USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume III > Part 33
USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume III > Part 33
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In 1910 Mr. Break purchased thirty-four acres as a townsite at Red- lands Junction, ten acres of the tract being platted into lots and placed on the market, and twenty-one acres having previously been planted to oranges and eucalyptus. Thus was founded the attractive suburban dis- trict of Bryn Mawr, and incidentally Mr. Break sold the site on which is now established the fruit packing houses of Redlands Junction. He became a strong advocate of segregation of Mexican children in school work, and he sold the land on which was constructed a school for the Mexican children of the community, his interest in the enterprise having been shown by the fact that he let the property go for half the price he could have obtained had he otherwise placed it on the market. It was thus largely due to his efforts that the separate schools for Mexican and Ameri- can children were here provided. Within three years he sold all of the tract of thirty-four acres, and in this connection he received a handsome profit. Honest and straightforward policies have attended his course in all stages of his progressive career, and he is always ready to give counsel and all possible aid to ambitious young men who set forth to avail them- selves of the great advantages offered in Southern California. He early set to himself a definite success-goal, and this he has reached. He states that to accumulate his first $1,000 was the hardest task in this connection, and he pays tribute to his wife as having been his best partner and coadju- tor. He has relied largely upon her excellent judgment in financial and other business matters, and looks upon her as his valued co-partner in every sense.
In civic relations Mr. Break has shown himself most loyal and liberal, and in the community his list of friends is limited only by that of his acquaintances. He is affiliated with the lodges of Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Redlands.
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In conclusion is given brief record concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Break: Samuel Wesley, who was born in Kansas, August 30, 1896, is a graduate of the Redlands High School, and his is the distinction of having represented California in the nation's military service at the time of the World war. Upon his enlistment he was assigned to service in testing men on the rifle range, and as a pointer of large guns he was later assigned to duty with the United States Navy. Since the close of the war he has been retained as a member of the Reserve Corps of the navy. On his twenty-first birthday he received from his father a gift of $2,000, and with this he purchased a five-acre orange grove, from the yield of which in two seasons he made full payment on the property. He is now the owner of an excellent orange ranch of fifteen acres, has been identified with the citrus-fruit industry from his early youth, and is now foreman of the Bryn Mawr Fruit Growers Association. Anna Letta, the second child, was born at Pomona, this state, June 20, 1900. She is a graduate of the Redlands High School, and as a skilled accountant she now holds the responsible position of head bookkeeper of the Redlands National Bank. NIary Irene, who was born at Redlands Junction, August 10, 1905, was graduated from the Redlands High School and she remains at the parental home, both she and her sister being popular factors in the social life of the Redlands district, and the family home being known for its generous hospitality and good cheer.
CHARLES EDWARD PITTS is one of the pioneers in the development of the citrus fruit industry in San Bernardino County, where his finely improved property is situated in the Bloomington District, at the corner of Slover Avenue and Lilac Street and on one of the rural mail routes from Rialto.
Mr. Pitts was born at St. Albans, New York, August 29, 1857, and is a son of Richard and Janice (Hewitt) Pitts the father having been a farmer in the old Empire State and his children having been six in number-three sons and three daughters. Charles E. Pitts gained his early education in the public schools of his native state, and as a youth he there learned the trade of carriagemaker. After inheriting $3,000 he was for three years engaged in the grocery business, and after disposing of this business he went into a planing mill and learned the trade of manufacturing sash and doors. There- after he was employed at his trade in many Canadian cities, including Quebec and Montreal, and in the same way he visited and worked in various cities in the Southern states of the Union. When he arrived in Los Angeles, California, in 1885, his cash capital was represented in the sum of twenty-five dollars. Business was at low ebb at the time and he could find no employment at his trade, under which condition he took a position on a ranch near Mound City (now Loma Linda), San Bernardino County, where he received one dollar a day and his board and lodging. His available cash had been reduced to seven dollars at the time when he secured this job, and after working forty days he quit, with an even four dollars. He then obtained work at his trade in San Diego, at four dollars a day, and there he remained two years. In 1888 he found employment in a mill at Colton, but upon the subsidence of the boom in that district in 1890 he found employment at his trade in San Bernardino, in the spring of 1891. There he remained thus engaged for two years. In 1888 he had purchased from ex-Governor Merrill a tract of twenty acres of land at Bloomington, where he had selected two choice tracts of ten acres each, one on Willow Street and the other on
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CHARLES E. PITTS, DOROTHY E. PITTS, WALTER C. PITTS
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Lilac Street. He instituted the reclamation of this land, which was covered with sagebrush and cacti, and in 1893 he planted the two tracts to oranges. Later he sold the ten acres on Willow Street, but he still owns the other ten acres, which now has one of the finest orange groves in this part of the county. More than fifteen years ago Mr. Pitts purchased an additional tract of twenty acres of improved orange land on the northwest and southwest corners of Lilac Street and Slover Avenue. He was for four years successfully identified also with the cattle business, but since 1896 has given his entire attention to the citrus fruit industry. His career has been one of strenuous appli- cation, and he has won success entirely through his own ability and efforts. He encountered his full share of the vicissitudes, trials and adverse conditions incidental to pioneer enterprise in fruit culture, and he stands today as one of the most substantial and successful exponents of orange growing in the Bloomington district, the while he has so ordered his course as to gain and retain unqualified popular confidence and esteem.
The year 1901 recorded the marriage of Mr. Pitts to Miss Ebba Lund, who was born in Sweden, and they have two children : Walter, who was born April 12, 1902, was graduated from the San Bernardino High School as a member of the class of 1921; and Dorothy, born April 9, 1905, is now (1922) a student in the same high school.
GEORGE S. BIGGIN came to Redlands in 1893 and now for nearly thirty years has been closely identified with the commercial life of the city. His integrity as a business man and the ability he has manifested in all his rela- tions as a citizen have earned him the complete confidence of the com- munity, and he now enjoys the responsibilities of supervisor. In business he is prominent in real estate and insurance.
Mr. Biggin was born at Warren, Ohio, May 6, 1868. His father, William H. Biggin, was a native of England, where he learned and fol- lowed the trade of wagon maker. It was his ambition to become a farmer, and to realize that ambition he came to the United States in 1854. On shipboard he met an English girl, Miss Emily Bolsom, and in New York in 1855 they were married and soon afterward moved to Ohio, where in after years he achieved a substantial success as a farmer. Of the five children George S. Biggin is the youngest.
He was reared on his father's farm and shared in its duties until he was twenty-three. In the meantime he attended school, receiving a high school education. Mr. Biggin came direct to Redlands and joined an uncle, who had preceded him. His first regular work was as clerk in the grocery store of L. E. Shepherd, and three years later he joined the grocery firm of Dutton & Edwards, with whom he remained ten years. He and C. W. Clark eventually purchased the stock and business of his employers, and conducted it profitably as a partnership for two years, at the end of which time Mr. Biggin sold his interest to Mr. Clark.
Since retiring from the mercantile field Mr. Biggin has been active in insurance, at first as a representative of life insurance, but now has a well organized general agency handling all departments. In connection he sub- sequently began dealing in real estate, and has supplied the service in a number of prominent sales in this vicinity, and his activity in advertising has brought a decided value to the community during the past sixteen years.
Mr. Biggin was first a candidate for public office in 1916 when J. B. Glover announced that he would retire from the office of county super- visor. Mr. Biggin declared himself a candidate as his successor, but
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eventually Mr. Glover reconsidered his decision and then Mr. Biggin with- drew. Mr. Glover was re-elected and rounded out a service of twenty- four years as supervisor. In 1920 Mr. Biggin again came forward, received the nomination and was elected, his conduct in office justifying the generous support given him by his friends. He has been a director of the Chamber of Commerce for fourteen years and was president one term. He is affiliated with the Masonic Order, the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Mr. Biggin was captain of the Redlands National Guard Company at the outbreak of the Spanish-American war, and he immediately recruited the company to its full strength and was mustered into the Federal service as captain of Company G, Seventh California Infantry. This company left Redlands for The Presidio May 6, 1898. All were eager to get to the Philippines, but the company was held on duty at The Presidio until mus- tered out at Los Angeles December 3, 1898. During the World war Mr. Biggin made application for active service in the army, but was rejected, and had to be satisfied with what he could do as a patriotic citizen in home work.
In 1894 he married Miss Hattie D. Ellis, of Springfield, Vermont. Mrs. Biggin was liberally educated in the East, finishing in a special pre- paratory school at Boston. There are two children of their marriage: Leslie E., born at Redlands February 14, 1895, was educated in the Red- lands High School and is married and living at Redlands. Elfreda M., the daughter, was born July 8, 1898, is a graduate of the Redlands High School and is now in the junior year of Pomono College, where she is specializing in English.
CALEB NEWTON HARFORD .- While not one of the original colonists, Caleb Newton Harford has been identified with Redlands and vicinity for thirty-three years, coming here within two years after the founding of the town. He was an Illinois merchant, but his capital and energy have been exceptionally well bestowed on citrus fruit and ranch development in California, and a number of substantial and profitable properties stand as monuments to his enterprise in this part of the state.
Mr. Harford was born September 16, 1846, in Pennsylvania. He was reared and educated there and learned the carpenter's trade. In the fall of 1873 he went out to Grand Ridge, LaSalle County, Illinois, to visit a cousin, a general merchant. At the invitation of this cousin he remained to work in the store during the winter months, and continued that employ- ment until 1876, when his relative sold the business. He then put up a building and entered the grocery business on his own account. The year he started his independent career as a merchant he married, and for twelve years did a successful business in one of the rich and prosperous farming sections of Illinois.
Attracted by the reports of friends and neighbors he and his family left Illinois and came direct to Redlands, reaching that city February 21, 1888. Mr. Harford at once purchased a home on Fourth Street. Soon afterward he exchanged this as part payment for fifteen acres at East Redlands. This land was only partly planted, and he planted the remainder and also built a home and lived there until 1895. He then exchanged this for town property, and during the past quarter of a century has bought and sold and traded many pieces of property in this section. He has performed the service of planting much new land, and has brought a number of groves into profitable bearing condition. Out of his energetic handling of his business affairs he has prospered, has educated his family, and is regarded as one of the best citizens of Redlands. His present
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home and grove is at the northeast corner of Orange Street and Lugonia Avenue.
In 1876 Mr. Harford married Miss Mary J. Boyd, whose parents were natives of Pennsylvania. Her mother was born at Gettysburg and her uncle at one time owned land included in the Gettysburg battlefield. Mr. and Mrs. Harford have five children. The first four were born in Illinois and the youngest in California. The oldest, Grace E., born in 1877, is the wife of W. S. Leibendofer, now living at Bakersfield, Califor- nia, and she is a leader in the Presbyterian Church in that city. The second, Boyd Emory Harford, born in 1881, has an executive position with the Standard Oil Company at Taft, California. He married Miss Babson Hubert, of Oceanside, California. Miss Cecil C., born in 1884, is a grad- uate of the Redlands High School, took a course in the San Bernardino Business College, and for the past six or seven years has been employed in the Redlands City Water Office and is an earnest church worker. Clara Belle, the fourth child, born in 1886, graduated from the Redlands High School and is the wife of Roy S. Kendall, who for the past twelve years has been in the employ of the Edison Company and is now store keeper in charge of electrical supplies at Redlands. The youngest of the family, Harry L. Harford, was born at Redlands in 1891, was reared and edu- cated in this city, an electrician by trade and profession, and is now in the employ of the Standard Oil Company at Taft. He has an inspiring record as a World war soldier. He enlisted in Machine Gun Company A in the Fortieth Division, but after a brief training at Camp Kearney was sent overseas for further training and was in France sixteen months, being promoted to corporal and sergeant while there. From the Machine Gun Company he was transferred to the Automobile Supply Department, and was advanced to the firing line on the day the armistice was signed. Later he was on duty at Antwerp and various Belgium cities, and returned to the United States in October, 1919.
WILLIAM NICOLL MOORE .- Capital and good business management have been the central factors in developing the greater part of San Ber- nardino's wonderful citrus area. Both these factors were supplied in no small degree by the late William Nicoll Moore, an Eastern business man who acquired a large amount of unimproved and waste acreage and by supplying water, leveling and planting brought to a profitable stage a con- siderable area now rated along with the highest class of such property in Southern California.
The late Mr. Moore was born at Neenah, Wisconsin, in 1864. He had an engineering education in the Massachusetts Polytechnic Institute at Worcester. In early manhood he became interested in several manu- facturing concerns in Illinois, and still owned some of these interests at the time of his death. He died while traveling with his two daughters in New Zealand in 1911.
He had frequently visited in California, and he came to the Redlands district to make it his permanent home in 1901. Out of his capital he invested heavily in undeveloped lands, and with the aid of his two sons had these lands put in condition for planting, and this development work has gone on uninterruptedly since his death and has given Redlands a great addition to its permanent wealth and prosperity.
The late Mr. Moore married in 1883 Miss Gertrude A. Robinson, a native of Massachusetts. The two sons are Laurence L. and Francis W. Moore, both of whom are associated under the name of the Sunset Orange Company as citrus fruit growers and packers at Redlands, this being the business representing the outgrowth of their father's original investment
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and enterprise. The two daughters are Gretchen and Janet. Gretchen is Mrs. R. T. Will, of Rochester, New York. Janet is Mrs. J. R. Grepe, of Whittier, California.
MRS. LAURA MAY MILLER, of Highland, is one of the ladies of San Bernardino County who belongs to pioneer stock, and one who through her father and her grandfather possesses the right to be considered as a descendant of several of the founders and developers of the present-day civilization in all of this region. She was born near San Bernardino, Octo- ber 9, 1872, a daughter of Charles and Eugenia Black, the latter of whom was also born at San Bernardino.
Charles S. Black, born at Augusta, Maine, made two trips around the world before coming to San Bernardino. He came here in the early '50s and was a freighter between Los Angeles, California, and points in Arizona for years before the building of the railroads, during a period when hostile Indians made each trip hazardous. He had many narrow escapes from capture or death at their hands, and from the equally danger- ous outlaws which infested all of the frontier towns. In spite of all of these disadvantages he persisted in his line of business and the winning of the respect of all with whom he was associated.
One of the grandfathers of Mrs. Miller, Zina G. Ayer, a native of Vermont, born August 14, 1810, was a man with a family when he went to Kentucky and there met and married a lady whose name was Mrs. Mary Power Applegate, and who was a native of Madisonville, born August 5, 1819. Her maiden name was Mary Power. She married a Mr. Apple- gate, who was killed in the Mexican war. Years later she married Zina G. Ayer. After their marriage they journied together across the plains with an ox-team to Salt Lake, traveling over the old Mormon trail. They suffered untold hardships, were constantly in danger of attack from the Indians, and just at the end of their journey lost by death three children of their party, now buried at San Bernardino. In 1852 they made a perma- nent settlement at San Bernardino, where Mr. Ayer became one of the wealthy and prominent men of his day. A far-sighted and astute business man, he invested heavily in realty, and became the owner of all of the land now between Fourth and Second streets, but sold before San Ber- nardino became a city. Possessed of progressive ideas, he introduced new appliances into the county, and owned the first lathe in all of this region.
The maternal uncle of Mrs. Miller, Thomas T. Cook, was another of the notable men of the early days of the West, and later of San Bernardino County. Mr. Cook was born in Georgia, March 29, 1830, a son of James Cook, of that state. By the time he attained his majority the attention of the whole country was turned Westward as a result of the discovery of gold in California in 1848, and he, following the example of many of his neigh- bors, set out on the long and dangerous trip, crossing the plains with teams. Unlike a number, however, his objective was Oregon, and after his arrival he spent two years there, but then came down into Northern California, and for seven years was engaged in mining. In 1860 he went to Virginia City for a year, leaving it for Idaho, and later Montana, spending thirteen years in the mines of those two states. In 1874 he went into Arizona, but after a year came to San Bernardino County. In 1876 he married Mrs. Amanda Weaver, of Indiana, a daughter of Joseph Applegate, who died while in the service during the Mexican war. By her first marriage she had five sons: Warren, Augustus, Abraham, Henry and William.
Mrs. Miller grew up at Highland, and was educated in its schools. She has witnessed many of the really remarkable changes which have
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come to this region, and talks very entertainingly of them. She was a little girl when the road between Colton and San Bernardino was constructed, under the superintendence of Harry Davis. Mr. Davis was subsequently killed in a wreck occasioned by the passing of the first motor over Lytle Creek bridge, when the bridge collapsed, killing him. This was prior to the opening of the road. His son, then a lad, and Mrs. Miller, together with five small companions, used to have the Chinese laborers put a hand car on the tracks, and then they would pump it from Colton to San Ber- nardino and back before a train went over it or before it was finished. The opening of this road was the beginning of modern history for San Bernardino County and the passing of the days of the freighters, who were crowded out by steam and later by electricity and gasoline.
On December 29, 1892, Laura May Black was married to Albert Miller, a native of Ohio and a son of Mr. and Mrs. Mason Miller, of Ulrichsville. Albert Miller is an orange grower, owning a grove on Pacific Avenue, Highland. For the past thirty-three years he has been in charge of the James Fleming estate. Mr. and Mrs. Miller have two sons, Albert F. and Howard E. Albert F. Miller was born at Highland, May 9, 1894, and was educated in his native city and in San Bernardino. On November 29, 1915, he married Miss Hester V. Shanklin, and they have one child, Helen Marjorie, who was born October 31, 1916.
Howard E. Miller, the second son, was born at Highland, March 11, 1898, and was there reared, attending its schools and those of San Ber- nardino. Enlisting in Company K, California National Guard, he served as a bugler, and later was part of the old Seventh Regiment, which did active service on the Mexican border during 1916. With the entry of this country into the World war he enlisted in Company K, One Hundred and Sixtieth Division, and received his training at Camp Kearney, and was among the first contingents sent overseas. After his arrival in France he spent six weeks in the Signal School, and was then transferred to the Twenty-sixth Division, composed principally of New England men and known as the Yankee Division. He was motorcycle messenger, carrying messages between headquarters and first line trenches, a very dangerous service, in which he continued, although he had three machines shot from under him, and escaped from death or capture by a very narrow margin countless times. His third machine was blown from under him and gave him a shell shock, this occurring eight days before the signing of the armistice. The shock was so severe that he was sent to the hospital and for three days he was speechless. This accident occurred at Verdun, and he was also in the battles in and around the Argonne Forest and the Meuse, belonging to the defensive sector, was in the St. Mihiel drive from start to finish, in all being in six engagements. After his release from the hospital he was transferred to the One Hundred and First Regiment, and once more served as bugler. After the return of his unit to the United States he served for two months as military police at Paris. He then received his honorable discharge in France, but for the subsequent three months served with the food commission in France, returning home a civilian on board of the steamship Rotterdam. In spite of all of his experiences, real bravery and endurance this young man is only a little past his majority, proving the contention of the highest military authorities that the very young men make the best soldiers. He is now at home with his parents.
While her younger son was serving his country abroad and proving himself worthy of the good, pioneer stock from which he sprung, Mrs. Miller was also demonstrating her 100%-Americanism by working early and late in behalf of the Red Cross, for which she was decorated with the
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American Red Cross badge, which testifies to, the fact that the wearer has given at least 700 hours of service to the organization. She had charge of the two Red Cross drives. Not satisfied with all of this she was very active in canteen work. Since the war she has found an outlet for her energies and public spirit through her membership with the Woman's Club and the First Congregational Church of Highland. Mrs. Miller is typical of her generation, and is proving that she is a true daughter of the pioneers who bravely did their part in shaping the history of their times.
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