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 135

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 135

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CHARLES W. KING .- An enterprising merchant, whose successful management of one of the busiest and most prosperous emporiums in Sacramento County well attests to his qualifications as a commer- cial leader, is Charles W. King, the proprietor of the popular Rio Linda Market, which he established on May 1, 1922, as a strictly up-to-date store, equipped with a modern refrigeration plant. A native son, he was born at 1115 L Street, Sacramento, on January 30, 1869, the only son of Jeremiah B. and Julia A. (Bullock) King, both of whom are deceased. Two daughters, one the wife of the Rev. George R. Bird of Los Angeles, and the other, the wife of H. B. Bird, of Sacramento, survive the parents.

Charles W. King attended the elementary schools of Sacramento, and then worked as a delivery boy at the Empire Market, at Second and K Streets, since which time he has followed the butcher trade, and having inherited certain invaluable incentives from his father, more easily made his way to success. Jeremiah King, who died on January 30, 1884, after a very active career, was born in New York, grew up in the Empire State, studied law and was admitted to the New York bar; but lured by gold, concerning which there was then so much excitement, he came West, and never practiced in his native state. As a young man in California, he had become a millwright, and for a while followed his trade here; and in the meantime, he prospected in the mines of Folsom and vicinity. He returned East, and was married; and then he came a second time, only to stay for a short period, but he finally decided to bring his family west, and in 1856 the wife and a daughter came by way of Panama. He remained in Sacramento, and took up building by contract; and it fell to his lot to assume the responsibility for many of the best resi- dences in the city at that time. He also served, under Captain Cook, as first lieutenant of Field Artil- lery, in the State Guards.

Charles King left Sacramento for Butte City, Mont., where he spent three years, the summers on the range, the winters in the retail shops as foreman for the Butte City Butchering Company, and while in that city he was united in marriage to Miss Mary Leon- ard, a native of St. Louis, who had previously arrived at Butte City with her parents. On returning to Sac- ramento, in 1895, Mr. King was for three years in charge of Captain Cook's City Market. At the out- break of the Spanish-American War, Cook sold out, and Charley King entered the employ of Henry Shuelmyer, and he was in charge of their slaughter house for four and one-half years, conducting a whole- sale butcher business in Sacramento. From 1904 to 1910, he was foreman at Swanston & Son's Pack- ing Plant, and for four years he also was on the road, as a shipper, and covered Southern Oregon, Nevada and California.

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In 1910, Mr. King bettered his position by going into the employ of Gerber Bros., and he remained with them until three years ago. He also purchased ten acres of choice land in Rio Linda, and took up general farming and the raising of poultry. A year ago, he desired to do his share in pioneering in this fast-growing section, and he opened up a first-class market, the first of its kind, and one by which he is able to serve the community and the countryside for a circle of ten miles around, a convenience and a benefit the value of which can only be estimated by those familiar with the lack of service before he opened the shop. Mrs. King has also served the com- munity as a trustee of the Rio Linda school district. Mr. King is a Republican. Mr. and Mrs. King have six children. Laverta is Mrs. John W. Johnston, Jr., and Clara M. is in the employ of the Motor Vehicle Department at Sacramento. The others are Ruth and Julia; Finlay M., who assists his father in the shop, and Marie, who is a student. Their home is attractive, and among a number of priceless heir- looms of early days in the West owned by the Kings is a leather-covered and bound trunk, brought round the Horn by our subject's parents.

KING H. LEE .- Widely-known among the popu- lar constables of Sacramento County, King H. Lee wields an enviable influence, enabling him to secure the cooperation of the public in favor of law and order. He is responsible for what transpires and affects the community in American Township, having been constable there for six years until 1922, and on the 7th of November of the last year he was re- elected for a second term. He was born on the Wash- ington side of the Sacramento River, in Yolo County, on June 7, 1870, the second eldest of five sons and a daughter of the late Willard M. and Emma (Van- derbogart) Lee, early pioneer settlers of California. His father was born in Massachusetts in 1833, a descendant of Miles Standish, and he came to Cali- fornia by way of Panama when he was a boy. He started from home with his parents, and also three others of the family, but his parents died of fever on board ship, and were buried at sea off the Chilean Coast, and the children continued on to their destina- tion, arriving at Sacramento safely in April, 1850.

Willard M. Lee engaged in placer mining for only a short time, and was soon back at his trade as a wagon-maker and painter. He was known through- out Central California as "the artist," for he finished the stage-coaches with fancy stripes and lines, the coaches in those days being well-kept; and at one time in Sacramento, when he worked for the Old California Stage Company, he received fifteen dollars per day. He also worked in other places, in Marys- ville, and Oroville, and his declining years were spent peacefully at his home in Yolo County, across the Sacramento River from the capital city. He died in Sacramento, in 1903, at the age of sixty-eight, pre- ceded to the grave, two years before, by his devoted wife. Mrs. Lee was born in Pennsylvania of Quaker stock, and her grandfather, Lieutenant Vanderbogart, accompanied Colonel Stephenson as government sur- veyor when he came to California. She was one of three children, and the daughter of the ferryman at the Nicolaus crossing on the Sacramento River. Then Nicolaus was a thriving ontfitting post to the mines, a rival city to Marysville.

King Lee was reared in Sacramento and Yolo Counties, learned the blacksmith trade and followed the same. On May 6, 1898, he enlisted in Battery C, California Heavy Artillery, and served in the Philip- pines as sergeant of the United States Volunteers, and is very proud to have been one of the boys who followed Old Glory across the sea, so that his hon- orable discharge, dated February 9, 1899, is a highly prized document now. He returned to the Southern

Pacific Railroad shops at Sacramento, and took up the work of a blacksmith there, and he continued steadily in the employ of the railway shops for twenty-five years. With the exception of a short time spent at Portland, Ore., and also a few months in Arizona and Mexico (about three months), he has lived in California, Sacramento and Yolo Counties all of his life. He belongs to the North Sacramento Chamber of Commerce, and takes a very live interest in all of its programs. He bought land at Del Paso Heights in 1911, and he has resided there, having built a fine home-place.

He had three months' experience, in 1914, on the Mexican border, when he accompanied the 2nd Infan- try, under Capt. Luke Howe, as a mechanic. Since 1916, too, he has served efficiently as the peace officer for this district. American Township embraces North Sacramento, Del Paso Heights, Robla, Rio Linda, and Elverta, and the adjoining country territory. Mr. Lee has given liberally of his time and means to carry out his work and he enjoys the esteem and confidence of everyone.

In 1899, at Portland, Mr. Lee was married to Miss Lillian King, a native of Kansas, who came to Port- land with her parents in 1890. Three children have blessed their union: Rollin K. is a machinist of the Pacific Gas & Electric Company, at Sacramento; Flora has become the wife of R. L. Bushey, of the capital city; Clinton is a student. Mr. Lee is a mem- ber of the Native Sons of the Golden West, and be- longs to Sacramento Parlor No. 3.

CHARLES G. WHITE .- A rancher of experience and an enviable record, who well merits his retire- inent, is Charles G. White, who resides about fifteen miles north of Sacramento, on the Natomas Boule- vard, where he owns a trim ranch and small orchard of some eighty acres, which he purchased in 1912. He has cleared off most of the land, and has ren- dered an invaluable service to the section of country by staying with the development since the infancy of the Natomas Reclamation District No. 1000. He is among the two per cent of ranchers in the district who are owners of their property, clear of any incumbrances.

Charles White was born at Springville, Iowa, the son of the late Hosea White, a native of Vermont and a shoemaker by trade, who in his later years was a pioneer farmer in Iowa, and became very prominent as a public-spirited man there. He was a direct de- scendant of Peregrine White, the first white child born in New England, who became famous in Colo- nial history for having been born on the "Mayflower." in Cape Cod Harbor, in 1620. The mother of our subject was Elizabeth Greene, a native of Ohio, who came west to lowa with her parents. Charles is the second youngest of eleven children, and he was pre- ceded to the Golden State by his brother, the late Lincoln White, and Clinton L. White, of Sacramento.

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY

Our subject came out to California in 1885, and spent a few months at Sacramento and in its en- virons, as a farmer associated with the late Lincoln White, on the Sacramento River near Jacobs Slough. He left Sacramento to go down to southern Cali- fornia, and for ten years he worked as a fireman and a mechanic on the Southern Pacific Railroad, run- ning out of Los Angeles. In 1895, he went into the Imperial Valley and located near Mecca, where he spent two years in raising turkeys and other poultry. On the opening up of Perris Valley, he purchased forty acres and developed that during the following four years, making of the same a profitable alfalfa ranch. In 1912, Mr. White returned to Sacramento, and he has since made this county his home; and he has done much to further the development of Sacra- mento County.

At Los Angeles, in 1913, Mr. White was united in marriage with Miss Anna G. Waters, a native of Springville, lowa, and a gifted, charming woman, who came west to California in 1903, and now enjoys, with Mr. White, a wide circle of devoted friends.

WILLIAM H. PIMENTEL,-A progressive op- erator very familiar with Sacramento County trans- portation problems is William H. Pimentel, the wide- awake and very accommodating part-proprietor of the Hagginwood-North Sacramento Motor Stage-line. He has a motto known to all patrons: "Best service for the money," and to this he often adds: "and no de- lays, if possible, in transportation."

He was born in Sonora, Tuolumne County, on June 30. 1891, the son of Frank and Julia ( Milton) Pimen- tel, the former a native of Boston, who came West in 1852 to seek gold. He located mines in Tuolumne County, and remained until six years prior to his death, in April, 1922, as a farmer and pioneer pros- pector. Previous to his death he had moved to Modesto, where he died. Our subject is the eighth child, in the order of birth, of nine children, of whom five survive the parents, the devoted wife and mother, lamented like her husband, having died in 1900.

William Pimentel was reared in the Mother Lode of Tuolumne County, and at the age of thirteen com- menced to support himself by working as a delivery boy for the MacCormick wholesale and retail butcher business, working with this company thirteen years. Only once was this engagement interrupted, and that was when, for thirteen months, he served as a clerk in the Wells Fargo Express at Third and Townsend Streets, San Francisco.

Mfr. Pimentel has devoted the past eight years to the study of, and the operation of motor stages and the possible business therein, in northern California, being a charter member of the Old Star Line, of Stockton, in the formation of which, in 1915, he was a prime mover, to operate motor-busses throughout the San Joaquin Valley. He came from Stockton to Sacramento in September, 1920, and has since built up a business from the foundation, so that his com- pany now operates a fleet of motor busses running out of Sacramento to Hagginwood and North Sacra- mento. They own and operate only White truck vehicles, said to be eminently satisfactory in affording continuously superior service. He and his partner, S. C. Houck, were successors to A. M. Fowler, who founded the stage line. Mr. Pimentel is the vice-

president of the Hagginwood farm bureau, and a charter member of the North Sacramento Chamber of Commerce. Ever ready to serve the community, he is a member of the Volunteer Fire Department of North Sacramento; he acts as custodian of the fire engine of his district, and realizing his ability, the fire commissioner of North Sacramento appointed him deputy fire warden. He is public-spirited and ready to give of his time and means to advance the community which he has selected as his home.

The marriage of Mr. Pimentel to Miss Hazel H. Houck, of Sonora, occurred at Stockton in November, 1914. Miss Houck was born at Sonora, the daughter of Mr. Pimentel's partner, a pioneer of Tuolumne County, and now a resident of Sacramento. Two children have been born to this worthy couple, Neva and Wilma Jean. Mr. Pimentel is a Mason of the Blue Lodge.

PERCY E. BUCHANAN .- Emphatically a man of energy, Percy E. Buchanan is one of the enter- prising and active men of Sacramento County, giving substantial encouragement to every plan for the pro- motion of the public welfare. He was born May 10, 1889, at Ripon, Cal., the son of H. A. and Ida (Fred- erick) Buchanan. His mother's parents, John W. and Nancy (Underwood) Frederick, natives of California and Iowa, respectively, were the parents of seven children: Mary Ellen; Flora; Mrs. Birdina Curtis; Ida, our subject's mother; Eliza; John W .; and James W. Mr. John Frederick homesteaded 160 acres and purchased 160 acres of land, all of which he farmed to grain. Both Mr. and Mrs. Frederick are dead, their son, John W., being the administrator of the estate.

P. E. Buchanan attended the old Ripon school when he was six years old. At the age of eighteen years, he started to work as a laborer for Ortman and Melton, contractors on the construction of the French Camp highway to Oakdale. Later, he was in the employ of Cyrus Moreing, Stockton road build- ers, and in 1914 he moved to Folsom City and be- came county road superintendent of District No. 4, Sacramento County. There is no section which has better facilities for the building of roads than this outfit. Under the leadership of John A. Russi, county supervisor of District No. 4, Mr. P. E. Bu- chanan has surrounded himself with a corps of twenty men, all of whom are qualified in the con- struction and maintenance of highways. Mr. Bu- chanan and his crew completed the Orangevale high- way, a new concrete road, and have also built many new sections of various roads. During the World War, he put every effort into farming and secured very satisfactory results. He has acquired various desirable pieces of property in Folsom City and has a complete outfit including a caterpillar tractor, etc. For some time he was a grain farmer in Wheatland, but at present he leases his farms and machinery on shares.

On October 26, 1912, Mr. Percy E. Buchanan was united in marriage with Miss Alice Fae Farschon, a native of Ripon, Cal., and the daughter of John W. and Blanche Farschon. Her father conducted a black- smith shop at Ripon for twenty-eight years; and he was one of the five children born to Sebastian and Catherine (Chambers) Farschon, natives of Alsace- Lorraine, France, and County Mayo, Ireland, respec-

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY

tively. Mr. and Mrs. Buchanan are the parents of three children: Stanley, Robert and William. Mr. Buchanan is a member of the B. P. O E., No. 6, and N. S. G. W., No. 83. Politically, he endorses the plat- form of the Democratic party and is a stanch supporter of men and measures that, in his best judgment, would be most beneficial to the community's welfare.

EVAN J. HUGHES .- California has always en- joyed an exceptional fame on account of the distin- guished character of the members of her bar, and 110 county in the Golden State has been more fortunate than Sacramento, with such representative men as Evan J. Hughes, the attorney. He was born at Osh- kosh, Wis., on January 22, 1885, the son of G. W. and Jane (Jones) Hughes. The father was a contractor in Oshkosh; both parents are now deceased.

Evan Hughes attended both the grammar and high schools of Tacoma, and then matriculated at the University of California, where he spent five years, receiving in 1907 the coveted degree of Bachelor of Letters. He next went to Harvard, and in 1910 fin- ished his law course there, when he returned to Cali- fornia. He was with the United States Immigration Commission as special agent, and was also employed by the California Commission on Revenue and Taxa- tion, and then acted as tax expert to the State Comp- troller and the Board of Equalization, all of which added much of invaluable experience.

In 1914, Mr. Hughes joined Charles W. Thomas, Jr., for a couple of years in law practice in Sacra- mento, and since that time he has been practicing law for himself. His exceptional knowledge of the law, particularly with reference to certain fields, his general scholarly preparation, and his high integrity and disinterested loyalty to patrons, have contributed to bring him a very desirable clientele, and to assure him professional and social status. He belongs to the Sacramento Bar Association and to the Ad Club, and is naturally much interested in the right develop- ment of Sacramento institutions and resources.

When Mr. Hughes was married, in 1921, at Sacra- mento, he chose for his helpmate in life Miss Elva Christie, of Sacramento. Mr. Hughes is a Scottish Rite Mason and a Shriner, and he is also a member of the Sutter Club.

FREDRICK JAMES McGEE .- Prominent among the most interesting of the younger representative business men of Sacramento County is Fredrick James McGee, widely known through his identifica- tion with the firm of McCarthy & McGee of the capital, in which city he was born. He first saw light on July 29, 1895, when he entered the family circle of Daniel J. and Josephine A. (Taylor) McGee. His father is general foreman of the bridge and build- ing department of the Southern Pacific, and it is needless to say that he afforded the ambitious son the best of educational advantages, so that he finished the usual grammar school courses, entered the Sacra- mento high school, and was graduated therefrom in February, 1915.

Setting out into the world. Fred McGee joined the Earl Fruit Company, commencing at the lower rungs of the ladder; and he climbed until he was assistant sales manager. He mastered the many details of that line of trade, worked hard and prospered, and on January I, 1922, bought an interest in the Cole-

McCarthy Company, the firm becoming McCarthy & McGee, insurance specialists, with headquarters at 1008 Eighth Street.

When the World War called for the young Ameri- cans of the country, Mr. McGee was among the first to respond from this section, and he entered the United States Regular Army, joined the aviation corps, and in April, 1918, sailed for France. He did valiant service until the armistice was signed, and in November, 1919, was honorably discharged, and was the first soldier from this section to get home.

Mr. McGee belongs to Sacramento Parlor, Native Sons of the Golden West; the Knights of Columbus, in which he has reached the third degree, and the B. P. O. Elks; and he was a member, in student days, of the Phi Sigma Chi and the Phi Gamma Pi fra- ternities. He is fond of hunting in the mountains of northern California.

BEVERLY GIBSON .- A Kentuckian who has made good in California is Beverly Gibson, the wide- awake, progressive proprietor of the popular River Auto-Stage, with headquarters at Sacramento. He was born in Corydon, Henderson County, on Septem- ber 10, 1883, the son of George L. and Locky Ann (Christopher) Gibson, farmer-folk who did their part in developing the resources of the country, thus living useful lives, which are now closed.

Beverly attended both the grammar and the high schools of Corydon, but when eighteen years of age left home. In 1903, he came to California and located at Fresno; and entering the service of the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company, he remained with them about eight. and one-half years, for three years operating out of Berkeley and Oakland. He then went to Isleton, where he was with the Great Western Power Company for three years; and for a year he was in the electrical field.

Using a Ford, in 1916, he then started a stage- route between Isleton and Sacramento, and after two months he was able to put a seven-passenger car on the service. At the end of a year he built the first large stage for twelve passengers, and after that one for sixteen passengers. In 1922 he was able to buy out his partners and has been engaged in the business on his own responsibility ever since. He now has six twenty-passenger and four twelve-passenger busses in the service and employs seven men, and gives the very best of service to a section of country that is rich in agricultural production. He runs six round trips daily to Isleton and Rio Vista, and the efforts Mr. Gibson has put forth have done much to aid in the development of the district he serves, and he takes an active interest in every project that is put forward to benefit the people of those districts he accommodates. He also operates a line from Walnut Grove, and has an extension into Stockton, thus giving him access to the rich delta country and the San Joaquin Valley. He also has a line to Frank- lin and Thornton, and has an application for an extension from Rio Vista to Antioch into Contra Costa County. He gives his personal attention to the details of his affairs and owns one of the most serviceable and most popular bus lines in central California.

In the year 1905, Mr. Gibson was married to Miss Mary Belle Cochran, a favorite in the social circles of Fresno; and they have four children: Beverly

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY

Clay, Auna Belle, George Thomas, and Curtis Coch- ran. Mr. Gibson is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, a Shriner and a member of the Ben Ali l'atrol of Sacramento.

LOUIS F. HANDLIN .- A wide-awake represen- tative of a very progressive and well-known business house of Sacramento is Louis F. Handlin, the junior member of the firm of Messrs. Barton & Handlin, of 619 J Street. A native son, and one exceptionally loyal to the state in which he first saw light, he was born at Sacramento on November 10, 1878, the son of Joseph J. and Sarah J. ( Harris) Handlin, the former a veteran of the Civil War, in which he fought with Maryland troops. When the great struggle was over, he came west from devastated fields and ruined for- tunes to the newer and more inviting California, where he entered the service of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. He also found a place in the navy yard, and proved most valuable there as one of their expert brass-foundry men.

Louis attended the public schools of Sacramento, and then he secured employment with the Sacramento "Bee," rose to become superintendent of circulation, and was in the service of that famous newspaper for twenty years. He next ventured into the real estate field, but at the end of two years he joined Louis G. Barton, and the two formed the firm of Barton & Handlin, and bought out the California Wall Paper Company. Since that time they have been estab- lished at the above address, where they have main- tained the leading store in the capital city for the supply of wall paper, paper and related articles, build- ing up and holding a superior trade through their policy of leaving nothing undone to accommodate and help a customer.

In the year 1908 Mr. Handlin was married to Miss Ida L. Suter, the daughter of Chris Suter, an old pioneer from Switzerland who came out to California before Ida was born, and eventually became con- nected with the Suter Planing Mill. Mr. Handlin be- longs to Sacramento Lodge No. 6 of the Elks, and is keenly interested in both the city and county of Sac- ramento, proving his local devotion by an investment in valuable properties.

CARROLL OGDEN DUDLEY .- An indefatiga- able worker, who became a successful contractor and builder through industry and honest toil, is Carroll Ogden Dudley, who was born on November 7, 1882, at Sacramento, Cal., the son of James and Elizabeth Dudley. His father, an expert carpenter, settled in California in 1879. Carroll Ogden Dudley was edu- cated in the public schools, and after completing his school studies he became an apprentice and learned the carpentering trade. He was Mr. L. G. Barton's partner for two and one-half years, dissolving the partnership when he sold out his interest and went into business for himself. Mr. Dudley has handled some of the largest jobs in the state, and is especially interested in the building of fine residences and apartments.

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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 135

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