USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume II > Part 49
USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume II > Part 49
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64
940
SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTIES
was about to be sent with his command for overseas service when the armistice brought the war to a close. George also was ready for similar patriotic service, but was not called.
Mr. Ruskauff came with his family to California in March, 1907, and purchased a tract of twenty-three acres, containing eight acres of oranges and five of almonds, at Elsinore, Riverside County. He assumed posses- sion three months later and planted the remainder of the tract to apricots. In February, 1913, he sold this property and took a place on Iowa Avenue, Riverside, where he remained two months. He then traded property for his present homestead place of eleven acres at 499 Strong Street, where he is engaged in general farming and also in the raising of poultry. At the time of this writing, in 1921, he has about seven hundred pullets, and he is gradually increasing his flock of fine poultry.
Mr. Ruskauff is a republican, and while he has never sought or desired public office he served three years as township treasurer while residing in Wisconsin. He is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus, and he and his family are communicants of the Catholic Church.
OLIVER P. BURDG visited at Riverside during the eighties, when it was a very small city. His first visit marked the turning point of his career so far as a permanent home environment was concerned. . He has enjoyed continual business associations and an active part in social and civic affairs, and has the pride of an old resident in the wonderful transformation effected during the years, as a result of which Riverside is now one of the most attractive and important cities of the Southland. In all the time his faith in the ultimate position of Riverside has never wilted, and the community holds him in high regard as one of the pioneers of the eighties.
Mr. Burdg was born in Jennings County, Indiana, December 23, 1861, son of Lewis and Sarah (Malmsberry) Burdg, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter in Ohio, both now deceased. His father was of Scotch and his mother of English ancestry.
Oliver P. Burdg grew up on his father's Indiana farm, had a grammar and high school education and also attended the Friends Academy at Bloomingdale, Indiana. As a youth he learned the harness trade, but followed that only a short time and for two years taught school in Indiana.
It was in 1888 that Mr. Burdg came to California with his mother to visit two of her daughters then living in Riverside. After a time she returned East, but spent her last years in Whittier, California. Oliver Burdg is the youngest of seven children. His three sisters now live at Pasadena. Philena B. is the widow of Hiram Hadley, of Indiana. Mary J. is the wife of Cyrus Trueblood, an old resident of Riverside and for many years a trustee of Whittier, now retired. Mr. and Mrs. Trueblood have three children, named Stella, Arthur and Herbert. Mattie C., the youngest of the sisters, is the wife of Charles D. Lindley, con- nected with the Mather Company of Pasadena. Their three children are Ethel, Earl and Aileen.
Oliver P. Burdg did not return East with his mother at the conclusion of her visit. The spell of the country was on him, and he immediately sought an opportunity for permanent work here. His first employment was with the undertaking firm of George Ward, a Riverside pioneer. Four years later he took up the profession of accountant, and in that line his chief commercial service has been rendered. With the exception of the year 1901, while he was in Los Angeles, his interests have always been identified with Riverside. Soon after the organization of Riverside
941
SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTIES
County he served two years, 1893-94, as deputy in the county tax collector's office. He was also accountant for 1. A. Witherspoon and for thirteen years was with the Newberry-Parker Company as secretary and head of the office force. For three years he was treasurer of the Thresher & Lewis Company, now the A. M. Lewis Company. In March, 1920, he became head bookkeeper for the Riverside branch of the Channel Commercial Company of Los Angeles, this being one of the largest wholesale grocery houses in Southern California with branches in a number of cities.
Mr. Burdg for many years has been a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, is a trustee and is treasurer of the Cen- tenary Fund, was president of the Epworth League when it was first organized, and has been secretary of the Sunday School. He is a member of the Present Day Club and is a republican, with an active interest in politics, though the only public office he ever held was that of deputy tax collector.
June 30, 1891, at Riverside, Mr. Burdg married Ida M. Easton. She was born in Michigan, daughter of Fernando and Olive (Taylor) Easton. She is of English ancestry and is descended from several Revolu- tionary soldiers and is a prominent member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and for two years has been regent of the Rubidoux Chapter. She was a successful and popular teacher for over thirty years, most of her educational work having been done in Riverside, California. Mrs. Burdg is a member of the Woman's Club and during the war was active in Red Cross work. For over five years she has been the financial secretary of the First Methodist Church.
MARTIN R. SHAW-Few men now living in Riverside came as early as Martin R. Shaw, whose range of personal recollections of the city and surrounding country runs back almost half a century. He has become the owner of valuable property interests, to which he gives his supervision, though he retired from the main field of business enterprise several years ago.
Mr. Shaw was born in White County, Indiana, February 19, 1863. His father was a Union soldier and was killed during one of the battles of the Civil war, so that the son has no recollection whatever of him. The mother, Mrs. Rebecca (Russell) Shaw, was born in Madison County, Indiana, of English ancestry and Revolutionary stock. Her father was a pioneer of Eastern Indiana and helped build the Big Four and other railroads through that part of the state. In 1873 Mrs. Shaw and her son came out to California, the latter being then ten years of age. Two of his uncles, P. S. and W. P. Russell, were California forty- niners. They crossed the plains, first locating at San Jose, then at San Diego, and in 1871 moved to what is now Riverside and were ranchers in this section of the state. Martin R. Shaw almost immediately after reaching California went to work on one of these ranches. As a youth he became much interested in the subject of horticulture, and during the six years he was employed by his uncle he gained a knowledge of horti- cultural methods that some years later he put to practical use on land of his own. The Russell ranch was one of the pioneers in the growing of fruit, one of its chief products being raisin grapes. Mr. Shaw's uncle, P. S. Russell, died at Riverside.
After coming to California Mr. Shaw completed his education in the public schools of Riverside. He worked for an uncle who represented the Hathaway house of San Francisco, clerked in stores for eleven years, served a very satisfactory term as city marshal one year, and then for
942
SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTIES
eight years conducted a livery business on Market between Seventh and Eight streets. This and various other interests filled up his active years until 1917, since which date he has regarded himself as retired, though he still has employment for all his working hours.
Many years ago Mr. Shaw bought ten acres of land on New Magnolia Avenue, and for twenty years his farming and intensive cultivation produced one of the best improved ranches in the county. In 1880 he built a two-story house at 343 New Magolia, then Cypress, Street, but subsequently sold this and about 1895 built a fine home at 938 Seventh Street, where his family has lived for a quarter of a century. Mr. Shaw is a member of the Woodmen of the World, has been affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for twenty-six years, and is an in- dependent democrat and has been a delegate to city and county con- ventions.
July 15, 1895, at Riverside, he married Miss Carrie Schroeder. She was born in New York State, of German ancestry, and had lived in Riverside for several years before her marriage, completing her education in that city. Mr. and Mrs. Shaw have three children : Louis Martin, who was rejected for duty as a soldier during the war and worked all during the period of hostilities at the shipyards, is now in the truck and motor express business. He married Agnes Krebb and has a son, Louis M. Jr. The second child, Agnes Shaw, graduated from the River- side High School in 1920 and is now employed with the Sierra Power Company. The youngest, Eugene, is a member of the class of 1925 at the Riverside High School.
HOWE & MERRILL-The high class theatrical attractions afforded the people of Riverside during the past seven years have been in a noteworthy degree the result of the enterprise of the firm of Howe & Merrill, who have been singularly successful in the operation and management of moving picture houses, and for several years have also been managers of the Loring Theater, the old established legitimate theater of the city.
The partnership was formed in May, 1914, by Mr. Clifford A. Howe and G. Gurdon Merrill. Their first step was to secure a long time lease on a room that had formerly been occupied as a hardware store in the Frost building. This place on Main Street has since been known as the Regent Moving Picture House, and through subsequent changes has kept up to the highest standard of moving picture house equipment. It is well ventilated, has a large seating capacity, and a pipe organ is installed. The house when first opened did not produce encouraging financial returns. The owners had set out with a policy of offering only first class attractions, and as soon as the residents of Riverside came to appreciate that fact the Regent reached a profitable basis of opera- tion, and for several years has been one of the most popular places of entertainment in the city. Since then the firm has extended its opera- tions to the Orpheum and the Loring Theaters. They obtained a lease on the old Auditorium two years after opening the Regent, and at a cost of nine thousand dollars transformed the Auditorium into the present Orpheum.
Then two years ago they secured a lease on the oldest theater of Riverside, the Loring, maintained for many years exclusively for the staging of road shows. Many of the world's famous players have enacted their roles in this house, and there is on file at the Riverside Public Library the successive programs that have been played at the Loring since the time it was opened until it was leased to Howe &
-
C. a. Nowa
G. G. Menil
943
SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTIES
Merrill. The present lessees have altered the Loring for the showing of special moving pictures, also for high class road attractions. In all their ventures at Riverside Mr. Howe and Mr. Merrill have con- tinued their policy of offering to the public the best attractions they could book, and the public has loyally appreciated their efforts in that direction.
Alive, wide-awake, progressive business men, Howe & Merrill, it is the opinion of many of the older residents, have done more to con- tribute to the pleasure of the people than any other two men, and im- provements derived from their enterprise have been such as to add the touch of metropolitan distinction to the city, reflecting benefits to all classes of business.
CLIFFORD A. HOWE, first member of the firm of Howe & Merrill, was born at South Weymouth, Massachusetts, but was reared and edu- cated in Boston. His father, Joseph B. Howe, was a native of Sharon, Vermont, and for many years was successfully engaged in the manu- facturing business. The mother was Mary B. Blanchard, a native of South Weymouth. Both parents are now deceased, and both were of English ancestry and Revolutionary stock.
Clifford A. Howe attended private schools in Boston, and his first employment was with the mercantile house of Cumner, Jones & Com- pany, dealers in cotton and silk goods. Eventually Mr. Howe acquired an interest in the firm, became its buyer, and was associated with the business altogether for thirty years.
On severing this connection in 1912 Mr. Howe removed to Seattle, Washington, and it was in the Queen City of Puget Sound that cir- cumstances rather than direct choice brought him in touch with the theatrical business. It became necessary for him to take over the old Washington Theater on Third Street in order to save his financial interests in the property. In the management he soon discovered some- thing peculiarly attractive as well as profitable from a financial stand- point, and after about eighteen months, when he sold his interests in Seattle, he went to Los Angeles in search of further opportunities. In looking for the most attractive place in the state he was drawn to Riverside, and thus entered into a partnership with G. Gurdon Merrill, with the results that have been described elsewhere. Mr. Howe is a member of the Masonic fraternity in Boston and is a repub- lican in politics. In part he was expressing his enthusiasm and civic spirit in behalf of Riverside when he constructed his magnificent home on Filmore Street, beyond the Victoria Club. There is a peculiar fitness in speaking of this as one of the show places of the city. Its location is in a ten acre grove or park, abounding in fancy fruit trees and shrubs, and laid out with the finest skill of the landscape gardener, in park drive- ways. The residence is one of the artistic triumphs of Spanish architecture that have been greatly admired by visitors to California and through photographic reproduction in magazines. The house is a modern instance of cement construction, the only woodwork being doors and window frames. It is the one-story type, containing seven rooms, is set on the side of a hill, and the interior is a harmony of line and color that calls forth the admiration of all who see it.
G. GURDON MERRILL, junior member of the firm Howe & Merrill, was born in Connecticut, son of John L. and Ellen ( Beldon) Merrill, now deceased. His father was also a native of Connecticut, and for three years was a soldier in the Civil war, entering the service as a musician in the Second Connecticut Heavy Artillery. At the close of the war
944
SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTIES
he conducted a brass foundrv. It was exposure in the Shenandoah Valley campaign that eventually caused the illness terminating in his death in 1885. He was of French Huguenot ancestry, of a family that came to the American colonies in the early sixteen hundreds, and was subsequently represented by soldiers in the War of the Revolution. Ellen Beldon was also born in Connecticut, of English and American Revolutionary stock.
G. Gurdon Merrill acquired his education in the grammar and high schools of Connecticut, and his first employment was in the shipping department of a Connecticut clock factory. Then followed a period of training in the dry goods business at Connecticut, and while there he married and for the benefit of his wife's delicate health removed to California in the spring of 1898. Locating in Riverside, Mr. Merrill was for fifteen years in the employ of Gaylor Rouse & Company. Then followed his co-partnership with C. A. Howe in the notable theatri- cal enterprise which has been described.
Mr. Merrill owns a beautiful Colonial home at the corner of Fourth and Orange streets. It was the first true type of the American Colonial residence built in Riverside, and that dignified and simple, yet beautiful, style characterizes both the exterior and interior. Mr. Merrill is a charter member of the Present Day Club and a republican in politics.
In Bristol, Connecticut, in 1898, he was first married, his wife passing away a few years after their arrival in California. July 4, 1914, at Riverside, he married Cora Hooks Beiter, a native of Alabama. Mr. and Mrs. Merrill have one daughter, Estelle Virginia Beiter. Mr. and Mrs. Merrill are members of the All Saints Episcopal Church.
JOSEPH W. CORNWELL-The painter's art and trade came to Joseph W. Cornwell almost by inheritance, and for many years he has been one of the leading painting contractors in Southern California and has handled most of the notable work on the larger and more imposing buildings of Riverside and other towns as well.
The Cornwells have been painters for three generations. Mr. Corn- well's grandfather at one time had a shop in New York City, and in this shop were painted the first omnibus, the first street car and the first railway coach built in America by the veteran coach builder, John Stephenson. Joseph W. Cornwell was born at Randolph, Western New York, April 18, 1860. His father, J. H. Cornwell, who was assistant to the grandfather in the shop in New York City, followed his trade there for a number of years and also lived at Corry, Pennsylvania, where he filled a place on the City Council for several terms. Cornwell is an old American family of Welsh and English descent. J. H. Cornwell married Rebecca B. Angus, a native of New York City, of Scotch Dutch descent. J. W. Cornwell and his brother Louis R. are lineal descend- ants on their mothers' side of the first heirs of the Aneka Janns' estate, which comprises the sixty-two acres in New York City of which the Trinity Church is the center.
Joseph W. Cornwell was educated in the public schools of Pennsyl- vania, and started to learn the painting business with his father at Corry, Pennsylvania. When he was sixteen he went to Minnesota, living in that state from 1876 to 1887. In 1880 he operated a boarding outfit dur- ing the extension of the Northern Pacific Railroad through the bad lands of North Dakato. This was one of the most interesting experiences of his life. For several years he was also in the Dakotas, conducting a plant
945
SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTIES
and oil business and working as a paint contractor and also carried a stock of general merchandise.
Mr. Cornwell spent one winter in California in 1887. Thereafter for four years he was foreman and manager of the C. D. Elder Company at Tacoma, Washington. Leaving Tacoma in 1895, he removed to Los Angeles, where he followed his business until 1900, when he established his headquarters at Riverside, to take some large contracts for A. W. Boggs, for whom he performed many extensive painting contracts. The first contract was painting thirteen packing houses during 1898-99. He then painted the Riverside County Hospital, the Martin Chase house, the Jones house on Adams Street, the Romsey residence and buildings, and at times had from fifteen to twenty painters comprising his force. Mr. Cornwell also established a paint shop at Eighth and Market streets, and afterward built another shop across the street on property now occupied by the Southern Sierras Company. His establishment there was burned August 15, 1913, and he then moved to the North-west corner of Eighth and Market, where he continued in business until he sold out in May, 1920.
As a painting contractor he handled such jobs as the Public Library, Glenwood Mission Inn, Masonic Temple, Elks Building, Independent Order of Odd Fellows Building, Home Telephone Building, performed many contracts in San Bernardino; painted several buildings of the State Insane Asylum at Patton ; painted the Mary Bridges Memorial Hall at Claremont College for Architect Myron Hunt, which was given by Mr. and Mrs. Bridges to the town of Claremont.
Since selling his business Mr. Cornwell has attended to his various private interests. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, Business Men's Association, Riverside Fair Association, and is a repub- lican. He is a member of Evergreen Lodge No. 259, Free and Accepted Masons and is also a Royal Arch Mason at Riverside, is a member of Riverside Lodge of Elks ; is a past grand of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, going through the chairs of the Lodge at Tacoma ; and is a past sachem of the Riverside Red Men. His children are all affiliated with the Baptist Church.
At Frazee City, Minnesota, March 29, 1882, Mr. Cornwell married Dorcas Winslow. She was born in the state of Maine, daughter of Richard Winslow, a farmer. She is of some of the earliest New England stock. Mr. and Mrs. Cornwell have four children: Frank J., a native of Minnesota, now living in the State of Washington, married Barbara Vogt, and they have three children, Frank J., Jr., Barbara and Joseph. Jonathan R. Cornwell, who was born in the State of Washington, married Freida Michelbacker, of Riverside, and their two children are named Ida Emilie and Wilna. Rebecca B., the older daughter, is the wife of Harry Gilette, of Riverside. The youngest of the family, Julia E., was married to Albert Wood, of Riverside, and has a son, Richard.
During his residence in Riverside Mr. Cornwell has been assisted in many of his contracts, by his brother, Louis R. Cornwell, who settled in Stockton, California, in 1897, and came to Riverside in September, 1900. During the last few years, he has resided with his sons at Laton, California. He is the father of three sons: George B., a contractor and builder of Seattle; Zero L. and Francis William, who are engaged in the land business at Fresno. They are handling the eight thousand six hundred acre McCann ranch near Hanford.
ANDREW DIFANI-The outsider reading of Riverside and hearing of the wonderful possibilities of this favored region for the pursuance
946
SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTIES
of the citrus industry has no idea of the flourishing commercial houses with headquarters in this large and enterprising city. Just as no man can live to himself alone, so it is impossible for any industry to flourish without a stimulus being given to every line of business in any way connected with it, and to the people influenced by it. Riverside has afforded the opportunity for the expression and development of men of ability in varied lines, and one of them, who since 1891 has lived at this city, is Andrew Difani, senior member of A. Difani & Sons, dealers in vehicles, trucks and farm implements and proprietors of a general repair shop, this concern being one of the most reliable in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
Andrew Difani was born at Herman, Missouri, January 23, 1864, a son of Andrew Difani, who was born in Baden, Germany, came to the United States in young manhood, located at Saint Louis, Missouri, engaged in the retail shoe business there, and later in Montgomery, Missouri, where he remained about thirty-five years. Although he was doing well in his business he felt the urge to move westward, and in the fall of 1884 came to California, his family accompanying him, and they all engaged in ranching in the vicinity of Elsinore. Two years later, however, he returned to Missouri, and died in that state in 1892. His wife, although a native of Herman, Missouri, was of Swiss parentage, and her father, who was for a time an engineer on crafts plying on the Ohio River, later turned his attention to blacksmithing, which trade he had learned in Switzerland.
Of the children born to Andrew Difani and his excellent wife, three survive. The children were: Edward, deceased, until recently a resident of Los Angeles; Andrew, whose name heads this review; W. Columbus, deceased, who was a resident of Palo Alto, California; Miss Winona ; Byron, a rancher of Imperial Valley; and Olca, deceased, formerly a resident of Riverside.
Andrew Difani, of this review, accompanied his parents from Missouri to California in 1884, he at that time being twenty years of age. In spite of his youth he had already served an apprenticeship of three years at the trades of horse-shoeing and carriage manufacturing, and had worked one year for wages. He came to California with the intention of establishing himself in business, and started the first shop at Elsinore, and conducted it for nine months, going from there to Wildomar, Cali- fornia, and operated another shop for nine months. Coming then to Riverside, he and a partner purchased a shop on Eighth and Orange streets, of which he became the sole proprietor in 1897, and from that date until 1921 he remained alone. In that year, however, he took his sons Leo A. and Leonard J. into the business and adopted the present name. For many years he made a specialty of manufacturing all kinds of vehicles, especially those for business and delivery wagons, and fitting up hook and ladder trucks. In 1916 he added agricultural imple- ments to his stock, and the firm now handle the Fageol trucks and tractors and the Moline agricultural implements. The firm occupies well-equipped quarters at 851 Orange Street, between Eighth and Ninth streets. The family residence at 1466 South Main Street is owned by Mr. Difani.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.