USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume III > Part 30
USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume III > Part 30
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This splendid old pioneer died about 1909. He married Nancy Stewart at San Bernardino. She had come across the plains with her father from Utah.
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Their son William Winfield Holcomb is also a native of California, born in San Bernardino, where he was educated in the public schools. He served as a deputy clerk under his father, later engaged in the lumber business, and following that for many years was a feed and fuel merchant. He then resumed an official routine as deputy sheriff.
William W. Holcomb married at Santa Maria Miss Isabella Grant, a native of San Bernardino and daughter of John and Margaret (Nish) Grant, farmers and cattle raisers of that section.
' Grant Holcomb, only child of his parents, was born at San Bernardino and was carefully educated in the grammar and high schools of that city, graduating from high school in 1907. He soon afterward entered Stan- ford University, from which he received his A. B. degree in 1911, and in 1913 graduated with the degree J. D. He was admitted to the bar the same year, and for nearly ten years has been active in the legal profession at San Bernardino. He does a general practice, though with special call for his abilities in Probate work. He is attorney for the San Bernardino Auto Trades Association, and has his offices in the Garner Building at E and Court streets. Mr. Holcomb is a director of the California State Bank and of the Gill Storage Battery Company. He is a charter member of the Rotary Club and has served that club as a director, is a director of the Chamber of Commerce, and a member of the Young Men's Chris- tian Association, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Delta Chi college fraternity. For three years while in high school he was a member of the San Bernardino National Guard. He is treasurer of the Baptist Church, and has been deeply in- terested in politics, though not as an office seeker. For two terms he was a member of the Republican County Central Committee.
On June 15, 1916, at San Francisco, Mr. Grant Holcomb married Miss Eleanor Frances Burkham, a native of California and daughter of S. B. and M. L. Burkham, of Bodie, California. S. B. Burkham was a prominent participant in the rich and aried historical scenes that made Bodie one of the most famous towns of the great West. In the early days he owned the stage line and the general store at Bodie, and operated a stage between Bodie and Carson City, Nevada, when the transportation of passengers and mails was constantly beset by dangers of highwaymen. Mrs. Holcomb is also a graduate of Stanford University, receiving her A. B. degree in 1914. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Woman's Club of San Bernardino and is also a member of the Young Women's Christian Association. Mr. and Mrs. Holcomb have two chil- dren, Grant, Jr., and Kathryn Lee.
RICHARD HARRISON GARLAND was one of the original Chicago asso- ciation that founded the original colony properly regarded historically as the beginning of the modern city of Redlands. He gave a whole-souled devotion to every item in the welfare of the settlement during the years he lived here, and his memory is properly treasured as a pioneer.
Mr. Garland was born at Zanesville, Ohio, July 22, 1842. His father, Andrew Garland, was a stone mason by trade. Andrew Garland superin- tended the building of historic Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, the capture of which was the first open act of hostility at the beginning of the Civil war. His son Richard H. was a soldier in that war, and helped restore the union broken by the fall of Fort Sumter. From Zanesville Andrew Garland moved to Mount Vernon, Ohio, and was a farmer and stock raiser there until his death in 1873.
Richard Harrison Garland grew up in Ohio, and at the beginning of the Civil war enlisted in Company A of the Sixty-fifth Ohio Infantry. He
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participated in the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Perryville, Stone River, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, and at Missionary Ridge his brigade captured the batteries in front of General Bragg's head- quarters and turned the guns on the enemy. Through partial disablement about that time Mr. Garland was assigned to the Eastern Army, in the Quartermaster's Corps. At the close of the war he remained in the service of the army department in the Freedman's Bureau engaged in distributing supplies and establishing free schools for the negroes in the South. Later he was transferred to the Pacific Coast with the staff of General Thomas, and was present at the death of that great leader at San Francisco. When he resumed civilian life in 1870 he removed to Chicago, where he became a manufacturer of art furniture and interior decorations.
It was in 1886 that a group of Chicago people formed the association and planned the founding of a town and community in Southern Cali- fornia. Mr. Garland was one of the most active promoters of this project. An investigating committee was sent out and selected 440 acres, divided among the forty members of the association. Seventeen acres was set aside as a townsite and is now the business portion of Redlands. Mr. Garland came to Redlands in 1886, and with characteristic energy began the development of his own lands and worked with his fellow citizens in matters of general improvement. His tract of some thirty acres was situated on Citrus Avenue in East Redlands, and he began its develop- ment as an orange plantation. He also received his lot on the townsite on West State Street. He deeded this to his wife, and seven months later she sold it for $1,400. The original cost was $25.00. The main property located by Mr. Garland is still owned by the family. During the twelve active years he spent here he made improvements that reclaimed a sage brush tract into a profitable plantation. He levelled the land and filled up the ditches, installed irrigation, and by his planting started the develop- ment which is now represented by one of the most beautiful places at Red- lands. The substantial home still in use was erected from materials he transported by team and wagon from San Bernardino, there being no railroad to Redlands. Mr. Garland was one of the early directors of the local Chamber of Commerce, and was for four years a member of the Board of City Trustees. His death on May 27, 1898, removed one of the strongest and best men from local citizenship. He did the work of a pioneer, work that continues cumulative benefit to all subsequent genera- tions. He was a stanch republican in politics, though not interested in politics as a source of personal honor. He was a Scottish Rite Mason.
In 1872 Mr. Garland married Miss Margaret McGovern, a native of New Haven, Connecticut, who as a child moved with her parents to Chi- cago in 1864. She was the fifth in a family of nine children. Her brother John served throughout the Civil war and was killed at Atlanta by a sharpshooter just at the very close of the war. Mrs. Garland died October 27, 1918, at Redlands. She retained her vigor to old age and her appear- ance was that of a woman many years her junior. Of her children two survive: Sanford S. and Maud M. Garland.
The death of Mr. Garland in 1898 occurred at a time when, owing to the water shortages, the orange growers faced a crisis. Mrs. Garland showed the strength of her character by courageously taking up the burden, and by her personal resources and prudence and foresight maintaining the Garland orchard under difficulties so that in a large degree she was personally responsible for the beauty and productiveness of the tract today. She met every obligation scrupulously, and succeeded in rearing her chil- dren and. moveover, was a kind neighbor and loyal friend, so that many
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outside her family circle had reason to be grateful for her numerous acts of generosity and kindness.
F. P. MORRISON .- A native son of California, and a member of one of the pioneer families of the state, F. P. Morrison has lived in and about Redlands nearly forty years, and his energy and efforts have forged a strong link in the community's progress. He was actively identified with some of the important early constructive developments, and for many years has been a leading banker of Redlands.
Mr. Morrison was born at San Francisco August 31, 1859, son of A. L. Sarah (Pease) Morrison, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Michigan. The father was in business in Ohio until he came to California in the early days, and here took up the work of pioneer development of the water resources in the northern part of the state. Of four children, two sons and two daughters, F. P. Morrison was the oldest, and was only a child when his parents died. He acquired a liberal education, attending school at San Francisco and San Jose and then went East to pursue a technical course in the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale University. He left University in 1878, at the end of his junior year, on account of ill health. To regain health and strength he spent three years in the Hawaiian Islands, and in December, 1882, came to Riverside and the following year moved to Redlands. He was attracted here partly by the climate and scenery, but also by the wonder- ful possibilities for development of a country which was then mainly unproductive. His first purchase of land was on Palm Avenue. Prac- tically all of it was unimproved, but later he set it to and developed a splendid grove of oranges, and on it eventually he erected the handsome home he now enjoys. Mr. Morrison became one of the stockholders in Bear Valley Dam, owning 1,000 shares of the original 3,600. He sold his stock before this great pioneer project of irrigation was completed. He joined other undertakings projected for the general improvement of this section. However, to an increasing degree his financial abilities brought him into prominence, and as such he was instrumental in the establishment of what is now the First National Bank of Redlands. This was established March 5, 1887, as the Bank of East San Ber- nardino Valley, being opened for business on the 4th of April of that year. Mr. Morrison was the first president, and remained president through subsequent changes until ill health demanded his resignation about six years ago. This bank started with a stock of $25,000, and was first opened in the Cook Building at the corner of Colton Avenue and Orange Street. It was soon moved to the Wilson and Berry Block, opposite, and in 1892 to its present location at the southwest corner of Orange and State streets. This modern banking house is now the home of both the First National Bank of Redlands and the Savings Bank of Redlands, which was incorporated June 25, 1891. Mr. Morrison was also "the first president of the Savings Bank.
As a banker noted for his conservative judgment Mr. Morrison has been, nevertheless, progressive in every direction where the permanent and true welfare of the city and surrounding district was concerned. At the first election under the city charter he was chosen city treasurer, an office he held until recent years. He is a Knight Templar and thirty- second degree Scottish Rite Mason.
Mr. Morrison married Miss Mabel Stillman, daughter of Dr. J. D. B. Stillman. Mr. Morrison has four children, and derives the highest sense of patriotic satisfaction in the war record of his three sons. The oldest
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child, Laurence Stillman Morrison, born at Redlands May 28, 1888, graduated from high school, and, like the other sons, was sent East for his higher education. He graduated from the Phillips Andover Academy of Massachusetts in 1907, received his A. B. degree from Yale Univer- sity in 1911, and during the World war was in the Medical Corps with the One Hundred and Sixty-Third Field Hospital, seeing active service overseas in France from December, 1917, to April, 1919. He was mustered out May 24, 1919, and was assistant cashier of the Savings Bank of Redlands. The second son, Stanley Morrison, was born June 4, 1892, graduated from Phillips Andover Academy in 1911, from Yale Univer- sity with the A. B. degree in 1915, and from Harvard Law School with the LL.B. degree. In August, 1917, he enlisted, was assigned to the One Hundred and Forty-fourth Field Artillery, was trained at Camp Kearney, and while there received a commission as second lieutenant, was sent to the School of Fire at Fort Sill, becoming an instructor while there, and as an instructor remained at Fort Sill until the close of the war. He was promoted to first lieutenant. He is now engaged in law practice at San Francisco. The third of the family is Amy, Mrs. H. O. Philips, of Pasadena. The youngest, William Pease Morrison, born May 7, 1895, at Redlands, attended local schools, graduated from Phillips Andover Academy in 1914, spent one year in the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale, and two years in the University of California. He left university to enlist in the ambulance corps, and was assigned to a camp at Allen- town, Pennsylvania, subsequently attending the Officers Training School at Camp Meade, Maryland, and was commissioned a second lieutenant. He was on duty at Camp Upton, Long Island, as acting battalion adjutant in the Depot Brigade, and remained there until after the signing of the armistice, when he was released from service. He is now managing one of his father's ranches in the San Joaquin Valley.
HERMAN RUDOLPH HERTEL-Both as a merchant and as a public spirited citizen Herman Rudolph Hertel set a standard of conduct and character that Southern Californians will do well to cherish in grateful memory. His home and business interests were at Pasadena though his influence was not confined altogether to that city.
He was a native son, born at Healdsburg, California, in 1862. As a young man in 1887 he came to Pasadena, and founded in that young city the Bon Accord, the first large dry goods store of Pasa- dena. To that business he devoted his time and energies the re- maining years of his life, and he kept the store apace with the growth of the city. The best tribute to his career as a business man is found in resolutions adapted by the Pasadena Merchants' Association, from which the following paragraph is taken :
"Pasadena is again called upon to pay tribute to a good man. It mourns its loss, but consoles itself with the reflections that the souls of the truly good live beyond the grave. Herman R. Hertel, was such a man. Honored by being called to many public offices, which he filled not only with distinction to himself, but with great credit to our city, he was a merchant of the type that stands for high ideals, one who constantly endeavors to help those who were in need, yet his benefactions were bestowed in such a manner as not to provoke praise. As president of our Merchants' Association, he gave his best, and that was good. In all the transactions of life Herman R. Hertel was the soul of honor, and was often entrusted with important affairs with implicit confidence, and he never failed to render a satisfactory account of his stewardship. He was held
HERMAN R. HERTEL
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in the highest esteem, and his loss is deeply deplored by the com- munity at large."
He had in later years extensive financial and investment interests besides his dry goods store. He was a director in the Pasadena National Bank, served as president of the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce, president of the Rose Tournament Association, president of the Merchants and Manufacturers Association and as a director in several corporations. He is remembered in Pasadena also for his liberal philanthropy, particularly in behalf of educational insti- tutions. When Bob Burdette resigned from the Board of Park, Police and Fire Commissioners on March 7, 1908, Mr. Hertel con- sented to become his successor, though these official duties were necessarily in the nature of a sacrifice of his business, since the office was not one of remuneration. He devoted himself to work with the same zeal he showed in his own business. After finishing out Doctor Burdette's term in May, 1911, he was reappointed by Mayor Thum, and served until Pasadena adopted the commission form of government. As member of the Board of Police, Fire and Park Commissioners he was looked upon as head of the fire depart- ment. It was at his suggestion that the first change was made from horse drawn to motor propelled vehicles.
Herman Rudolph Hertel, who died at his home in Pasadena June 16, 1915, was a member of the Overland and Altadena Country clubs, was a Presbyterian, a Scottish Rite Mason, and was regarded as one of the leading whist players of Southern California. He was a republican in politics. He married Emma Westerfeld, a native of San Francisco. She survives him at Pasadena and their five children consist of two daughters and three sons: Anita of New York City; Elmer L. of Hemet; Mina, at home; Herbert associated with his brother Elmer in business ; and Francis of Ventura.
ELMER L. HERTEL, a son of the Pasadena merchant and citizen the late Herman Rudolph Hertel, is one of the prominent young ranchers and business men of the Riverside community in the district ad- joining Hemet.
He was born at Pasadena June 16, 1889, and was liberally educated, attending the grammar and high schools of his native city. He grad- nated A. B. from Leland Stanford University with the class of 1911. For about a year after leaving university he was in the Coalinga oil field and spent a similar time as a rancher in the San Fernando Valley. Mr. Hertel established himself at Hemet in the spring of 1914, when he bought his ranch of forty acres on the northern limits of the town. To this he has since added seventy acres, and he and his brother Herbert jointly own a ranch of 225 acres. They do a large business, their diversified industry being represented by fruit, alfalfa and hogs. Individually Mr. Hertel's chief distinction in the agriculture and horticulture of Riverside County rests upon his peach orchards. He sells and ships the peaches from these groves all over Southern California, and a large number of nursery men have budded their young stock from the Hertel trees, because of the large yield and fine quality of the fruit produced by the Hertel orchards. The entire ranch property owned and occupied by Mr. Hertel is another example of the profitable development of land from a desert condition to a degree of pro- ductiveness that none of the choicest agricultural lands in the world can rival.
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Outside of his ranch Mr. Hertel is a director in the Riverside Mutual Fire Insurance Company and is one of the influential members of the Hemet Chamber of Commerce, the California Fruit Growers Association, the California Alfalfa Association and the California Prune and Apricot Association. He is unmarried, is an independent in politics and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, Fraternal Order of Eagles, and the Zeta Psi college fraternity.
SUMNER A. WORTHING, who is now living virtually retired in the City of Redlands, San Bernardino County, has the distinction of having been one of the pioneer business men of this place, and he has the satis- faction of having contributed his quota to the development and up- building of the beautiful little city which he still claims as his home and in which his circle of friends is coincident with that of his acquaintances.
Sumner Augustus Worthing was born at Plattesville, Illinois, on the 8th of August, 1853, and is a son of Augustus and Mary Worthing, the former a native of the State of New York and the latter of Ohio. The parents early established their residence in Illinois, and there they passed the remainder of their lives, the father having been a farmer by vocation during the major part of his active career. In the family were three sons and four daughters, and of the number the subject of this review was the fourth in order of birth. The public schools of his native state afforded Mr. Worthing his youthful educational advantages, and after leaving school he there served a thorough apprenticeship at the trades of tinsmith and plumber, in both of which he became a skilled workman For a long period of years he was employed by P. W. Worth, one of the leading business men of Plattesville, Illinois.
At Buckingham, Illinois, on the 15th of January, 1876, Mr. Worthing wedded Miss Mary E. Watson. Mrs. Worthing died on the 5th of January, 1885, and is survived by two children. Charles, the elder of the two, was born August 25, 1878, and is a plumber by trade. He is a leading dealer in plumbers' supplies at Redlands, California, and is one of the substantial business men of this city. August 2, 1904, recorded the mar- riage of Charles Worthing and Miss Emma Riddle, and they have three children-Emma, Charlotte and Leroy. Robert, the younger son of Sumner A. and Mary E. (Watson) Worthing, was born November 20, 1880, and he is now engaged in the plumbing and tinning business at Lankershim, Los Angeles County. He anticipated his elder brother by a few months in appearing at the hymeneal altar, for on March 12, 1904, he married Miss Bertha Woodruff, their three children being Emma, Velma May, and Marion.
On the 15th of January, 1886. Sumner A. Worthing was united in marriage with Miss Sadie Watson, a sister of his first wife and a resi- dent of Buckingham, Illinois. Mrs. Worthing is a daughter of J. K. and Caroline (Nickol) Watson, who were born in Canada, whither the former's father immigrated from Picadilly, near London, England, the latter's father, John Watson, having married a cousin of the English member of the celebrated Rothschild family, the great European capitalists and financiers. From Canada the parents of Mrs. Worthing removed to the United States and settled in Illinois, where they passed the remainder of their lives. Their children were nine in number. To Sumner A. and Sadie (Watson) Worthing were born four children, concerning whom brief record is here entered: Leonard Augustus, who was born July 31, 1887, is a sheet-metal workman and is employed at his trade in the City of Los Angeles. February 10, 1905, he married Miss Myrtle Holcomb, a native of the State of New York, and they have two children, Albert
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Augustus and Howard. Lillie Mattie, the second child, was born Novem- ber 4, 1889, and her marriage to Louis Kelly occurred September 30, 1906. The one child of this union is a daughter, Jessie May. On the 27th of September, 1911, Mrs. Lillie M. Kelly contracted a second mar- riage, when she became the wife of Pearl Bunnell. They reside in San Bernardino and have one child, Ruth Naomi. Fannie Alice, the third child, was born June 7, 1892, and on the 16th of July, 1911, she became the wife of Thomas Rowe, who is engaged in the bakery business at Venice, Los Angeles County, their one child being a son, Theodore. Caroline May, the fourth child, was born August 16, 1896, and March 5, 1915, recorded her marriage to John L. Welsh, of Redlands. They have two children, John Lawrence, Jr., and Elizabeth Jane.
Sumner A. Worthing came with his family to California in 1889, his arrival in the state having occurred on the 13th of June. Thereafter he was employed in various plumbing establishments until 1894, when he purchased the interest of the junior partner of the firm of Brock & Osler, engaged in the plumbing and tinning business at Redlands. The firm of Brock & Worthing successfully continued the business for the ensuing ten years, at the expiration of which Mr. Worthing purchased the interest of his partner and assumed full control of the enterprise, which he there- after conducted under the firm name of S. A. Worthing & Company, with his two eldest sons as silent partners. In 1916 he sold the business to his eldest son, who has since continued to maintain the same at the high standard set by the father, the latter having lived retired since dis- posing of this business. Mr. Worthing is a veritable pioneer of Redlands and has witnessed and aided in the transformation of a barren desert tract into one of the beautiful cities that give far-flung fame to Southern California, while the entire district that was but a desert waste of sage- brush when he here established his home is now resplendant with fine gardens and orange groves and beautiful homes. Mr. Worthing is a life member of Redlands Lodge No. 585, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; is a charter member of the local organization of the Fraternal Brotherhood, and in the community which he has helped to develop and build he commands inviolable place in popular confidence and esteem.
PETER ARTH, SR., had been a pioneer in South Dakota prior to estab- lishing his residence in California in 1891, and San Bernardino County gained much when he here turned his attention to development work and productive industry in connection with fruit culture. He became one of the substantial fruit-growers and honored citizens of the Redlands dis- trict, had much to do with constructive enterprise in connection with other properties than those which he himself owned, and he proved resourceful and far-sighted as a business man, achieved success through his own well directed efforts and ever commanded high place in popular con- fidence and good will. He was born at Port Washington, Ohio, in 1859, and his death occurred at Redlands, California, on the 11th of October, 1910.
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