USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume II > Part 60
USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume II > Part 60
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the Present Day Club for ten years, the Sierra Club of California for fourteen years, and is a member of the National Travel Club, the National Geographic Society, the Society for Physical Research, the Tuesday Music Club, and is a republican in politics. Dr. Lorbeer owns and plans to develop some forty acres of land at Blythe and also a ten acre tract he owns at Crystal Springs, Florida.
At San Gabriel, June 15, 1916, Dr. Lorbeer married Miss Florence E. Patrick. She was born at Wheaton, Illinois, daughter of the late G. W. Patrick, who was a minister. I. E. Ingraham, an uncle of Mrs. Lorbeer, is her foster father and cared for her from the time she was four years of age and gave her a fine muscial education. He is a native of Vermont, now seventy-one years of age, residing at San Gabriel and active in his chosen vocation of carpentering. He came to Los Angeles in 1901, and has constructed many Southern Cali- fornia buildings. He assisted in the construction of the Mission Play House of San Gabriel.
Mrs. Lorbeer's mother was a prominent vocal soloist of Chicago. Dr. and Mrs. Lorbeer have two children, Alice Louise and Thomas, Jr. Mrs. Lorbeer was liberally educated in music and is a talented soloist. While at Riverside she was soloist in the Baptist Church one year and the following year at the Congregational Church, and was then chosen musical director.
GEORGE MYRON BLAIR has to his credit a genuine achievement in the difficult field of journalism. The Corona Daily Independent is re- garded as not only a very influential and worth while newspaper, but also a successful business institution, and every phase of its prosper- ous history proceeds from impulses given by Mr. Blair as editor and manager and now as sole proprietor.
Mr. Blair came to California eighteen years ago. He was then a young man of twenty, only recently out of college. He was born at Lynn, Randolph County, Indiana, July 12, 1884, son of Dr. and Mrs. James S. Blair. His father died at Lynn, April 1, 1913, after having practiced medicine in that community thirty-four years. The mother died just a year after her husband. George Myron Blair has a sister, Mrs. Ida B. Converse, of Madison, Wisconsin. His brother, Dr. James B. Blair, lived at Decatur, Illinois, and was killed in an automobile accident in October, 1920. He was the patentee of Blair's "Safindicator." a direction signaling device for automobiles.
George Myron Blair acquired his education from the Lynn, In- diana, High School, from which he graduated, and in the Ohio Wes- leyan University of Delaware. On coming to California in 1904 he joined the staff of the Long Beach Daily Telegram. In the latter part of 1905 he went with the San Pedro News. In 1906 he returned East, and on June 2, married Miss Helen G. Jukes, of Maryville, Tennessee. They had been schoolmates at Ohio Wesleyan Uni- versity.
After his marriage Mr. Blair returned to California and resumed his place with the San Pedro News. He left it in the summer of 1907, and spent several of the succeeding months in traveling over Southern California, seeking a suitable place for his independent en- terprise as a newspaper man. November 19, 1908, he began his permanent connection with Corona. At that time the Independent was owned by a stock company, and under a succession of managers had constantly disappointed the stockholders and also the public, which held the paper in very low esteem. Mr. Blair made arrange-
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ments to install a linotype machine and do the composition for a lessee of the plant. The lessee after five months gave up the task of meet- ing the current expenses, and at that juncture Mr. Blair leased the plant. The Independent was then published as a semi-weekly, five column paper. Mr. Blair with a courage and determination that accounts for his success, set to work to recover lost ground, and put The Independent into a position as an influential organ of public opinion. It was a difficult struggle at the beginning, but in the meantime the people of Corona came to appreciate what he was doing, one recognition of this fact being the payment of many long due bills: New business came in sufficient volume to enable him to obtain com- plete control in 1911. However, he continued the stock company until April, 1914, when it was dissolved and he acquired full owner- ship.
Mr. Blair now publishes the only daily paper in Riverside County outside the City of Riverside. The first daily issue appeared Septem- ber 11, 1913. The weekly was continued, however, until it became certain that the daily would be given sufficient support. The daily and weekly were combined February 1, 1914. It is now a six-column paper, all home print, linotype composition, and the old fashioned drum cylinder press has been replaced by a two-revolution Hoe press. September 1, 1912, the plant was moved from the little red brick building on East Sixth Street to specially arranged quarters in its present location in the Corona National Bank Building, 110-112 West Sixth Street.
July 1, 1920, Mr. Blair purchased the Corona Courier and is now publishing that weekly paper from The Independent plant. Prior to this move he carefully canvassed the Corona merchants with ą view to gaining their opinions regarding the proposed venture. Al- most without exception the one newspaper plant idea was backed by the merchants' signatures, and on June 22, the bill of sale was signed transferring the Courier from C. F. Hildreth on July 1, 1920. Mr. Blair has a complete newspaper equipment that would be a credit to a city many times the size of Corona. He has unlimited faith in the community, its future development, and the liberal support given to The Independent shows that his efforts have been appreciated.
Mr. Blair is a member with Temescal Lodge of Masons at Corona and is a member of Gamma Chapter of the Sigma Chi college frater- nity. Mr. and Mrs. Blair have two sons, Eugene, born in 1912, and Walter Edmond, born in 1914.
JOHN E. KING .-- The profession to which John E. King has devoted himself most consistently is that of printing and journalism, an ex- perience that covers forty years. At different times and places he has been a leader in the democratic party, and his name is influentially known in Minnesota and Montana, and during the past ten years he has earned a share of distinction in Riverside County as editor, pub- lisher and public official at Hemet.
Mr. King was born August 27, 1870, at Laketon, Wabash County, Indiana, son of Daniel J. and Mary (Grisso) King. His father was a Union soldier, a private in an Ohio regiment of infantry during the Civil war. John E. King attended common schools in Indiana, but his real education was acquired in the practical university of a print- ing shop. He has always had a vivid memory of the time as well as the circumstances when he started to set type. It was the day that President Garfield was assassinated, July 2, 1881. After his appren- Vel. 11-27
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ticeship in the printing trade he embarked in the broader field of journalism and established his first newspaper in October, 1888, known as the Larchwood (Iowa) Leader. Not long afterward he moved to Minnesota, and at Adrian established the Noble County Democrat in 1892. In 1901 he bought the Red Lake Falls Gazette in the same state. In 1911, with Governor Frank A. Day, he started the Missoula Daily Sentinel of Montana, one of the foremost papers of the North- west.
Mr. King has been a resident of Hemet, California, since 1912, at which time he bought a half interest in the Hemet News, which is now published by the firm of King & Monroe. In addition to his duties as a newspaper editor and publisher Mr. King since 1916 has been postmaster of Hemet. He is also active in the financial life of that Riverside community, being both vice president and a director of the First National Bank and a director of the Home Builders' As- sociation of Hemet.
Mr. King has a public record that is interesting both for the service rendered and his associations with prominent men of affairs. He was postmaster at Adrian, Minnesota, from 1894 to 1899, and a member of the Minnesota State Board of Equalization in 1900-01. During the years 1905 to 1911 he was state librarian of Minnesota, and during 1908-10 was president of the National Association of State Librarians. He is now president of the Board of Trustees of the Hemet Public Library. He was president of the Southern Cali- fornia Editorial Association for 1919-21, and in 1921 was vice presi- dent for California of the National California Association.
Mr. King while in Minnesota was candidate for the Legislature to represent Noble County in 1894, and in 1904 was candidate for Secre- tary of state. He was one of the ardent admirers and active promo- ters of the political aspirations of Minnesota's great statesman, the late John A. Johnson, and was manager of the press bureau for Governor Johnson at St. Paul during three campaigns. In 1908 he was secretary of the John A. Johnson presidential campaign commit- tee, with headquarters at Chicago. Mr. King is a director of the Hemet Valley Chamber of Commerce and was a leader in all the local drives during the World war. He is a past chancellor com- mander of the Knights of Pythias, and a member of the Tahquitz Country Club at Hemet.
At Laketon, Indiana, June 12, 1895, Mr. King married Miss Georgia Duncan, daughter of John and Sarah Duncan. They have two chil- dren : Homer D. King, now managing editor of the Hollywood Daily Citizen, and Miss Helen King, a senior in Pomona College.
GLENN A. CALKINS by virtue of over twelve years of service is one of the veteran automobile men of Riverside County, and for ten years has been the authorized agent and distributor at Riverside for the Ford Motor Company, selling the Ford cars and the Fordson tractors. He established this business in 1912 as the successor of A. J. Charl. At that time the business was at 446 Eighth Street. In 1913 the present building was erected at the corner of Eighth and Lime Streets. It is now one of the largest establishments devoted to the automobile business in the city and affords 15,000 square feet of floor space. There are twenty-five people employed in the business. Besides the sale and distribution of the Ford cars and Fordson tractors there is a complete Ford service and also a complete accessory stock. Mr.
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Calkins for several years has made a record of selling fifty cars a month and fifty tractor's per year.
Mr. Calkins was born at Perry, Michigan, May 15, 1889. He was educated in the public schools of Lansing, and at the age of sixteen came to California. The first six months were spent in Rivera, Cali- fornia, was then on an orange ranch near there, and in 1906 went to Needles, California, and was an employe of the Santa Fe Company eight months. For three months he was at Los Angeles, then was shipping clerk for a year for the Hobbs Wall Lumber Company at Crescent City, and for another year was at Los Angeles with the Pacific Electric Company, in the excursion department.
Mr. Calkins in 1910 became associated with the Standard Motor Company of Los Angeles, and after two years with that firm he came to Riverside to take the Ford agency.
He has been a leader in every line of business and civic affairs, is a former president of the Chamber of Commerce and still a director in that body, is a charter member of the Rotary Club, for several years was a director of the Y. M. C. A., and is president of the County Council of Boy Scouts Clubs. Mr. Calkins is a republican, a deacon in the Christian Church, and is a York Rite Mason and Shriner and a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
September 1, 1910, he married Miss Alice Mae Fay, of Rivera. She was born at Redlands and was educated in the public schools of that city. They have one daughter, Madeline Fay.
WILLIAM AUGUSTUS HAYT-The late William Augustus Hayt, of Riverside, was a man of indomnitable energy, who was literally in active business until he was seventy-five years of age, after which he devoted the declining years of his life to closing up every detail of his many affairs. Late in life he met with an injury which forced him to take to a wheel chair, but this accident caused no cessation of interest in the city which he loved. Even after this accident he took a very prominent part in the fight for the Post Office, his wife joining him in his efforts and entering into the spirit of all he did. He and his friends bought the land upon which the Post Office and Telephone Block was afterward located, turning the Government site over when they had won for the present site. His idea was to centralize the busi- ness buildings of the city, and the attractive municipality of the present day is largely due to his good judgment and foresight. Two weeks before he passed away he was taken down town so that he might vote in the local election. His death occurred December 1, 1915, when he was nearly eighty-five years old.
The birth of William Augustus Hayt occurred at Patterson, New York, January 22, 1831. He was a son of Harry and Thankful (Crosby) Hayt, and grandson of Stephen Hayt, a drummer boy in General Washington's troops during the American Revolution. The Hayt family is of English origin. Stephen Hayt became a farmer of Putnam, New York, after the close of the American Revolution, and in that locality his son Harry was born. The latter after he had reached years of maturity became a successful merchant of Patterson, New York, and also dealt in farm lands and. stock. He was also-prom- inent in politics as a whig, and when he died at the age of fifty-four years he was called away from the midst of an active and useful life. His widow survived him many years, dying when she was eighty-four years old. She and her husband had seven children born to them.
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William Augustus Hayt attended the public schools and academy of Patterson, and at the death of his father, although only eighteen years old, he assumed charge of the latter's business interests, and for several years operated grist, flour and plaster mills. This exten- sive plant was destroyed in a disastrous flood and he was left with a heavy debt. From 1855 to 1859 Mr. Hayt had charge of the lum- bering interests of the Hastings Lumber Company at Hastings, Minnesota.
It was while he was at Hastings that Mr. Hayt decided to travel further westward, his objective point being Pike's Peak, Colorado. Loading some groceries and other supplies in a wagon drawn by mules, he started on the long journey across the plains. Among his other supplies were 600 pounds of nails, but he was forced to leave them along the way, as they were too heavy for his tired mules, but his other articles met with a ready sale all along the route to Cali- fornia, he having decided to change his route because of the unfavor- able reports he received from travelers who were on their way back from Colorado. Because of the excellent prices he received for his goods Mr. Hayt arrived at Sacramento with more ready money than he had when he set out on his long journey, which had lasted for four and one-half months. Investing in claims at Placerville, he spent the winter there and then went to Gold Hill, Nevada, where he assisted in putting in the first shaft in the Yellow Jacket Mine, and helped to make a tunnel into the Overman Mine, working so industri- ously that in 1864 he was able to go back to New York by way of the Isthmus of Panama, a very expensive route, but one much more lux- urious than the weary one across the plains. Upon his arrival in his old city he faithfully discharged every debt with interest, payng out in this way nearly $3,000, all of which money he had earned by hard work.
It was his intention to remain in Putnam County, and he began handling cattle and carrying on similar business, but the lure of the West was too strong and he found he could not be content in the East. Therefore he returned to California by the Isthmus route, and until 1869 was engaged in a commission business at San Francisco. In the latter year he went back once more to New York, this time travelling very comfortably on the trans-continental railroad lines which by that time had been completed. For about ten years Mr. Hayt was engaged in the cattle business, but in 1879 he went to Sierra Nevada district and embarked in mining. In the fall of that year he went to Petaluma and engaged in the meat business with his son Charles, where he remained a number of years. He took a trip through Southern California and visited Riverside. So impressed was he with the aspects of the city, then beginning to show the results of the efforts of the pioneers, that he decided to locate here perma- nently, and bought for $300 a lot now at 733 Main Street, where for many years he maintained his office. Disposing of his property in the East, he embarked in a meat business at Riverside, and in the spring of 1880 he bought the Rubidoux livery stables and managed them for fifteen months, and then sold. Mr. Hayt then erected a large stable, and when his business outgrew its space, bought the corner property and enlarged his premises, taking his son, C. P. Hayt, into partnership with him. A man of great foresight, he acquired ownership of one of the local stage lines, then another, until he had at one time as many as 100 head of horses working on these lines, and he maintained the largest livery and sales stables in Southern
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California. Retiring after some years from this business, his son and a partner continued to conduct it.
Desiring to leave behind him some permanent and substantial offerings to the city, Mr. Hayt erected the Hayt Block on Seventh and Main streets, and built another block of the same size adjacent to it. Together with three others he erected the Loring Opera House, and long continued president, director and a heavy stockholder of the company managing it and was president and largest stockholder at the time of his death. Many of the handsome residences of the city were built by him, and he and A. S. White laid out White's Addi- tion to Riverside. Together with Mr. White he established the River- side Heights Water Company, of which he was vice president, secre- tary, superintendent, collector and a director. In 1888 he was the main factor in securing the erection of the Riverside Gas & Electric Light Company's works, of which he was president and manager for a long period, and of which his son, C. P. Hayt, was secretary. He and Mr. White built four miles of the first street railway at River- side, and he was president of the company until it was sold to the later corporation. He was president and director of Evergreen Ceme- tery ; vice president and a director of the Riverside & Arlington Elec- tric Street Railway Company. He assisted in organizing the Orange Growers' Bank, and long served on its directorate. With Messrs. White and Sylvester he owned the Gold Eagle Mine, and was inter- ested in a number of other mining properties. Another project which stands to his credit is the fire department, for he organized the first one at Riverside and never withdrew his support from this important branch of the city government. When he came to Riverside he had only fifty cents in cash. At that time Riverside had a population of 400 people. His progress was steady and the result of hard work and application, and when he died he was one of the most popular men in the city, without an enemy of any kind.
Mr. Hayt was the pioneer in starting the system of tree planting on the streets of Riverside, and the palms that he planted about his home at 184 East Seventh Street show the greatest age of any in the city, and bear mute testimony to the fact. It is from street planting that the arbor laws were evolved, and there is scarcely a community of any importance in the United States that does not today have arbor laws, patterned after those of Riverside. Mr. Hayt also planted the locust and pepper trees on the south side of Fairmount Park. At the time he erected his residence on the east side, in 1887, there were only two houses in that district. Today this is one of the most attrac- tive residence districts of Riverside. It was Mr. Hayt who financed Mr. Gage when the latter started the work of building the canal which has since been such an important factor in the citrus growth of Riverside. He was a lover of horses, and up to the time of his death was the owner of a trotting horse that held the track record. and won three beautiful cups, one of which was taken from the field at Los Angeles, much to the surprise and chagrin of the racing fra- ternity of the Angel City.
Mr. Hayt was a republican and always took a very active part in his party. For many years he was a zealous member of the River- side Chamber of Commerce. In 1864 he was raised a Mason, and he demitted to Evergreen Lodge of Riverside. He also belonged to the Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias. His religious home was in the Episcopal Church, of which he was an earnest communicant. Early in life Mr. Hayt married Miss Mary E. Pugsley, of Putnam
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County, New York, who died in that locality, leaving one son, Charles P. Hayt, who was associated with his father in so much of his busi- ness. On May 19, 1903, Mr. Hayt married Miss Katherine Bower at Petaluma, California. Mrs. Hayt, who survives her husband, was born in Iowa, and is a daughter of Daniel Bower, for many years engaged in merchandising near Des Moines, lowa. She retains an interest in the brick block erected by Mr. Hayt on Main Street that is now occupied by Backstrand & Grout. When he died Mr. Hayt left two grandsons, namely: W. A. Hayt, Junior, who is a salesman of Los Angeles ; and Arthur P. Hayt, who is with the Cole Automobile Agency of that city.
The work Mr. Hayt and his associates were elected to accomplish has been completed. Riverside has entered into a new phase of exist- ence. All of the pioneer period has faded into the remote past. This is now one of the most flourishing cities of the Southwest, if not of the country, with every modern improvement and countless advan- tages. Without, however, the work of the men who came here when even the natural advantages were only potentialities today's pros- perity would have been impossible. Such men as Mr. Hayt and those who labored under his able direction were just as important in their line of work as any this country has produced, and their memory will be kept green as long as the present city endures, and of all of these pioneers none is held in higher respect or greater grati- tude than Mr. Hayt.
WILLIAM McMAHILL, a prosperous general rancher and fruit grower, has lived in Riverside County thirty years, and his home today is a place acquired by his father when the family came to California, being located seven miles north of Perris.
Mr. McMahill was born in Warren County, Illinois, September 26, 1860, son of George and Frances (Barnum) McMahill, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of New York State. George Mc- Mahill was born March 9, 1829, and as a youth came out to California in the days following the first discovery of gold, and did some mining and prospecting. He then went back East, lived in Illinois on a farm, and in 1867 moved to Mankato, Minnesota, where he was in the retail lumber business. In 1890 he brought his family to Cali- fornia and homesteaded twenty acres included in the ranch of his son, William. He engaged in fruit growing there until his death on June 9, 1913. His widow is still living, at the age of eighty-six, and makes her home with her son, William. George McMahill was a repub- lican in politics and a member of the Methodist Church. There were four children in their family: Luther, of Denver, Colorado; Louis, deceased ; William, and Ira B., of San Jose, California.
William McMahill was seven years of age when the family re- moved to Minnesota, and he attended the public schools and Normal School at Mankato. After completing his education he became a Minnesota farmer, and in 1893 came to California to join his parents, and has since lived at the home ranch. His holdings here now con- stitute 340 acres, chiefly devoted to the raising of grain. He also has a forty-acre orange grove at Cottonwood. Mr. McMahill is a director in the Moreno Water Company.
As one of the substantial property owners he has given freely of his time and influence to movements affecting the general welfare. He is an active member of the Farm Bureau, has served as deputy sheriff and constable, is a republican, a member of the Grace Metho-
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dist Episcopal Church, and sings in its male quartette, and is affiliated with the Masons, Odd Fellows and Junior Order United American Mechanics.
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