USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume II > Part 56
USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume II > Part 56
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While Mr. Tefft has not been identified with the business life of River- side for a long term of years, he has the welfare of his chosen home very much at heart and, conservative in all business matters, he is a hearty booster for everything pertaining to the civic advancement and uplift of the community.
Before coming to Riverside Mr. Tefft had a thorough training in stone work and in the art of finishing marble and granite in the largest quarry of the country, and today he has the finest marble and granite yard in Southern California outside of the City of Los Angeles. He always uses the best materials and executes designs of all kinds, turning out the highest grade of work.
Mr. Tefft was born in Chicago. September 6, 1884, the son of Seymour A. and Susan Eliza (Fairbanks) Tefft. Seymour A. Tefft is a native of
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Saratoga Springs, New York, and is at present engaged in newspaper work in Idaho Falls, Idaho. He came West with his family in March, 1906, settling in Bellingham, Washington, where he took up newspaper work, which he has followed ever since. While in Saratoga Springs he was a member of the police commission of that city. He comes from an old American family of Scotch descent, the original name being Taft, of which ex-President Taft and ex-Secretary of War Alfonzo Taft were descendants. Dr. Edward Tefft, the noted surgeon of New York City, was a cousin of Seymour's grandfather. The father of Seymour during the Civil war served as a volunteer in the Seventh New York Volunteers and took part in many important engagements, among them the Battle of the Wilderness.
The ancestry of Mrs. Seymour A. Tefft, who died at Bellingham, Washington, in March, 1917, dates back to three Fairbanks brothers who came from Fairbank, England, in 1636. This family has produced many noted men, including the vice president of that name and the manufac- turers of the famous Fairbank scales.
Albert N. Tefft received his education in the public schools and the People's Academy of Morrisville, Vermont, and then he engaged in and learned the laundry business. His next move was to the quarries of Barre, Vermont, the largest quarries in the world, where he learned the trade of stone cutting and granite finishing from the two oldest firms in existence. Since starting his business in Riverside he has been buying much of his material from those firms.
Mr. Tefft came West in April, 1906, joining his father in Bellingham, Washington, and he remained there until 1910, when he went to Tacoma, Washington, where he stayed until 1912. In the fall of that year he went to Los Angeles, moving to Riverside in 1913.
He is a director in the Tip Top Laundry of Riverside and is inter- ested in the violin manufacturing business with his uncle, G. C. Lindsey, in Los Angeles. The company is known under the name of the Interna- tional Violin Accessory Company, which puts out the famous Lindsey violin.
During the time of the World war Mr. Tefft was corporal of the Home Guards, and was one of the organizers of the new 16th Separate Company. N. G. C., and he worked up to the position of sergeant in this company.
Fraternally he is a member of the Evergreen Lodge, A. F. and A. M., and is noble grand of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, having worked through all the chairs. He has also passed through the chairs of the Woodmen of the World, being past counsel of Mangolia Lodge No. 92. Mr. Tefft is a member of the Granite Manufacturers Association of San Francisco, the Monumental Retailers Association of Los Angeles and the Business Men's Association of Riverside. He is a member of the Men's Club of the All Saints Episcopal Church, and was its first secretary and treasurer. In politics he is a republican and has always taken an active part in local matters, being a member of the Young Men's Republican Club.
At Bellingham. Washington, he married Miss Dorothy Phillips, of Plattsburg, New York, a daughter of Andrew W. Phillips. On her fa- ther's side she is a descendant of the Prindle family of Scotland and of the Hudson family of England on her mother's side. Mr. and Mrs. Tefft are the parents of two children, Dorothea June and Iona Fairbanks Tefft, both attending school.
ALFRED P. HARWOOD-Alfred P. Harwood was born at Bennington, Vermont, on the 19th of November, 1838, a son of Hiram and Eliza Haswell Harwood. Of English lineage, the Harwoods came to Massa-
C. P. Harwood
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chusetts in 1630. They were among the founders of Bennington, Vermont, and were all substantial farmers. The first white child born in Bennington was Benjamin Harwood. Mr. Harwood had a grandfather, a great-grandfather and a great-great-grandfather in the Revolutionary War. His father lived to the age of ninety-two and his mother died in her hundredth year. She was the daughter of Anthony Haswell, the founder of the Vermont Gazette at Bennington, the first paper established in that locality. He was also postmaster-general of Vermont for several years. Mr. Harwood had two brothers and three sisters, all but one of whom are still living. He was educated in the country schools and later attended the Bennington Academy. As he was the youngest of the three sons, he remained at home to help his father while his brothers attended college.
In 1864 he joined his father's family in Crystal Lake, Illinois. Here he met and married Margaret J. Burton, a native of Massachusetts, the daughter of Stephen and Charlotte Jackson Burton. They were married November 23, 1864. In 1868 he went to Springfield, Missouri, where he became land agent for what is now part of the Santa Fe Railroad. He held this position for fifteen years. He was one of the charter members of the Springfield Congregational Church and was influential in the found- ing of Drury College.
In 1888 Mr. Harwood came to California and established his perma- nent home in Upland, which was then included in Ontario Colony. He and his brother owned a one-fifth interest in the Ontario Land Company which brought out the Chaffey interests in the Ontario Colony. When this company distributed its land, Mr. Harwood and his brother, Charles E. Harwood, took the land lying north of the Santa Fe tracks, known as the Magnolia Tract. They set this out and sold it on terms easily met. making it possible for many to own their own homes. They believed that this made for the upbuilding of a desirable community. Mr. Har- wood took an active part in the organization of the California Fruit Growers' Exchange, and represented the O. K. Exchange as a director in the organization for sixteen years. He helped organize the Citizens Bank of Ontario, the Commercial National and the Citizens Savings banks of Upland. Of these banks he has been a director since the time of their incorporation. He has been the president of the People's Mutual Building and Loan Association of Ontario for thirty years. Mr. Harwood has always been a loyal republican, but has repeatedly refused political offices of every kind.
In November, 1914, Mr. and Mrs. Harwood celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary, and less than a year later, Mrs. Harwood died, on the 19th of October, 1915. They had six children, of whom three are living, two daughters, Mrs. B. A. Woodford of Claremont, California, and Mrs. E. W. Thaver of Upland, and one son, Frank H. Harwood of San Dimas, California.
WALTER DAVID CLARK-Permanent success is not attained in a mo- ment, nor does it reward the worthless. Rather it is the legitimate out- growth of definitely laid plans, earnest and steadfast endeavor and hon- orable action on the part of the worth-while man. Walter David Clark, proprietor of the extensive business at Riverside conducted under his name, is a man whose salient characteristic is shown in the title he has long held, that of "The Prompt Printer," and during the thirty-one years "he has conducted this plant in the city he has proven in every way his ability, public-spirit and his worthiness for the patronage of his fellow citizens. That he has received it in a generous degree is shown by his present prosperity and commercial standing.
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Walter David Clark was born in Chicago, Illinois, March 24, 1864, a son of Charles Henry and Lavina Church ( Bangs) Clark, both of whom are now deceased. Charles Henry Clark was born in New Hampshire, a member of a family of Revolutionary stock, of English ancestry. The name was without doubt originally spelled "Clerk." Charles H. Clark's wife was born at Phillips, Maine, and she, too, came of Revolutionary stock. Her ancestors were emigrants from England to the American Colonies in 1623.
A contractor and builder, Charles H. Clark found ample opportunity to exercise his skill at Chicago, and in that city his son Walter David re- ceived his education up to the time he was fifteen years old in the public schools. At that time his father was taken ill, and he, as the eldest of six children, had to become self-supporting. This he was better able to do than most boys of his age as from the time he was eleven years old he had earned money with a little printing outfit he owned, working after school and on holidays. Having proven his ability, he entered his appren- ticeship to the printing trade and served for six years as pressman and job compositor, and then worked as a journeyman for a time.
In 1886 Mr. Clark came West to Los Angeles, California, and after five years in that city came to Riverside, where he formed, in 1892, a partnership with Jolin B. Walters, under the firm name of Walters & Clark. The place of business of the new firm was at the northwest corner of Ninth and Main streets, under the old Riverside Bank, then known as the Dyer Bank. After three years in that location the business was moved to the southwest corner of Eighth and Orange streets, adjoining the old Riverside Enterprise office, which was then conducted by Mark R. Plaisted. Mr. Clark remained in those quarters until 1900, and then moved to his present location at 619-621 Eighth Street, going into his building when it was first erected. He has a modern, up-to-date printing plant and specializes on the commercial business of the city. During the thirty-one years he has been engaged in business in Riverside he has seen many changes, and it is probable that today there are not remaining more than six men still in business who were his contemporaries when he came here. For the past thirty years he has been an active member of the Chamber of Commerce and of the Young Men's Christian Association, and has been a forceful factor in municipal affairs, for he has always had the good of Riverside at heart and striven to do all in his power to advance its interests in every possible way. Independent in politics, he has given his support to the men he deemed would best administer the city affairs, rather than confining himself to any one party. He was elected to the Riverside city council as a representative of the progressive- republicans, and while in that body played a constructive part in behalf of the city. A charter member of the Present Day Club, he has par- ticipated in all of its very important work since its organization in 1902, is now its secretary and has held that position since 1911. When he assumed the duties of that office the total membership of this club was only 150 members, but it now has over 700 members and is steadily grow- ing. It is an open forum, and a vital force in all matters pertaining to the public welfare. Mr. Clark was the first president of the Orange Belt Employing Printers Association, which includes the printers of Riverside and San Bernardino counties, and has given much of his time in order to benefit his craft. He was one of the organizers of the Riverside Busi- ness Men's Association, and served it as a director for several terms. Well-known in Masonry, he belongs to Evergreen Lodge, A. F. and A. M., Riverside Chapter, R. A. M., Riverside Commmandery, the Mystic Shrine, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Los Angeles, and of Ungava Chapter,
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O. E. S. He is connected as a member with the Riverside Fair Associa- tion and the Riverside Farm Bureau. Riverside Lodge, I. O. O. F., holds his membership, as does the Fraternal Brotherhood and the Royal Ar- canum, of which he is a past regent and a life member of the Grand Council, his connection with this last named order dating back thirty- seven years. He is past chief ranger of the Foresters of America and has been a delegate to its Grand Lodge, having joined this order when it was organized at Riverside in 1893. This lodge today is known as Court Citrus. He is now a director and is a charter member of the Kiwanis Club, organized at Riverside in 1920, and takes a deep and abiding interest in all of these organizations.
On May 1, 1889, Mr. Clark married at Los Angeles, California, Helen A. Brainerd, a native of Wisconsin and a daughter of Emmons E. Brain- erd, a contractor of that city and a member of an old American family of English descent. Mr. and Mrs. Clark became the parents of two chil- dren, Edith and Walter Dickson. The daughter married Prof. Robert McDill Ross, director of manual training in the Sebastopol, California, High School. They have one daughter, Elizabeth. The son is engaged in the printing business with his father. During the World war Walter Dickson Clark was overseas as a member of the Twenty-first Air Squad- ron, to which he was transferred from the Eighty-fifth Squadron. He received his honorable discharge after the signing of the armistice, having been in the service nearly two years. He belongs to the Masonic frater - nity, the Elks and the Greek Letter fraternity Gamma Epsilon Kappa, of the Riverside High School.
The elder Mr. Clark belongs to the Riverside Baptist Church, and has held this connection for thirty years, and for fifteen years has been church clerk. He is a life member of the Bangs Descendants, a family organiza- tion formed to perpetuate the memory and traditions of the Bangs family. Mr. Clark has a most delightful personality. Sincere, convincing and genial, he possesses the power to win friends easily and to hold them firmly attached to him thereafter. It would be impossible in an article of the brevity of this one to do more than touch upon the many activities of this really remarkable man and public-spirited citizen, for he has accom- plished so much and been connected with so many and varied enterprises, and always to their betterment, that space forbids the going into details. Suffice to say that whenever the occasion has arisen Mr. Clark has not only been found willing but ready and competent to do whatever was asked of him, and that he did everything gladly, cheerfully and efficiently, gaining not only the gratitude but also the respect of all with whom he has ever been associated.
K D HARGER-While he is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the Kent College of Law with the degree LL.B., Class 1895, and is a member of the Riverside bar, Mr. Harger during his residence in the city for over twenty years has been identified largely with the title busi- ness and public affairs. For the past seven years he has been postmaster of Riverside.
Mr. Harger was born at West Bloomfield, Oakland County, Michigan. December 8, 1856. His original ancestors were English, but some of the family were driven to Holland as political refugees, and from there two brothers emigrated. one to this country and one to Australia. Joel P. Harger, father of K D Harger, was born in New York State, was a farmer by occupation, and during the Civil war was rejected by the recruiting officer on account of a physical defect. For many years he was supervisor of his district.
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K D Harger attended the district and high schools of Pontiac, Michi- gan, and graduated Bachelor of Science from the University of Michigan in 1884. For a year he taught in Michigan country schools, for one year was in a village school in Alabama, and for four years in the high school of Burlington, Iowa. He rounded out ten years of educational work, with four years as principal of the high school at Elgin, Illinois. In the mean- time he took up the study of law and in June, 1895, received his LL. B. degree from Kent College of Law at Chicago. He remained in that city and practiced for four years, and in 1898 came to California. The bulk of his legal work was court practice in perfecting titles for the Riverside Abstract Company. He is a director of the Riverside Abstract Company and the Title Insurance Company of Riverside. He was also one of the organizers of the Peoples Trust & Savings Bank, and was its director and secretary.
President Wilson appointed him postmaster of Riverside January 27, 1914, and he is now in his second term. The Post Office building had been occupied one year when he took office. Mr. Harger has been active locally in democratic politics, serving a number of times as chairman of the County Central Committee. At one time he was candidate for the Assembly, and in 1910 candidate for mayor. He did all he could for the ticket during the Wilson campaign and never thought of office, but when Wilson was elected the Central Committee with one voice said "post- master." While a resident of Michigan he was elected and served a term as school commissioner.
Mr. Harger is a Royal Arch Mason, is past chancellor commander of the Knights of Pythias and a member of the Junior Order United American Mechanics. He has served as one of the deacons of the Con- gregational church at Riverside.
At Rochester, Michigan, August 17, 1889. he married Maria Mc- Donald, who was born there, and her father, Benjamin McDonald, was a pioneer farmer in that locality. Her father was active during the Civil war in recruiting duty. Mr. and Mrs. Harger have two children : Donald K, a student at Stanford University, and Solon Burt, a high school student.
WILLIAM J. MILLS, now engaged at Riverside in the manufacture of bodies and wheels for automobiles, is a man who has struggled hard against adversity and come out victorious in spite of discouragements which would have induced another man to declare that fate was against him, and because of his courage and determination is all the more en- titled to credit for his prosperity. He is a man who understands his busi - ness in every detail and is recognized as one who not only lives up to the letter of his promises, but the spirit as well.
The birth of Mr. Mills took place in Ontario, Canada, July 28, 1857, and he is a son of James and Catherine (Hanley) Mills, natives of Can- ada. James Mills. now deceased. was a carpenter by trade, and during the last years of his life he resided at Dacre, Ontario, Canada, where he conducted a tavern. During one period of his life he was postmaster at Balmer Island. Canada. He came from an old English family of Irish extraction. Mrs. Mills survives her husband and is now living with a daughter in Canada, being in her eighty-sixth year. and in spite of her age is in excellent health and in the enjoyment of life. She, too, is of Irish extraction.
William J. Mills received his educational training in the public schools of Canada, and when he was sixteen years old began to learn carriage building at Renfrew, Ontario, Canada. After he had thoroughly mas- tered his trade he came to the United States, in 1887, and located at River-
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side. For a time he worked at carpentering, and later at his trade for Clarence Stewart, a carriage manufacturer. After a year Mr. Stewart sold his business to ex-Mayor Peters, and Mr. Mills continued to work for the new firm of Thayer & Peters for several years.
In 1891 Mr. Mills embarked in a business of his own, opening a shop at the corner of Eighth and Orange streets, but after two years sold to a Mr. Hudson. For a year he worked for Silas Masters, and then resumed operations for himself at his old stand on Eighth and Orange streets, with A. Difani is a partner, the firm being Mills & Difani. Six years later Mr. Mills sold to his partner and went to Alaska in July, 1897, being influenced to do so on account of the gold excitement. He went by way of Saint Michaels and up the Yukon River to Rampart City, and remained in that district until August of the following year, when he had the mis- fortune to meet with an accident which necessitated his return to Riverside.
For a time after his return home Mr. Mills worked for the firm of O'Connor & Covey, carriage builders, and then was engaged by A. W. Miller, who began building automobiles on the site now occupied by the Cresmer Manufacturing Company. After a year's work at building auto- mobile bodies Mr. Mills returned to O'Connor & Covey.
In 1900 Mr. Mills dared fate once more and started in business on Ninth Street, near Orange, continuing there until February 2, 1915, when his business was destroyed by fire. He next conducted a shop in the alley back of the Glenwood Garage for about three years, and then moved to his present location at 826 West Seventh Street where he does body and wheel work for autos, and is the only specialist of his kind in the country.
Mr. Mills married at Renfrew, Ontario, Canada, Miss Agnes Ster- rick, a native of Canada and a daughter of James Sterrick, a native of Dundee, Scotland. Mr. and Mrs. Mills have five children, as follows : David M., who married Annie Elser, of Sawtelle, California, has two children, Hartley and Dorothy, and is now engaged in the wholesale hard- ware business at Los Angeles, California, for the Standard Sanitary Manufacturing Company ; William W., who is married, has a son, Ed- ward, is a barber by trade at Riverside, and although he was beyond the age limit of the draft, volunteered and was in the service at Camp Kearney ; George Albert, who is a bookkeeper for the Nash Auto Agency of Riverside, served as a volunteer with the Ninety-first Division in France as corporal and later as sergeant, and was in line for his com- mission as lieutenant when the armistice was signed, at which time he was on the firing line, and had been trained at Camp Lewis ; Pearl Forbes, wife of Frank Parker, of Riverside, and they have two children, George and Madlon ; and Arthur R., who married Miss Alda Byle, of Riverside, has one child, James, and is engaged in farming in Imperial Valley.
Mr. Mills has never taken any active part in politics, has not connected himself definitely with any party, preferring to cast his vote for the man he deems best suited for the office in question. Although he owns some acreage in Oregon, he has never engaged in any agricultural pursuits, his talents lying in another direction. During the late war he did his full part as a loyal citizen and sympathizer with the Allied cause. The member- ship which he maintains with the Independent Order of Foresters is his only fraternal connection. A hard-working, persistent man. Mr. Mills has finally succeeded in making his efforts yield him an ample income, and as an expert in his line he has no rival in the state. Personally he stands very high in the confidence of his fellow citizens, and, as before stated, he deserves his success, for he has earned it through many adversities.
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JOHN F. BACKSTRAND-Twenty-one years have come and gone since John F. Backstrand entered the business world of Riverside, and each year has made the firm of which he is a member, Backstrand & Grout, more and more an integral part of the civic life of the city. Founded upon honor, carried on with exceptional insight as to the needs of the community and early found to be trustworthy to the minutest detail, it is today firmly established as the Rock of Gibraltar.
Mr. Backstrand had to surmount many difficulties as he started to make his way in the world at a very early age, in a new country, among new people, handicapped by his youth and lack of education. The immaturity of the first was overcome by time and the latter by constant application on his part. He is as thoroughly American as though born under the Star Spangled Banner, and has become a most loyal son of the Southland, loving his chosen home and always intent upon its progress and development and lending a helping hand to any plan for its betterment.
He was born in that frost bitten land whence so many of America's best citizens have come, Sweden, near the City of Halmstad, July 21, 1858, the son of Gustav and Mary Backstrand. He attended the schools of his native place until he was thirteen years of age, when his parents came to the United States with their children, settling in Warren County, Pennsylvania. Undaunted by unfamiliar surroundings, he started out to work, first as a bundle boy in a dry goods store at a salary of three dollars per week. But his ability and attention to business was soon recognized and he was promoted, in 1880 becoming a clerk in the store, Here he likewise succeeded and soon he knew the drygoods business thoroughly. From this he went to Sheffield, Pennsylvania, where he took a position as clerk in a store.
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