USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume II > Part 14
USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume II > Part 14
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While crossing the San Bernardino range of mountains into Cajon Pass, the wagons had to descend on a mountain ridge called the "Hog Back," owing to its narrow and steep condition, where one yoke of oxen was used to keep the wagons on the ridge, and the other oxen yoked behind to hold the wagon back, and keep it from turning somersaults on the forward oxen and roll down the precipitous sides hundreds of feet below. This was one of the experiences encountered by these brave and intrepid pioneers as they began entering California. Another and the last adventure that can be given here, owing to want of space, happened down below in the Cajon Pass Canyon, near where the pioneers have erected their monuments designating the junction of the Santa Fé and Salt Lake Trails. Mary was driving her ox team sitting on the wagon tongue between the two favorite oxen, her mother was up in the wagon hovering around the small wagon stove with the children, it being Decem- ber and cold, when all of a sudden a violent gust of wind came and lifted the wagon box off the running gear, blowing it to the side of the road with mother, the children, the stove and all the contents, when a fire started to burn the wagon cover, the bedding and all, which was extinguished by Mary grabbing the churn filled with buttermilk and pouring the contents quickly on the fire which providential act saved the life of mother and the children. The Wixom family had some loose stock oxen to replace those too weak to pull any more; cows to provide milk that was poured in the churn which was placed over the hind part of the wagon which at the end of the day's journey, by the jolting over the rocky road, would be churned and the milk turned into butter, which made the slap jacks cooked over the camp fire more palatable with the coffee and bacon.
In December, 1851. Mary, with her parents, entered the San Bernar- dino Valley, joining the pioneers in the old fort, who had preceded her in June, having camped at Sycamore Grove, at the mouth of Cajon Pass till September, when they moved down to the present site of San Bernardino, and renewed the acquaintance of Capt. Jefferson Hunt, and his family, Aunt Nancy, Aunt Jane, and Aunt Harriet, she had known in Illinois.
Mary went with her parents to San Juan, Monterey County, and moved into the house vacated the same forenoon by our well-known pioneer hunter and trapper of the Rocky Mountains, John Brown, Sr., who was starting down the coast to San Bernardino, who had been proprietor with James W. Waters of the St. John's Hotel and Livery Stable at San Juan. Here was her first acquaintance with the Brown family, and with John Brown, Jr., secretary of the San Bernardino Society of California Pioneers.
Here at San Juan Mission, on January 15, 1853, Monterey County, California, she married Lucian Crandall, the young gentleman who crossed the plains with them. In July, 1855, she returned to San Bernardino for good, becoming a permanent resident of this beautiful valley, grown up with the humble city from its beginning, all along until now she marvels at its wonderful growth and prosperity, always taking part in its civic, educational and spiritual development.
She holds the key of the pioneer log cabin, witnesses the 134 log cabin weddings under the marriage bell, and is regarded as one of the typical pioneer mothers of California ; attends all the Mav Day, Fourth of July, Admission Day, Washington and Lincoln anniversaries, besides Vot. 11-7
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all local birthdays of the pioneers and re-unions with the Grand Army of the Republic and Women's Relief Corps, and booster for the San Bernardino National Orange Show, and just loves to dance quadrilles, Virginia reels, the varsovienne, and other fancy dances of "ye olden time," and at the age of eighty-eight years young as she insists on being considered.
She is proud of her nineteen grand-children, fourteen great-grand- children, her children, W. N. Crandall, L. D. Crandall, Nathan D. Cran- dall, Eliza Crandall, Laura E. Crandall, Myron Crandall, Rose Crandall Wilson and Chauncey Crandall. Rose married Mr. W. T. Wilson, one of the popular employees of the Santa Fe Railroad Company. They have three promising children, Nathan, Lowell, and Ariel, who are devoted to their parents and grandma, and with the other relations always join in celebrating Mother Crandall's birthday which is looked forward to every year with increasing interest. The log cabin of late years has been the gathering place for her many friends to meet and greet her for the happy life she is living, for the altruistic and cheerful disposition she inspires in others. The secret of her longevity is in keeping busy in making others happy, making the world better because she lives and loves to be in it. So her friends are drawn to her and enjoy the many happy occasions with her, not to forget the enjoyable quilting parties she loves to attend. Her special friend, a native daughter of San Bernardino, Mrs. R. F. Garner, never fails to bring a beautiful birthday cake in honor of this highly esteemed pioneer mother, who has been crowned Queen of May, and participated in the crowning of many of her pioneer sisters on May Day, the happiest day of all the glad new year, while they were here on earth, a most beautiful and inspiring cus- tom of the pioneers not to wait till they are gone to show, perhaps with a few flowers, some appreciation of them, but to cheer them while they are living and can enjoy these tokens of regard and affection.
Mother Crandall is rich in the memory of so many pioneer mothers in San Bernardino who deserve as much consideration as the pioneer fathers, if not more, for enduring the hardships, trials and dangers with them in crossing the plains and deserts and experiencing the privations of frontier life.
Pioneer mothers, Daley, Stoddard, Mayfield, Brown, Rathbun, Rob- bins, McElvain, Kelting, Carter, Roberds, Bottoms, Wood, Glenn, Heap, Holmes, Kissel, Alexander, Boley Curtis, Goodcell, Atwood, Swarthout, Holcomb, Hudson, Davidson, Seely, Barton, Highmore, and many others, are deserving of recognition with the pioneer husbands for their faithful devotion in planting civilization on these western shores for succeeding generations to enjoy.
All honor to the brave, the heroic pioneer mothers and fathers. Mary A. Crandall surely being one of the genuine typical pioneer mothers, none name her but to praise her, none know her but to love her.
GEORGE LORD, pioneer of 1849, was born in New York City in 1800 and lived until February 8, 1898, passing his ninety-seventh anniversary as honorary past president of the San Bernardino Society of California Pioneers.
When a young man he went to Kentucky where, in 1833, he became a member of the Odd Fellows Lodge and at his death was one of its oldest members in the United States. He joined the Masons in 1828. In 1849, he crossed the plains to Steep Hollow, California, and went into the gold fields. Returning to Iowa he married Miss Arabella Singleton. In 1851 crossed the plains again to California, arriving in San Bernar-
Y.o. G. Wird
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dino in 1852, where he resided until his death. He was long engaged in ranching and was the first to produce marketable raisins, made from muscat grapes.
He was the first president of the Pioneer Society and held the office several terms as long as the members could prevail on him to retain the office. When he finally insisted on a successor being elected, the office of honorary past president was created for him as long as he lived to cease at his death. He enjoyed this mark of respect for him by every- body. He guided the Pioneer Society with a steady and kindly hand, genial, kind-hearted, upright in all the relations of life. Intensely patri- otic, a champion of Abraham Lincoln, the Union and Freedom. Presi- dent of the Union League during the Rebellion ; with those other patriots, John Brown, Sr., William Heap, Moses Martin, J. D. Potter, Joseph Sawyer, J. W. Wilson, Mrs. Highmore and Mrs. Blackburn, they cam- paigned the county and carried the day for Abraham Lincoln, an honor they and their children may well be proud of as loyal American citizens.
GEORGE ARNOLD ATWOOD- Men are known by their deeds, and George Arnold Atwood, of San Bernardino, has etched his upon the face of nature, where they will remain for men to read for all time to come, for he was the pioneer farmer of the Yucaipa Valley and organ- izer of the forces which have poured the life giving waters upon its land. He has not made "two blades of grass to grow where there was but one," but millions where there was none. To such a man all mankind is indebted.
Mr. Atwood, like many others, had the advantage of early resi- dence in California, but he was a man who could make himself mas- ter of circumstances and act on his own and who had the gift of or- ganization. He was capable of fully appreciating the potentialities lying in the union of arid lands and water, and he set himself to the arduous task of fostering and promoting that union. Today the beau- tiful, fruitful green valley testifies to his 100 per cent success.
The life record of Mr. Atwood gives Iowa as his native state and his birthplace as Harrison County. He is the son of Danford and Jane (Garner) Atwood, his father being a native of Connecticut and his mother of Illinois. They are both of Revolutionary stock and English descent. They came to San Bernardino in 1860, with the customary ox teams, and followed the occupation of farming, acquir- ing a farm near San Bernardino. Mr. Atwood died there in 1893, but his widow is still living in San Bernardino, having at this writing (1922) reached the age of ninety years.
George Arnold Atwood was educated in the public schools of San Bernardino and when through school life he worked on the home ranch with his father. Those were exciting days, and he soon left the ranch to commence life for himself. He went to Pioche, Nevada, where boom mining was going on. He took a contract to supply timbers for mining tunnels, cutting, trimming and then hauling twen- ty miles to the mines. He remained there through the summer of 1872, but in winter went to Salt Lake. From there he went to San Francisco on the Union Pacific, thence by boat to Los Angeles, and to San Bernardino by stage.
Mr. Atwood next took up the cattle business and went to Utah, where he purchased three hundred and fifty head of cattle which he brought down across the desert to San Bernardino. He sold these cattle, which were sent to Northern California. Mr. Atwood next purchased the first header ever brought into the valley and went out
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harvesting grain through the county during the season. He followed this occupation for some time, but when the Southern Pacific built its line here he went to Banning and Beaumont to go into the wood business, furnishing wood for the road builders for several months. It is worthy of note that he was always seeking new fields and al- ways pioneering in some line, and always his own master.
In 1884 he went to Yucaipa Valley, taking with him twelve six- mule teams, and at once put in one thousand acres of wheat, the first farming ever done in the valley. The land he planted on was owned by the Houghton estate of San Francisco, which he kept on farming, there being in the entire holding of the estate five thousand acres. Mr. Atwood commenced handling the property in a general way, sub- letting to others until 1910. In this year the Redlands & Yucaipa Land Company was organized as the result of his pioneer work. Of this company he was, of course, a member, and the company not only purchased the five thousand acres he had been handling but also the Dunlap ranch, consisting of three thousand, eight hundred and forty acres, the North Branch property of one thousand eight hundred and forty acres, together with other properties which brought the total acreage up to ten thousand five hundred acres. Mr. Atwood was then made a director in the company and its general manager, which position he has held ever since.
Since that time, under his management, the company has laid eighty miles of steel riveted water pipe for irrigation purposes, it has built fifty miles of wagon road and has developed water by running tunnels, sinking wells and installing pumps. In this manner enough water has been secured to cover the entire tract with it. There is now planted in the valley about six thousand acres of deciduous fruits, mainly apples and pears. Those which have come into bear- ing have proven the value of their planting, for they are well sized, of delicious flavor and luxuriant growth.
Mr. Atwood's company has built one reservoir with a capacity of forty million gallons of water, four cement reservoirs with a capacity of four million gallons of water, and a number of other smaller ones. In this way they have installed what is conceded by engineers to be one of the most complete water systems of the South.
Mr. Atwood also owns the Casa Blancha ranch of two hundred and sixty acres, and has large interests in various places.
He married in January, 1886, Miss Alice Frederick, a native of Ohio and a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Aaron Frederick, of San Ber- nardino. They have one child, Leon A. Atwood, of San Bernardino. G. A. Atwood is a republican in politics. He was appointed di- rector of the Sixth Agricultural District by Governor H. H. Mark- ham, and has been reappointed several times. He is a member of San Bernardino Lodge No. 290, I. O. O. F., having joined it in 1881. He was one of the charter members of the Tri-County Registration Committee, which was organized in January, 1906, and at that time was president of the San Bernardino Board of Trade. Mr. and Mrs. Atwood are members of the First Congregational Church of San Bernardino.
ISRAEL COLEMAN CURTIS-The history of San Bernardino cannot be fully written without some mention of the spirit of lawlessness that pervaded a part of the community in the early days. There were many noble law abiding citizens, but there were also those who were wild, reckless and law-breaking. In the center of town every other place
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of business was a saloon, gambling was carried on openly day and night, fighting and other forms of vice were common and crimes were frequent.
Into these scenes of immorality and crime came a man to rebuke vice and crime, to preach righteousness and obedience to law both civil and divine. This man was Israel Coleman Curtis. He and his family had taken the long perilous journey across the plains with ox and mule teams. They were seven months and seven days spanning more than half the continent from Iowa to California. That was in 1864, and ever since then Mr. Curtis or some of his descendants have been fighting vice and crime in San Bernardino and advocating mor- ality, justice. law and religion.
Mr. Curtis was both a lawyer and a minister of the Gospel. He preached the scriptures in which he sincerely believed, yet he knew that many in the community never entered a church, and to these his message came by his example. On the street and in the court-room men and women felt the high principles and the moral influence of his daily life. Therefore a sketch of this man's life must prove in- teresting.
Mr. Curtis was born near Fort Adams, Wilkinson County, Missis- sippi, and lived in that state until he reached manhood. His father and paternal grandfather were both named William Curtis. His mother was Mary Barfield, to whom his father was united in marriage in 1797. They had six children, of whom the youngest was Israel. His father's uncle, Richard Curtis, was the first Baptist minister to preach the doctrines of that faith in the State of Mississippi.
Religious influences surrounded the boy from his youth up, but it was not until 1843 that he became a member of the church in the doctrines of which he had been reared. He had the advantage of schools in common with children of other planters, but a fervent desire for a more extended course in education was early implanted. His father died in 1833, and after partly settling his estate Israel entered Miami University, Ohio, with a view of preparing for the law. Be- fore completing the course complications in his father's estate required him to leave college and return to Mississippi.
In 1837 he was united in marriage with Lucy M. Holman, daughter of Jesse L. Holman, a judge of the Supreme Court of Indiana. Mr. Curtis was then living in Aurora, Indiana. He was a merchant, but lost the greatest part of his property in the financial crises that swept the country in 1837 and the next few years. It was then that he turned to the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in 1841. Be- lieving that a new country offered greater opportunities for rebuilding his fortune Mr. Curtis, in 1844, removed to Iowa and settled on the Des Moines River, near Pella. For several years he devoted himself to farming but in 1851 he was ordained as a minister of the Baptist Church, and by his talents and devotion soon became a leader in this denomination. He was the organizer of many churches both in Iowa and subsequently in California. He was the moderator of the Oskaloosa Baptist Association for seven consecutive years, and held the same office in the Los Angeles Association four years. The First Baptist Church of San Bernardino was organized by him and he be- came its first pastor. Believing that the church could not attain the highest success unless aided by institutions of advanced learning, he was largely instrumental in the founding of Central University at Pella, Iowa. He drew its charter, became its agent for six years and gave liberally of his time and means to its advancement.
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Mr. Curtis was equally successful in the law as in the ministry. IIe was a good logical and persuasive speaker. Of Southern birth and breeding, he was courteous and hospitable. He ever sought to be and to do right. He was a man of strong convictions and of resolute will. Once convinced of the justice of his cause he went forward with great firmness. He believed it the duty of every citizen to take an active interest in the government, and that particularly the reli- gious element should aid in purifying politics. With this end in view he was elected district attorney of Marion County, Iowa, and repre- sented the same county in the legislature from 1857 to 1860. He was a member of the legislative committee whose work culminated in the adoption of the state code of laws.
In 1864 Mr. Curtis with a few friends resolved to migrate to Cali- fornia. No railway spanned the continent, the long wearisome journey must be made with teams. Innumerable dangers confronted the little caravan. It was attacked twice by Indians ; their stock died, their food became exhausted and starvation threatened them. But at last the travelers found rest in San Bernardino. Here Mr. Curtis lived until 1868, and then removed to Los Angeles County where he died October 3, 1883, respected and loved by all who knew him.
LUCY MILDRED CURTIS, wife of Israel Coleman Curtis, was born at Veraestau, near Aurora, Indiana, May 4, 1819. Veraestau, the beauti- ful county seat of the family, was built on a high bluff overlooking the Ohio River. Across the stream is Kentucky, a few miles north and within sight of Veraestau is the State of Ohio.
Her father and mother were natives of Kentucky. Her maternal grandfather, Richard M. Masterson, was a prominent lawyer and a distinguished judge. Her own father, Jesse L. Holman, was a student of law under Henry Clay. After removing to Indiana Mr. Holman was a judge of the Supreme Court fourteen years and later served as United States District judge by appointment of Andrew Jackson, whom he personally knew. Mrs. Curtis' brother, the late William S. Holman, was a member of Congress thirty-three years and served his nation more than half a century.
In 1837 Mrs. Curtis was married to Israel C. Curtis, and from this union ten children were born, five sons and five daughters. All of these were of age before their father died. Two of the sons, the Hon. W. J. Curtis and R. H. Curtis, Esq., still reside in San Bernardino.
Mrs. Curtis was a pioneer of two states, Iowa and California. Iowa was still a territory when, in 1844, she with her husband and their three children settled on the Des Moines River. The land was little more than a wilderness. We look back in wonder at the handicaps and the dangers confronting these lonely settlers. Fever attacked every member of the family. During their absence at church their house with all its contents burned to the ground. It was more than a hun- dred miles to the nearest flour-mill. Savage wolves abounded in the forests, and untamed Indians occasionally visited the little settle- ment. Yet over these dangers and difficulties, and many others, the family triumphed and to the splendid courage and devotion of Mrs. Curtis much of the credit must be attributed.
After living in Iowa twenty years, Mrs. Curtis again turned her face to the great West, and with her husband and all their children then born set out for California. Some mention has been made in the sketch of the life of Israel C. Curtis of the dangers and difficulties they encountered on that journey and need not be repeated. Mrs.
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Curtis in girlhood united with the Baptist Church and was a faithful and consistent member during the rest of her life. She attended divine services regularly. Even when age had dulled her sense of hearing she still went to church. She could hear the songs and now and then catch a word from the Bible, and from her well-stored memory she could complete the verse containing the word.
Mrs. Curtis was a constant reader of good literature ; her taste and reading were of a wide and varied character. In addition to the scriptures, history, biography, travels, the best fiction and poetry afforded her occupation and delight. Her splendid memory retained much that she read. Poetry was a source of the highest pleasure. After she had passed her ninetieth year she repeated poems of con- siderable length which she had learned in childhood. For months though very aged and not very strong she went regularly to read the Bible and other literature to a poor, lonely, blind woman, and so far as lay in her power Mrs. Curtis visited the sick, relieved the needy and comforted the sorrowing. Her chief characteristic was a spirit of forgiveness. She ever sought to shield the erring from punishment ; to forgive though you erred seventy times seven. While her life was centered in her children and home, her love was not confined to her own household. All humanity with whom she came in con- tact interested and awakened her sympathy. Over all her accomplish- ments was thrown the mantle of a sincere love which made of every acquaintance a friend. The close of her long, beautiful life of more than ninety-three years on earth came painless and peaceful June 7, 1912. She left surviving her seven children, sixteen grandchildren and thirteen great- grand children.
W. J. CURTIS is one of the men now living who helped to make San Bernardino the attractive and beautiful city and busy business center that it now is. He settled here in 1864. He has seen it grow from a struggling village of cheap and unattractive buildings and a few hundred inhabitants with but two small school houses, no churches or public buildings to a city of more than 20,000 people, with beauti- ful homes, large business houses, splendid school houses, fine churches, commodious public buildings and all the conveniences and luxuries of modern civilization.
For more than fifty years Mr. Curtis has watched with interest and pride the growth and upbuilding of this city, and most of that time he was an active and busy worker in and about the city, first as a teacher in the public schools, second as a small farmer, third as a practicing lawyer, and fourth as an orange grower and shipper. He is the oldest son of Hon. Israel C. Curtis and Lucy M. Curtis. His father was a prominent member of the bar of Marion County, Iowa, for many years and represented that county in the State Legislature several terms. His mother was the daughter of Hon. Jesse L. Hol- man, one of the early justices of the Supreme Court of Indiana, and a sister of the late Hon. William S. Holman, who for more than thirty years was a member of Congress from that state. After Judge Hol- man had served as a justice of the Supreme Court, in 1834 President Jackson appointed him judge of the United States District Court of Indiana, in which he served until his death at Veraestan in 1842. He presided over the first Bankruptcy Court held in the United States. The court was held in the Baptist Church at Aurora, Indi- ana, and during its session was attended by insolvent debtors all over the (then) western country.
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