USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume III > Part 45
USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume III > Part 45
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John Jisk.
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his death, and his name and service are intimately linked with the up- building of Beloit College and the general educational history of Wis- consin.
John P. Fisk, Jr., the immediate subject of this review, continued his studies in the Beloit public schools until he had completed the curriculum of the high school, and he then entered Beloit College, in which institu- tion he was graduated as a member of the class of 1880, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. For several years thereafter he was successfully engaged in teaching, two years of this period being principal of the public schools at Richmond, Illinois. Thereafter he devoted a year to effec. tive post-graduate study, after which he became an instructor in the academic department of his alma mater, Beloit College, where he effec- tively upheld the pedagogic honors of the family name. The confine- ment incidental to his service caused his health to become impaired, and after teaching in Beloit College during a period of about eighteen months he found it imperative to retire from the work. He made his way to the South, where he remained one winter. The following November, 1885 he made his initial visit to California, and while sojourning at River- side he visited Redlands and was specially impressed with the scenic attractions and promising future of this beautiful spot. The result was that in March, 1887, he established his home at Redlands, and initiated his active association with civic and business affairs in the fair city that has continued as his home during the intervening years. At the time of his removal to Redlands construction work was under way on the building of the Union Bank, and when this two-story brick building, the first distinctive bank building at Redlands, was completed he secured a lease of its second floor and there opened offices for the conducting of a general real-estate and insurance business. His vigorous and progres- sive activities in the handling of real estate upon legitimate and honor- able basis had much influence in furthering the development of Redlands and vicinity, as he promoted the investment of capital and gained the co-operation of men of wealth and influence in the improving and beautifying of the city and its surrounding country-groves, gardens and a wealth of foliage and flowers obliterating what had previously been but barren wastes. By his careful and honorable methods and policies Mr. Fisk established for himself an inviolable vantage-place as a busi- ness man, and many important real-estate transactions that have inured greatly to the benefit of Redlands and its environment were effected through his initiative and personal influence. He became a recognized authority in placing valuations on land in this district, and his judgment both in regard to intrinsic value and future possibilities was recognized as valuable. Among the more important of his early real estate transac- tions was the sale of the Dr. Barton tract of 1,100 acres to a syndicate composed of Los Angeles capitalists, who under the corporate title of the Barton Land & Water Company acquired the property for a con- sideration of $300,000, and who subdivided the tract into orange and lemon orchards that have been developed to such degree as to be num- bered among the finest in Southern California. Mr. Fisk also effected the sale of the Terrace Villa hotel property to A. G. Hubbard, who now resides on the site of the former hotel, a building in which Mr. Fisk himself resided during his first year's residence. Mr. Fisk was a resident of Redlands at the time of the construction of the old Sloan House, which was later sold by him to the First National Bank of Redlands, remodeled and made available for banking purposes and eventually razed to give place to the present modern building of the First National Bank of Red- lands, a portion of the ground floor of this building being used as office
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headquarters of Mr. Fisk, who still continues his long established and representative real estate, loan and insurance business, besides holding the office of vice-president of the First National Bank. As agent he purchased the sites for the railway stations at Redlands. He sold to Thomas W. England the land which the latter has developed into one ot the most beautiful and celebrated spots in Southern California, the splendid Prospect Park, which is visited annually by thousands of tourists, as well as by appreciative residents of California itself. Mr. Fisk has been for many years a stockholder and director of the First National Bank, and for one year, beginning in February, 1915, he had active execu- tive charge of the institution, into the management of which he intro- duced wise policies that combined economic conservatism with progres- sive methods.
Every worthy enterprise and object that has had to do with the social and material welfare of Redlands has enlisted the earnest co-operation of Mr. Fisk, and it should be specially noted that he took prominent part in organizing the local Young Men's Christian Association, of which he was chosen the first president. For a number of years he has been a member of the executive committee of the California state organization of the Young Men's Christian Association. He is a director of the Red- lands Chamber of Commerce, his political allegiance is given to the re- publican party, and both he and his wife are active members of Con- gregational Church. When he first came to that part of Redlands which was then known at Lugonia, the only church in the community was the little Congregational edifice that stood at the corner of Church Street and The Terrace, and Church Street of Redlands of the present day gained its name by reason of this pioneer church having been situated on that thoroughfare.
In December, 1890, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Fisk and Mrs. Elizabeth Eddy, who was born in the state of New York and who was the widow of the late Rev. S. W. Eddy, a clergyman of Beverly, Massachusetts. Mr. and Mrs. Fisk have two children.
In the foregoing paragraphs has been given a brief but significant record of the career of a sterling citizen whose success has been due to his own well ordered endeavors, and whose high standing in community affairs is due to the possession of those attributes of character that ever beget popular confidence and esteem.
GUY S. GARNER is a native of Southern California, has full apprecia- tion of the advantages and attractions of his native state and is one of the wide-awake business men of Highgrove, Riverside County, where he conducts a well equipped automobile garage and where he finds time also to accord effective service as justice of the peace and as cattle in- spector for Riverside County.
Mr. Garner was born at San Bernardino, California, August 12. 1876, and is a son of John Henry and Nettie (Ames) Garner, both natives of Utah. John H. Garner was a youth when the family made the long and hazardous journey across the plains and mountains from Utah to Cali- fornia with wagon and ox team, and the home was established at San Bernardino, which was then a mere trading station. His father, John Ellis Garner, was one of the well know pioneers of San Bernardino County, and was influential in community affairs. The Garner family was founded in America in the Colonial period and gave patriotic soldiers to the colonies in the War of the Revolution. John Henry Garner was a member of a large family of children. and the family had its full share of pioneer hardships after coming to California. His life was marked by earnest and worthy activity, he became a successful veterinary surgeon,
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and at the time of his death he was president of the Board of Trustees 01 the City of Santa Ana, Orange County. Fis widow, who now re- sides in the City of Los Angeles, was an intant at the time when her parents made ine trip from Utah to Cantormia by means of wagons and ox teams, and it is a matter of record that while en route the mem- bers of the immigrant expedition exhausted their supply of water, with the result that it became necessary to kill young calves and utilize the blood of the animals to quench the thirst ot the members of the party. The mother of Mrs. Garner was born at Council Bluffs, Iowa, of early pioneer parentage on the frontier, and her maternal ancestors came from England in the Colonial days, the family having been represented by gallant soldiers in the Revolutionary war.
Guy S. Garner acquired his early education in the public schools of Santa Ana, where the family home was established when he was a small boy. Thereafter he was graduated in the Bisbee Business Col- lege in that city, and his initial service of practical order was rendered in the position of plumbing inspector for the City of Santa Ana. There he continued his residence until about 1901, when, by reason of the ill health of his wife, he removed to Bear Valley, where for two years he was employed in the De la Mores Mountain Mine, at the head of the valley. Later he entered the employ of the San Bernardino Gas & Electric Company. He had been thus engaged two years when he was retained as private guard by C. R. Lord, who had been shot by a nephew. About two months after this attempt to assassinate him Mr. Lord went to Japan, leaving Mr. Garner in charge of his fine bungalow home at San Bernardino. Six months later Mr. Garner came to Highgrove, River- side County, and assumed the position of operator in the local hydro- electric plant, of which he was made chief operator three months later. He retained this responsible position thirteen years, and during eightecn months of this period he had charge also of the Peley electric plant. For the Highgrove hydro-electric plant he installed the first distributing lines and street lights in Highgrove, and he gained full technical and practical knowledge of applied electricity. In 1912 Mr. Garner became associated with Joseph Hudson, W. W. Ayers and John L. Bishop in the organization of the Highgrove Chamber of Commerce, of which he was a charter member and one of the early presidents. When the Highgrove hydro-electric plant was destroyed by fire several years ago Mr. Garner established a garage and electric-service station, which he has since conducted with marked success, besides which he has active charge of the municipal electric-light service of Highgrove. Upon the death of John Haight the County Board of Supervisors appointed Mr. Garner his successor in the office of justice of the peace, and in 1918 he was regularly elected to this office for a term of four years. He is a staunch republican, active in local political affairs, and progressive and loyal as a citizen. Mr. Garner seems to have exceptional capacity for service, and in addition to his other and varied responsibilities he has for the past several years had supervision of the interests of the East Riverside Land Company, besides which he is cattle inspector of Riverside County, under appointment by the Cattle Protection Board of the state. He is agent for the Aetna Life Insurance Company, and as a broker in real estate he has handled much property in Highgrove. He was one of the organizers of the Highgrove Improvement Associa- tion, which raised the funds to buy the site and erect the community hall of the village. He is interested in farm enterprise in and about Highgrove, and is a member of the Farm Bureau and the Riverside County Chamber of Commerce. His fraternal affiliations is with the
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Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Woodmen of the World and Knights of the Maccabees.
At Santa Ana, February 23, 1896, occurred the marriage of Mr. Garner and Miss Caroline Arborn, a daughter of Russell Arborn, of that city. Her paternal grandfather was a pioneer settler in Southern California, and the town of Arbondale was named in his honor, he having been a native of England. Of the three children of Mr. and Mrs. Garner the eldest is Mildred Rophina, who is the wife of John B. Bellezza, an automobile mechanic residing at Highgrove, and they have two children, Rose Mary and a baby girl. Donald Guy S. and Dortha Antoinette, the younger children of Mr. and Mrs. Garner, are twins, and were born July 11, 1912.
EDWARD DAVID ROBERTS, banker, was born at Cambria, Wisconsin, July 18th, 1864, son of John W. and Eliza (Williams) Roberts. His father came from Bala, Wales, at an early age. He was a grain mer- chant in Wisconsin and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Here Mr. Roberts attended Duffs (business) College after finishing the Public School of Cambria and later completed his education at the Western University of Pennsylvania. After a brief period in the claims department of the Mil- waukee Central Railroad Company, Mr. Roberts went to Bridgewater, South Dakota, where he joined his brother-in-law, John W. Davis, Jr., in establishing the first National Bank of Bridgewater.
In 1885 he removed to Colton, California, and entered the first Na- tional Bank of that place. During his residence in Colton Mr. Roberts served as a member of the City Council and took an active interest in all civic and business life.
Meanwhile, his father had become president of the San Bernardino National Bank of San Bernardino, California, and in 1895 the son joined him in the management of that institution, becoming its president upon the death of the older Roberts in 1904. In 1907 he established the San Bernardino County Savings Bank and in 1909 the First National Bank of Rialto and became president of both of these institutions. In 1915 he accepted the first vice-presidency of the First National Bank of Los Angeles and removed to that city, retaining the presidency of the three banks in San Bernardino County. In 1920, owing to the multitude of his other interests, Mr. Roberts resigned from the Los Angeles institu- tion but remained a member of the directorate of both the First Na- tional and Los Angeles Trust Company.
While Mr. Roberts was closely identified with the strongest group of financial institutions in Southern California, he was also one of the largest fruit growers in San Bernardino County, owning extensive vin- yards, orange orchards and stock farms, and was as successful with these ventures as with his banks.
A republican in politics, he was for years chairman of the San Ber- nardino County Central Committee and was a delegate to the Republican National Conventions of 1904 and 1912. From 1911-14 he served as state treasurer of California, and during his administration of this office its policies were thoroughly adjusted and put upon a basis creditable to himself and characteristically businesslike. He had the task of selling $18,000,000 in state highway and harbor bonds, and when the Express Companies asked what seemed to be an exorbitant charge for transport- ing a number of the bonds to New York he loaded up two big suit cases with them and carried them to Wall street himself.
Mr. Roberts considered it the duty of every good citizen to take an unselfish interest in his country's affairs, and while he was offered many
TOTAL Rotas
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times by enthusiastic admirers among the republican leaders the senator- ship or governorship of his state, he always refused, as his own affairs were of such a nature that it was not possible for him to serve. He ac- cepted the appointment of Hiram Johnson to the office of state treasurer at the time when he was most needed.
He was a member of the State Bankers' Association and served on various committees, also a member and vice-president for California of the American Bankers' Association and a member of the nominating committee. He was a Mason, belonging to St. Bernard Commandery of Knights Templar and Al Malakai Shrine Temple of Los Angeles, also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and a commut- nicant of St. John's Episcopal Church of Los Angeles. He also belonged to the California Club, Ciretos Gun Club and the Midwick Country Club of Los Angeles and to the Sutter Club of Sacramento and Squirrel Inn Mountain Club of San Bernardino.
He was an extensive traveler, a liberal art patron and an enthu- siastic hunter and fisherman. He was a man of attainments and eminently successful in any enterprise in which he ventured.
Personally he was warm hearted, generous to a fault, democratic and an indefatigable worker, with a genial disposition and a keer sense of humor.
He married Maud, daughter of Henry F. Adams, M. D., and Louise (Wilkerson) Adams, and to this union were born two daugh- ters : Mrs. Louise Roberts Kamm, wife of Walker W. Kamm, of San Francisco and Portland, and Mrs. Marie Roberts Kamm, of Los An- geles, California.
As befitted a man of his character, Mr. Roberts' family life was ideally happy. He was a devoted husband and father.
He was stricken with appendicitis during a business trip to San Bernardino, where he went on July 31, 1920, accompanied by Mrs. Roberts, and died following an operation August 4, 1920. His re- mains rest in the family tomb at Inglewood, Los Angeles, California.
Mr. Edward David Roberts was one of the Southland's best loved sons, who filled to the satisfaction of all concerned the positions en- trusted to him, positions in which the acid test is nobility of charac- ter. His sound judgment and sterling integrity was united with practical commonsense and earnest purpose, combining to make him a man of unusual gifts and high character. He was a man of dig- nity, force, quick sympathy and possessed, a rare purity of motive. He knew the secret of contented and fruitful living and he was gen- erosity personified. No appeal of a worthy cause was ever made to him in vain, and he gave freely and fully not only of material wealth but of his time and sympathy. His patriotism was very strong and deep, and he proved it many times.
Mr. Roberts loved California, and the City of San Bernardino was very dear to him. When he went to Los Angeles he left a void none could fill, not only in the financial and business circles but in fra- ternal and social circles, where his courtesy, geniality and graces of mind and heart made him an ever desired companion. The only compensation was his frequent visits. He retained many of his interests here, and his friends always cherished the hope that some day he would return to themn.
Their grief cannot be measured when they learned of his death in Los Angeles, and his memory will be a living, loving one so long as one of his colleagues and friends remain. He has solved the one Great Mystery, raised and let fall the impenetrable Curtain of Si-
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lence, yet those who are left behind know that he has seen the smil- ing dawn of a never ending day, that with him all is indeed well.
And now I know that immortality Is but the rending of a narrow girth free, That some great soul may conquer and go And, reincarnate, revolutionize the Earth.
M. A. R.
DR. HELEN EARLE LYDA is one of the representative women of Southern California. She stands very high in the state as an osteopatlı and among her patients, many of whom are of her own sex, as a miar- vel in her profession and a person of rare sympathy.
Doctor Lyda was born in Detroit, Michigan, a daughter of Edwin and Hope (Dobson) Earle, both natives of New Jersey, of English descent. They reside at Ridgewood, New Jersey, where Mr. Earle is engaged in conducting a real estate business. Doctor Lyda received her preliminary educational training in Miss Liggets' School for Girls at Detroit, and then took three years' preliminary work in the Western College at Oxford, Ohio. She then had one years' training in Sweet- briar College at Sweetbriar, Virginia, following which she attended the American School of Osteopathy at Kirksville, Missouri, from which she was graduated in 1911 with the degree of Doctor of Osteopathy.
Marrying, she lived for a time at Kirksville, where hier sons were born. They are Roscoe and Edwin Earle Lyda, both of whom are students of the San Bernardino public schools. In 1915 Doctor Lyda came to California and spent one year in Los Angeles, where she took up special work in the Los Angeles College of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons, and came to San Bernardino in February, 1917. She purchased her home at 596 F Street, and has followed her professional career ever since.
As a member of the California State Osteopathic Association she keeps abreast of the progress in her profession, and has been a dele- gate every year to state conventions, serving at them on important committees. She is vice president of the San Bernardino County Osteopathic Association, and of the Delta Omega, the national Osteo- pathic sorority. Ever since coming to San Bernardino she has taken post graduate courses, and is probably the most skilled member of her profession in this part of the state. Doctor Lyda is an Episcopalian and belongs to Saint John's Episcopal Church of San Bernardino. She is a member of the San Bernardino Woman's Club, the S. O. S. of Young Women's Christian Association, of San Bernardino, and is one of the most active workers in both. Among the women with whom she comes into contact Doctor Lyda is held in loving esteem, and she is accorded by them as high a social position as she is given professionally. She dignifies the profession with which she has connected herself, and is accepted as one of the desirable residents of San Bernardino, where she owns one of the finest homes in the city. Her personality is delightful, and she inspires confidence, and wins affection because of it. While she has lost no opportunity to develop her faculties and make herself perfect in her profession, she has not in any way neglected her duty as a mother, but maintains a tender, wise and watchful care over her sons. who are growing up to be a credit to hier love and wisdom. Such women as Doctor Lyda are rare, but when found are appreciated by all who understand their admirable characteristics.
LORENZO SNOW LYMAN, whose attractive home is on Cedar Avenue. Bloomington, San Bernardino County, has the unique distinction of
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having been the first white child born within the borders of San Bernar- dino County as now constituted, this county having been still a part of Los Angeles County at the time of his birth, November 6, 1851. The pioneer dwelling in which he was born was situated on the bank of Lytle Creek, not far distant from the site of the present city of San Bernardino. He is a son of Amasa Mason Lyman and Cornelia (Lea- vett ) Lyman, the former of whom was born in New Hampshire and the latter at Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio, she having been born in 1824 and her death having occurred December 14, 1864. Amasa M. Lyman became an early convert of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was an associate and personal friend of Joseph Smith, one of the leaders of the great Mormon organization, and he served forty years as an earnest and efficient missionary of the church, much of this service having been in European countries. He was one of the twelve apostles of the church organization and was influential in the councils and work of the same. He firmly believed in the teachings of the Latter Day Saints relative to plural marriages, and upon coming to San Bernardino, California, in the pioneer days he was accompanied by his four wives. In this hazardous overland journey from Salt Lake City to California in 1851 he was leader of a section of the ox trains of the Mormon colonists. He was appointed one of the delegates selected to purchase the historic California ranch known as the Lugo ranch, in the present San Bernardino County, his associate delegates having been Charles C. Rich, who likewise was an apostle of the church, and Ebenezer Hanks. In the general historical department of this publica- tion adequate record is made concerning this ranch and the founding of the Mormon colony, in all of the affairs of which Mr. Lyman was a leader. In December, 1857, when Brigham Young, head of the Latter Day Saints, ordered all of the faithful members to return to Utah, Mr. Lyman, with his wives and children, again made the long and hazardous overland journey, and upon arriving in Utah he settled at Parowan, judicial center of Iron County, where occurred the death of the mother of Lorenzo S. Lyman, of this sketch. Amasa R. Lyman was a close friend of Brigham Young and other leaders in the church, but about 1870 he seceded from the organization and renounced the faith of Mormonism. He was a resident of Fillmore, Millard County, Utah, at the time of his death.
Lorenzo S. Lyman was a child of but four and one-half years when he became a pupil in the old adobe schoolhouse established in the Mor- mon colony in San Bernardino County, his teacher having been W. S. Warren. In 1857, when about six years of age, he accompanied his parents to Utah, where he continued his studies in the schools of Paro- wan, Fillmore and Salt Lake City, his school work having continued until he was eighteen years of age. As a child he played on the founda- tion of the great Mormon Temple at Salt Lake City, and as a youth he was frequently a guest in the home of Brigham Young, one of whose daughters he escorted to dances and other entertainments. His great- aunt, Eliza R. Snow, became the wife of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon Church, and after the death of her first husband she be- came the wife of his successor, Brigham Young. Mr. Lyman gained full experience in hard work and self-reliance under the pioneer con- ditions in Utah, and early formed opinions of his own, his convictions leading him to withdraw from membership in the Mormon Church when he was seventeen years old, and he later joined the Congregational Church, of which he has continued a zealous member to the present time. At the age of twenty-four years, accompanied by his young wife,
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