USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume III > Part 26
USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume III > Part 26
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Then the great Klondike excitement came on and everyone wanted to join the rush of gold seekers, and every man who could did. Judge
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Barry went and passed through all the trials and perils incident to such an expedition. He passed in over the Chilkoot Pass through the most dangerous rapids, prospecting on Nisutlin River. He made practically nothing as far as the securing of gold went, but he gained an infinitude of experience and a knowledge of men in the rough, and learned how quickly men revert back to almost primitiveness. He remained there twenty months in all.
All through the long cold winter Judge Barry was in camp with the world's most venturesome men, and he took advantage of the opportunity given him and organized a Sunday school, a fact that has since been used in both songs and stories of that most strenuous life. One can imagine against what odds he fought, and yet before the winter was over he had the entire camp enrolled and deeply interested. For years afterward he would meet men who been in that class of his in the far North, and men who still clung to his teachings. For forty years Judge Barry was a member of the Christian Church. When he was twenty-one Judge Barry became a member of the Masonic Order, and was a member for nearly fifty years.
After returning from Alaska Judge Barry entered the journalistic field by the purchase of the Tribune and the Democrat of Benton, Kentucky, which he at once consolidated, naming his paper "The Tribune-Democrat." It was, of course, democratic in principles. While he made it an unqualified success he decided to sell it in 1910 and did so, moving out west to Texas. There he purchased the Colorado Citizen, a democratic paper. He scored another success, but owing to the ill health of his daughter he was forced to sell out again, and he did so, moving this time to Fort Stockton, Texas. Here he purchased another paper, the Fort Stockton Pioneer. He put this paper in a flourishing condition.
He was appointed postmaster of the city in 1912, and he held the position until forced to resign, owing to ill health. He had other interests, among them a large acreage of alfalfa, which he had to dispose of in order to come out to California and not be bothered with business cares. He came to the Golden State in 1919, locating in Redlands in August of that year. He invested in an orange grove and practically retired to enjoy the beautiful Southland. But he was not to enjoy it for long, for on October 23, 1920, he entered into life eternal.
Judge Barry was united in marriage on August 22, 1877, with Laura Paine, a daughter of Thomas and Mary (Cassidy) Paine, of Paducah, Kentucky. She was born on the Cumberland River at Eddyville. Her parents were prominent Methodists. Her father was a well known tobacco dealer. Judge and Mrs. Barry were the parents of three children : Blanche is now Mrs. J. L. Mitchell, of Fort Stockton, Texas. The second child died in infancy, and the third child died at the age of six, when the father was in far off Alaska.
The wife of Judge Barry is living now in Redlands.
ALFRED L. WOODILL was born at Halifax, Nova Scotia, was brought to California when three years of age, received his education in River- side, and in after years has been prominently identified with the great local industry of growing and packing oranges. He is now owner of the California Mutual Packing Company of Riverside.
Local history will always give credit for many distinctions to the life and character of his father, Dr. Alfred H. Woodill, who during his residence here was an inspiration to the Riverside community, a
Vol. 111-12
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capable and kindly physician, a loved citizen, and possessed a sturdy practical idealism whose benefits can hardly be measured.
Doctor Woodill was a native of Nova Scotia, practiced medicine there until 1879, when he came to Riverside, and here resumed his professional work. His death on March 30, 1888, was acknowledged as a great public loss, every bank and business house in the city clos- ing its doors as an expression of sorrow on the day of his funeral. It was the first time in the history of Riverside that such a general tribute was paid to the memory of any resident. Doctor Woodill was claimed as a friend by all prominent pioneers of Riverside. His charities were many, and owing to his scholarly attainments and wide general knowledge his advice was in constant demand. He enjoyed generous means earned by his long devotion to his profession, and had the invaluable characteristic of constructive imagination which always dominated his public spirited efforts. When Matthew Gage outlined to Doctor Woodill the project of putting thousands of acres of land under irrigation, the Doctor understood the implications and vast possibilities of the project fully as well as its originator. Ile supplied Mr. Gage with the money necessary for the preliminary survey. Thus was instituted what later developed into the Gage Canal, the first definite act towards the realization of a constructive undertaking whose subsequent benefit to the people of Riverside is beyond all calculation. While Doctor Woodill died more than thirty years ago, he was in his life time able to visualize a picture of the Riverside of the future, a great landscape of beautiful and productive orange groves, with a contented people living in the fairest and most favored spot on earth. That the vision materialized in all its essential details is a story that can never be told without some reference to the part played by Doctor Woodill. Doctor Woodill and Mr. Gage were close friends, the latter depending upon and following the former's suggestions until the last.
Doctor Woodill married Sarah Elizabeth Blanchard, a native of Prince Edward Island and of English descent. She died at Los Angeles in 1917, but was laid to rest beside her husband at Riverside. Her father, Judge Hiram Blanchard, was a member of the High Court of Canada and was the first member from Nova Scotia in the Dominion Parliament.
Alfred L. Woodill attended the grammar and high schools of Riverside. He was still a boy when his father died, and after that he spent two years in Halifax. Since his return to Riverside his work has largely been in orange packing, and he has been one of the promi- nent growers as well, at one time owning 150 acres distributed in several groves. For two years he was employed by the firm of Boyd & Devine, and was with the California Fruit Growers Exchange the first two years of its organization.
In 1910 Mr. Woodill started in the packing house business for himself, owning the Penn Fruit Company. Finding this unprofitable, he disposed of the business and for several years following represented various Eastern packing houses. In 1916 he took over the California Mutual Packing Company, an incorporated company, and has since been its sole owner. Through this company he packs from 250 to 300 cars annually. The plant of the California Mutual Packing Company is regarded as the most modern and best equipped in the district.
Mr. Woodill is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and the Farm Bureau, the Pioneer Society, and is a past exalted ruler of Riverside Lodge No. 643, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is
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an independent republican and has served as a member of the County Central Committee.
At Galesburg, Illinois, Mr. Woodill married Miss Florence May Brown, a native of that state. A sketch of her father, James E. Brown, of Riverside, appears in the following sketch. Mr. and Mrs. Woodill have one son, Chesney E. Woodill, now in the class of 1924 at the University of California. He served a season at Camp Kearney as a member of the Reserve Officers Training Corps, which work he is now follow- ing at Berkeley, in addition to his other studies.
JAMES E. BROWN lived for sixty years in Illinois, where he was a farmer and manufacturer, and for the past quarter of a century has effectively employed his capital and enterprise in the productive end of the citrus fruit industry in Riverside County, where he is one of the old and honored residents.
Mr. Brown was born in Illinois, April 2, 1837. His grandfather, who died about 1817, participated in the War of the Revolution and also in the second war with Great Britain. George W. Brown, father of James E., was a native of New York state. He was an early settler in Northern Illinois, and was the patentee of the first corn planter, which was known as the Brown corn planter. He served at one time as mayor of Galesburg, and being too old for active duty he nevertheless contributed most liberally of money and influence for the Union cause during the Civil war. George W. Brown married Maria T. Terpenning, also a native of New York state, and of Dutch and English parentage.
James E. Brown acquired a district school education in Illinois. He worked on his father's farm until the latter engaged in manufac- turing, and from 1862 until 1874 he farmed on his own account near Galesburg. In 1874 he joined the manufacturing business of his father, and when the company was incorporated in 1880 he became treasurer, an office he continued to hold and the duties of which he performed until the death of his father in 1895.
It was in January, 1896, that Mr. Brown came to California, and he has since acquired many active interests in the business of growing and handling fruit. He owns six 10 acre groves, three on East Eighth Street and three on Linden Street. He is a director in the East Riverside Water Company and has been a director of the Monte Vista Fruit Association since it was formed and was one of the original members of the La Mesa Fruit Company. He was formerly a stock- holder and also a director in the Orange Growers Bank, the Citizens Bank and the Riverside National Bank. Mr. Brown votes as an inde- pendent republican. His home at 590 Fourteenth Street was built of cement blocks in 1906, and is one of the substantial and attractive residences of the city.
May 2, 1859, Mr. Brown married Miss Mary Eleanor Musser, a native of Ohio. She died at Galesburg, Illinois, in 1910. Of their three children only one survives. Jennie Elizabeth was the wife of M. J. Daugherty, and is survived by a son, Edwin M. Daugherty. The son, George Edwin Brown, died in 1892. Florence May, the surviving daughter, is the wife of A. L. Woodill.
EDWARD L. WILLIAMSON .- Eighteen years ago Mr. Williamson was assistant engineer for the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company. During a leave of absence he visited California. A few days at Riverside convinced him that no other locality could hence-
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forth claim his complete allegiance as a home. In the years that have since elapsed his name has become an accepted synonym of the larger enterprise in the horticultural and agricultural development of this section, and in commercial and civic affairs as well.
Mr. Williamson was born at Janesville, Wisconsin, March 29, 1879, son of Lucius N. and Alice (Hawes) Williamson, both deceased and both of English ancestry. His father was born in Vermont and his mother in Canada. Lucius Williamson for a number of years was connected with the manufacturing interests of Janesville, Wisconsin, and subsequently for a long period represented the house of M. D. Wells of Chicago as a traveling salesman.
In the City of Janesville Edward L. Williamson spent his youth. He attended public school there, and in 1900 graduated from the University of Wisconsin with the degree of Bachelor of Science in civil engineering. The first year after leaving university he was an in- spector with the Milwaukee Gas Light Company. Then for three years he was an assistant engineer on the engineering staff of the Rock Island Railroad.
The leave of absence which he spent in California came in 1904. His first undertaking in Riverside was the establishment of a poultry plant on Bandini Avenue. Six months later his technical services as an engineer were engaged in the Gage Canal Company and the River- side Trust Company, with which he remained until December, 1909.
At that date Mr. Williamson took charge as engineer and superin- tendent of the West Riverside holdings of the Ennis Brothers' property, consisting of a 1,000 acres of raw land. He still has charge of the Sunny Slope Rancho, as it is known, and has about 450 acres under cultivation, with 375 acres devoted to citrus fruits 80 acres in alfalfa. This alone constitutes one of the largest undertakings in horticultural development in this section of the state in recent years.
In 1916, when the flood waters wiped out the north end of the Jurupa Canal, which supplies water for all the West Riverside property, Mr. Williamson became chairman of the committee of reconstruction and reorganization of the affairs of the canal, and has since been president and manager of the West Riverside Canal Company. Since 1913 he has been a part owner and manager of the Ennis and Williamson Dairy Ranch of San Bernardino County. This ranch has a herd of 150 producing cows and 150 head of young stock. Mr. Williamson is manager and director of the Jurupa Water Company, and vice president and director of the La Sierra Water Company. Individually he owns a 12 acre orange grove at 388 Bandini Avenue, which is his home address. He is a member of the Riverside Heights Packing Association No. 10. He has re- cently extended his field of operations, and on May 1, 1921, bought an interest in the Riverside Implement Company, the name of which has since been changed to the Riverside Motor Sales Company, of which he is vice president and assistant manager, the president and manager being C. W. Cell.
Mr. Williamson is a member of the Tri-County Reforestation Committee, and until recently was a member of the Farm Bureau. He is a republican voter, had two years of military training while in the University of Wisconsin, was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity there and is a member of the Present Day Club and the Riverside Rotary Club.
cwcell.
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CHARLES W. CELL .- While a farmer and business man in Kansas Charles W. Cell made a visit to California, which turned all the destinies and enthusiasm of his life in this direction and for the past ten years he has been rapidly climbing to and achieving success in Riverside, where he is president and active head of the Riverside Motor Sales Company, an extensive business that grew out of a hardware and implement house.
Mr. Cell was born in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, February 23, 1878, but from early infancy was reared in Kansas. The Cell family is an old and historical one both in America and in Germany. There was a Matthew Cell named as a contemporary in the Reformation with Martin Luther. Members of the family came to the American Colonies in early days. The great-great-grandfather of Charles W. C'ell was a soldier of the Revolution and was with Washington when the latter, at the head of his troops, crossed the Delaware. The late John F. Cell, father of Charles W., served three years as a Union soldier with a Pennsylvania Regiment, was with the Army of the Potomac and also with Sherman on the march from Atlanta to the sea. On leaving Pennsylvania he moved out to Kansas, first settled in Marion County, where his efforts were afflicted by the plague of grasshoppers and drought, and from there he removed to Osage County. His widow, Mary (Croft) Cell, was born in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, of an old American family of German descent. and is now living at Topeka, Kansas. She had brothers who were Union soldiers. Her eight living children are: John F., a practicing lawyer in Kansas City, Missouri, who married Florence Musson and has five children; George Croft, who holds the chair of theology in Boston University, married Miss Ella Clark and has three children ; Charles W. is the third in age; Miss Lottie is a high school teacher in Illinois ; Martin Luther is a well known newspaper man at Redlands, California, and is married and has two children; Mary is the wife of Sherman Shoup, a musician in Chicago, and they have a family of five ; Christian is an ex-service man who was in France; and Samuel is a clerk in the Chicago mail order house of Montgomery Ward & Co., and is married and has one child.
Charles W. Cell was reared in Osage County, Kansas, attending public schools there and working on his father's farm. At the age of twenty-one he bought land of his own, and his interests were those of a Kansas farmer until he was twenty-eight years of age. He then engaged in the grain and elevator business at Wakarusa in Shawnee County, Kansas, operating as a grain dealer there for three years. Just before he entered the grain business he made the trip to California that decided him in the choice of a permanent home environment. As soon as he disposed of his grain business he returned to California, becoming a resident of Riverside in 1911. Here with limited capital he acquired some stock in the firm of Davenport, Wheeler, Allen Company, successors to what was known as the old Stewart Imple- ment and Hardware business at 446 West Eighth Street. Mr. Cell as a member of the company became active manager of the business, and as this enterprise prospered he eventually became sole owner. In the meantime he moved his location to 301 West Eighth Street, where the name was changed to the Riverside Implement Company. Recently change has been made to the Riverside Motor Sales Com- pany, of which Mr. Cell is president and manager. The first change of name was due to the transfer of the stock to new ownership and the last change came when the company abandoned its implement
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department and confined its attention entirely to auto vehicles. The company has the agencies of the Hudson and Essex motor cars and the Moreland trucks, Reo speed wagons and utility trailers, both of the latter being manufactured at Los Angeles and consequently a Cali- fornia product which Mr. Cell always favors in advance of others. Mr. Cell now has the largest motor sales agencies in Riverside County. A large block of the treasury stock has been purchased by E. L. Williamson, who is vice president and assistant manager of the company. Another stockholder is Miss Martha Simpson, who has kept the books of the firm for four years and is head bookkeeper and accountant. Mr. Cell and Mr. Williamson are interested financially in the Monte Belle and Richfield United Oil Wells, where some profit- able properties have been developed.
So far as his businss obligations permit Mr. Cell has taken a deep and active interest in the welfare of his home city. For the past five years he has been superintendent of the First Methodist Episcopal Sunday School, giving much time to church work. He has been a director for ten years in the Riverside Young Men's Christian Association, and is especially interested in the athletic department of that organization. He is a Mason and a member of the Chamber of Commerce and of the Kiwanis and Present Day clubs. March 1, 1899, he married Miss Ada Burk, a native of Kansas. Her father, Homer Burk, was a pioneer of that state and of an old American family of English descent. Mr. and Mrs. Cell have a daughter, Mary Ellen, member of the class of 1922 in the Riverside High School.
JOHN H. URQUHART, president and manager of the Sierra Vista Packing Association, is known personally or by name in all the large citrus purchasing centers in the United States, and his name is accepted as a guarantee for all citrus products that pass through his packing house. A resident of Riverside for more than thirty years, Mr. Urquhart's experience has led him through every phase of citrus production, packing and marketing. In citizenship in the community his name stands equally high.
Mr. Urquhart was born in Nova Scotia, September 17, 1856, and on both sides represents sturdy Scotch ancestry. His parents were William and Barbara (Mackenzie) Urquhart. His mother was born in Nova Scotia of Scotch parentage. His father, a native of Scotland, went to Nova Scotia when twenty-one years of age, and the rest of his life was spent in mercantile business.
John H. Urquhart acquired a good education in public schools and an academy in Nova Scotia. At the age of fifteen he was working in his father's store. His father also operated a 400 acre ranch. At the age of seventeen John was given full charge of this property, owing to the death of his older brother. It was a big undertaking, but he handled it with a resourcefulness that seems fundamental in his character. He continued its management seven years, and later found time to take an extended trip through Canada and the Middle West of the United States. After returning home he engaged in the dry goods and grocery business for himself, and was active in that line for seven years.
The severe climate of Eastern Canada made Mr. Urquhart a sufferer from chronic asthma, and in searching for relief his mind was turned in the direction of California. A friend who had spent much time in Riverside furnished him his first direct knowledge of this perfect environment. The friend, returning to Nova Scotia to dispose
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of his remaining interests in order to make California his permanent home, gave such an impetus to the growing desire of Mr. Urquhart that he, too, sold out and came to Riverside. He has never had occasion to regret that move, though he arrived here just after the boom, when ever business was at low ebb.
While possessing some means, it was not in accordance with his character to remain idle and enjoy it long. He was soon working in one of the packing houses, and through the actual contact of work- ing experience gained his thorough knowledge and understanding of the great industry in which he is now one of the accepted leaders. For twelve years Mr. Urquhart was connected with the La Mesa Packing Company, much of the time as its floor superintendent. He was for two years with the Arlington Heights Fruit Company and a like period of time with the Alta Cresta Fruit Company. During 1909-10 he organized the Sierra Vista Packing Association, and has since been its president and manager. From the time of his arrival up to about 1912-13 Mr. Urquhart bought, sold and planted various orange groves in the Riverside district. He disposed of all these holdings in order to be free to devote his entire time to the interests of the Packing Association. He is also president and a director of the Cresmer Manufacturing Company, whose planing mills and industrial organizations comprise one of the biggest establishments of Riverside. Mr. Urquhart is a member of the Kiwanis and Present Day Clubs. While a resident of Canada he was a member of the local militia and quite active in local elections. Since coming to California he has been naturalized as an American citizen and is a republican voter. He and Mrs. Urquhart are members of the Calvary Presbyterian Church, and both are active in that church, for which for many years he served as an elder. Mrs. Urquhart is a member of the Red Cross and devoted much of her time and energies to the local chapter during the World war.
In Nova Scotia December 3, 1889, Mr. Urquhart married Miss Emma M. Cunningham, native of Nova Scotia, daughter of Francis S. Cunningham, a contractor and builder, and of Scotch-Irish descent. Mr. and Mrs. Urquhart's only son, William Francis Urquhart, died in infancy. Their one daughter is Miss Jean Graham Urquhart, at home.
JOHN B. ODELL .- The name of John B. Odell is closely associated with the development of the orange industry of Riverside, and also with the general business life of this region, for he is a man whose energies have led him to take a dominating part in the various legiti- mate enterprises of the city with which he cast his lot in 1913, and prior to that date was a well-known figure in several of the large centers of industry of the country.
John B. Odell was born in Cleveland, Ohio, April 8, 1848, a son of John and Lydia (Cody) Odell, both of whom are now deceased. John Odell was born in Connecticut, and during his early life he was a teacher in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Later he was a general merchant of Twinsburg, Ohio, where he became a prominent man. The family is of Revolutionary stock and Scotch-Irish descent. Mrs. Odell was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and belonged to an old family of Scotch-Irish descent, the same one to which Col. W. F. Cody (Buffalo Bill) belonged.
After attending the public schools of Cleveland, Ohio, John B. Odell became a telegrapher, and worked as such and as a bookkeeper
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at Cleveland, Ohio, and Galesburg, Illinois. Subsequently he became train dispatcher for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, which position he held for fourteen years, and then went to Chicago, Illinois, where he was engaged in the manufacture of electrical sup- plies, and was closely connected with the Western Union Telegraph Company, supplying it with a number of manufactured articles. For fifty years he was connected with this company in different capacities. For a number of years he had charge of the telegraphic department at the republican national conventions, a position of great responsibility, and one which required a man with a thorough knowledge of the business. He was telegraph manager for the Associated Press at Chicago, and was the first operator for the Chicago American of that city, when that paper made its first appearance. While too young to serve during the war between the two sections of the country, Mr. Odell had three brothers in the service. Delos Odell, who is now deceased ; Joseph Odell, who is trust officer of the Lincoln Bank of Cleveland, Ohio; and Theodore Odell, who is now a consulting rail- road president of New York City, New York. He was general super- intendent of the Northern Pacific Railroad ; general superintendent of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad; president of the Pittsburgh & Erie Railroad ; and president of the Orient lines from Kansas City, Mis- souri, and is recognized to be one of the most experienced railroad men in the country.
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