activities from the period of pioneer privations and hardships. Mr. Warren himself is a native of San Francisco and was born April 23, 1890, into the home of Samuel I. Warren, an industrious workingman of the western metrop- olis. The religions associations of the family governed the education of the son, who was instructed not only in common branches of study, but also in the history and doctrines of the Roman Catholic church, and he has been a lifelong member of that denomination. After he had completed the course of study in St. Ignatins college he began to earn his own livelihood, securing employment in 1906 with the Bel-
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lingham Bay Lumber Company. From a very humble position he was quickly promoted to a post of greater trust and responsibility. When he left that company it was for the purpose of going to Washington, and there he engaged with the commission house of W. R. Grace & Co., at Seattle. During March of 1910 he resigned and immediately afterward organized the commission firm of L. G. Warren & Co., which he managed until August of the following year. Upon selling out the business he removed to Sacramento and purchased the inter- ests of the Tiernan-Dinning Lumber Company. The name was changed to the Warren Lumber Company, of which he is the president and manager, his large business talent being devoted with intense earnest- ness to the problem of increasing the sales of the company and en- hancing its popularity among customers through the strict adherence to the most honorable business methods. He is also engaged in the automobile tire business as proprietor of the Republic Rubber Com- pany of Sacramento, handling the Republic tire.
In Sacramento Mr. Warren was united in marriage with Miss Gertrude Casey, a native of this city, and they have a daughter. As a baritone Mr. Warren has had considerable experience in amateur opera, playing the leading parts in "Mikado," "The Gondoliers, "King Zim of Zanzibar," and also taking the part of Pontius Pilot in the Passion Play production given in San Francisco in October, 1909. Giving his attention very closely to business, it has not been possible for Mr. Warren to enter the arena of political activity, yet he has kept posted concerning national issues and has been stanch in his allegiance to the Democratic party.
EDWARD E. REESE
Three generations of the Reese family have been identified with American history and have contributed their quota to the material upbuilding of the west. When David Reese was a child six years of age he accompanied his parents from Wales, their native land, to the new world, landing in New Orleans, from which point they went to St. Joseph, and from there traveled overland to Utah and settled on raw land in the vicinity of Salt Lake. The next removal was made in 1862, when the family came to California in a "prairie schooner" drawn by oxen. As the years passed by David Reese became one of the most prominent citizens of Sacramento county and wherever known he was honored for those sterling traits of character that attracted all. Every avenue of frontier activity reaped the benefit of his tireless enthusiasm and intelligent interest.
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