USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume III > Part 20
USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume III > Part 20
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 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69
During 1893 Mr. Reece spent three months in helping construct the water ditch for the Crafton Water Company from Mill Creek Zanja to Crafton Reservoir. He built the Redlands Reservoir and the Crafton ditch from Santa Ana River to the reservoir, rocking it up both bottom and sides.
Mr. Reece in the spring of 1895 was appointed and began his service at Zanjero for the Crafton Water Company. He has been in that posi- tion continuously for twenty-seven years without missing a single day on account of illness or any cause, and it is a record of service of which he may be justly proud.
Mr. Reece enlisted during the Spanish-American war in Company G of the Seventh California Volunteers, and after four months in training was discharged at the Presidio at San Francisco.
He married Miss Sophia Casteel, a native daughter of California, who was born in San Bernardino County in 1874. Her mother came to California with an ox train at the time the Van Leuven families moved from Salt Lake to old San Bernardino. Mr. and Mrs. Reece are the parents of four children. Ethel, born in 1892, is the wife of Chauncey McKee and the mother of two children. May, born in 1893, was mar- ried to Winfield Richter and has one child. The two youngest children are John, born in 1906, and Helen, born in 1908. In 1911 Mr. Reece bought ten acres on Crafton Avenue, where he has his present home. This is adjoining Redlands at Mentone. Seven acres of the tract had been set to Navel oranges. Three acres were still covered with rocks, which he had removed and the land improved, and it is now a grove of Valencias. Here Mr. Reece built his new and modern home. His first place of residence was in Redlands. At that time his duties fre- quently called him to the mountains, and on one occasion he took his family with him. As a precaution against fire he removed two five gallon cans, one of kerosene and one of gasoline, to a shed in the rear of his home. Redlands City had recently installed a fire alarm system, and there was a standing reward of five dollars offered to the first per- son who should turn in an alarm for a real fire. Some boys coveting this reward made a real fire by securing the cans from the shed and pouring the contents about the house of Mr. Reece and then setting fire to the premises. The house was a total loss. The boys were convicted and sentenced to the Whittier Reform School.
SAMUEL B. HAMPTON became a prominent and influential figure in connection with the citrus fruit industry in Southern California, and the splendid achievement that most significantly indicated his initiative and executive ability was the organizing of the Corona Foothill Lemon Company, which has added materially to the indus- trial prestige and advancement of Riverside County. Of this company Mr. Hampton was president from the time of its incorporation until his death, and his splendid energies were enlisted also in the developing of other important business enterprises.
Samuel B. Hampton was born in Linn County, Iowa, on February 26, 1870, a son of Isaac S. and Helen (Hazelrigg) Hampton, natives
1182
SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTIES
respectively 'of Ohio and Iowa. Mr. Hampton was four years of age at the time of the family removal to Osage County, Kansas, where he attended the public schools until he was sixteen years of age. He then, in 1886, accompanied his parents to California, and the family home was established at Elsinore, Riverside County, where for a year he was variously employed. He then became a packer in the fruit packing establishment of Griffin & Skelly at Riverside, three years later became foreman for the Riverside Fruit Company, and later he held a similar position with F. B. Devine & Company, fruit packers. In 1900 he removed to Hollywood and became house man- ager of the Cahuenga Valley Lemon Exchange. In 1901 he removed to Whittier and organized the Whittier Citrus Association, of which he served as manager until October, 1904. He then became manager of the Corona Lemon Company at Corona, Riverside County, which position he held until his death.
The foresight and business acumen of Mr. Hampton were specially effective when he brought about the organization of the Corona Foot- hill Lemon Company, which acquired 900 acres of land on the mesa south of Corona-a tract specially adapted to lemon culture by reason of its being far above the frost line. Under the vigorous management of Mr. Hampton 600 acres were planted to lemons and 100 acres to oranges. An abundant supply of water has been developed from wells, and in commission is a pumping plant of 600 horsepower, in connection with which has been installed three miles of pipe line, with a capacity of 250 miners' inches. The Corona Foothill Lemon Com- pany was incorporated in 1911, with a capital stock of $300,000, which was later increased to $500,000, and with official corps as fol- lows: Samuel B. Hampton, president; W. A. McIntosh, vice presi- dent; S. R. Case, secretary; and the First National Bank of Corona, treasurer. After the death of Mr. Hampton in 1918 W. A. McIntosh became president of the company, and in the position of vice president was succeeded by David Blanckenhorn. The officers remain as above noted, Robert L. Hampton having become general manager in 1918, shortly after the death of his father, which occurred on October 16th of that year.
Aside from his connection with the Corona Foothill Lemon Com- pany Mr. Hampton was president of the Temescal Water Company, president of the Exchange By-Products Company, manager of the Corona Lemon Company and a member of the Queen Colony Fruit Exchange, besides being the Corona representative at the California Fruit Growers' Exchange at Los Angeles. It was mainly through the efforts of Mr. Hampton that the Exchange By-Products Company was established at Corona, he having been president of this company from the time of its organization until his death.
Mr. Hampton was a stalwart advocate of the principles of the republican party, was a progressive and public-spirited citizen, and as a man he commanded unqualified popular confidence and esteem. He was a birthright member of the Society of Friends, and held this religious faith most earnestly and consistently. Mr. Hampton mar- ried Miss Nora Willits, daughter of Gabriel B. Willits, of Riverside, and since his death she has continued to maintain her home at Corona. Of the three children Robert L. is the eldest ; Ethlyn remains with her widowed mother ; and Doris is the wife of A. E. Daniels, of Corona.
Robert Lester Hampton, only son of the subject of this memoir, gained his early education in the public schools of Corona and there- after continued his studies in the University of California as a member
1183
SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTIES
of the class of 1916. After leaving the university he became ranch foreman for the Corona Foothill Lemon Company, and since 1918 he has been its manager. He is a republican in political allegiance, and is affiliated with the Del Rey Club. September 17. 1920, recorded his marriage with Miss Jessamine Hunt, daughter of Mrs. Alice Hunt, of Corona, and the one child of this union is a son, Robert Lester, Jr. Mrs. Hampton was born in Corona and attended the public and high schools. She was afforded the advantages of Leland Stanford, Jr., University, and is a popular figure in the representative social activities of her home community.
MARK D. ANDERSON is prominently identified with the fruit packing industry in Riverside County, where he is secretary and manager of the Orange Heights Fruit Association, the modern packing house of which is established at the intersection of Main Street and the tracks of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad at Corona.
The Orange Heights Fruit Association was organized in 1905, on October 7th of which year it was incorporated with a capital stock of $25,000 and with the following named officers: F. F. Thompson, president; L. A. Fink, secretary; and the First National Bank of Corona as treasurer. The new corporation purchased the packing house of the Faye Fruit Company, and promptly proceeded with the rebuilding and remodeling of the plant. On the 3Ist of August, 1914, the capital stock was increased to $50,000, and the following officers were elected: W. C. Barth, president; J. C. Read, secretary ; Corona National Bank, treasurer. The officers of the association at the opening of the year 1922 are as here noted: J. B. Cook, president ; L. A. Fink, vice president; Mark D. Anderson, secretary and man- ager ; Corona National Bank, treasurer. The packing house gives an aggregate floor space of 193,500 square feet, the facilities are of the most approved type, and at the plant employment is given to seventy- five persons, while in the fields during the fruit-packing season the association has an average of 150 employes. The association handles fruit from 1,100 acres, its property investment represents fully $150,000 and its indebtedness is only $8,000, so that its affairs are in a most prosperous condition and its influence large in connection with the fruit industry in this section of the state.
Mark D. Anderson was born in Morgan County, Ohio, on the 1st of June, 1880, and is a son of Adelbert A. and Mary Catherine (DeVolle) Anderson. Mr. Anderson was a child at the time of the family removal to Bourbon County, Kentucky, where he attended the public schools. Later he attended the McConnelsville Normal School at McConnelsville, Ohio, after which he read law in the office of Kinzies Porter of Zanes- ville, that state. At Zanesville he finally became manager of the business of the F. E. Hemmer Company, manufacturing confectioners and whole- sale dealers in fruit and produce. Prior to taking up the study of law he had given three years of successful service as a teacher in the public schools in Bourbon County, Kentucky, and at Zanesville, Ohio. He con- tinued his connection with F. E. Hemmer Company three years, and there- after was associated with the wholesale commission business in the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In this connection he came to California in the capacity of purchasing agent. In 1904 he here became associated with Arthur Gregory, who was then general manager of the Mutual Orange Distributors at Redlands. Within a short time thereafter Mr. Anderson became manager of the Carlsbad Guano & Fertilizer Company, in which connection he was in active service two years at Carlsbad, New
1184
SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTIES
Mexico, his executive duties involving considerable travel in Mexico. Upon his return to California he assumed the position of district manager of the Mutual Orange Distributors, and with this corporation he continued his alliance, in various capacities, until 1919, when he became the incum- bent of his present dual office of secretary and manager of the Orange Heights Fruit Association.
Mr. Anderson is a valued member of the Corona Chamber of Com- merce, is a director of the Queen Colony Fruit Exchange, and the Exchange Orange Producers Company, is a republican in politics, and is a member of the Corona Country Club.
In 1900 Mr. Anderson wedded Miss Myrtle O'Brannon, of McCon- nelsville, Ohio, and the two children of this union, I. M. and Madeline, reside at Zanesville, Ohio. The present marriage of Mr. Anderson was solemnized in January, 1917, when Miss Daisy Helen Moberly, of Wichita, Kansas, became his wife. They have no children.
SILAS A. DUDLEY may well be considered one of the pioneers and rep- resentative citizens of Corona, Riverside County, where he has a well improved orange and lemon grove and an attractive home which has been his place of abode since 1895, when he purchased the property, at 3010 Main Street. That he has full claim for pioneer distinction is evident when it is stated that he hauled the lumber for the construction of the first house at Corona, which was originally known as South Riverside. Mr. Dudley came to Riverside County in 1885, and in his independent activities in the growing of citrus fruit he has met with well merited success, his present fruit grove comprising twelve acres and the property being exceptionally well improved.
Mr. Dudley was born at Mendon, Massachusetts, July 5, 1857, and is a scion of a family early established in New England, that gracious cradle of much of our national history. He is a descendant of Governor Dudley of the Massachusetts Colony, and of Edward Rawson, secretary of the Massachusetts Bay Company. His parents, Edward and Mary (Ellis) Dudley, passed their entire lives in Massachusetts, and the father devoted his active career to farm enterprise.
Silas A. Dudley gained his youthful education in the public schools of his native place and thereafter was associated with the work and man- agement of the old home farm until 1885, when he came to Riverside County, California, where he has been associated with the splendid develop- ment and progress that have marked the intervening years. He has had no desire to enter the arena of practical politics but is loyally aligned in the ranks of the republican party, and as a citizen has ever shown deep interest in community affairs of public order.
On August 28, 1895, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Dudley and Miss Carrie V. C. Jordan, daughter of Simeon L. and Emma E. (Sparks) Jordan, at that time residents of Milford, Massachusetts, Mrs. Dudley having, however, been reared and educated in the State of New York. She was born in Newburg, New York, November 5, 1874. Of their three children it may be recorded that Miss Ruth, a teacher in the Lincoln School of Corona, remains at the parental home; Edward A. is, in 1921-2, a student in the University of California; and Charlotte, a Junior in High School, is the youngest member of the parental home circle.
EZRA J. POST, a resident of Mentone, at the green and vigorous old age of ninety, is one of the few survivors of that intrepid band of pioneers who poured over the plains and across the mountains to the Pacific Coast in the years immediately following the first dis-
1185
SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTIES
coveries of precious metal in California. His life for a number of years was given to the diversified activities of ranching, mechanical labor and mining in the northwestern states, following which he did a suc- cessful business on the castern slope of the Rockies, and finally resorted to Southern California as a means of restoring health and has continued here a role of business activity that would shame many a younger man.
Mr. Post was born in Madison County in Southern Illinois in 1831. and grew up and acquired his education in Illinois. He was born on a farm and learned the blacksmith's trade. It was in May, 1851, when he was about twenty years of age, that he left St. Joseph, Missouri, then one of the chief outfitting points on the Missouri River for California and western immigrants. He drove one of the twenty-one ox teams in a party made up of about a hundred people who went over the old Lewis and Clark trail, and after about five months arrived at Oregon City, Oregon, on September 10. 1851. It was a journey fraught with many hardships and dangers. The party was attacked by Snake Indians on Snake River and two of the members killed. They drove over the Cas- cade Mountains through a foot of snow and in bitter cold. They had to cut alder for cattle forage and many of their oxen died. Reaching the Chutes River they found it swollen to a depth of fifteen feet, and for two or three days had to remain on one side with only crackers and sugar for their food until the flood subsided and they could cross to ob- tain supplies of meat and other provisions. In Oregon Mr. Post found it warm and comfortable, and at once resumed his trade as a blacksmith. As a plow maker he was called upon to make those implements of agri- culture for farmers living from one end to the other of the Willamette Valley. For four years he continued making plows and doing mechanical repair work for steamboats. He then started a ranch, setting out an orchard and growing grain. When he planted his apple trees that fruit was selling at six dollars a box, but by the time the trees came into bear- ing there was no market and he fed the fruit to his stock. Mr. Post was a pioneer horticulturist in the Northwest, when fruit trees were not burdened with pests and there was no occasion to spray and the fruit itself was perfect. He and his brother, John, during one season equipped an ox train and did the first freighting of goods into Orofino, Idaho. From there he went over into the Salmon River basin of Idaho and did some mining and prospecting. He remained in the valley during the win- ter, when snow covered the ground to a depth of nine feet, and while there he suffered an illness that almost took him away. Two of his friends decided to get out of the valley, one of them, a Portland mer- chant worth thirty thousand dollars and another, Mr. Mulkey, worth about ten thousand dollars, and froze to death in the attempt.
In the meantime Mr. Post had retained his Oregon ranch. During that winter of unprecedented severity he lost forty out of forty-two head of livestock, and stock of all descriptions perished all the way from Idaho down to The Dalles in Oregon. On giving up his Oregon ranch Mr. Post returned to the Salmon River Valley and engaged in mining, packing, trading and blacksmithing. It . was an unprofitable venture, largely through the dishonesty of his partners, one of whom subsequently committed suicide at Boise.
Leaving that country altogether, Mr. Post in 1870 went to Denver, reaching that city penniless, and for two years made a living as a jour- neyman blacksmith. He saved and made money, and this time never experimented with partners. From Denver he removed to Trinidad, Colorado, where he engaged in the hardware business. As a prospering business man he was liberal of his means in promoting railroad enter-
1186
SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTIES
prises, and gave five hundred dollars toward the fund to secure the right of way for the Santa Fe Railroad, three hundred dollars for the Den- ver and Rio Grande, a sum subsequently refunded, and contributed two thousand dollars to the proposed Denver, Texas & Gulf Railway. He was made treasurer of the company that raised a hundred and eight thousand dollars to purchase the right of way for this last named road. It turned out to be a very profitable business for him, since the road turned many accounts toward him and he sold goods over a three hun- dred mile stretch up and down the line and frequently got out of bed in the middle of the night to supply an order for goods. He also started a branch store at Albuquerque, New Mexico, and this, too, was profitable, since he had friendly connections with the Santa Fe people. Mr. Post continued merchandising at Trinidad for sixteen years, though for the last six years of that time he spent his winters in Southern California.
Gradually, suffering from impaired health, he sold out and in 1887, moved to Los Angeles, determined to rebuild his constitution. That he has done so his subsequent active life of over thirty years abundantly proves. On going to Los Angeles he bought ten acres in the city, and sold one lot for enough to pay for the entire purchase price. For a number of years he was one of the very successful real estate dealers in Los Angeles.
In 1890 Mr. Post bought twenty-two acres on the bench land known as Green Spot, near Mentone. He acquired this tract from W. P. Mc- Intosh and Marlett. The purchase was made entirely against the advice of his friends, who thought the land lay too high in the valley. How- ever, he planted it to Navel oranges, and it is now one of the show places of California horticulture. Later he added another ten acres, and this tract has been developed to the Valencia oranges. Thirty years ago it was totally wild land, and his capital and efforts have set the pace for much development all over that region. Mr. Post has lived at Mentone with his daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Hart, since June 23, 1920.
In 1873 he married Miss Anna A. Barraclough, a native of New York City. She died February 9, 1920, after they had traveled life's highway and shared life's fortunes and reverses for forty-seven years. Mr. and Mrs. Post had two daughters. Mrs. Ada E. Easley, now a widow, lives at Glendale, California, and has three children. Frederick. Leland and Bernice Easley. The second daughter, Mabel Josephine, is the wife of Sherman E. Hart, and they have three children, Gaylord, born May 31, 1913; Donald Post, born in 1915, and Sherman Lee Hart, born in 1921.
Mr. Sherman Hart is a native of Illinois and is one of the men of distinctive enterprise in the citizenship of Mentone. He has had a diversified business experience and career, has lost at times but has begun over again and has made himself financially one of the strong men of this section of the state. Mr. and Mrs. Hart recently erected a beautiful modern home against the background of mountain scenery and with a beautiful view of the valley below.
FRED J. MUELLER is secretary and general manager of the Corona Citrus Association, the oldest and most important fruit-packing concern in the Corona district of Riverside County. the enterprise dating its inception back to the year 1893, when the Queen Colony Fruit Association was incor- porated with a capital stock of $10,000 and with the following named citizens as incorporators and directors : E. B. Alderman, George L. Jov, David Lord, Ambrose Compton, R. B. Taylor, J. S. Jewell and T. P.
1187
SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTIES
Drinkwater. The packing house of this original association was erected by Frank Scoville and T. P. Drinkwater at the intersection of Sheridan Street and the tracks of the Santa Fe Railroad at Corona. In 1896 the Queen Colony Fruit Exchange was established, with the same corps of officers and directors, and under this title the business was continued until 1905, when a reorganization was effected and the title of the Corona Citrus Association was adopted. Of the corporation the present officers are as here noted : F. M. Bender, president ; S. A. Dudley, vice president ; Fred J. Mueller, secretary and general manager ; and the First National Bank of Corona, treasurer. The association gives employment to 100 persons, its packing house affords 43,000 square feet of floor space, and the capacity of the same is for the output of 250 carloads of fruit a year, both oranges and lemons being shipped through this effective medium. The association is a co-operative organization made up of representative fruit-growers of this district, and there is made no attempt to gain direct profit from its operations.
Fred J. Mueller was born at Ney Ulm, Brown County, Minnesota, on the 28th of December, 1882, and is a son of Jacob and Frances (Schultz) Mueller. He received his youthful education in the public schools of his native city and those of Indianapolis, Indiana, and thereafter attended the celebrated Shattuck Military Academy at Faribault, Minne- sota. In 1906 he graduated from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, from which institution he received the degree of civil engineer. For the ensuing two years he was employed as a civil engineer in connection with the Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati & St. Louis (Big Four) Railroad, with headquarters at Indianapolis, Indiana, and then, in 1908, came to Cali- fornia. In August of that year he purchased stock in the First National Bank of Corona, and of this institution he continued the efficient and popular cashier for three years. He then sold his stock in the bank and became actively identified with the citrus fruit industry in this district as the owner of a producing orange and lemon grove. In 1917 he became manager of the Corona Citrus Association, and as its secretary and general manager he has done much to make its service effective in promoting the the best interests of the fruit growers interested in the co-operative organization.
Mr. Mueller is influential in the local councils and campaign activities of the republican party and is, in 1921-2, a member of the Republican Central Committee of Riverside County. He has served one term as a member of the City Council of Corona, is a loyal member and a director of the Corona Chamber of Commerce, is president of the Queen Colony Fruit Exchange, is a member of the Corona Country Club, is affiliated with the Phi Gamma Delta college fraternity, and in the Masonic fraternity he has received the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite and is affiliated also with the Mystic Shrine.
December 9, 1908, recorded the marriage of Mr. Mueller and Miss Flora Keely, who was born and reared in Indianapolis, Indiana, where her early educational advantages included those of the State Normal School. She is a daughter of J. H. and Harriet Keely. Mr. and Mrs. Mueller have one daughter, Marjorie.
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.