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 90

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 90

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The death of his father, while Harry was a mere boy, compelled the lad to leave off school studies at the end of the grammar grades; and he soon got work with the American District Telegraph Company. Then he went to Mexico and Arizona, and for seven years he rode the range. After that, he was with the Wells Fargo and the Southern Pacific Companies, and from 1896 to 1906 with the Market Street, now the United Railroad, as foreman of the repairs department. Then, for seven months he was in the service department of the Pacific Gas & Electric Company, in San Francisco, while from 1906 to 1909 he was in the transfer business in San Francisco. The next year, he spent with the Home Telephone Company, and he was then with the dredge depart- ment of the state harbor board for eight years.

For the past seven years, Mr. Charles has been outside agent of the Dredgers' Union, and so has been active in labor movements and prominent in all that has spelled progress to the hard worker. Mr. Charles' relation, therefore, to both labor and capital is one in which he is able to serve both sides and parties.

On May 16, 1901, he married Miss Rose Callan, a native of San Francisco, and also a member of an interesting pioneer family; and three children have blessed the union: Harry Martin; Ruth Martha, Mrs. Donald Alexander of San Francisco; and Naomi Asa. Donna Alexander is the only grandchild. Owing to their ancestors, and especially their par- entage, both Mr. and Mrs. Charles are keenly inter- ested in Sacramento County, in its most promising future as well as in its historic past.

THOMAS RUDECH .- A locomotive engineer of long and valuable experience, Thomas Rudech well merits the comfortable retirement he is now enjoying at 1706 K Street, Sacramento, rich in friends, not so badly off with respect to this world's goods, and happy in the consciousness that his has been peculi- arly a useful and a successful life.

He was born on a farm in Slavonia, Austria, on July 15, 1842, and when a mere boy began to follow the sea, visiting many interesting parts of the world. On July 12, 1862, he sailed through the Golden Gate into San Francisco harbor, on a voyage from Boston by way of Cape Horn; and having decided to stay in California, he tried fishing in San Francisco Bay for eight months, and then, in 1863, came to Sacramento. He worked for a while on Charles Eisen's ranch, and for a while in a Sacramento restaurant; and in May, 1869, he entered the employ . of the Central Pacific Railway, to work in the repair shops. Later he was a fireman on a locomotive, and then, in 1874, he was promoted to be engineer. He was fireman on the first train running out of Sacramento for Alameda, on September 18, 1869, and on that occa- sion, marking the completion of the road, prominent railroad officials and men who figured in the early history of the state, including Governor Leland Stan- ford, Messrs. Mark Hopkins, Huntington, and Crock- er, and others, rode on the train. He has driven loco- motives burning wood, coal and oil, his first engine being the "Andrew Jackson"; and he drove the first coal-burning locomotive, the "No. 19," over the moun- tains from Sacramento to Truckee. He has run from Sacramento to Alameda, from Sacramento to

Truckee, and from Sacramento to Red Bluff. At the end of forty-one years of devoted and successful service, he was retired on October 1, 1910. He has many interesting recollections, among them the driv- ing of the golden spike, linking California with the East, which occurred while he was in the Sacramento shops. He joined the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers in 1877.

Mr. Rudech bought lots at the corner of K and Seventeenth Streets in early days, and today he owns four houses which he has had erected there. At that time, that section was "out in the country"; and he can remember when the business district ended at Sixth Street, and there were only a few scattered houses to the east in Sacramento.

Mr. Rudech was married in 1870, on the 3rd of February, when he took for his wife Miss Mary Brannan, a native of Ireland. She was a good and gifted woman, who, proved most helpful as a wife, friend and neighbor; and when she died on November 30, 1918, she was mourned by many. Mr. Rudeeh is exceedingly active for his years, and still drives his own automobile.

JAMES S. DEAN .- For more than a decade James S. Dean has been numbered among Sacramento's successful architects and during this period he has been intimately associated with building operations in the city. He was born in Belton, Bell County, Texas, December 27, 1885, a son of John A. and Eudora M. (Ware) Dean, both now deceased. After completing his high school course, he entered the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, from which he was graduated in 1906 with the degree of Bachelor of Science in architecture, and the next three years were spent in the study of architectural design in the Massa-

Thomas Pudech

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY

chusetts Institute of Technology at Boston. He then became instructor in architecture and drawing at his alma mater in Texas, filling that position for four years, and on the expiration of that period went to Waco, Texas, where he opened an office, remaining at that place for a year.

In 1912 Mr. Dean came to California, locating in Sacramento, and for two years he acted as assistant designer in the bureau of architecture in the state department of engineering. In 1914 he was made assistant state architect, serving in that capacity for six years, and from 1920 until 1922 he was chief deputy for the firm of Hemmings, Petersen, Hudnutt, Inc. They were architects for Sacramento's new schools and Mr. Dean had entire charge of the work of planning, designing and construction, which was ac- complished in a most efficient and satisfactory manner. He is now practicing independently and, owing to the prestige which he had previously won, his professional services are now in constant demand. He has the ability to combine utility and convenience with beanty of design and there is no phase of his profession, in either its technical or practical lines, with which he is not thoroughly familiar.

Mr. Dean married Miss Ruth Cook, of Iowa, and they now have a daughter, Charlotte Eudora. Mr. Dean is a Republican in his political views, but is not bound by the narrow ties of partisanship, placing the qualifications of the candidate above all other con- siderations. He is a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon college fraternity, and in Masonry he has attained the thirty-second degree. He is fond of ont- door sports and is president of the Sutter Lawn Ten- nis Club. Whatever touches the welfare of his city is to him a matter of deep concern, and his professional colleagues bear testimony as to his character and pronounced skill.

HARVEY S. DANIELS .- An up-to-date, thor- oughly progressive rancher and a public official whose success must be attributed to a combination of favor- ing circumstances and conditions, commanded by his own industry and optimism, is Harvey S. Daniels, well-known in Galt, operating as he does a couple of miles to the north of that fast-growing town, at the Twin City Colony corners. He is a native son, and was born near Elliott, in San Joaquin County, on July 24, 1870, the son of Robert Marion and Mary (Peck) Daniels. His father came to California from Illinois in 1859, a native of the Prairie State; but Mrs. Daniels hailed from Texas. They reached the Golden State independently, the Pecks having come out in the sixties, and they were married in California. Mr. Daniels was a farmer. He became the father of two boys, our subject's brother being named Henry, who died aged four. Mrs. Daniels died in San Joa- quin County, while the family were still residing there. in October, 1888, aged forty-seven years. Mr. Daniels married a second time, in 1892, choosing for his wife Miss Mina Noble, a native of Ireland, by whom he had six children: Ethel, of Modesto; James Budd, of Galt; Effie, who is Mrs. Ross Allen, of Lockeford; Mina, now Mrs. T. Ward, of Elliott; Robert M., of Acampo; and Elsie. Mr. Daniels passed away on August 5, 1914, at the age of sixty- four, in Arno, Sacramento County.

Harvey Daniels attended the Telegraph district school and at the age of twenty started to lease land. His father had a half-section of land in San

Joaquin County, and he sold this and removed to Arno, where he ran a threshing machine, on which Harvey began working when eight years old; and he carried on the business himself after he was fifteen. Harvey Daniels leased 1,200 acres of the MeCanley ranch for three years, and then he farmed the Lauren ranch of 240 acres near Arno, for nineteen years. He then purchased twenty acres in the Twin City Colony devoted to a vineyard, and in 1920 he moved onto it. With the exception of caring for his twenty acres, Mr. Daniels has quit ranching and he has taken charge of the road construction in a part of the fifth district of Sacramento County. Unmarried, Mr. Daniels lives with his stepmother and sister Elsie, on the Twin City ranch, where those favored are de- lighted to enjoy their home comforts and genuine California hospitality.

A wide-awake, fearless deputy sheriff for the past fourteen years, Mr. Daniels is always ready to do his duty in the maintenance of law and order. He is a Democrat, when matters of national political import are in the balance, but a first-class booster of the good old non-partisan sort when local issues are at stake.

REINHARDT G. KAESER .- Kaeser's Bakery at Oak Park, Sacramento, a well-known establish- ment, was started in 1903 by Reinhardt G. Kaeser, who is a native son of the capital, and has always been in intimate accord with its life, and social and commercial spirit. He was born on April 15, 1870, the son of Andrew and May (Frey) Kaeser, the former a pioneer of 1869, who is still living at the age of eighty-four, as is the mother, who is also of the same age.

Reinhardt Kaeser attended the public schools of Sacramento, and as a youngster sold newspapers in the streets of Sacramento. He then teamed, and after that was in the dairy business. Then he found employment in the Southern Pacific shops, and in 1890 he started to learn the baker's trade. In 1897, he went to the Towle powder mill in Placer County, and then to the mines of Shady Run. Returning. he became a fireman in the Florister Paper Mill, and then he went to Truckee, icing railroad cars. In 1901 he was back to Sacramento, and he resumed baking in Rice Brothers' Pacific Bakery and in the Golden Eagle Bakery.

On July 15, 1903, Mr. Kaeser baked the first loaf of bread in his own bakery, at Oak Park, which was known as the Oak Grove Bakery, turning out thirty loaves, and he peddled the output himself, with an old horse and buggy. In 1914, he had a fine concrete building erected, and he changed the name to the Kaeser Bakery and in 1921 he had his new addition built. He was baking over 12,000 loaves of bread a day, and employed twenty-seven people to do the work, and sold by wholesale only. with the use of eight delivery cars. He also main- tained a branch at 3417 Second Street. He is a Republican, and believes in legislation of the kind that steadies and conserves trade. He sold the busi- ness on January 1, 1923, to the Pioneer Bakery Com- pany and in May, 1923, he traded the property for the London Bakery property at Eighth and L Streets.

In 1896, Mr. Kaeser was married to Miss Alice C. Bundock, a native daughter of Oakland, and they have had several children: Rosie; Alice Ruth, now Mrs. M. Scott, and the mother of a daughter, Lillian

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY

Dolores; Walter E .; Lillian E .; Wallace R .; and Verna J. Kaescr. Mr. Kaeser belongs to the Eagles, the Knights of Pythias, and the Sunset Parlor of the Native Sons of the Golden West.

IDA POOL GARDINER .- California has never been remiss in honoring such worthy pioneers as Mrs. Ida Pool Gardiner, now one of the distinguished res- idents of Sacramento County, and a natural leader at Isleton. She was born on Andrus Island, three miles above Isleton, on the Pool Rancho, the daughter of Josiah and Sarah (Freeman) Pool, the former a native of Tennessee, the latter born in Illinois. Josiah Pool was a veteran of the Mexican War. He came to California about 1852, and for a couple of years mined in the Calaveras and San Andreas country. In 1857, he settled on Andrus Island, on the Sacramento River, and at first acquired 164 acres. In 1869 he moved to a ranch near Rio Vista, remaining until 1874, when he traded it for an 800-acre ranch at what is now Isleton. Mr. Pool laid out the town of Isleton in 1875, and he and his old friend, John Brocas, named it Isleton, from its site on the island. The flood of 1881, however, ruined him, and he lost his property. He later went to Tucson, Ariz., to live, and died there at the age of eighty years. His gifted and devoted wife, Sarah Freeman Pool, died at a very young age. Mrs. Gardiner is the only surviv- ing member of a family of three children born of this marriage. Ella passed away at the age of eighteen; and Grant breathed his last some ten years ago, at the age of forty-five.

'After the death of his lamented first wife, Mr. Pool married a second time, choosing for his mate Mrs. Anna Eliza (Carter) Wells, a widow of a Civil War soldier who had died during the great struggle, and by whom she had one daughter, Laura, who died in 1879. By his second marriage Mr. Pool had eight children: Frank, deceased; Margaret and Joseph; Anna, deceased; John and William (twins), the latter deceased; and Adolphus and May, both deceased.

Ida Pool attended the public school of Andrus Island, and on July 3, 1878, was married at lsleton to Philip Hogate Gardiner, a native of Unionville, now Aura, in Gloucester County, N. J., where he was born on August 29, 1846, the son of John W. and Sarah ( Hogate) Gardiner. John W. Gardiner's father, Andrew, lived to be seventy years of age; and his mother, who was Uphan (Dubois) Gardiner, was eighty years old when she died. Sarah Hogate Gar- diner's father lived to be ninety-three. Philip Hogate Gardiner's mother died in 1853; but the father, who was born in August, 1818, lived to be eighty-five years old.

Philip Hogate Gardiner arrived in San Francisco on January 1, 1868, and worked for about a year on a farm in Contra Costa County. In 1869 he went to Nevada, and spent two years prospecting in the White Pine Mountains; but he did not strike anything rich enough to induce him to stay. In the spring of 1871 he returned to the Sacramento Valley, and leased a farm near Rio Vista for one year. On June 17, 1872, he began farming on his own account, and rented 250 acres at Brannan Island, where he raised grain and vegetables. Early in 1874, in partnership with J. F. Wilcox, he built the store at Isleton, the first business enterprise in that settlement; and on March 5 he opened it for trade, with a liberal stock of gen- eral merchandise, under the firm name of Gardiner &

Wilcox. On January 9, 1878, he bought out his part- ner, and from that time until his death, in 1906, he was independently engaged in general merchandising. After his demise, his sons took charge of the busi- ness. From the time when a postoffice was estab- lished at Isleton, on March 13, 1879, Mr. Gardiner was the postmaster, having been instrumental in securing a postoffice for the place; he served for seventeen year in that official capacity, to the satis- faction of everyone. He was agent for the California Transportation Company and the Southern Pacific Railroad Company until his death, and the Gardiner Company are still agents; and he was also agent at Isleton for the Wells Fargo Express Company. He was one of the citizens instrumental in establishing a school district for Isleton, and he served as a trus- tee of the school for many years. It was natural that with all this hard work, during many years of venture and responsibility, he should acquire considerable land, and he left as part of his estate some 1,000 acres of delta lands, which are still held by the family. He died on March 1, 1906, esteemed and mourned by a wide circle of friends and associates. In keeping with his record for pioneer enterprise, he aided mate- rially in building the levees, at first with Chinese labor and the use of the wheelbarrow; and at length, about 1881, he was instrumental, as a member of the district, in the building of the first levee by means of a dredger, following the flood of that time. In pol- itics, he was a Republican. He was a veteran Odd Fellow of Sacramento, and about 1900 built the Odd Fellows hall in Isleton, being a charter member of the lodge there, and a past grand. He was also a member of the Masonic order. He thus left an envi- able record and an honored name to his children, of whom he had seven: Eva May, born on August 21, 1879, passed away on January 8, 1881; Lucretia was born on July 5, 1881; John Wilbur first saw the light on February 15, 1884; Philip Herbert was born on February 8, 1886, and died on October 22, 1905; Lester Pool was born on October 3, 1891; Verda was born on April 20, 1900, and died on August 3, 1900; and Ida Jewell was born in 1901. Lucretia was mar- ried at her home, on December 31, 1903, to Paul G. de Back, a native of Holland, where he was born in 1879, and the son of J. W. de Back and his good wife, Marie. His parents brought him to California when he was nine years old, and in 1888 they settled at Vorden, where Mr. de Back was a carpenter. Paul was reared at Vorden, and attended the Walnut Grove schools and the night school, or business college, thus acquiring a more advanced education largely through his own efforts. Now for years he has been the rep- resentative of the Pioneer Fruit Company for the Sacramento Delta section. Mr. and Mrs. de Back have one son, Philip Gardiner, who was born on July 5, 1909. Paul de Back is a member of the Odd Fel- lows of Isleton, and the B. P. O. Elks of Sacramento, Lodge No. 6. Mrs. Lucretia de Back is a past noble grand of the Rebekah Lodge; and her sister, Ida Jewell Gardiner, is also a member of the Rebekahs.

JOHN WILBUR GARDINER. - Prominent among the financial leaders in Sacramento County who are steadily contributing much toward the rapid development of this favored portion of the Golden State, is undoubtedly John Wilbur Gardiner, the president of the popular Bank of Isleton. He was born in Isleton on February 15, 1884, and is the son

Blandina

Darol DeCoc

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY

of Philip Hogate and Ida (Pool) Gardiner, whose interesting life-story is narrated elsewhere in this work. He was sent to the Isleton schools, and has grown up in the town, being identified even in his youth with the development of the locality. so that by reason of birth and early association he has the interests of the community at heart. His maternal grandfather, and a friend of his, named the town Isleton, and his folks are inseparably connected with the history of the promising burg. In 1900, Philip H. Gardiner erected the Odd Fellows Building, and moved his general merchandise business to its lower story; and since the elder Gardiner's death, our sub- ject has been in charge of the ranch, and the expand- ing interests there, and has otherwise pushed forward enterprises bound to be of great importance to all who settle here.

The building for the Bank of Isleton, for example, was put up by John W. Gardiner in 1918, with fine apartments in the second story; and upon the organi- zation and opening of the bank in 1919, he became its logical president. In 1921 he also erected, just across the street from the bank building, a business block known as the Gardiner Improvement Company Building, in the second story of which there are well- appointed apartments. In addition, he is one of the promoters and builders of the new cannery establish- ment for the putting up of asparagus and vegetables at Isleton, and is a member of the advisory board of the Bank of Italy at Sacramento. The Gardiner Rancho is devoted to the growing of fruit and gar- den truck, and being under exceptionally skilful management, it is a profitable investment. Mr. Gar- diner is intensely interested in the upbuilding of Isleton and the Delta country, and has been presi- dent of the Chamber of Commerce since its organiza- tion. He was chairman of the committee that se- cured the permit from the United States government for the construction of the new cantilever bridge across the Sacramento River at Isleton. Believ- ing cooperation to be the most practical method of marketing farm produce, Mr. Gardiner. with W. A. Heckman of Sacramento, founded the Cal- ifornia Asparagus Growers' Association, in which he is a director and vice-president. He has been a member of the California Pear Growers' Association from the time of its organization, and also of the California Canning Peach Association. During the World War Mr. Gardiner was chairman of the local Liberty Loan drives, as well as of most of the Red Cross and other war drives, and each time had the pleasure of seeing his district go over the top.

At San Francisco, on June 30, 1909, Mr. Gardiner was married to Miss Ethel Elizabeth Jacobs, who was born at Dutch Flat, in Placer County, and was edu- cated at the San Jose State Normal School. In na- tional politics Mr. Gardiner is a Republican. In fra- ternal affiliation he is a member and past grand of Isleton Lodge, No. 108, I. O. O. F., and also a mem- ber of Sacramento Lodge, No. 6, B. P. O. E.

THEODORE EDWARD BROWN .- A live wire in the local motor world who is not only wide-awake in forwarding the particular business interests he so well represents, but is ever alert to lending a hand to advance the welfare of both motordom generally and the commercial interests of Sacramento, town and county, is Theodore Edward Brown, popularly spoken of as Ted. the efficient and enterprising assistant

manager of Sacramento Branch of the Moreland Truck Company. He was born on a ranch near Perkins, about six miles east of Sacramento, on April 13, 1901, the son of James S. and Alice A. (Poole) Brown, a native son and native daughter, respectively, and each a member of an old and honored pioneer family. They have been extensively engaged in the hop industry and are still living to enjoy the fruits of their honest labors.

Trained in the public schools, and at Heald's Busi- ness College, Mr. Brown was secured by the More- land Truck Company, as its office manager, in 1917: and it is doubtful if a better man could be found. He belongs to Sacramento Parlor No. 3, N. S. G. W., in which he is first vice-president; Sacramento Lodge No. 6, B. P. O. Elks; and Court Fort Sutter, Foresters of America; and he is also a member who makes his presence felt in the Lions Club. Mr. Brown has been . a good booster for the county in which he was born, all his life, and he expects to live to see Sacramento the real metropolis of northern California.

DAROLD D. DE COE .- Among the leading busi- ness men and public-spirited citizens of Sacramento County, Darold D. De Coe is well-known as one who occupies a position of influence in the community. His success has been well-earned, and his numerous friends take an especial pride in his rise in the business world. He was born, a native son of the Golden State, at Woodland, Yolo County, on June 25, 1891, the son of Prof. C. A. and Laura Addie (Tisdale) De Coe. The latter was the daughter of the late James B. Tisdale, a pioneer of California, who settled in Sutter County, in 1856, at Cranmore, and there lived and labored to aid in developing that section of the state until 1911, when he removed to Sacramento; here he lived until his death in 1914, when he was seventy- eight years old. Professor De Coe arrived in Santa Rosa in 1881, and three years later moved to Wood- land. In 1889 he was married to Miss Tisdale. She was born in California, and has always taken an active part in the affairs of the Native Daughters, being a past president of that organization.

Darold D. De Coe received a liberal schooling in the public schools and the Brothers College, graduat- ing from the latter in 1912. He then entered the law office of Charles W. Thomas in Sacramento, and on February 16, 1914, was admitted to practice at the bar of California. He continued to practice law as a member of the firm of Thomas, Thomas and De Coe until his enlistment in the National Guards of Califor- nia, after which he saw service on the Mexican bor- der from June 19, 1916, unti. November of that year, when he enlisted for service in the World War and became sergeant major in the 316th Field Signal Bat- talion. He arrived in France in June, 1918, and saw active service in four major engagements, receiving two battlefield citations for courageous service. After the armistice was signed he returned to the United States and was discharged at Camp Kearney on May 4, 1918. Upon his return to Sacramento he embarked in the insurance business and later was made district manager of the West Coast Life Insurance Company, continuing in this position until he became associated with the Western Union Life Insurance Company as their branch office manager, a position he still holds. His uprightness and his square dealings with the pub- lic have won for him the favor of his patrons, and success has crowned his untiring efforts.

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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 90

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