USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume II > Part 15
USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume II > Part 15
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Mr. Curtis was born on a farm called Veraestau, situated on a high hill on the Ohio River near Aurora, Indiana, on August 2, 1838. Six years later he moved with his father's family to the territory of Iowa, settling near what is now the City of Pella. He lived on a farm until he was sixteen years old. He was educated in the public schools and Central College at Pella, Iowa, after which he taught school for a part of three years in Iowa, and then began the study of law in his father's office. He was admitted to the bar in Iowa in 1863 and immediately became a partner of his father. In 1864 he crossed the plains with oxen and mule teams, came to California and settled in San Bernardino, where he has lived ever since.
Here he taught school for several years, and after reviewing his law studies, in January, 1872, began the practice of law as a partner of Judge A. D. Boren, who had been county judge fourteen years. In 1873 Mr. Curtis was elected district attorney and re-elected in 1875. He was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Cali- fornia in 1878 and to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1888. In 1890 he was nominated by the democratic party for Congress, but was defeated by Hon. W. W. Bowers, of San Diego.
He served several years as president of the Board of Education of the City of San Bernadino, and more than twenty-five years as president of the San Bernardino County Bar Association. In 1915 he resigned the presidency of the Bar Association, and the Los Angeles Daily Journal of December 15, 1915, published the following account of the action of the Bar Association accepting his resigna- tion.
"A much-deserved compliment was recently paid W. J. Curtis, one of the leading attorneys of the city of San Bernardino and a man prominent and in high rank in the legal world of the state. Mr. Curtis has for over a quarter of a century been president of the San Bernardino Bar Association, an organization which has included and yet includes in its membership some of the ablest lawyers in the State of California. Having because of accumulating years retired from the active practice of the law and desiring still further to assure himself of the quietude of complete severance from the cares of pro- fessional life, Mr. Curtis recently resigned the presidency of the Association referred to and was succeeded in the position by the Hon. John L. Campbell, former judge of the Superior Court of San Ber- nardino County. A meeting of the San Bernardino Bar Association following the resignation of Mr. Curtis as its president was made the occasion for a demonstration of the deep respect and high esteem in which he is held by the Bench and Bar of his County. The fol- lowing resolutions were adopted :
"Resolved: That the San Bernardino Bar Association do, and it hereby does, extend to W. J. Curtis, the president of this asso- ciation for 28 years, its thanks and appreciation for the able and impartial manner in which he has presided over this body. We love and respect him for his integrity and ability as a lawyer of more than 40 years' standing at the bar of this county and state, and in retiring from the presidency of this association we extend to him our best wishes for a long and pleasant life in his retirement and hope that he will honor us with his presence in all our future meetings. We emphatically insist that as in the past, he be present when we wine and dine to recount again in his inimitable manner the stories, pathetic or ludicrous, of his experiences as a member of this bar.
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We refuse to say farcwell to him, and hope to profit by his counsel in the future as in the past."
Commenting on the retirement of Mr. Curtis the San Bernardino Daily Sun of Dec. 12, feelingly and appropriately says :
"Touching scenes yesterday marked the formal retirement of W. J. Curtis from the presidency of the San Bernardino Bar Association, after 28 years as the head of the organization. He had requested several months ago that another and younger man be named to direct the association.
"Mr. Curtis had not yet reached the meeting when the resolutions of love and respect, adopted in honor of the veteran attorney, were read and adopted amid deep feeling on the part of the assemblage.
"Shortly after the resolutions had been read, Mr. Curtis entered the court room and the attorneys greeted his arrival with a burst of applause.
"To become a permanent record of the county in which Mr. Curtis has been one of its most prominent and useful citizens for more than a half century, the resolution of the bar association on Monday, as the superior court sits en banc, will be presented in open court and ordered by the jurists spread upon the minutes of the court there to be perpetuated forever."
Mr. Curtis was a delegate to the Democratic National Conven- tion that re-nominated Woodrow Wilson for President in 1916.
In 1861 Mr. Curtis married Frances S. Cowles, of Delaware, Ohio. They had six children, three of whom, Holman C. Curtis, Judge Jesse W. Curtis and Harriet M. Curtis, are now living. In addition to being grandfather, he is a great-grandfather, the two little daughters of Captain Merritt Barton Curtis, U. S. Marines, now stationed at Port Au Prince, Haiti, being his great-grandchildren.
He has been associated at different times in the practices of his profession in California with Judge A. D. Boren, Judge Horace C. Rolfe, John Brown, Jr., Esq., Hon. John W. Satterwhite, Judge George E. Otis, Henry Conner, Esq., Judge Frank F. Oster and Judge Jesse W. Curtis.
In 1908 Mr. Curtis, being then seventy years of age, retired from the practice of his profession. He is and has been for almost twenty- five years a member of the San Bernardino Society of California Pioneers. He is, and has been a director of the San Bernardino County Savings Bank ever since its organization.
JESSE WILLIAM CURTIS, judge of the Superior Court of San Ber- nardino County, was born in the City of San Bernardino on the 18th day of July, 1865. His father is W. J. Curtis, and his mother was Frances S. Cowles Curtis. He was educated in the public schools of San Bernardino and the University of Southern California, from which he graduated in 1887, and in the law department of the Uni- versity of Michigan, from which he graduated in 1891.
He comes from a long line of lawyers. His father, W. J. Curtis, and both of his grandfathers, I. C. Curtis and Leonard H. Cowles, were lawyers, and one of his great-grandfathers, Judge Jesse L. Holman, was on the Supreme Bench of Indiana for about fifteen years and thereafter was appointed by President Andrew Jackson, United States district judge, which position he held until his death in 1842. Judge Curtis was admitted to the bar in Michigan in 1891 and in California the same year and become a member of the firm of Curtis, Oster and Curtis, and continued a member of this
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firm until 1896, when Mr. Oster was elected Superior Judge and withdrew from the firm, which was thereafter known as Curtis & Curtis. In 1908, W. J. Curtis retired from practice and J. W. Curtis and Hon. S. W. McNabb became partners under the firm name of Curtis & McNabb. This partnership continued until 1914, when Mr. Curtis was elected Superior Judge of the County of San Bernardino for the term of six years. In 1920 he was re-elected, having received the greatest number of votes of any candidate running for office at that election. From 1899 to 1903 Mr. Curtis served as district attorney of San Bernardino County. He also served one term as a member of the Board of Education of the City of San Bernardino. During the recent war with Germany he found time in addition to discharging his duties as judge of the Superior Court to serve as chairman of the County Council for Defense until the close of the war. Judge Curtis is a democrat and a great admirer of Ex-President Wilson.
Judge Curtis is deeply interested in everything connected with the city, takes an active part in business and social affairs, and for six years has been president of the Y. M. C. A. and for twenty-five years has been superintendent of the Sunday School of the Baptist Church. He is a director of the San Bernardino National Bank, president of the West Highland Citrus Association, president of the West Highland Water Company, and a trustee of the University of Redlands. He is a member of the San Bernardino County and State Bar Associations, is a Mason and a Native Son. Besides attending to his duties as judge of the Superior Court he is a successful orange grower.
In 1892 Judge Curtis married Ida L. Seymour, daughter of Ex- Senator E. C. Seymour and Martha M. Seymour, of Highlands. Senator Seymour is a veteran of the Civil war and an orange grower.
The Judge and Mrs. Curtis have three children: Margaret, now a chemist in the Boston City Hospital, Jesse W., a sophomore in the high school, and Helen Seymour, a student in the Junior High School.
JOHN CHARLES RALPHS is by birth an almost Californian and by his life a real one, for he was born when his parents were on the way to California and he has spent his more than worth-while life in San Bernardino. Here he was reared, educated and married, and here he is now enjoying life in the beautiful home with his wife, a home now in the heart of the business district. Theirs is one of those happy unions so rare these days of stress and change, they were wedded when very young, they have reared a fine large family, and next year they will celebrate their golden wedding day, the milestone on life's journey so few, so very few, ever attained. Their friends and their children are waiting lovingly for that golden day to dawn and its celebration will be a joyous occasion, for those who have the happiness to be one of their large circle of friends and for the chil- dren and the grandchildren, nearly all of whom are living in San Bernardino.
After the strenuous life of the pioneer days Mr. and Mrs. Ralphs went happily through all the long years of their wedded life, contented to be together, just as much the lovers as they were nearly fifty years ago. Such lives are like the hidden rose in the hedges throwing its sweet perfume on the air, influencing for good all who pass by, a fragrant memory ever afterward. Hand in hand they can look back over the years without a regret and look forward to many years of
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happiness together after that wonderful golden wedding day, for, despite, that, they are not old in years, just in experience, happiness and love.
Mr. Ralphs is one self made man who can prove that such men are usually "the salt that keeps civilization from decay." He was edu- cated entirely by private instruction, and he worked on his father's ranch and in his father's brick yard until he was married, which was before he was of age. Mr. Ralphs is a man of commanding physique and of corresponding strength and, like his wife, looks many years younger than he is. He was born in Utah, October 24, 1852, while his parents were crossing the plains on the way to the West. His father was Richard Ralphs, a native of England, who came to America about 1846. Here he met the girl who was to be his wife, Mary Newell, also a native of England.
Richard Ralphs was a brick mason and a bricklayer by trade, and he settled in Missouri, but after several years decided to come out West. So he got together the ox teams and necessary equipment and with his wife started out. They reached San Bernardino, and he at once bought land and went into farming, and also operated a brick yard. He made the first brick ever manufactured in that district, and he followed both occupations, with a side line of contracting. until his death in 1878. They were the parents of five sons and three daughters, who lived to manhood and womanhood.
John Charles Ralphs, as stated above, worked for his father until his marriage, and then he went into the cattle business, next in the sheep business and later he took up general farming, and these three lines have been his life occupations. He married in 1872 Eunice Samantha Roberts, a daughter of John Roberts and of Martha (Wal- pool) Roberts. Mrs. Ralphs is a "Native Daughter," and was born in Mendocino County, where her father was a farmer and stock raiser. He moved to San Bernardino when she was a child. The date of her birth was March 25, 1854. They were the parents of eight children : Mary Angeline, wife of Charles Hugglerath, of San Bernardino, who has one child; Martha Eudora, wife of Charles Reber, of San Ber- nardino, who has one child; Richard Albert, in business in San Bernardino, married and has two children; George Edwin, a farmer in San Bernardino County; Eudora May, wife of Ralph Guy, of San Bernardino, has one child ; Charles Benjamin, a farmer in the Imperial Valley, married and has three children ; John C., Jr., assistant cashier of the San Bernardino National Bank, married and has two children : Dennis Franklin, with the bank at Brawley, Imperial Valley, married and has one child.
Mr. Ralphs is a strong republican and a dominant figure in politics. In 1893 he was elected city marshal, and he held the position for two vears and then ran again but was defeated. He then returned to his farming operation. But he had made too good a record as marshal, and in 1903 he was elected sheriff of San Bernardino County and served four years. He was then re-elected and served four years more. But he could not then retire for he was elected the third time for a term of four years, a record of service in this office never before equaled. Mr. Ralphs made a wonderful record as sheriff, being abso- lutely without fear in the discharge of his duties, yet just as fair in all his actions, intolerant of crime, yet with sympathies wide as the world, with a deep seated instinct for fair play, yet always the "iron hand in the velvet glove." His magnificent physique and wonderful con- stitution, built up by the outdoor life he had always led, made him,
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with his strong personality, the ideal sheriff who figures in fiction and moving pictures but is seldom "met up with" in real life. Mr. Ralphs now owns the home ranch of 30 acres near San Bernardino and a 640 acre ranch in the Imperial Valley.
SAMUEL CARY EVANS, second of the name, stands out among the people of the City and County of Riverside and the State of California as one of the best types of American manhood. Equipped with all social and business qualities, he was more than equal to the task of making a name and fortune for himself, but the fortune was his from the threshold of life and he added to it, the rest he also speedily won by his own sterling merit.
A "worthy son of a worthy father," Samuel Cary Evans, the second, has more than justified the gifts of fortune and added prestige to the name so long identified with the history of the County of Riverside. There is scarcely an industry or enterprise of any mag- nitude with which Mr. Evans has not been connected in either a business, civic or political way, and in all charity work he is in- defatigable, his purse ever open. By virtue of all these activities he wields an influence in the life of Riverside as great as it is unsolicited. By his life all have known him, for his watchword seems to be service, and yet more service. The record of his public spirited labors is a long one, worthy, but difficult of emulation.
Mr. Evans was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, November 22, 1866, the son of Samuel Cary Evans. He was educated in the Jackson, Illinois, Business College and the public schools of Riverside until he entered the University of the Pacific at San Jose, whence he was graduated in 1889. He was also a student in a military school for a year and read law for a year, expecting to go to Harvard, but his father met with an accident and was unable to do much after- ward and the son had to take charge, and so he never realized that ambition, though he did manage to take a year's trip around the world. After his graduation from the University he returned to Riverside in 1889 and took up his life work, and with his brother, P. T. Evans, assumed entire charge of his father's business, a large acreage, three hundred in oranges and lemons, one hundred in raisin grapes, etc.
Since then Mr. Evans has been doing general farming and has gone largely into cattle and general farming, having fifteen hundred acres in Riverside County devoted to the two enterprises. He has a natural inclination toward the handling of real estate, in which his success has been undeviating. He is also president of the Riverside Land & Irrigating Company, which his father organized and of which he was the first president.
Mr. Evans has been the logical and popular choice of the republican party for various positions, a member of the State Legislature from the Thirty-ninth Senatorial District, Riverside and Imperial counties during 1916-21, the four year term.
He was chosen as president of the Freeholders Charter Board, and after the City of Riverside adopted a city charter he was .its first mayor, served for five years, and in that period Riverside made her greatest advance in real improvements. He was a member of the Riverside County Highway Commission when the concrete roads were built through the county, for which county bonds to the amount of $125,000 were issued, this work being commenced in 1914. He was a member of the Board of Education for twelve years, but has
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SAMUEL CARY EVANS
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refused for lack of time many civic and political positions. He has spent time and money in the advancement of Riverside and its citizens, and among his varied interests is the Settlement House, and he donated the property used for that purpose to the city. He is a member of the California - League of Municipalities and usually attends its meetings and in 1910 was its president. He is a republican, and has served the party as a delegate to county and state con- ventions.
During the World war, Mr. Evans was chairman of the Four Minute Men Committee of Riverside County. He worked early and late on all activities pertaining to the war and accomplished much for the cause of humanity. He was also chairman of the Second District Exemption Board for California, with headquarters in Bakers- field.
He married Miss Mary Southworth in Stockton, California. She is the daughter of H. O. Southworth, an early settler in Stockton. They have two sons: Errol S. Evans, a graduate of Stanford University, is now an electrical and mechanical engineer for the Standard Oil Company. He married Alva S. Greenwalt, of San Jose. Wayne, the younger son, is a student in the Riverside High School. The Evans family is identified with the Congregational Church and interested in all church matters. In college Mr. Evans became a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. He is a Mason and a Shriner.
Samuel Cary Evans, the First, father of Samuel Cary Evans, the Second, was one of the early settlers in Riverside, coming to the city in 1874, and today his memory is loved and revered by its citizens. Special honor is given to the pioneers, but Mr. Evans was more than that-he embodied progression itself. He was large of soul and of action, and he had the vision to see what opportunities had been placed in his hands and the ability to use them rightly. He had the independence of spirit, thought and action admired by all true men, and as success is the prerogative of valiant souls he won it, fairly and squarely. He came to Riverside with a position in life attained upon which most men would have retired, but he at once purchased half an interest in 10,000 acres of land, much of which is now Arlington and Arlington Heights. It was then known as the Hartshorn tract, and Captain W. T. Sayward, of San Francisco, owned the other half. At once construction was commenced on what is now known as the Lower Canal, and to develop water for their acreage they had to pay out large sums of money. In 1875 Mr. Evans organized the Riverside Land & Irrigating Company, and was its president, hold- ing the position for many years, and it was this company which eventually purchased the land and water rights of the Colony Asso- ciation. It gave the company control of the water system of River- side, and they extended and expanded in every direction possible. Over 1000 acres were thus placed under irrigation, the irrigation which has literally given life to Riverside.
Reading the record of his life it seems as if it must have re- quired a superman to accomplish all that he accomplished. Everything brought to his attention, which he deemed worthy, was at once taken up and made successful. He was not only president of the Land Company but also of the Arlington Railway, of the Loring Opera House, director in the Riverside Water Company, a large stockholder in the Riverside Gas & Electric Light Company, etc. And with it all he found time to engage largely in horticultural pursuits and in
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all manner of development work. He was among the first to put acreage in oranges and lemons and grapes. He did not confine his attention to Riverside City alone but was interested throughout the county and many have cause to "Rise and call him blessed," for he brought them prosperity. There are many today who count no greater privilege than to have been his friend. Mr. Evans was an aggressive and progressive republican, a dominant figure in the councils of the party. He was a charter member of Riverside Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and was connected with the Presbyterian Church.
He was born in Fort Defiance, Williams County, Ohio, in 1823, son of John Evans, a native of Kentucky and a well known merchant, who went with his parents to Fort Wayne in 1840. He died in 1845, and all the family and business cares came upon his son Samuel, and the son proved worthy of his father's faith and trust in him. When only nineteen he went into business with a brother, but three years later he disposed of his interests. In 1855 he organized the S. C. Evans & Company, himself as manager. And five years later he owned the business, disposing of it to purchase the con- trolling interest in the Merchant's National Bank of Fort Wayne, Indiana. It took him only ten years to put this bank at the head of the banks of its kind in the state. He was a vigorous worker for the Fort Wayne project, and one of the organizers of the Fort Wayne, Jackson & Saginaw Railroad. When he decided to locate in Riverside Mr. Evans closed all his interests elsewhere and trans- ferred his capital to California, one of the best things which ever happened to Riverside. Mr. Evans had two sons, both residents of Riverside : Samuel Cary Evans, second, and Pliny T. Evans.
HORACE PORTER, Riverside's popular mayor, is a very unusual type of public official. Up to the beginning of America's participation in the World war he was for many years identified with the ministry, and was pastor of a church at Riverside. In the profession of the ministry he laid special emphasis upon the constructive possibilities of direct and indirect service in solving the problems of the people, not only in the spiritual sense but in their social and moral relations. Thus Mr. Porter has always been deeply interested in civic affairs, and he possesses the fearlessness, the energy and the judgment required of an executive munici- pal official.
His birth occurred in the historic city of Marietta, Ohio, November 8, 1863. His ancestors were identified with the original colony that settled at Marietta in April, 1788, this being the first permanent settle- ment planted west and north of the Ohio River. His ancestors have lived in America from 1625. One of his Colonial forefathers was Moses Porter of the seventeenth century, who at the time of his death was said to be the largest individual land owner in America. He owned land covering what is now occupied by Salem, Danvers and many east- ern Massachusetts communities. Simon S. Porter, father of Horace Porter, was a native of Ohio, and for forty consecutive years until shortly before his death, was principal of the Washington School at Marietta. During the Civil war in addition to his duties as an educator he engaged in special local service for the Government
Reared and educated at Marietta, Horace Porter attended public schools and graduated from Marietta College in 1886 with the degree Master of Arts. For three years he attended Lane Theological Semi- nary at Cincinnati, and immediately after his graduation went into
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a portion of the new South, Alabama, where he organized several churches. For three years he was pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church at Decatur. He organized that church, secured the land, superintended the building, collected money, and acted the part of janitor as well as preacher.
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