USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume II > Part 27
USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume II > Part 27
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It was on January 5, 1918, that Mr. Smith became a citizen of Arling- ton. He soon afterward bought the Arlington Times from J. E. Cassell. The Times has been published for about fourteen years, and enjoys a particularly high standing in the county. Mr. Smith changed the paper from a six to seven column publication, and has more than doubled its business. Besides publishing the Times he established a small stationery
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store, and now has a prosperous business in handling commercial and general stationery.
Always an active factor in community work, he is one of the directors and secretary of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce. While a resident of West Virginia he served seven years in the National Guard, and played the tuba in the regimental band. He was a member of the Clarks- burg City Council four years and has been a representative of the repub- lican party in county and state conventions. His affiliations with the Lodge, Chapter and Commandery of Masonry are in Clarksburg, and he is a member of Osiris Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Wheeling. He is also a member of Clarksburg Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mrs. Smith is a member of the Presbyterian Church.
August 12, 1902, he married Miss Valeria Heenan, a native of Penn- sylvania, daughter of R. M. Heenan. Mrs. Smith is an accomplished educator and formerly taught in the schools of Mississippi and Alabama and is now connected with the Arlington School. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have two children : Mrs. Genevieve Martha Shepherd, wife of Thomas E. Shepherd, of Los Angeles, and John B., Jr., a grammar school boy.
ARTHUR WINFIELD McDAVITT, a well known and popular dentist of San Bernardino, has during his residence of over twenty years built up a deservedly large clientele, one that is ever on the increase. A dentist occupies a peculiar position in a community when he first settles there, for he is at once the best friend and yet the bete noir of the citizens seeking his aid, until he has proved his worth. But once he has fully demonstrated that he is truly skillful, keeps abreast of all modern improve- ments, he is firmly established. This Dr. McDavitt has accomplished, and he is kept busy relieving the physical woes of his patients.
Dr. McDavitt was born in Stanhope, New Jersey, July 19, 1876, the son of George W. McDavitt and Julian D. (King) McDavitt. His father and mother were both natives of New Jersey and his mother died in 1897. His father is also a dentist, and is now practicing in Dover, New Jersey. They had three children born to them, of whom Dr. McDavitt was the eldest.
Dr. McDavitt was educated in the public schools of Dover, New Jersey, and the business college of that city. Afterward he went into his father's office and there he studied dentistry in all its branches, gaining a thorough and comprehensive knowledge. When he considered himself thoroughly equipped for his profession he located in Butler, New Jersey, and there he built up a good practice, remaining there for four years. At the end of that time he decided to move to California and did so, locating in San Bernardino, where he has since been in continuous practice and meeting with unvarying success.
Dr. McDavitt is the father of seven children, all of whom are living in San Bernardino. His eldest son, Arthur G. McDavitt, is a mechanical dentist in the office with his father. He married Florence Pugh, of Long Beach, and is the father of one daughter, Dorothy Doris. George Winfield McDavitt is a student of the high school, preparing to enter the State University, Dental course. James E., Orville W. and Julia Doris are all students of San Bernardino schools and Helen Betty and John William are not yet of school age.
In politics Dr. McDavitt is a republican.
CHARLES E. JOHNSON. The career of Charles E. Johnson proves that anything is possible to the alert, hard-working young man of today, especially if he selects as the scene of his operations one of the thriving
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cities of the great Southwest. Beginning at the very bottom of the ladder of fortune, Mr. Johnson has steadily mounted until today he is manager and treasurer of the Riverside Title Company with which he commenced in the humble capacity of janitor, but as one of the substantial citizens of Riverside.
Charles E. Johnson was born at Streator, Illinois, January 30, 1885, a son of William N. and Ella M. (Bullock) Johnson. William N. John- son, now deceased, was born in the Empire State, from which his duties as a railroad man took him to Streator, Illinois. Later he came to River- side, California, and died at San Bernardino, California. The Johnson family is of Revolutionary stock and Scotch-English descent. Mrs. Johnson survives her husband and is now residing at Riverside. Her family is an old one of the Keystone State.
Attending the graded schools of Streator and the Riverside High School, Charles E. Johnson was graduated from the latter in 1901, when he was sixteen years of age, and one year after his arrival in the city with his parents. For the subsequent year he was in charge of his father's orange grove at 567 Jurupa Avenue, and then he went to San Bernardino and worked for the contracting firm of Stevenson Brothers, and at the same time attended the night sessions of the San Bernardino Business College. For several months he was engaged as a driver for the grocery firm of L. V. Bean Company, and for a couple of weeks kept books in the second-hand store of Schaeffer Brothers.
Returning to Riverside, Mr. Johnson was employed by the Orange Growers Bank until it closed its doors. During the following year he worked faithfully at whatever he could find to do, from picking oranges to working in the grocery store of the Newberry-Parker Company, and in the fall entered the employ of a furniture store as salesman. After a year with this concern he returned to the Newberry-Parker Company as a solicitor.
In all of these connections, however, Mr. Johnson realized that there was no future for him, and so when the opening came on February 26, 1907, for him to enter what was then the Riverside Title & Trust Company, now the Riverside Title Company, he did so, although the position was that of janitor, and subsequent events have proved the wisdom of his decision. At that time the company was located at 733 Ninth Street, but removal was later made to the present commodious quarters at 908 Main Street. Mr. Johnson was determined from the start to secure a footing with this concern, and never ceased working to acquire an exhaustive knowledge of the duties of the position above him so that when a vacancy occurred he was ready to fill it, and in this way he rose steadily and surely through all of the positions to his present ones of manager and treasurer, to which he was elected in May, 1911. Prior to that he was made a director of the company. His associates in the company are as follows: J. W. Covert, president; Emerson L. Holt, vice president ; John L. Prince, vice president ; and L. B. Scranton, secretary. The company now carries on a straight title and escrow business. When Mr. Johnson first went to work for this company there were four others employed, but the volume of business now requires an office force of seventeen.
A man of many ideas and high enthusiasms, Mr. Johnson has con- nected himself with various organizations and is a past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias; is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; belongs to the Rotary Club, the Chamber of Commerce, the Business Men's Club, the Realty Board and the Present Day Club. He is treasurer of the Riverside County Council of the Boy Scouts of
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America and intensely interested in this movement. Long an earnest member of the First Methodist Church of Riverside, he is one of its stewards and chairman of the Board of Ushers. While he has always voted the republican ticket he has not been active in politics.
On October 15, 1907, Mr. Johnson was united in marriage with Mae E. Andrews, a native of Iowa and a daughter of H. A. Andrews, a con- tractor of Riverside. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have one son, Charles W., who is a student of the Grant School of Riverside. In his life and work Mr. Johnson sets an excellent example, and his influence, especially over the growing boys under his charge, is of the highest character, and his community work has always belonged to the constructive class. A man of unquestioned business ability, he has not allowed his cares in this line to absorb all of his time, but has broadened his outlook and widened the scope of his influence by interesting himself in many things.
WARREN W. VAN PELT. Men with newspaper training have decided qualifications for a service that every community needs and requires. Warren W. Van Pelt, of Riverside, was a newspaper man from boyhood until recent years, and along with the duties and responsibilities of con- ducting a newspaper plant there has seldom been a time when he has not been burdened with some outside official responsibility. He is widely known over Riverside and adjoining counties as secretary of the Southern California Fair Association and the Associated Chambers of Commerce. He has long appreciated the unrivalled opportunities of Southern Cali- fornia, and through his pen and other active connections he has found a means of communicating this appreciation to others and in a way to affect favorably the development and welfare of this section of the state.
Mr. Van Pelt was born at McMinnville, Tennessee, August 12, 1868, but his people were natives of the Ohio Valley. His father, Dr. W. R. Van Pelt, was born in Ohio, and was of Dutch ancestry, though his family had been in America from Revolutionary times. The mother was born at Wheeling, West Virgina, of Irish descent, and her father was an early settler of West Virginia. Her maiden name was Maria Warren. Dr. W. R. Van Pelt spent the greater part of his active life as a practicing physician in Eastern Ohio. He was also a civil engineer by profession, and in the early days of Belmont County surveyed many township lines and was a mine surveyor as well. In 1879 he removed to Kansas, where he followed civil engineering. and later came to Arlington, California, where he and his wife died.
Warren W. Van Pelt acquired a public school education, attended Baker University in Kansas and the Southwestern Kansas College. Before completing his education he was working as a printer's devil on the Walnut Valley Times at Eldorado, Kansas. For several years while attending college he earned his living by working as a printer with the Winfield Courier. After his apprenticeship and early serv- ice he bought and conducted for four years the Enquirer at Arkansas City, Kansas, on the southern line of the state. For four years he was also in the newspaper business at Ripley, Oklahoma.
Mr. Van Pelt came to California in 1906, first locating at Santa Anna, and then removing to Coachella, where he conducted the Coachella Valley News until the health of his wife made a move imperative. In 1908 he went to Arlington, where he founded the Arlington Times and was publisher of that paper until 1917. In 1917 he and Dr. George E. Henry built the Arlington Cannery, but he sold his interest in that establishment two years later.
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Thea Grossly
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During all these years he was an active worker in the Arlington Chamber of Commerce and the County Chamber of Commerce. He was one of the organizers of the Associated Chambers of Com- merce eight years ago, and with the exception of a short time has been its secretary. He is a member and for three years has been secretary of the Southern California Fair Association, a full account of which is found in the historical writing by the author, Mr. James Boyd.
Mr. Van Pelt has given a yeoman's service to the republican party. He represented that party in state and county conventions in Kansas, and continued his convention work until recently, and for many years was a member of the County Central Committee of Riverside. He has also acted for three sessions as engrossing and enrolling clerk for the California Senate. Mr. Van Pelt is a member of the Masonic Lodge at Riverside, the Knights and Ladies of Se- curity and the Present Day Club.
He married Miss Ida Johnson, of Neodesha, Kansas, a native of that state. The change of residence from Coachella to Arlington did not permanently benefit her health, and she died at Arlington in 1909. She is survived by two daughters, Lois and Katherine, both now students in the Riverside High School.
THEODORE CROSSLEY-The handsome and complete salesroom and garage at Main and Eleventh streets in Riverside are an appreciated institution by all motorists and motor car owners. Among permanent residents of Riverside that appreciation was the greater because the business reflects to some extent the interesting life story of its founder and owner, the late Theodore Crossley. Mr. Crossley was enjoying the climax of his successful business career when, engaged in a public service, the performance of his duty as a deputy sheriff, he and a companion deputy were shot down, he being instantly killed on September 22, 1921. Mr. Crossley and another deputy had gone to arrest some Mexicans at Belleville, charged with theft. Going to the home of the two Mexicans, one of the deputies got out of their car and aproached the men, who without warning opened fire, Mr. Crossley being the second victim of their bullets, while still seated in the auto. Mr. Crossley along with his other interests had been a deputy sheriff for a number of years, and had frequently been called upon for special work requiring courage and resourcefulness.
Theodore Crossley was born in New York City, July 20, 1877. His parents, Thomas and Mary (Holmes) Crossley, were natives of Eng- land and were living temporarily in New York City when their son was born. Thomas Crossley at that time was representing an Eng- lish machinery house in America. Theodore Crossley spent his youth in England. He was eight years old when his father died and six- teen at the death of his mother. He was educated in the Parochial schools, but for the most part his education was the product of work and active contact with the world. At the age of ten he entered a shop at Manchester, England, to learn the trades of toolmaker and die sinker. When he was seventeen, a year after the death of his mother, he came to America and worked at his trade in different places. He had an ambition to make something of his time and talents, and his desire for travel also led him to accept opportunities that took him to different localities. When he was about twenty- one he opened a shop in New York City, his total capital consisting of a hundred and twenty-five dollars. Gradually he built up business
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for the repair of machinery and the making of tools and dies and other mechanical lines.
About this time the Locomobile Company was building a little steam car, and from his first glimpse of the machine Mr. Crossley could see the future of the horseless carriage, and thereafter was an enthusiast on the subject. He came in contact with various pioneer automobiles and secured several of the experimental cars manu- factured by Haynes, Apperson and Columbia. In his shop he also experimented with a steam car. He had a promising invention well on the way to perfection, but he failed to carry insurance and when the machine took fire the destruction extended to the entire plant, and after meeting his obligations he had practically no capital left.
Very much discouraged and seeking some immediate change. while going down Barclay Street Mr. Crossley noticed a sign "Cheap Rates to California." He had a very vague knowledge of the United States west of Chicago. He went in and bought a ticket, and when the agent questioned him as to destination he had no answer ready. The agent said "City of Angels" or San Francisco. He liked the former title and thus it was he arrived in California in 1904, getting off the train at San Bernardino, the first city he saw after a long and tiresome ride. With San Bernardino as his headquarters he bought a bicycle and rode all over the surrounding territory. Two of the first points brought to his observation were Magnolia Avenue and the Mission Inn at Riverside. His investigating trips extended to Los Angeles, Pasadena and San Diego, but he decided to locate at Riverside, believing the city had a real future for him in his chosen line. With small capital but a thorough knowledge of the automobile business, he determined to open a garage, though there were one or two small places doing repair work. A site for his new venture he discovered in an empty lot next to the Reynolds Hotel. He inter- viewed Reynolds, telling him all his circumstances, and explaining his plan to put all the automobiles in the city in a garage and work shop covering the vacant lot 42x150 feet. The first year was anything but successful, and at the end of two years he was not much better off. Then followed two or three years of gradual progress, and at the end of five years he was out of debt and owned some property and a small margin of capital besides. His best years were from 1911 to 1916. Mr. Crossley remained in the place adjoining the Reynolds Hotel five years, until rental became burdensome, and then moved to Tenth and Market, where he was in business until January 1, 1920, when he moved into the fine new building at Main and Eleventh streets. He had bought a lot on Main Street five years previously. since his business was being crowded off that thoroughfare. He pur- chased a shop building at 1063 Main Street with the idea of locating there, but later realized the building was a good investment and as the corner of Eleventh and Main streets was vacant he bought the ground, 57x158 feet, from the Odd Fellows Association. On this he built a structure completely covering the ground, and one of the most beautiful salesrooms in Southern California. The front and sides are in Italian Renaissance style, the stone work and the lighting effects were made by Italians, and it contains cathedral opalescent glass windows and mosaic floor. It is a light and cheerful building, free from grease or dirt. Mr. Crossley was the only man in the busi- ness at Riverside who owned his own building, his own capital. He had sold several makes of automobiles, but finally settled on the
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Mitchell car as the best offering for the money. One of his associates for a time was C. A. Dundas, who later went for himself.
Mr. Crossley was very active in all patriotic movements, assisting in the drives for funds, and though past military age did his best to get into active service and probably would have done so but for the signing of the armistice. He was a loyal knight of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, a past grand of Riverside Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the largest lodge of the order in the state, a past chief patriarch of the Encampment, a member of the committee on petitions in the Grand Lodge of Odd Fellows of the state. He was especially interested in the I. O. O. F. Orphans Home at Gilroy, California, for which he gave much of his time and money and did a world of good for the children many of whom looked forward to his visits with greater interest than for any one else. Mr. Crossley was instrumental in getting the new building at Gilroy established and assisted in many ways. He devoted a large part of his life to help- ing needy and unfortunate people, and those who knew him best say that a kinder man never lived. He was also affiliated with the Woodmen of the World and was one of the leading republicans of the county. Mr. Crossley was a member of the Episcopal Church.
He is survived by his widow, who he married at Riverside, June 6, 1917. She was then Mrs. Idella Webb, widow of Justice Holton Webb of Riverside, who was likewise a victim of violence, having been killed by an Italian in resentment for a decision handed down by Justice Webb. Mrs. Crossley is a native of Eureka, Humbolt County, California, the daughter of John Rudolph, one of the pioneers of 1849. He came across the plains to California in 1849 with ox- teams and became an associate of Flood, Crocker, Lucky Baldwin, Badger and other well known factors in the early California life. He was one of the prominent figures in the state and became a large property owner in Santa Barbara County, particularly in Lompoc. where he was a merchant and large stock owner. His two sons, F. M. and H. S. Rudolph, are today two of the largest stock holders in that county.
Mrs. Crossley had three children by her former marriage: Mirian, wife of Edgar Craig, an oil superintendent in the Santa Maria fields, and John Rudolph Webb and Elvin Elbridge Webb, both graduates of the Riverside High School and now in charge for their mother. of the garage built by Mr. Crossley.
Theodore Crossley drove the first automobile in the streets of New York and created a sensation. The authorities raised many objections, claiming that it disturbed the peace, blocked traffic, caused congestion, etc. He was followed by more men and children than any circus that ever came to town. When he was three miles out of town the engine quit and he hired horses to tow him back.
LEGARE ALLEN has been a resident of California since 1856 and of San Bernardino since 1875. That he is one of the best known men in the county is due not only to this long residence but to the important role he has taken in commercial affairs and politics.
Mr. Allen was thirteen years of age when brought to California. He was born in Michigan October 22, 1843, son of Dr. Jacob and Abigail (Olmstead) Allen, both parents being of Revolutionary stock and of English descent. His mother was born in Cayuga County, New York, and died at Riverside. Dr. Jacob Allen, a native of New York State, was a pioneer in Michigan, but on July 6, 1856, left New Vol. 11-13
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York with his family, bound for California. He took the Isthmus route, and from the Isthmus traveled to San Francisco in one of the old side wheel steamers whose normal schedule was thirteen days. In California he practiced medicine at Santa Clara until 1868, then became a pioneer physician in San Diego, and in 1875 removed to Riverside where he was active in his profession until his death. At one time he owned a city block in Riverside, now the site of the Baptist Church, and he held the office of coroner while in Santa Clara County.
Legare Allen, after finishing a public school education, entered the University of the Pacific at Santa Clara and graduated with the Bachelor of Science degree in 1864. During the following year he was a student of medicine at Toland's Medical College in San Fran- cisco. His father's vocation did not appeal to him after he had made this degree of progress in his studies, and he abandoned the study. After teaching school in Gilroy a year he joined his father in the drug business in San Diego in 1868. In 1875, the year his parents located at Riverside, he moved to San Bernardino and bought a drug store. He was the leading local druggist until 1883, following which for a number of years he held a number of prominent offices. For two years he was deputy sheriff under John B. Burkhard, then became candidate for county recorder, and was elected for two years and reelected, filling his second term. He was deputy marshal under L. Van Doren two years, and for the next six years was city clerk of San Bernardino. After making this extended record of public service Mr. Allen engaged in different lines of business, chiefly insurance, was also an employe of the Santa Fe Railroad Company, and for a time was a merchant handling groceries, poultry and fish. The property requiring his active attention he sold in 1917, and has since been retired.
Mr. Allen was for fourteen years a school trustee and part of the time chairman of the board. He was chiefly responsible for the erection of the schoolhouse on F and Fifth streets. This achievement represented a long continued advocacy on his part, the voting of the twenty thousand dollars of bonds necessary for its erection failing the first time. In his official capacity he bought the land and put up the schoolhouse and had three dollars and seventy-eight cents left in the fund. Mr. Allen and his wife are members of the Pioneer Society of San Bernardino and he is president of that organization. He is a past grand of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and a past chancellor commander of the Knights of Pythias, while Mrs. Allen is affiliated with the Eastern Star, the Ladies of Woodcraft and the Knights and Ladies of Security.
Mr. and Mrs. Allen have occupied their home at F and Eight streets since 1911. He married Miss Emma Allen December 10. 1876. She was born in Ohio. The father, Rev. G. W. Allen, was a Baptist minister who came to San Bernardino in 1875 and was pastor of the Baptist Church here for a number of years. He was a native of England. Mrs. Allen has two sisters and one brother living: Nettie, wife of W. A. Harris, an attorney of Los Angeles ; Adelphi, who owns an apartment house on Griffith and East Adams streets in Los Angeles, is the widow of A. A. Arthur; and Lucius G., a real estate man at Venice, California. Mr. Allen, by a previous marriage, had two children : Lena, wife of N. D. Powell, of Long Beach, and they have a son and daughter, and Lula, deceased wife of A. O. Harwood, superintendent of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company of San
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