USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume III > Part 54
USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume III > Part 54
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John W. Davis, Sr., died at Colton in 1888 at the age of seventy- three. He was the father of five children, Mrs. Charles Robinson, wife of the president of the First National Bank of Bloomington ; Mrs. Chester Dawes, who died at Crete, Nebraska; Mrs. John R. Gamble of Los Angeles; and Mrs. Doctor G. L. Hutchison, who died in Los Angeles in June, 1921.
John W. Davis, Jr., only son and namesake of his father, was born in December, 1860, and died in 1893 at the age of thirty-three. In a brief life his achievements have put him in the first rank as a man of affairs. He was educated in the University of Wisconsin, and when he first came to Colton, became associated with Byron Waters and others in the Farmers Exchange Bank. After a brief time he returned to the University, and he studied law with Gamble Brothers in South Dakota. John Gamble was the first representative in Congress when South Dakota was admitted to the Union. In 1881, Mr. Davis opened a bank in Scotland, South Dakota, in partnership with a Russian, but later sold out and came to Colton to join his father in the banking business. His standing in banking circles can perhaps best be understood by recalling some of the history of local banking institutions in San Bernardino County. In the fall of 1888 when Ted Morse of the San Bernardino National Bank was shot, John W. Davis, Jr., was offered the presidency of that institu-
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tion with the privilege of taking such stock as he wished at his own figure. Before accepting he had made a trip to Europe and upon his re- turn, in the fall of 1889, he bought in and took the presidency of the bank.
A year or so later after S. C. Evans had accumulated a fortune of a million dollars in Riverside real estate, he went to San Francisco bankers and asked them whom they would recommend to organize and operate a bank in Riverside. The San Francisco bankers replied that there were only two men in the state whom they would care to recommend, and one of them was John W. Davis, Jr. The latter was approached by Mr. Evans, and he accepted the proposition and successfully organized the Riverside National Bank. This was his culminating achievement in banking circles, since he died soon after ward. He also organized the San Bernardino Abstract Company, was a large stockholder in the Colton Cement Plant and a director in an Insurance Company of Los Angeles. He bought a great deal of land on Colton Terrace, and upon his death the stockholders divided 320 acres, seventy acres going to Mrs. Davis. He played an important part in the Bear Valley Dam project and assisted Frank Brown to finance it.
At Portage, Wisconsin, September 4, 1893, John W. Davis, Jr., married Miss Jennie E. Roberts. She was born in Wisconsin, is a graduate of Downer College, and a daughter of John W. Roberts. A woman of a splendid family, of special position, highly educated, Mrs. Davis in the thirty years since her husband's death has proved herself one of the capable business executives in San Bernardino County. In the ten years of her married life she had been a valued confidant and advisor of Mr. Davis, and after his death she proved her re- sourcefulness in independent option or in calling to her aid capable executives to handle the responsibilities he laid down. Mr. Davis at his death owned the controlling interests in the San Bernardino National and the First National banks of Colton. Mrs. Davis immediately requested that her father take charge of these banks and he became president of the Bank of San Bernardino and president of the Bank of Colton, while Mrs. Davis' brother, E. D. Roberts, who had been associated with Mr. Davis in Colton, became vice president of the San Bernardino National Bank. At the death of John W. Roberts, his son succeeded him as president of the Bank of San Bernardino. Since the death of her brother, Mrs. Davis has been in practically sole charge of her accumulating interests and has greatly in hand the family fortune by her sound policies and breadth of vision. She acquired forty acres of land on Brookside Avenue in Redlands, and it is there in a beautiful orange grove and amidst ideal surroundings that she makes her home. Mrs. Davis is the mother of four daughters, all of whom are graduates of Smith's College except Marion, who is a graduate of Milwaukee- Downer College.
The oldest daughter Margaret is the wife of Dr. Charles F. Ide, who has charge of the Muirdale Sanitarium for the city and county of Milwaukee. During the war he was a member of the army medical corps, receiving his appointment from Dr. Franklin Martin. Mr. and Mrs. Ide have two sons, George H. and John Davis.
The second daughter Marion, is the wife of Hugh T. Osborne, associated with the Brown, Ford and Yerxa Packing house at El Centro, California. Mr. Osborne was a sergeant in the American Expeditionary Forces in France, and was seriously wounded at Argonne. Mr. and Mrs. Osborne have a son, William Davis Osborne.
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Dorothy, the third daughter, is the wife of Algernon Sidney Jenkins, who with his father, Charles F. Jenkins, publishes the Farm Journal at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Their three children are named David, Gwen and Phyllis.
The youngest daughter is Gwen, wife of Joseph S. Pendergast, an orchardist of Redlands. Their two children are Robert Ensor and Jane Ellen.
MRS. MARY ELIZABETH (PHILLIPS) WALLACE-The life of Mrs. Mary Elizabeth (Phillips) Wallace, owner of one of the model orange groves of San Bernardino County, located one-half mile east of River- side Avenue, on Rialto Avenue, has been an active and conspicuous one. A strong character, she has worked out her own success, and is possessed of uncommon spirit, energy and force. Her long life at Rialto, her abundant labors, her varied experience and unwonted activity have scarcely abated the vivacity of her disposition or the energy of her character. At the age of sixty-four years she is still alert, active and interested in passing events.
Mrs. Wallace was born in the Province of Quebec, Canada, July 3, 1858, a daughter of Rev. S. G. and Mary Ann (Whitcomb) Phillips. Her father, born in 1828, at Plymouth, England, immigrated to America in 1853, at which time he began his ministerial labors with the Wesleyan Methodist Episcopal Church, in Canada. In 1857 he married Mary Ann Whitcomb, a native of Waterloo, Province of Quebec, Canada, and a member of a prominent family of that place. To this union there were born four daughters, all of whom are still living; Mary Elizabeth, Ada E., Alice and Gertrude. L. G. Phillips was a member of the ministry for a period of thirty-nine years, at the end of which time he was retired as superannuated. He came to California for the betterment of his health, in 1891, but died at Los Angeles, March 3, 1892. His widow survived him for a long period, passing away at Los Angeles January 20, 1908.
Mary Elizabeth Phillips early evidenced the fact that she was to mature into a woman of splendid business qualifications, a promise that has been eminently fulfilled. After attending the common schools of Ontario, Canada, and the Ontario Ladies' College, Whitby, an exclusive young ladies' college, she was given her degree of Mistress of English Literature, and for two years was a teacher in that institution. Her health failing at this time she was offered and accepted a teacher's posi- tion in another institution where she had greater outdoor privileges and taught there for one year.
In 1885, at Billings Bridge, Canada, Mrs. Wallace was united in marriage with T. W. Wallace. At the time of her father's death, in 1892, she came to California for a short stay, and in the following year came to remain permanently, her first seven years being spent in Los Angeles. Her husband had come earlier, in 1890, and purchased ten acres of wild land in the new colony on the corner of Rialto and Acacia Avenues, Rialto, which he set to oranges of select stock. When this grove became two years old, he deeded it over to his wife, who placed it in charge of her brother-in-law, James Moffatt, at that time one of the very prominent an extensive growers of the district. The state of the orange industry was anything but prosperous at this time. Many owners, having become dicouraged, disposed of their holdings and left the community. Mrs. Wallace found her grove in a run-down condition, and in 1900 decided to move on it and to take personal charge of its operation. Her first crop only netted her 600 boxes,
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but she had found out the trouble, and in the following year she harvested 1900 boxes. The number has increased annually, and at the present time has become one of the show groves of the Rialto com- munity. Under her wise administration of affairs she has educated and reared her family from the receipts and has never had a mortgage on the place, in addition to which she has also been able to acquire valuable beach rental properties. She has succeeded where many men have failed, but with all her acquisitions she has fully preserved the innate delicacy of her womanly nature, and is none the less a lady because she has become a business woman.
The only child of Mr. and Mrs. Wallace, Gertrude Elizabeth, was born in Canada, October 7, 1887. A graduate of San Bernardino High School, she had all her units and was not required to take her examination to enter Stanford University, where she spent three years in studies. This was followed by one year at the State Normal School, then commencing upon a career as a teacher in the Los Angeles schools, after which she became principal of the Bloomington School, where she remained two years. She gave up her career to marry C. P. Taylor, a graduate of Stanford University, a native son of California and a young man of much promise, who now is electrical superintendent of the Marysville Division, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Marys- ville, California. He was a valued man in the World war service and served two years in the Engineer's Headquarters, at Washington, Dis- trict of Columbia, being retired from the Reserve Officers Corps with the rank of Captain. He was selected or chosen by superiors from Wash- ington and removed from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to Washington, District of Columbia, during the early days of this country's participation in the great struggle, and worked faithfully in the discharge of his duties. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Taylor : Gilbert Phillips, born August, 1915, at Fresno, California; and Mary Elizabeth, born in February, 1922.
While Mrs. Wallace's interest has been centered naturally upon her orange grove, in which she has right to display a pardonable degree of pride, other interests have attracted her, and she is alive to all the real issues of the day. She has a full knowledge of political condi- tions and in issues of a political character gives her support to the republican party. She is a woman of education and refined tastes and is respected for what she has accomplished in the face of difficulties that have discouraged many of the so-called stronger sex.
WILMOT T. SMITH-Although he has been a resident of San Bernardino for a comparatively short period, Wilmot T. Smith has already won a high position among its most representative business men and financiers, and as president of the Farmers Exchange National Bank, for five years he has occupied a commanding place in the affairs of the Gate City. Under his administration the resources of his institution have increased from $600,000 to $2,000,000. It is safe to say that no movement of real value to the city or county is inaugurated and carried to a successful completion without Mr. Smith's co-operation, for his connection with any project is a sufficient guarantee of its soundness and worth to his fellow citizens, and his refusal to countenance it is accepted as proof that it will not stand the acid test.
Wilmot T. Smith was born at Lake City, Iowa, October 29, 1876, a son of the late W. T. Smith, a native of Pennsylvania, an extensive landowner and operator, who was one of the pioneers of Calhoun County, to which he migrated when that country was a wilderness and
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a swamp. During the war of the '60s he served as a soldier in the Union army, belonging to the One Hundred and Twenty-sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and saw considerable active service. After going to Iowa he became prominent in the affairs of Rockwell City, serving several terms as county treasurer, and also as county auditor and county recorder. The Smith family to which he belonged is one of the old ones in America history, and of Revolutionary stock and Scotch-Irish descent. His wife was Amelia Jack before her marriage, was born in Pennsylvania, and connected, through her grandmother, with the famous Pennsylvania family of Negley of Scotch-Irish descent, and Revolutionary stock. Mrs. Smith is also deceased.
After attending the public schools of Iowa, Wilmot T. Smith took a course in Epworth Seminary, and then, with his parents, left Iowa for Texas, where they arrived in 1891, and he became a student of the Daniel Baker College at Brownwood, Texas, and later of the Fort Worth University, from which he was graduated in 1900, with the de- gree of Bachelor of Arts.
For three years following his gradnation Mr. Smith was profitably engaged in merchandising at Blanket, Texas, during that period so firmly established himself in public confidence that when he organized the Continental State Bank, he had the full co-operation of the best people, and was made its manager and cashier. He was also connected, as a director, with the Continental Bank & Trust Company of Fort Worth, which owned the Blanket Bank, and maintained these connections from 1904 to 1917, when he disposed of his interests and came to San Ber- nardino to accept the presidency of the Farmers Exchange National Bank of this city, which office he still holds
In 1920 Mr. Smith was connected with the organization of the Citizens National Bank of Rialto, of which he is now president. It was capitalized at $25,000, and now has resources of about $200,000. Mr. Smith is a director of the San Bernardino Chamber of Commerce, a director of the National Orange Show, which office he has held during his entire residence in this city, a director of the Young Men's Christian Association, treasurer of the local Lions Club and president of the Citrus Belt Gas Company.
Always willing to do his part to preserve the peace, and prepare for a proper defense in time of war, he served as a member of the National Guard while a resident of Texas, and during the late war he served on all of the bond committees and took a very effective part in all of the bond drives.
While he has always voted the republican ticket, aside from exerting his right of suffrage he has never been active in politics. He is a member of the board of trustees of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of San Bernardino, and is chairman of the finance committee. Active in church work and in the Sunday school, he has always endeavored. as a matter of personal conviction, to live up on the right side of every moral question affecting the welfare of the community.
In addition to all of his other interests Mr. Smith owns a small apple and pear ranch at Devore, in Cajon Canyon, San Bernardino County, where he and his family maintain a delightful summer home
On May 20, 1903, Mr. Smith was married at Abilene, Texas, to Miss Mabel Humphreys, a native of that state, and a daughter of T. J. Humphreys, now deceased, who was formerly a cattleman and early settler of Western Texas. He belonged to one of the old families of Mississippi. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have five children, namely : Amelia. who is a student of the San Bernardino High School, Class 1922; and
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Wilmot, Merle Roy and Clifford, all of whom are attending the grammar grades.
The Farmers Exchange National Bank was organized in 1881, and has had a long and prosperous career. According to the statement issued by this bank under date of March 10, 1922, its condition is as follows :
RESOURCES
Loans and Discounts
$1,214,029.98
U. S. and Liberty Bonds
221,275.00
Bonds, Securities, etc. 460,097.53
Furniture and Fixtures. . 21,000.00
Other Real Estate Owned.
718.10
Interest earned, not collected.
8,761.31
Cash on hand and due from banks 224,866.72
$2,150,748.64
LIABILITIES
Capital
$ 100,000.00
Surplus and Undivided Profits
88,542.06
Interest Reserve Acct.
5,000.00
Interest Collected, not earned.
1,000.00
National Bank Notes Outstanding.
100,000.00
Deposits
1,856,206.58
$2,150,748.64
The banking house is conveniently located at the northwest corner of Third and E streets. The present officials are as follows: A. G. Kendall, chairman of the board; Wilmot T. Smith, president; J. Dale Gentry, vice president ; S. E. Bagley, cashier ; and Fred C. Drew, as- sistant cashier. The following compose the board of directors: A. G. Kendall, M. E. Dimock, F. E. Page, Wilmot T. Smith, John Anderson, Jr., C. A. Puffer, J. Dale Gentry, S. E. Bagley, and Dr. Edwin Wyte.
The bank moved into its present quarters December 10, 1919, and the description of its opening by the Index that afternoon, is well worthy of preservation as historical data. It is given in full as follows :
"Hundreds of the city's people are this afternoon attending the formal opening of the Farmers Exchange National Bank's new home at the corner of E and Third streets, extending congratulations to the officers and directors on giving the bank of the city so modern and handsome a banking home.
"The foyer has been handsomely decorated for the occasion with palms, plants and flowers while several handsome floral remembrances from friends grace the desks of the officials.
"During the afternoon and this evening until 8:30 o'clock the officers and directors and their wives will serve as a reception committee greeting each visitor personally and showing them through the new banking house, explaining its facilities for serving its patrons.
"A geneous bunch of violets is being presented to each lady as she enters the bank while each gentleman receives a key purse as souvenirs of the occasion. The first 100 persons to enter the bank this afternoon after two o'clock were presented with a $1 savings deposit with the bank as a starter.
"During the afternoon an orchestra stationed at the back of the room dispensed sweet music and will continue to do so all evening.
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Another entertainment feature will be vocal numbers by a company of colored jubilee singers.
"Punch is being served all the afternoon and evening and it is expected that several thousand San Bernardino people will visit the bank and admire its facilities.
"The public is invited to visit the new home of the bank which has been 'Al' since '81, some time during the afternoon or evening. It will be open until 8:30 tonight."
E. J. CRANSTON during his residence in Southern California in the past dozen years has been a leading banker, and achieved his early recognition in financial circles during his residence in Minnesota. Mr. Cranston is president of the First National Bank of Hemet in Riverside County.
He was born at Madrid, St. Lawrence County, New York, April 14. 1869, son of John and Mary Ann Cranston, both of Scotch ancestry. His father was a New York State farmer. His mother was born in Scotland and her fourth birthday occurred while her parents were on the voyage to this country. She was born in Scotland at Ayr, not far from the old home of Robert Burns.
E. J. Cranston as a boy lived on a farm in New York and attended common schools, and on leaving that state went west to Minnesota, where for eight years he was a teacher at Stillwater. Then after a year of travel he identified himself with the business affairs of Big Lake, Minnesota, where on January 2, 1905, he became president of the local bank and for part of the time while there was president of two banks.
When Mr. Cranston came to California in 1910 he located at Tustin in Orange County, where he organized and was cashier of the First National Bank. He was active in his duties as a banker there until March 19, 1917, when he moved to Hemet and became president of the First National Bank. He was deeply interested in all matters of general interest to the community and in large measure has been responsible for the present prestige and influence of the Hemet Chamber of Com- merce. He is a republican in politics, and has long been active in the Presbyterian Church, being now elder and a member of the Board of Trustees and superintendent of the Sunday School of the Church at Hemet.
On Thanksgiving Day, 1899, he married Miss Madge E. Moore of Big Lake, Minnesota. Seven months later while on a visit to his old home Mrs. Cranston died. Three years later Mr. Cranston married her sister Miss Bennie E. Moore. They have two daughters, aged fourteen and twelve years respectively, and now attending the Hemet public schools.
GEORGE W. THOMAS is one of the oldest living residents of River- side. He came here in October, 1870, with his foster mother. That was two months prior to the arrival of L. C. Waite, another pioneer whose career is sketched in this publication. George Thomas was a boy of ten, and then and afterwards he endured poverty and hardships to an unusual degree but at the age of sixty-two he is in perfect physical condition and enjoys every minute of the freedom and independence he has won by years of work and application. The sound philosophy that grew out of his experience is one that will permit him "to carry on" to the end of the course and realize in generous measure the satisfaction that comes from doing well for himself and others.
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George W. Thomas in his early years was not only his own support but the support of his foster mother largely devolved upon him. He walked five miles daily to work that paid him a monthly wage of fifteen dollars. In confab with those limited circumstances Mr. Thomas is the owner of 320 acres of valuable land, has a large herd of regis- tered Jersey stock, is represented as a director in a number of business organizations, but best of all is the father of four sons and two daughters, all born in California, and is proud of the fact that he is five times a grandfather.
He was born in Omaha, Nebraska, August 13, 1860. His father was Lycurgus Grice. The mother died when her son was only two weeks of age, and subsequently he was adopted and reared by a widow. a Mrs. Thomas, and he took her family name. His father, Lycurgus Grice was attracted to California during the gold rush of 1850, travel- ing from Joplin, Missouri to Marysville, California with ox teams. Spent four years in that neighborhood, seeking his fortune in gold. and then returned to Joplin. He was a soldier in the Union army from 1861 until the close of the war.
Mrs. Thomas and her adopted son George W., came west on a visit to her daughter in October, 1870, when all it possessed beyond its name of Riverside was three little houses on the plains. One of these houses was owned by Mr. and Mrs. A. R. Smith, another by her brother-in-law and wife, Sidney Morton, and the third was the office of the Southern California Colony Association. The other houses were in course of construction, being those of Judge North, J. T. Wood and Judge Broadhurst. The house of Mrs. M. M. Smith was on Main Street between Seventh and Eighth on property now owned by Evans Brothers. Mrs. Thomas came west from Omaha over the newly con- structed Union Pacific Railroad to San Francisco, and came south to Los Angeles by boat. It was a fifteen day trip.
Mrs. Thomas bought a squatter's right to 120 acres of land on West Arlington Avenue, and she lived there with her foster son for thirty-five years. Mr. Thomas still has the patent to this land signed by President R. B. Hayes. George Thomas finished his education after coming to California, attending the Riverside School then conducted in a little building where the Sixth Street School now stands. He walked a distance of five miles daily to and from his studies. His first teacher was Mrs. Meacham and later L. C. Waite. But application to his studies in school was of brief duration, since there were more serious things to think about and do. Mr. Thomas claims the distinction of having been part of the original water system service of Riverside. From the fall of 1870 when he arrived until July, 1871. all the water for all purposes in the community was hauled in barrels on a spring wagon by himself and A. R. Smith. They would go down to the river, driving the wagon into the stream, and George rolling up his pants would fill the buckets and pass them up to Smith. This water was then peddled and distributed over town, and besides being used for domestic purposes it served in starting some of the orginal seedling orange trees on the K. D. Shugart place.
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