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 63
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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY
Largely through his instrumentality was effected the organization of the California Fruit Union, in which he served as a director and which had as its aim the direct shipment of fruit from grower to eastern consumers. Later he organized the Florin Fruit Growers' Association, this being the first concern of the kind organized in or near Florin.
Business activities and personal friendships cemented by years of intimate association brought also to David Reese their share of political prominence and local leadership in the Republican party. During 1902 he was elected sheriff of Sacramento county on the Republican ticket. At the expiration of the first term he was re- elected, this time on an independent ticket. Prior to the expiration of the second term his death occurred in February of 1910. In fra- ternal affairs he had been prominent, holding an influential position with the Elks, Improved Order of Red Men, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Grange and the Fraternal Brotherhood. Crowned with success in his personal affairs, he left at his death a valuable estate, which included twelve hundred acres of land located in various parts of California.
At the time of his removal to the state David Reese was un- married and later he was united with Miss Mira Kilgore, a native daughter of California, and now a resident of Sacramento. They became the parents of four sons and two daughters, the youngest of whom, Miss Nellie, remains at the old home with her mother. The other daughter, Ethel, is the wife of Frank Didion, who holds a position in the D. O. Mills bank in Sacramento. Percy D. is asso- ciated with the Palm iron works in the capital city. John K., also a resident here, is engaged in the real-estate business. Frank L. is a veterinary surgeon in Colusa. Edward E., who was the oldest child of the family, was born in Sacramento county August 2, 1880. He entered the University of California and completed his educa- tional preparation for business responsibilities, graduating in 1903 with the degree of LL. B. He then returned to Sacramento to serve as a deputy sheriff under his father. After three years in that capacity he was made under-sheriff and continued as such until the death of his father, whom he succeeded by appointment, filling out the unexpired term of one year. Since his father's death he has managed the estate. During the session of the state legislature in the thirty-ninth general assembly and the special session following he was employed as a bookkeeper to the sergeant-at-arms. Like his father he is staunchly Republican in political views and like him also he has membership with the Fraternal Brotherhood, Benev- olent Protective Order of Elks and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In addition he is connected with Sunset Parlor No. 26, N. S. G. W.
The marriage of Edward E. Reese was solemnized April 29,
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1906, and united him with Miss Pearl Howard, a native of Sacra- mento and a daughter of M. A. and Annie Howard, the former an influential citizen, a leading politician and for thirty years or more a well-known hotel man of the capital city. Mr. and Mrs. Reese are the parents of two children, namely: Dorothy, born February 5, 1907; and Howard E., November 18, 1910. For three years Mr. Reese was a member of the Hospital Corps of the Second Regiment, N. G. C. At the time of the disastrous San Francisco fire Mr. Reese served for thirty-one days as a member of the hospital corps of the California National Guard and his services were distinctly helpful in aiding to bring order out of chaos as well as civic and personal hope out of the general gloom.
JOHN AUGUSTUS SWINNEY
Orphaned by the death of his mother when he was four years old and by the death of his father when he was fifteen, John Augustus Swinney was obliged to take up the battle of life when still a young boy, and his subsequent career shows that he made a good and valiant fight and won success, to which he is undoubtedly going on to other successes decisive and notable. Mr. Swinney was born at Red Bluff, Cal., June 27, 1869. In his home neighborhood he at- tended public school, thus gaining the basis of the education which has helped him to such achievement as he has made. Beginning as a boy to work at ranching he was thus employed for several years. In 1891 he came to Sacramento and entered the service of Arthur F. Dray, for whom he worked eight and a half years. The succeeding nine years of his life were devoted to the business of the Burns coal and wood yard. On May 8, 1911, he formed a partnership with Wil- liam Reed, and they are conducting a large business, which promises much for the future. Serving faithfully as he has done in every department of such a venture, Mr. Swinney is peculiarly fitted to take the general management of the concern, and in all that he does for the advancement of the enterprise he is ably aided by his partner.
In Sacramento Mr. Swinney found not alone business triumph. He found, as well, a wife, in the person of Elizabeth Windrick, a native of Sacramento county, whom he married in 1899. He is a member of Loyal Lodge, I. O. O. F., of Sacramento, to all important interests of which he is devoted. In his political affiliation he is a Republican, ardent in support of the men and measures of his party. His interest in the city and county is such that he is a citizen of very helpful publie spirit.
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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY
ST. JOSEPH'S ACADEMY
There is assuredly no more important element in the progress of a community, in its welfare and moral standing, than education, and in this particular there are few if any states in the Union which are equipped with such splendid schools of learning and culture as Cali- fornia. In Sacramento there is located a private school which has contributed no small amount to the development of educational progress, and this school, which is known as St. Joseph's Academy, ranks among the best-equipped, having for its teachers the most cul- tured and intelligent ladies in the Sisterhood. It is a ladies' semin- ary, and has a career which dates back to the early history of Sac- ramento.
On October 2, 1857, Rev. Mother Mary Baptist Russell of St. Mary's hospital, in San Francisco, was interested in founding the St. Joseph's convent and school, located at Seventh and K streets, the site now occupied by the postoffice. A few years later she was en- abled to purchase the block between F and G streets on Eighth and Ninth streets, and here was erected a large building which served for both grammar and primary schools. The systematic conduct of these schools early commanded recognition and the attendance so increased that larger and more commodious quarters were required. In 1872 the present large building was erected and in 1875 it was incorporated under the name of St. Joseph's Academy.
The courses include primary, grammar, high school and academic studies, and there are various departments which embrace business and commercial courses, music, painting and embroidery, every op- portunity being afforded to the ambitious and clever student to develop latent talents and acquire the culture and knowledge which go to create the charming and refined personality. There are now about four hundred pupils in attendance, and the school is presided over by the Sisters of Mercy, who not alone provide the intellectual training which as a matter of course is an essential part, but also add the requisite of a quiet, refined manner and unselfish Christian living which has proved the superior element that has influenced their pupils. The school is beautifully situated and every precaution is taken to insure a healthy environment for the girls, the best-known methods being followed in every particular, and it is needless to say that the graduates rank among the most accomplished and intellectual wonen of the state.
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ST. JOSEPH'S ACADEMY
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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY
FRANK J. BETHEL, D. D. S.
Familiarity with every department of dentistry brings to Dr. Bethel an enviable position not only in the city of Sacramento, but also throughout the entire valley. Enjoying early educational advantages of a high order, he supplemented these by later inde- pendent researches and thus gained a critical knowledge of his chosen profession. Indeed, it may be stated with justice that he owes his splendid mental attainments to self-culture rather than to university training, although he received exceptional advantages in one of the most popular state educational institutions of the central west. Not content to be only a practitioner of past methods, he has continued to be a diligent student of dental progress and has kept in touch with every modern phase of development in the science. As a result of years of intense application, supplementing an active practice and broad experience, he has become a specialist of note and is accorded an unsurpassed reputation as a diagnostician in dentistry.
Born in Mapleton, Bourbon county, Kans., June 13, 1868, Dr. Bethel passed the days of youth in his native county, where he at- tended the public schools of Fort Scott. Very early in life his aspirations were turned toward the dental profession. It became his ambition to acquire a practical knowledge of the science. With that object in view he matriculated in the Iowa State University at Iowa City and there continued his studies until he graduated in 1890 with the degree of D.D.S. The first two years of experience were gained while engaging in practice at Denver, Colo., from which city he came to California and opened an office at Bakersfield. During the five and one-half years of his residence in that city he built up a large practice and won a high reputation for professional skill. A later identification with San Francisco was followed in 1903 by removal to Seattle, Wash., where he engaged in practice for six years and meanwhile won an enviable standing among his confreres in that growing city of the northwest. During 1909 he established the organization known as the United Dentists, of which he since has officiated as president and which ranks among the leading pro- fessional organizations of Sacramento. In its creation the prin- cipal object in view was the giving of skilled, efficient and satis- factory service to patrons at reasonable prices, and this has been the secret of the growing business and enviable reputation.
During the previous period of the Doctor's residence in Cali- fornia he was honored with an appointment, May 28, 1901, by Gov- ernor Henry T. Gage as a member of the state board of dental examiners, and he continued to devote considerable time and atten- tion to the duties of the office until 1903, when the necessity of 35
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superintending some interests and investments in the state of Wash- ington cansed him to remove to Seattle, and he then resigned from the position. Throughout his active life, notwithstanding the press- ing duties associated with professional practice and continued study, he has found leisure for co-operation with Masonic activities and also has been a leading local worker with the Elks. While not con- nected with any denomination, he is in sympathy with Christian efforts and has contributed frequently to movements for the religious and moral upbuilding of the community, as well as to such measures as will advance local educational interests. The Republican party has had the benefit of his ballot in national elections, but his interest in public affairs has not developed a partisan spirit or a desire for office, being rather that of the progressive and public-spirited citizen, whose aim is the advancement of his city along every worthy line of progress.
WILLIAM M. POWERS
Of the carpenter force of the Southern Pacific Railroad Com- pany William M. Powers, late of Sacramento, was a well known member from 1886 until 1900. His health began to fail in 1898 and his life came to a close October 30, 1900. He was born in Illinois in 1839, was reared and educated there and there acquired a prac- tical knowledge of the carpenter's trade. In 1861, when he was about twenty-two years old, he enlisted in the Federal army, for service in the Civil war. He did gallant duty as a soldier during the entire period of his enlistment and received honorable discharge from the service. The last twelve years of his life were passed in the service of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, in which he might have remained many years longer had he not passed away untimely in his sixty-second year.
In 1879 Mr. Powers married Miss Mary E. Adams, a native of North Carolina and a descendant of old and honored families of that state. She bore him four children, three of whom survive. His parents were natives of Maine and he numbered among his an- cestors New England Yankees, who in successive generations amply proved themselves to be devoted and patriotic citizens and success- ful men of affairs. With all who knew him he was deservedly pop- ular and many a former comrade remembers him as one who is ever ready with the friendly hand in time of need.
Finderic & Shaw I.D.
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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY
FREDERICK E. SHAW, M. D.
A favorable opportunity to engage in professional activities as resident physician at the Sisters' hospital was the immediate cause of the location of Dr. Shaw in Sacramento, where at first in this posi- tion and later as a private practitioner he has won his way to an enviable standing among the men of his calling in the capital city. Those competent to speak with authority assert that his knowledge of materia medica and surgery, backed by a broad general fund of information in every sphere of thought, places him in sympathetic association with the most talented members of the profession in his city, while also enabling him to appreciate with delicate intuition the manifold openings which make the future rich in promise to students of the science. Scarcely yet in the prime of manhood, many years of professional usefulness may be predicted for him, with a growing reputation abundantly merited by his judicious studies of the science of therapeutics, by his skill in diagnosis and by his discriminating accuracy in the selection of remedial agencies for the relief of pain and the conquering of disease.
A son of Charles F. and Mary Shaw, and a member of an old honored eastern family, Dr. Frederick. E. Shaw was born at Haver- hill, Mass., September 6, 1879, and received his education in the splen- did institutions boasted by the old Bay state. During 1896 he was graduated from high school and he then studied in Phillips academy at Exeter, N. H., for a year, after which he relinquished the classical course for professional specialties. He began to take medical lectures in Tufts Medical college at Boston, Mass., where he remained a dili- gent student of therapeutics and surgery until his removal from the Atlantic coast to the shores of the Pacific. Immediately after his arrival in San Francisco he resumed the studies of his preferred science and availed himself of every opportunity for the enlarging of his mental equipment for professional work. During 1908 he was graduated from the Cooper Medical college and immediately afterward he came to Sacramento, where he and his wife, formerly Miss Lyla Marie Kimball, of Haverhill, Mass., have won a host of warm personal friends in the most cultured social circles.
Reared in the faith of the Roman Catholic church, devoted to her doctrines and well-informed concerning her history, Dr. Shaw has been a generous contributor to her many splendid philanthropies and has assisted with characteristic liberality those movements tending toward her larger usefulness or more complete equipment for work. The Young Men's Institute and the Knights of Columbus number him among their leading members, and in the latter he now officiates as grand knight. Political matters have not interested him to the point
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of enlisting partisan preferences, his attitude being independent and his ballot favoring men and measures rather than any special party. In the fall of 1911 he was elected a member of the board of education of Sacramento, serving until July 1, 1912, when the new charter came into effect and abolished the old board of education. During his service as trustee he raised the schedule of teachers' salaries to that of the leading cities of the state, and established a school of manual training and domestic science at Oak Park. During his term he was also instrumental in abolishing many unsanitary conditions in the schools, secured the passage of a bill for building two new open-air kindergartens, and was active generally in building up the schools in all departments. The Sutter and University clubs have brought him into touch with many of the most influential citizens of Sacramento, and his participation in club activities has been constant and helpful. With the interest which a successful practitioner always feels in his chosen profession, he has interested himself in studying the latest developments of the science, in pernsing literature pertaining to the subject and in keeping in touch with the work of the various organiza- tions to which he belongs, these being the American Medical Associa- tion, the Sacramento County Medical Society and the Northern Dis- trict Medical Association.
FRED J. JOHNS
The identification of many successive generations of the Johns family with England remained unbroken until James T. Johns in young manhood left Great Britain for the newly discovered mines of the far west. In common with the majority of the ambitious Argo- nauts of that period, he embarked in mining pursuits, but he continued in the same industry for a much longer time than many and he also met with a fair degree of success in his ventures. For many years he held a position as foreman for the North Star Mining Company, and meanwhile he acquired mining stock of his own, so that ultimately he owned large interests in two gold mines in California. Among the miners of the early days he had a high reputation for accuracy of judgment and energy of temperament. Nor was a loyalty of devo- tion to his adopted country less in evidence among his most pro- nounced qualities. At the time of coming to this country he was a mere lad, and it was not until 1876 that he established domestic ties, his marriage in that year uniting him with Miss Elizabeth Adams, who had the distinction of being one of the first white children born in the northern part of California. During the early development of Nevada county her father, William H. Adams, held rank as a prom-
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inent man of affairs, a leading politician and for several terms the incumbent of the office of sheriff.
In the family of James T. Johns there was but one child, Fred J., whose birth occurred at Grass Valley, Nevada county, Cal., September 13, 1878, and whose schooling was had in the little town where he was born. Quite early in life he studied telegraphy and after he had acquired accuracy in the art he became operator at Grass Valley for the Western Union Telegraph Company. At the expiration of six years he resigned that position and began to assist his father in mining affairs. In October, 1896, he came to Sacramento and turned his attention to the realty business as a salesman for the Carmichael Company, and it was not long before he had proved his value in that connection. It is characteristic of him that he judges real estate values with almost unerring precision and he possesses the further qualification of finding without delay the kind of property a would-be buyer prefers. On the 1st of April, 1909, he opened an office on K street for a general real estate and brokerage business, but later he removed to No. 1023 Ninth street, where he has every modern con- venience desirable in the management of his business or in the per- sonal comfort afforded by his quarters. Besides being associated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent Pro- tective Order of Elks, for years he held official positions with the Native Sons of the Golden West. During 1905 he was appointed a member of the committee that was instrumental in promoting the celebration and electrical parade commemorating Admission Day in Sacramento.
The marriage of Fred J. Johns and Miss Flo Robinette of Sacra- mento took place in this city in 1902. They are the parents of three children, namely: Fred R., born December 18, 1904; California, who was born September 9, 1906, on Admission Day, and was named in commemoration of this date, and Marjorie, born July 25, 1908. Mrs. Johns gives earnest and capable assistance to the work of the English Lutheran church, with which she is associated as a member, and in addition she is also a member of the Tuesday club. Her father, John L. Robinette, was the founder of the California Odd Fellow, the official organ of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in the state, and was one of the leading state workers of that organization. At the time of his death, in September of 1899, he was so influential and so prominent in the order that, had his life been spared for a few more years, he would have received the very highest honors within the power of the fraternity to bestow. In his demise the order sustained a heavy loss and his home city also was deprived of one of its most loyal and patriotic men.
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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY
CHARLES WERNER
To attain success in any field of labor the qualities of persever- ance and concentration are requisite, and particularly is this true of a career which demands the mastery and enforcement of technical details. In the field where he has labored for many years, Professor Werner has won merit which is unquestionably due him and by his wide circle of patrons in Sacramento and former locations is known as a man of sterling qualities, fully worthy of the trusts which are placed in his keeping.
Born April 13, 1861, in Magdeburg, Germany, Charles Werner grew up in his native city and when seventeen he graduated from high school, wherenpon he entered a college of dermatology and academy of coiffure, completing his studies in 1881. Fully prepared for the work in which he desired to engage he then went to St. Petersburg, Russia, and continned in business for two years, then going to Vienna, Austria, where he continued to follow his profes- sion. A year later he located in Stockholm, Sweden, from there going to Christiana, Norway, where he followed his profession for about one year. Upon receiving an excellent offer from a leading hair-dressing house in London, he removed to that city and during the succeeding two years spent his winters in London and his sum- mers in his employer's branch shop in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France. In 1884 he became connected with a large and fashionable concern in New York City, remaining in that metropolis through the winters and during the summers was employed at the Casino at Newport, R. I. In 1889, having met with unqualified success in his profession and his services being desired by leading houses throughout the United States, he resolved to establish a business in the west, and to that end journeyed to San Francisco, where he spent two years prior to opening his present attractive quarters, equipped with all modern appliances necessary in the exercise of his vocation. He is well and favorably known as a leading hair and scalp specialist in the Sacramento valley, and backed by years of training and experience enjoys increasing success.
March 15, 1891, Professor Werner was united in marriage with Miss Minnie Herberger, of San Francisco, the ceremony taking place in that city, and throughont the years that preceded her death, September 24, 1907, their mutual interests enabled them to enjoy perfect companionship. Mr. Werner is an active member of the Independent Order of Red Men and the Fraternal Brotherhood and maintains a deep interest in all public matters of importance. Po- litically he is an Independent, prompt to recognize the merits of prospective candidates, and as a Protestant, is sincere and practical in his religion.
& C. Kavanaugh
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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY
EDWARD C. KAVANAUGH
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An association with the Native Sons of the Golden West comes to Mr. Kavanaugh by reason of his nativity in California, where he was born at Michigan Bluff, Placer county, July 29, 1872, into the home of Edward and Ann Kavanaugh. The family descends from a long line of Celtic ancestry. His father, who was born and reared in County Kerry, Ireland, crossed the ocean to America dur- ing 1838 when very young in years and poor in purse, but rich in hope and courage for the future. After twelve years as a farm laborer in Illinois, he was induced to cross the plains to California through hearing remarkable reports concerning the discovery of gold. Joining a large expedition of Argonauts during the spring of 1850 he entered upon a journey of long duration and innumer- able privations, but which finally reached a safe conclusion at Hang- town, Eldorado county.
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