USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume II > Part 33
USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume II > Part 33
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. The schools of his native city and province afforded to Benjamin Stone his youthful education, and after leaving school he was identified with farm work near Halifax during a period of one year. He then went to the City of Boston, Massachusetts, where he served the practical apprenticeship that made him a skilled mason in both brick and stone work. He followed his trade in Boston until he came westward, and was similarly engaged in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, where he remained about thirteen years. He then became a mason contractor at Lewiston, Idaho, where he remained nine years and built up a pros- perous business. He passed the following two years in similar enterprise in the City of Spokane, Washington, and he then bought a tract of land near Clarkston, that state, a place which lies on the opposite side of the Snake River from Lewiston, Idaho. There he gave his attention for five years to the development and care of an orchard of peaches and apples, and during the major part of this period he was president of the Asotin County Fruit Growers Association, besides which he served three years as a member of the School Board of his district. He finally left his fruit ranch and returned to Spokane, where he remained four years and where he is still the owner of a residence property and other realty.
In 1909 Mr. Stone came to California and purchased a home property in Los Angeles, but he soon wearied of the inactivity of a so-called retired life, with the result that he sold this property and purchased thirty acres of land near Ontario, San Bernardino County, where he gave his attention to the raising of apricots, peaches and grapes. After the expiration of two years he sold this fruit ranch and bought a residence property at Inglewood, one of the surburbs of Los Angeles, but six months later he sold this place and purchased an apartment house, the ownership of which he retained one year. Upon selling this latter property he bought a ten-acre orange grove at Highgrove, Riverside County, and here he and his wife have since maintained their home. He is owner also of the old Coleman fruit grove of ten acres on Pennsylvania and Ottawa Avenues. He is one of the members of the Highgrove fruit-exchange, and is a member of the Sierra Vista Fruit Growers Association. Mr. Stone says that he has been identified with manifold lines of business enterprises, but that he found the growing of oranges the most attractive of all, even as it proves the most remunerative, as gauged by the labor and attention involved. He and his wife, whose maiden name was Sarah Davenport,
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have a wide circle of loyal and valued friends in the community which represents their permanent home. Mrs. Stonc is a native of Canada.
WILLIAM E. WHITE, one of the successful orange-growers of River- side County, has no small measure of pioneer distinction in connection with the civic and industrial development of this favored section of California, for here he established his residence fully thirty-five years ago, when the now beautiful City of Riverside was little more than a straggling village. In the early period of his residence here he found employment to a large extent in the picking of grapes that were to be dried into raisins, and he recalls that entire blocks of land now in the business district of Riverside were then devoted to grape culture, the while a brick house, in the center of an orange grove, occupied a site on the block where the county Court House now stands. The opera house of the town was thus designated by a name that belied its primitive construction, for the building was made of ten-foot boards that were placed on end and in series to constitute the walls of the structure, which was then provided with a roof of similarly rude construction. He finds satisfaction in having witnessed and taken part in the splendid march of development and progress in what is now one of the most beautiful districts of one of the most wonderful states in the Union.
Mr. White was born in Tippecanoe, Indiana, Agust 12, 1860, and in the following year his parents removed to a farm in Newton County, that state, where he was reared to adult age, his educational advantages having been those of the public schools of the locality and period. His parents, Samuel I. and Mary Ann (Best) White, were born and reared in the old Hoosier State, both being representatives of families, of English origin, that were founded in America in the Colonial days and both of which gave patriot soldiers to the nation in the War of the Revolution. Samuel I. White was a prosperous farmer in Indiana at the inception of the Civil war, and though he was called into military service he was rejected by reason of the fact that a missing tooth incapacitated him for biting the rifle cartridges, a necessary action on the part of the soldiers, who thus prepared the missiles for the weapons. Samuel I. White and his wife came to Riverside County, California, in 1887, about one year later than their son William, and on what is now Kansas Avenue, River- side, Samuel I. White purchased five acres of unimproved land, which he planted to orange trees and upon which he erected the house which continued to be the abiding place of him and his wife during the remainder of their lives. He gave his attention to the care of his orange grove until the close of his life, and both he and his wife were honored pioneer citizens at the time of their deaths, their remains being laid to rest in Olivewood Cemetery.
William E. White continued to be associated with the work of his father's Indiana farm until 1883, when he took unto himself a wife and also initiated his independent career as a farmer. In 1886 he and his wife came to California and established their residence in Riverside, where he purchased a home property on Orange Grove Avenue. This he later sold, and he then purchased thirty acres on the boulevard in West River- side, where he remained eleven years, within which he made excellent improvements on the place. After selling this property he returned to Indiana, in company with his family, and there they remained from March until the following October, when they came again to Riverside. He purchased ten acres of land in Redlands, but subsequently sold this place. He next bought the Gallagher place of thirty-five acres, just across the bridge in West Riverside, and there he gave his attention to the
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raising of alfalfa and the conducting of a dairy. He continued the dairy business eighteen months, with a herd of eighty-five cows, from which he supplied the local patrons with eight hundred quarts of milk daily. Thereafter he was for a number of years foreman of the Bradley Ranch on Arlington Heights. A home property which he purchased at 230 East Sixth Street he later exchanged for a ten-acre orange grove at the junction of Iowa and Indianapolis Avenues, and here the family home has since been established. When the property came into his posses- sion the grove was badly run down, but by proper cultivation and fertiliz- ing he has rejuvenated the same and brought it into a high state of pro- ductiveness, the fruit here produced being shipped through the medium of Riverside Exchange No. 10. In addition to caring for his own grove Mr. White has charge also of forty additional acres of orange-producing land for the owners, and when his eldest son is at home they jointly care for about one hundred acres of orange groves. Mr. White is a liberal and progressive citizen, is a stalwart republican and has been active in connection with local political affairs, as he has served on the republican committee of his home county and that of the City of Riverside, and has been a delegate to state and county conventions of the party. He and his family attend the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Riverside.
October 14, 1883, recorded the marriage of Mr. White with Miss Melvina Nelson, who likewise was born and reared in Indiana, and they have four sons: Frank E., who is now a prosperous farmer in the State of Indiana, is married and has one daughter, Melvina; Charles Walter, who is engaged in the wholesale meat business at Riverside, married Sarah, a daughter of Thomas Moore, and they have two daughters, Dorothy and Margaret ; Arthur E. is engaged in the automobile business in the City of Parkersburg, West Virginia ; Leonard, now an employe of the Riverside Title Company, entered the nation's military service at the time of the World war, was assigned to an artillery regiment, but was at San Diego at the time when the armistice brought the war to a close, his discharge being given him shortly afterward.
WILLIAM A. HART has been a resident of California since 1897 and that he has profited by the advantages offered in Riverside County is shown in his ownership of three well improved and finely productive orange groves of the Highgrove district. His appreciation has been shown in loyal and progressive citizenship, and he is one of the substantial and representative fruit-growers and popular citizens of Riverside County.
Mr. Hart was born near Maryville, Blount County, Tennessee, on the 14th of May, 1869, and is a son of the late John and Sarah J. (Mc- Campbell) Hart, both of whom passed their entire lives in Tennessee. The lineage of the Hart family traces back to staunch Welsh origin, and the grandfather of John Hart was a patriot soldier of the Continental Line in the War of the Revolution, after the close of which he became a pioneer settler in Eastern Tennessee. John Hart became one of the prosperous farmers of his native state, and both he and his wife were honored citizens of Blount County, Tennessee, at the time of their deaths. Mrs. Hart likewise was of Revolutionary ancestry and was of Scotch descent.
The activities of the home farm early began to enlist the attention of William A. Hart, and he gained his youthful education in the public schools of his native county. He initiated his independent career as a farmer in Tennessee, where he continued his activities as such until 1897, when, at the age of twenty-eight years, he came to Southern
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California. After here being in the employ of others for two and one-half years he purchased an orange grove of seven and one-half acres near Highgrove, and to this he later added until he now has an excellent place of fifteen acres, devoted to the propagation of navel oranges. He gives his close attention to the management of this valuable property, and sub- stantial success has attended his activities as one of the representative orange-growers of Riverside County. He is a republican in politics, and while still a resident of Tennessee he served two terms as constable. Walter S., the only child of Mr. Hart's first marriage, resides in the City of Los Angeles.
On the 27th of April, 1920, at Los Angeles, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hart with Mrs. Ida Taylor, of Highgrove, and she is the popular chatelaine of their pleasant home.
BEN LOAN HOLMES recently completed forty years of service with the Santa Fe Railroad and affiliated lines. It was a notable service, marked by faithfulness, usefulness and an ability measured by steady promotion up the grades of responsibility. San Bernardino has a special appreciation of Mr. Holmes, since for the past twelve years he has had charge of the terminal interests here as local freight and passenger agent. Mr. Holmes was born at Lexington, Missouri, son of Edward Christian and Jane (Hughes) Holmes and has a complete American inheritance running back into the Colonial period of history.
Ben Loan Holmes attended public school at Lexington, Missouri, until 1876, when his father moved to Kansas. He continued his education in public schools of Hutchinson, Kansas, having one year in High School, and then accompanied his father to a farm in Rice County, Kansas, where he lived and worked from 1879 until 1881.
In August, 1881, leaving the farm, Mr. Holmes secured his first work with the Santa Fe Railroad Company. The only important inter- ruption to his continuous service was from February to June, 1882, when he was employed in the hardware store of the W. C. Edwards Lumber Company of Little River, Kansas. In June, 1882, he again joined the Santa Fe Railroad Company, as clerk in the local freight office at Santa Fe, New Mexico. Two years later he was transferred to the local freight office at Wallace, New Mexico, remaining there a year, and in March, 1885, went to Gallup, New Mexico, as an employe of the Atlantic and Pacific, now part of the Santa Fe system. For three years he was at work in different departments, chiefly in train and vard service, and also as a telegraph operator and clerk. In March. 1888. he was appointed agent for the Atlantic & Pacific at Coolidge, New Mexico, one hundred thirty-six miles west of Albuquerque. This was then a freight division, but subsequently the division headquarters were removed to Gallup, and in March, 1890, Mr. Holmes was appointed agent at Peach Springs, Arizona, a freight division point. In December, 1891, he was transferred to Needles, San Bernardino County, California, where he remained until November, 1897. In the meantime the Atlantic and Pacific had been changed to the Santa Fe Pacific and was operated under lease by the Santa Fe Company. While at Needles Mr. Holmes was station agent. In November, 1897, he again returned to Gallup, and remained on duty at that freight terminal until March, 1903. Then followed a six months, rest and vacation, which he spent in California, and in November of that year, when he reported for duty, he was sent as agent for a short period to Ash Fork, and in May, 1904, was put in charge of the freight and passenger terminal at Winslow. Then, in November, 1909. he came to San Bernardino as local freight and passenger agent and in charge of the terminal, with jurisdiction over operations and jointly in charge of
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the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railways and the Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroads business under this title. Those are the important responsibilities he continues as his present duties.
In San Bernardino Mr. Holmes has at all times, consistent with his business, related himself to community activities, directing his influence
where it would be most effective in the public welfare. He has for several years been a director of the Chamber of Commerce, and for eight years was on the executive board of the National Orange Show. He is a Knight Templar and thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner and member of San Bernardino Lodge of Elks.
On October 20, 1886, he married, Miss Mary Louise Lawrence, a native of Illinois.
FRED ALDEN BRIGGS, who is numbered among the representative orange-growers of Riverside County and who is an enthusiast in all that is expressed in climate, advantages and attractions of Southern California, claims the old Pine Tree State as the place of his nativity and is a scion of families that were founded in New England, that cradle of much of our national history, in the early Colonial era. He was born at Auburn, Maine, October 2, 1864, and is a son of Alden G. and Louise (Hutchins) Briggs, both of whom passed their entire lives as residents of Maine, the lineage of each of the families tracing back to English origin and representatives of each having been patriot American soldiers in the War of the Revolution, the mother of Alden G. Briggs having been a member of the historic Alden family and a lineal descendant of John Alden.
In the public schools of his native state Fred A. Briggs gained his earlier education, which was supplemented by his there attending Hebron Academy. On account of the impaired health of his father he early assumed much responsibility in connection with the work of the home farm, and he continued his active association with farm industry in Maine until 1898, when he came to California and made Riverside County his objective point, one of his brothers having passed two winters at Riverside by reason of ill health, and Fred A. having come for a visit during one winter. Mr. Briggs was so deeply impressed with the wonderful attractions of Southern California, in contradistinction to austeric climatic conditions in New England, that he hurried back home to dispose of his property interests in the Pine Tree State, with the view 10 establishing a permanent residence in California. Two years elapsed ere he was able to make the desired adjustment in his affairs in Maine, and within this period he married one of the charming daughters of his native state, she having accompanied him to the new home in California. On Iowa Avenue, Riverside, Mr. Briggs purchased a ten-acre orange grove, and on the tract he erected his modern house, which has since represented the family home. He has since acquired another orange grove of ten acres, near the corner of Iowa and Indianapolis avenues, and also a grove of eight acres in the Highgrove district of Riverside, this place being bounded by Central, Colton and Iowa avenues. All of the groves are on paved highways, and the one last mentioned is sur- rounded by three concrete highways of the most modern type. Mr. Briggs is known as one of the progressive and successful exponents of orange culture in this section of the state and ships his products through the medium of the Riverside Heights Exchange No. 10, of which he is a director. He is an active member of the Highgrove Chamber of Commerce, is aligned in the ranks of the republican party and is affiliated
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with Evergreen Lodge No. 259, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Riverside.
At North Auburn, Maine, on the 4th of December, 1896, Mr. Briggs wedded Miss Jennie E. Edmunds, a daughter of Joseph Edmunds, who likewise was born in Maine, of English lineage and of fine old American Colonial stock, he having served as a gallant soldier of the Union in the Civil war. Mr. and Mrs. Briggs have three children : Ernest E., who was graduated from the Riverside High School in 1917, is associated with his father in the management of the orange groves, and though he became a member of the artillery service of the United States Army at the time of the World war he was not called overseas, the armistice having been signed before his command could be thus requisitioned. Dwight L. likewise assists in the work and management of his father's orange groves, and Fred Alden, Jr., is the youngest of the children, not yet of school age at the time of this writing, in 1921. One son, Ralph, was eight years of age when he met a tragic death in an automobile accident.
Frederick Hutchins, M. D., an uncle of Mr. Briggs, is one of the venerable pioneer citizens of California, he having come to this state in 1851, at the height of the excitement incidental to the discovery of gold, and his home being now at Woodbridge, San Joaquin County. The Doctor is about eighty-six years of age.
HARRY C. CREE grew to manhood in Riverside County and had ex- tensive experience in newspaper work before he was first inducted into the office of city clerk of Riverside, a post of duty he has held now for nearly ten years.
Mr. Cree was born at Des Moines, Iowa, September 2, 1872. His family on his father's side settled in Virginia in Colonial times, his grand- father, Hamilton Cree, having been born in what is now West Virginia. His father, the late John Martin Cree, was an Iowa farmer and manu- facturer. He brought his family to California in 1885. John Martin Cree married Lenora Nagle, a native of Ohio, who is now living in Fresno County with her son Chester.
Harry C. Cree was twelve years of age when the family came to what is now Riverside County, completing his grammar and high school education under Edward Hyatt and doing some academic work at Chaffey College, Ontario. He became interested in the printing trade while a student in high school, and his first experience in newspaper work was in 1895, when he became associated with Mr. Hyatt in the publication of the San Jacinto Searchlight during the memorable county campaign of that year. Mr. Hyatt had up to that time been principal of the San Jacinto schools. In 1895 he was elected county superintendent of schools, and subsequently state superintendent of public instruction. After Mr. Hyatt had entered upon the duties of county superintendent Mr. Cree entered the University of the Pacific to continue his study of the classics, begun in the academy.
After leaving college Mr. Cree assumed charge of the mechanical department of the Ontario Record under R. C. P. Smith, and later had editorial charge of the Pomona Beacon. Returning to Riverside, he was employed by the Riverside Daily Press until 1903, when he accepted a position in the Preston School of Industry under William T. Randall, formerly dean of Chaffey College. For two years Mr. Cree was in charge of the printing department of the Preston School at lone, and was also made captain of one of the newly created school companies, over which he had general supervision. While at Chaffey College, where Mr. Randall
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was dean, Mr. Cree helped to establish and edited the Chaffey Argus, a college magazine, and at lone, at Mr. Randall's request, he assumed charge of the publication of the Preston School Outlook.
In 1906, acting for the Riverside Daily Press, Mr. Cree established and took active charge of a weekly paper at Corona, which in 1907 became the Corona Independent, after having been taken over by a stock company. In the fall of that year he accepted a reportorial position with the Riverside Daily Press under E. P. Clarke, filling the position of assistant city editor until August, 1912, when he resigned to fill a vacancy in the office of city clerk. At the next general election he was chosen for the remainder of the unexpired term and by reelection has been retained in the service of the city to date.
In politics Mr. Cree has been a republican. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Brotherhood of American Yeomen, and is secretary of the Kiwanis Club. As one of the officers of the First Baptist Church his newspaper experience naturally resulted in his selection as chairman of its publicity committee. He married Miss Ethel Baldwin at Riverside June 30, 1903. She was born in Illinois. Her mother, Mrs. M. C. Baldwin, is a resident of Riverside. The four children of their union are: Meredith, a junior in the Boys' Polytechnic High School; Pauline, a student in the Girls' High School; and Genevieve and Clarence, who are in the grammar school.
GEORGE H. SEAGER is now on the full tide of activities as a young business man of San Bernardino, is a partner in the Independent Feed and Fuel Company of that city, and is the type of citizen frequently selected and importuned for public service, and has responded to such calls so far as is consistent with his other obligations.
Mr. Seager has spent most of his life in Southern California, but was born at Minneapolis, Minnesota, April 23, 1889, son of Herbert W. and Harriet ( Barstow) Seager, both residents of Redlands, where his father is manager of the Redlands-Highland Fruit Exchange. They are meni- bers of old American families and his father was born in New York State and his mother in Ohio.
George H. Seager attended public school at Minneapolis until he was thirteen, when, in 1902, his parents moved to Redlands, where he continued in school until graduating from high school in 1908. The following year he spent on his father's ranch in the Imperial Valley. and in 1909 removed to San Bernardino. For three years he was manager of the Independent Ice Company and then bought the feed and fuel business of that corporation and has continued it under the name of the Independent Feed & Fuel Company. Since 1915 his partner has been Oscar A. Peterson. The company has developed a splendid service and a large and appreciative patronage, doing a retail business in seeds, grain, feed, poultry supplies and fuel.
Mr. Seager is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and the Mer- chants Association. He has taken the part of a leader in local republican politics, has served on the City Central Committee, and in former days represented the party in county and city conventions. At the special election in 1918 he was chosen city councilman from the Fourth Ward for a period of three years. Recently he was nominated by the Better City Club for re-election, but owing to the pressure of his private business declined the honor. He has been on the Board of Directors of the Young Men's Christian Association for five years, and Mayor Henderson appointed him a member of the Cemetery Commission, where he is still serving. He is superintendent of the Sunday School of the First
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