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, 1923, Part 105

Author: Reed, G. Walter
Publication date: 1923
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1026

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, 1923 > Part 105

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In 1877 he bought his first harness horses, from the Morgan horse stable in Vermont. For many years, in both Vermont and Nebraska, father and son were closely associated in their business dealings. They never trotted these horses, their interest being solely in the rearing of them, and choice blooded stock. The natural result followed, that our subject became an authority on harness horses, and was con- ceded to be in his day the authority in Nebraska, and widely known as the man who developed the splendid strain of western Nebraska horses.

Mr. and Mrs. Haywood had long desired to live in the Golden State, but it was not until 1913 that they took up their residence at Orangevale, where they were permitted to live just two happy years before Mrs. Haywood passed away. She was deeply mourned, as she had been widely esteemed and loved, and her devoted son took her ashes to Vermont for pious burial in her native state. Mr. Haywood con- tinues to enjoy the helpful climate and the unique pleasure of picking oranges off his own trees at the age of ninety, passing his days quietly in the home circle of his son, who cares for his father as only a son can do. Known as a man of sterling worth, and of in- flexible, high principles, he is a typical down-East Yankee, always welcome among the Masons, with whom he has been affiliated since 1872.

CHARLES H. WIXSON .- A very popular execu- tive, whose professional efficiency is all the more ap- preciated because of his rare personal attributes, is Charles H. Wixson, the secretary of the Scottish Rite bodies, and also of the Scottish Rite Cathedral As- sociation, at Sacramento. He is a New Yorker by birth, having been born at Poughkeepsie, on March 15, 1856, the son of David and Frances A. (McDer- mott) Wixson, worthy folks held in the highest es- teem in that fine old Hudson River town; and he attended the schools of Dutchess County, and later, the Pelham Business College. At the same time that he was spending his early days on his father's farm, he learned the carpenter's trade; and having attained the proficiency of the journeyman, he moved to Rochester, Mich.

For a year and a half, Mr. Wixson contracted for building, and then he married Miss Jennie Hammond, of New York, an old neighbor, and in 1879 left Michigan for Nebraska, and there organized a district school, which he taught for two terms. He was then elected superintendent of schools of Holt County,

BHI Haywood

m. L. Rogers

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY

Nebraska, helping to organize the school system in an entirely new section of country, and filled that re- sponsible position to the satisfaction of everyone, and with great advantage to the expansion of the school system, for two years.

Mr. Wixson was next appointed chief clerk of the United States land office, at Niobrara, Nebr .. and served the government for the following four years; and then he was for another four years in the bank- ing business at Atkinson. Another four years found him chief clerk in the United States land office at Salt Lake, Utah; and for eight years he was an as- sistant in the state treasurer's office at Lincoln, Nebr. Returning to Salt Lake, he was made secretary- treasurer of Elgin Creamery Company. In 1903 he went to San Francisco and in 1904 he came to Sac- ramento for the Earl Fruit Company, and he con- tinued with that firm for thirteen years. He took charge of the Scottish Rite interests in 1916, when their building was first contemplated, and is still in charge. He is a Republican in national political af- fairs, but a good non-partisan "booster," ready to help all worthy local endeavors. Mr. Wixson is a thirty-second-degree Scottish Rite Mason, and a Knight Templar and a Shriner. He also belongs to the Odd Fellows, and is a past officer in both the Lodge and the Encampment. Mr. and Mrs. Wixson have had two children: a daughter, Mabel, now Mrs. G. W. Barr; and a son, Sanford.

JESSE M. DERR .- An enterprising man of excep- tional experience in his field is Jesse M. Derr, of the J. M. Derr Lumber Company, of Elk Grove, one of the most valued agencies in the development of this section of favored Sacramento County. He was born at Charleston, lowa, on January 5, 1863, the son of M. V. and Lucinda R. (Overton) Derr, who came here to live, and who finally closed their careers, with the satisfaction that they had, despite pioneer obstacles, accomplished something worth the while.

Jesse M. Derr attended the excellent rural schools of the Hawkeye State, and after finishing school work successfully, the lad took up the carpenter trade; and for three years he was with R. E. Smith of Keokuk, as a bridge-builder. Satisfied, however, that California, with its less rigorous climate, and its still greater influx of population demanding the serv- ices of good artisans, would offer more than did his native state, Jesse came out to the Coast: and having looked at many other promising communities, he pitched his tent at Elk Grove, in 1883, and here worked as a contractor for eighteen years, during which time he erected nearly all the dwellings here.

About 1909, however, Mr. Derr discontinued con -. tracting and established his lumber company, with office and yards, and he has since continued to carry more and more of a varied stock, not only meeting the demands of the steadily growing neighborhood, but anticipating the wants of those here and those likely to come. Unlike some dealers, Jesse Derr has not sought the highest tariff from the average run of trade; and in making his terms as reasonable as possible, he has encouraged town development, and has thus in a sense become a public benefactor.

Mr. Derr was married in Iowa to Minnie Finnerty, who died in Elk Grove in 1903. In 1906 Mr. Derr

married Mrs. Daisy (Johnson) Derr, a native of Ohio, but a resident of Sacramento County from childhood, and they have one child, Jessie Mae Derr. He belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows and the Encampment, and has attained all the chairs in the various branches; belongs to the Inde- pendent Order of Foresters, and for twenty-five years has been the Odd Fellow secretary here. He and his wife are both Rebekahs. He was also one of the organizers of the Elk Grove Bank.

MANUEL L. ROGERS .- Numbered among the successful farmers on Grand Island, Sacramento County, is Manuel L. Rogers, whose seventy-seven- acre farm is devoted to orchard and the growing of asparagus, and to general farming. He was born on the Isle of Pico, in the Azores, in February, 1865, a son of Manuel and Marian (Joseph) Rogers, natives of the same country. They were the parents of eight children: Mary, Manuel L., Antone, John, Henry, Joseph, Serafine, and Rosie. The mother passed away in 1918, but the father is living, aged eighty.

At the age of eighteen, Manuel L. Rogers left his native country and came to California, first locating at Pleasanton, where he worked for wages. On Jan- uary 29, 1893, at Sacramento, he was married to Miss Flora Smith, born on Grand Island, Sacramento County, a daughter of John and Mary (Joseph) Smith. John Smith was a native of Fayal, in the Azores, but was reared on the Isle of Pico: and his wife was born on St. George Island, of the Azores. As a young man, John Smith was engaged in whaling; and while on a whaling-trip to the Arctic Ocean he came to California, and was content to remain here. He was married over fifty-two years ago, and settled with his wife on Grand Island, on the Sacramento River. About 1886 he bought 185 acres below Ryde; and here he built a home and spent the balance of his days. Of this tract he sold forty acres, but the bal- ance of 145 acres is still owned and operated by his wife and children. He also bought 155 acres on Georgiana Slough, about three miles below Walnut Grove; and this is now owned by the two daughters, Rose and Josephine, who reside there with their fam- ilies. Six children were born to this pioneer couple: John and Mary are deceased; Flora is the wife of Manuel L. Rogers, of this review; Rose is Mrs. Sar- ment: Josephine is Mrs. Joseph Neves; and Joseph resides in Oakland John Smith is now deceased, and his widow makes her home on the farm on Grand Island, which is jointly owned by herself and Mrs. Rogers. Mr. and Mrs. Rogers are the parents of eight children: Manuel, Clara, Joseph, William, Angie, Edward, Violet, and Ernest. Of these, Clara and William are deceased. Manuel and Joseph served in the World War. The former now lives in Walnut Grove; the latter served overseas until he was returned home and mustered out of service. Manuel was a sergeant, and trained at Fort Russell. He married Chloe Alves and resides in Berkeley; while Joseph married Theresa Alves, and they have a child, Geraldine. Angie is the wife of Frank Pimentel. Mr. Rogers is a member of the U. P. E. C. Lodge of Rio Vista. Mrs. Rogers is a member of the U. P. P. E. C. of San Francisco.

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY

JOHN B. TAYLOR .- Another pioneer whom Californians will recall with natural and sincere grat- itude, both on account of his rare character and also because of the value of his labors, was the late John Brown Taylor, who was born on August 30, 1826, and died in September, 1889. He first saw light in Baltimore County, Maryland, and he was eighteen years old when he removed to Ohio. His parents were Benjamin and Margaret Brown Tay- lor, and both were natives of that county. Benjamin Taylor removed to Ohio in 1844, and farmed there until his death, in 1865.

John Taylor worked at the carpenter trade until he joined a party of fifteen young men at Tiffin, Ohio, coming overland with mule-teams to Califor- nia. At Independence, Mo., they bought their sup- plies, and from there they set out on May 2, 1849. They crossed the backbone of the continent at the Southern Pass, and camped at Fort Hall, in what is now Idaho, 600 miles from Sacramento. While there, a party of Mormons came along on their way to Salt Lake, and they exhibited bags of gold dust they had picked up in California. The travelers feared that the gold would be all gone before they 1cached the Land of Promise, and they took a vote as to whether to abandon their wagons or not. The result of the balloting was in favor of leaving their wagons, so they abandoned the uncomfortable and clumsy vehicles and hurried on, on mule-back, mak- ing about forty miles a day. They reached Sacra- mento on August 15, 1849, when the "city" con- sisted of only one frame building, and a large num- ber of tents. The party now divided, and went to the mines. Mr. Taylor went to Beale's Bar, on the north fork of the American River, and engaged in mining; and then he went to Kelsey's, in Eldorado County, and wintered there. In the spring of 1850, he went to Yuba, Nevada County, and took up some mining claims; but being sick, he was not able to work there. He sold out, determining to return East; but on coming to Sacramento, he met John N. Goetschius, a merchant from Cold Springs, El- dorado County, who offered to make him a partner. Mr. Taylor accepted the offer, and remained with him until the autumn of 1852; and then he sold out and returned to Tiffin, the following February. Buy- ing a herd of horses and cattle, he returned to Tiffin and married, March 17, 1853, Miss Ann E. Goetschius.

Shortly afterward, accompanied by his wife, Mr. Taylor took a train for Cincinnati, and from there a steamer up to St. Joseph, Mo., completed his out- fit with the cattle and horses he had purchased, and on May 3 started again across the plains and moun- tains for the West, arriving in Placerville in 120 days. He settled on the Coloma road, fourteen miles from Sacramento, on September 20, 1853; and from that time until his death, he followed agricul- ture. 1n 1857-1858, he engaged in mining on his own property, on the border of the river, and found that it paid. During that time, he was a member of the county board of supervisors. His farm consisted of 488 acres, and it was always well cultivated. He was a member of the Pioneer Society, and was also a Mason. Mrs. Taylor passed away in February, 1917, leaving a blessed memory. Three children had been granted this worthy couple. Alice Amelia is Mrs. M. L. Wise. Anna Florence is Mrs. Charles Studa- rus; and the third daughter is Margaret Isabella. Mr. Taylor died September 3, 1889.

CHARLES WILLIAM PALMER .- A promi- nent, influential contractor of Sacramento County, who has earned the right to leadership, is Charles William Palmer, who was born January 23, 1884. at Walnut Grove, Cal., the son of Charles E. and Julia E. (Lewis) Palmer. His parents came from the state of Maine in 1875 to San Francisco, where they remained for two years, and then came to Walnut Grove. His father, who was a carpenter for the last twelve years of his life, passed away in 1919; and his mother died two years later.

Charles William Palmer was educated in the schools of Sacramento, attending Sacramento high school, from which he graduated in 1902. He learned his father's trade, and in 1913 was engaged as foreman for Barton & Hite, with whom he re- mained for six years. In January, 1923, he went into business for himself as contractor and builder. Hc draws the plans for the residences he erects, and is a member of the Builders' Exchange.

Mr. Palmer married Miss Rose E. King, a native daughter of Ryde, Cal. In his political views, he is non-partisan, voting for the man rather than the party. Fraternally, he is a Modern Woodman and a Native Son of the Golden West. He is very fond of hunting and fishing, and is a good booster and stalwart supporter of the many movements for the betterment of the county.

GUIDO A. BERTOLUCCI .- A highly respected representative of important commercial affairs, whose wide and varied experience enables him to serve his fellow-citizens with signal ability is Guido A. Berto- lucci, who was born in Italy, on May 22, 1890, the son of A. P. and Policama Bertolucci. In 1895 his parents came to Sacramento, where his father, a well- known cement worker, is now residing. Mrs. Berto- lucci died in December, 1921.

Guido A. Bertolucci was educated in the public schools of San Francisco and Sacramento. He learned the cement business with his father, and when he was sixteen years of age started out for himself. He has built some of the largest garages and wineries in California, and has also paved a great many streets in Sacramento. On the average, he employs about eight men and does a general con- crete construction work.

He joined the United States Army in April, 1918, trained at Camp Lewis for six weeks and then was sent to Fort Riley, Kansas, where he was promoted to the rank of sergeant. June 12, 1918, he left for France and upon his arrival went to Paris, where he was made a member of the Third Unit of the Mobile Hospital Corps, organized there. His com- mand was sent to the front and he served at Chateau Thierry, Meuse-Argonne, St. Mihiel and at Toule, four of the most active fronts during the war. He was practically under fire the entire time of his serv- ice and at the signing of the armistice he was re- turned to the United States and received his dis- charge at the Presidio at San Francisco, July 18, 1919.

On December 23, 1921, he married Miss Leona Hardt, of Los Angeles. Mr. Bertolucci is a director of the Builders' Exchange, a member and treasurer of Lodge No. 1020 of the Moose, and a trustee of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He is a very enthu- siastic baseball fan and is very fond of deer hunting. Politically he supports the best men and measures,

6 gr. Palmer

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY

regardless of party lines. He has always taken an intelligent interest in the public matters of his com- munity, and is highly respected among his many ac- quaintances. He bought property in the Dreher tract and built a modern bungalow at 1605 Dreher Avenue, where he resides, and intends to build several more residences on lots adjoining his home.

MALLORY E. ENOS .- An enterprising manager, thoroughly conversant with the field in which he is so successfully operating, is Mallory E. Enos, who has charge of Ennis-Brown Company, at 100 J Street, which was established and incorporated in 1900. The Company devotes itself to the wholesale produce business, and is well regarded as one of the most pro- gressive and prosperous business concerns in Sacra- mento County. On account of the success attending this enterprise, which is the result of steady support hy those familiar with the promoters, it is not sur- prising that Mr. Enos is one of the most public- spirited citizens working for the advancement of the great Golden State.

Mallory Enos was born at Davis, in Yolo County, on St. Valentine's Day, in the year 1879, the son of William S. Enos, a native of California, and the son of sturdy pioneers, who had married Miss Cornelia Helen Russell, also of fine old pioneer stock. W. S. Enos has long since been deceased, but his devoted wife has survived him, to be the center of a circle of admiring friends. Both Mr. and Mrs. Enos were enlightened, progressive people, and they spared neither effort nor expense to give their son the best of educational advantages.

Mallory Enos went to the grammar and also the high schools of his neighborhood, and in 1898 com- menced his business experience with Henderson & Brown, the wholesalers. In 1896 the family came to Sacramento; and for the past quarter of a century, Mr. Enos has been in the same business, in the same location. He is a Republican in matters of national political import.

In 1905, Mr. Enos married Miss Willette Rae Blas- ingame, a native of Georgia, and their fortunate union, solemnized at Chico, Cal., has been blessed in the birth of two daughters, Helen and Ruth. Mr. Enos is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and a Shriner; he belongs to the Sutter Club, and also the Del Paso Country Club, being fond of golf. During the war he was one of the "Four-minute Men"; and he was a member of the committee engaged in hand- ling potatoes and onions.

JOHN K. REESE .- A native son who is follow- ing in the footsteps of his father, the late David Recse, and becoming a man of affairs, and display- ing the same traits of character and business acumen, is John K. Reese, rancher and district agent for the Travelers Insurance Company of Hartford, Conn. He was born at Florin, Sacramento County, Decem- ber 30, 1878, a son of David and Mira L. (Kilgore) Reese, pioneers represented on another page in this work. The fourth in a family of seven children, five of whom are living, John K. Reese was educated in the public school and the high school. After his graduation from high school he entered the Univer- sity of California and while attending was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta, a national, fraternity, as well as the Skull and Keys honor society. He was

in his junior year at the university when his father died and he then returned to Sacramento. He en- gaged in the real estate business and also in farming, leasing the Leeman ranch. In 1919 he engaged in raising hops; but after three years the market fell so low that the place has since been devoted to gen- eral farming. He is still managing the Leeman ranch. In 1912 Mr. Reese began the insurance business and has been very successful in that field. As stated above, he is the district agent for the Travelers In- surance Company, of Hartford, and to it he devotes his attention and energies.

Mr. Reese was united in marriage in 1915 with Miss Gertrude Leeman, a native of Sacramento, and a daughter of William H. Leeman, and two sons have been born to them. John K., Jr., and Richard.

Mr. Reese was made a Mason in Concord Lodge No. 117, F. & A. M., and he belongs to Sacramento Chapter, R. A. M. He is also a member of Sacra- mento Lodge No. 6, B. P. O. E. He takes an active interest in civic and social matters, and is a member of the Rotary and Sutter Clubs, as well as the Del Paso Country Club.

Mr. Reese is an example of what well-directed energy and application can accomplish, and he is one of the native sons of which the county may well be proud.

LOUIS E. HALVERSON .- A decidedly practical family, of wide and valuable experience, has been that of the late Louis E. Halverson, who was a native of Christiania, Norway, where he was born on the day before Christmas, 1854, the son and second child of Halver Pederson, and grew up to be a carpenter by trade, and to own a small farm near Christiania. He attended the good schools of Norway, and, as was the habit with so many boys in that country, famed for its sea-faring men, spent three years of his youth on a freight vessel, sailing around the world. He then came to the United States, and here followed the carpenter trade for a couple of years. Coming West to Wisconsin, Mr. Halverson lo- cated at Marinette, and for a few years engaged in building by contract. After that, he became foreman for a large planing mill, and continued in that capacity for twenty years. Wherever he went, or whatever he undertook to do, he demonstrated his exceptional fit- ness and his absolute dependability.

At Marinette, Wis., on October 8, 1882, he was married to Miss Agnes Miller, a native of Drum- mond, Norway, and the daughter of Jacob and Karu (Christopherson) Miller, her father being a moulder by trade. Eleven children made up the happy fam- ily, Agnes being the ninth, and she came with her parents, when nine years old, and her father settled at Marinette, and followed his trade until his death, at the age of seventy-one. Mrs. Miller lived to be ninety.

After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Halverson moved to Grand Rapids, Wis., and there he started a planing-mill business of his own, which he con- ducted for four years, when he sold out and moved to Sacramento in 1911, bringing his wife and family along with him. He again resumed carpentering as a journeyman, and found plenty to do, an account of his superior skill, in Sacramento and vicinity. In October, 1920, the Halversons moved onto a forty- acre ranch at Wilton, which he had previously pur- chased; and this ranch is now known as the Wilton

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY

Demonstration Farm, being equipped with the largest irrigation plant in that section of the country. There is a six-inch irrigation pump driven by a fifteen- horse-power electric motor; the well is 500 feet deep, and there is an abundant supply of water. The ranch has about twenty-five acres of fruit trees, and four acres of berries; while the balance of acreage is in grain; both horses and tractors are used for power. Mr. Halverson built modern, electric-lighted poultry houses, furnished with running water in each build- ing, and put up all the buildings on the place, except the home, which was on the place, and in various ways made it a model farm. And there, where he had scored some of his greatest successes, he died, of December 30, 1922, and since that time the famous ranch has been managed by his son, George, with the help of the other five brothers.

There were eleven children in the Halverson fam- ily, and ten of them are sons, and they are all living. Charles is with Wood-Curtis Company of Sacra- mento; George started out for himself in a law office in Marinette, Wis., and became, in Sacramento, man- ager for the Jacobs Motor Company, and was with them for two years; William is a mechanic with that firm. in Sacramento; Edwin is on the ranch; Clar- ence is also on the home ranch, although he used to be a switchman on the Western Pacific Railroad; Ernest is a rancher at Elk Grove; Mabel is Mrs. Carl Morlath, of Sacramento; Elmer is an apprentice to the auto-painting trade, in Sacramento; Henry is learning the auto-mechanic trade in the same city; and Arnold and Alton are on the ranch. The family are all Republicans. Elmer has married Miss Chris- tina Mckinnon; and Ernest is the husband of Miss Nettie Ehrmann, by whom he has had three children, Fay, Richard and Betty.

MARK HOPKINS EBEL .- A wide-awake, pro- gressive florist whose combined experience and artis- tic taste have afforded him an enviable success and prosperity, is Mark Hopkins Ebel, widely known throughout and even beyond Sacramento County. He was born in the capital city on November 10, 1874, the son of F. A. and Doris (Stehr) Ebel, the father a pioneer who came to California in the early sixties and married into one of the old Sacramento families. Mr. Ebel died in 1920, esteemed by all who knew him; but Mrs. Ebel is still living, the center of a circle of devoted friends.

Mark Hopkins Ebel went to the ordinary public schools, and rather young joined Messrs. C. B. Strong & Company, and when they failed, he took over the floral department. His father had been a florist for fifty years before him, and he thus came to acquire through his father much of the experience now so valuable to him. He grows practically all of his cut flowers, and in this respect has an advantage over some competitors. He is deeply interested in his enterprise, and at his store at 916 K Street carries a. complete line of all kinds cut flowers and plants. He is a life member of American Florists and Orna- mental Horticulturists, and of the Florists' Telegraph Delivery. Mr. Ebel is an Elk, and also a Forester; and he belongs to Sacramento Parlor No. 3, Native Sons of the Golden West, being pardonably proud of his association with the Golden State. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and of the Rotary Club.

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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, 1923, Part 105

Author: Reed, G. Walter Publication date: 1923 Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co. Number of Pages: 1026

Author: Reed, G. Walter
Publication date: 1923
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1026