USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume III > Part 58
USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume III > Part 58
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Mrs. Betterley is a daughter of Thomas and Margaret Jackson, the former of whom is a prominent business man of Jersey City, New Jersey, where Mrs. Betterley was born. Her parents are also natives of New Jersey and members of old and honored families of that state. She was reared and educated in Jersey City, where she attended Saint Bride's Academy, a parochial institution, following which she received a practical business training in her father's office.
In the same church, Saint Bridget's of Jersey City, where she was christened, Margaret E. Jackson was united in marriage with William Betterley. There was one son born of this marriage, Jack Anthony Betterley, February 28, 1901. His preliminary educational training was received at Saint Mary's-of-the-Lake, in New Jersey, but when his mother came to Long Beach, California, in 1911, he accompanied her and there continued his studies. When he was only seventeen years old and a student of the Long Beach High School, he left school to enter the service of his country. Having when but a child become deeply interested in radio telegraphy. he studied and read on the subject, and in 1912 built a plant of his own, and used to spend Saturday and Sun- day experimenting. while at nights he continued his studies in wireless mysteries. In 1916 he established the first radio in the Big Bear Valley country. Therefore it was but natural when he entered the service at the Brooklyn Navy Yard it should be as a radio electrician, third class. He was sent to Columbia College to learn special and war codes, and later he was set on board the United States submarine chaser No. 77,
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which later burned at sea. His S. O. S. were noted by other vessels and the entire crew rescued from the perilous position at sea in open life- boats. He was then given an examination and rated second grade, and sent to secret listening-in station, City College, New York City. At that time only eight men in the navy yard had this privelege, with its grave responsibilities. Those who were thus trusted had to know both radio and telegraphy. At the expiration of six months the navy regu- lations compelled a change, and he was transferred to Main Control Station of the Third Naval District, one of the most responsible posi- tions in this branch in the navy, and held it for another six months. Again he was transferred and sent to Rockaway Avenue Station, Rock- away Beach, New Jersey, and was first operator with highest rating there. His duties were to fly seaplanes, operating telephone and tele- graph by radio, connecting with all seaplanes across the Atlantic, and during the six months he held this position he was rated first class and was acting chief. While on the submarine chaser he was connected with all radios and electrical work, and sea tubes for the detection of the sound of German submarine propellers. While all of this work was intensely interesting, it was very arduous. Following the signing of the Armistice, he was placed on the inactive list, and honorably discharged at the termination of his period of enlistment, February 28, 1921. At present he owns and operates a modern wireless latest type of trans- mitter of C. W. type, positively noiseless in operation. There are only two others so modern in use on the Pacific Coast. This station is located at Big Bear Tavern, in Big Bear Valley. This young man is one of the strongest in the Western World in radio work, and acquired all of his preliminary training from books, as he had no special training until he entered the service. When it is remembered that he has not vet reached his majority, some idea of his remarkable abilities and posi- tive genius may be gleaned.
Mrs. Betterley is a woman of great business foresight and acumen. After coming to California she became one of the most active partici- pants in the work of the Catholic Church at Long Beach, and in 1915, in competition with four others, was honored by being elected Queen of Long Beach by a majority of 32,000. That same year she came to Big Bear Valley, and the day of her arrival purchased from Gus Knight an acre of land, to which she added another ten the next year, and here she established Camp Eureka, the first one on the upper lake. Pos- sessed in a remarkable degree with a magnetic personality and generous and kindly disposition, she made welcome to her camp her various guests, who eagerly returned to her each year, for she was able to create a real home atmosphere, even during the period of the war when her mother's heart was filled with anxiety over her only child, patriotically serving in the most dangerous of positions. In 1921 Mrs. Betterley sold her camp to the Bear Valley Country Club, and retired to her beautiful country home on Baldwin Lake, comprising four and one-half acres, an acknowl- edged beauty spot of California and one of the most artistic in the mountains.
Mrs. Betterley is most intensely interested in the civic affairs of Bear Valley, and is an active member of its Chamber of Commerce and of the Big Bear Lake Association. When the Chamber of Commerce gave a barbecue, she managed it for them, fed 800 people and made $380 net. She also managed the Hard Times dance given by that association and cleared $281. She is equally active in promoting affairs given by her church, and is an acknowledged leader in Catholic circles.
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While Mrs Betterley is a product of her times, for she is fortunate in living in days when women were accorded more opportunities than formerly, she is one who would have succeeded in any age, or under any circumstances, for such is her remarkable nature. She does not know that there is such a word as "fail." Others recognize her genius for making a success out of any enterprise, and gladly follow her leader- ship. Having now acquired a little more time for public matters, she will no doubt give much more attention to civic affairs, and it is need- less to say that whatever she undertakes in behalf of her beloved valley will be carried through completely and efficiently. Mrs. Betterley not only knows how to do things, she understands how to make others believe in her, and through her really remarkable magnetic personality exerts an influence which is as widespread as it is beneficial.
CHESTER T. JOHNS is one of the prosperous ranchers and horticul- turists of the Ontario district, owning and managing the property which his father, the late Lloyd G. Johns, bought and developed. Mr. Johns lives in a modern town home at 201 East H Street, in Ontario.
He was born at Seward, Nebraska, June 24, 1887, only child of Lloyd G. and Mary R. Johns. Lloyd G. Johns moved to Los Angeles in 1895 and paid four thousand dollars for a ten-acre grove of Mediterranean sweet oranges at Vernon, a suburb of Los Angeles. At that time fruit had a restricted market, and his crop for a season or so was sold to the Earl Fruit Company for about ten dollars a ton. After selling the grove Lloyd Johns engaged in the mercantile business at the corner of Seventh and Broadway in Los Angeles, and continued this successfully for several years. He then sold out and bought acreage of wild land in the Ontario district, the land being covered with sagebrush and grease- wood. He cleared and graded and planted the tract to deciduous fruit and vineyard, and successive purchases brought the ranch up to its present area. This is the property now owned and operated by Chester T. Johns. The father died in 1909. The mother is still living.
Chester T. Johns was eight years of age when the family came to California and in 1907 he graduated from the Chaffey High School and at once became actively associated with his father on the ranch. He is a practical fruit grower and though living in town keeps in close touch with his orchards and ranch.
In 1910 he married Miss Mary Rowe, who was born January 11. 1891, at Cucamonga, where her parents were pioneer settlers. Her father died in 1903 and her mother is still living. Mrs. Johns is a graduate of the Chaffey High School and is deeply interested in educa- tional affairs. Mr. and Mrs. Johns have four children, the first three born at Cucamonga and the last at Ontario: Henrietta, born Septem- ber 1, 1913; Mary E., born November 2, 1915; Mildred Virginia, born March 8, 1918, and Lloyd Edwin, born February 19, 1919.
ARTHUR D. SMITH-Riverside has had a remarkable growth, espe- cially during recent years, when the attention of the East has been directed toward this gem of the great Southwest, and men of means have flocked to it, and, finding here ideal conditions, have invested in its realty and bought into its business concerns. This influx of outside capital has necessitated the active co-operation of some of the most alert of the young men of the community in order that adequate housing accommodations be afforded, and consequently the activities of the real estate brokers have been greatly stimulated. One of these reliable real- tors who has been connected with some of the most important trans-
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actions in realty of Riverside City and County during the past few years is Arthur D. Smith of this city.
Arthur D. Smith was born in Venango County, Pennsylvania, Febru- ary 7, 1887, a son of Franklin H. and Elizabeth ( May) Smith, natives of Pennsylvania, and now residents of Charlotte, Michigan. Franklin H. Smith is a retired oil producer and prominent at Charlotte, where he was at one time a member of the city council. He comes of an old American family of Revolutionary stock and English descent. His wife comes of Holland-Dutch stock. In addition to Arthur D. Smith, Frank- lin H. Smith and his wife have two children, namely: Roscoe E., who is manager of the chain of stores of the Miller Jewelry Company, with headquarters at Detroit, Michigan, and Beryl, who is the wife of Huron A. Slosson, a practicing physician of Eaton Rapids, Michigan.
Arthur D. Smith attended the public schools and the Michigan Business College, from which he was graduated in 1906, following which he studied law in the Detroit College of Law for four years, and then for two years continued his legal studies in the law department of the University of Southern California. While in Michigan he began his first work of a practical character as auditor of the Kellogg-Toasted Corn Flake Company at Battle Creek, where he remained for two years, and for the subsequent two years he was with the Detroit White Lead Works, where he handled all the foreign shipments and collections. In 1912 Mr. Smith came to California and bought two ranches at Hemet, and there raised alfalfa and citrus fruits for about three years. Dis- posing of these ranches, he went to San Jacinto, and for two years served as bookkeeper and auditor for the Stuart-Smith Company of that city.
In 1919 Mr. Smith came to Riverside, embarking in a real estate, insurance and loan business and has since carried it on with profit to himself and benefit to the city. He has been most successful in the handling of both city and country properties, and also makes a business of buying old houses which he remodels or rebuilds and after placing them in first rate condition sells them at an excellent figure. Mr. Smith belongs to Phi Delta Phi, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Chamber of Commerce and the Realty Board, and at one time served the latter body as secretary and treasurer. A republican, he does his duty as a good citizen, but is not at all active in politics.
On September 18, 1907, Mr. Smith was married to Anna L. Hamlin, a native of Eaton Rapids, Michigan, and a daughter of Ada L. and James Albert Hamlin. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have two sons, Duane and Theodore, both of whom are students of the Riverside public schools, the latter being a native son of California. While Mr. Smith has never entered upon the active practice of his profession, he finds his knowledge of law a very valuable asset, and also that the rigid training he underwent in preparation for his calling one of the main reasons for his present suc- cess. His mental faculties were developed, he was taught to weigh care- fully every proposition, and not to take anything for granted. He also learned to apply himself closely to any undertaking, and to persist until he had thoroughly invested the matter from every standpoint. Because of these excellent qualities which he possesses, which are both natural and acquired, Mr. Smith has not only been able to acquire a gratifying material prosperity, but also to win the approval of his fellow citizens.
MRS. SARAH STOCKER-It is often said that whenever the occasion arises for the services of a great man in this country, he is raised up to do his appointed work, and if this is true of the sterner sex, it is is cer-
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tainly just as much a fact with reference to the women of this land, and especially of those of the West. The record of the accomplishments of some of these brave pioneers reads like a romance, but is founded on hard facts, all of which have been proven. Mrs. Sarah Stocker is one of the women of Big Bear Valley who deserves all of the credit which can be accorded her for she came into the valley in 1899 and made one of the very earliest camps in this region. Her initial purchase of one acre of land for $300 is now worth more than $18,000; in fact, she recently refused that figure for it. Her life has been full of hard work and constant activity, and she has the satisfaction of knowing that she has accomplished what seemed an impossibility, and did it in the face of the most severe opposition from her family.
Mrs. Stocker was born at McLeansboro, Hamilton County, Illinois, February 22, 1867, a daughter of Reece and Mary Gullic, natives of Mul- linsville, Kentucky. On November 3, 1884, Mrs. Stocker left Illinois for Redlands, California, which continued to be her home until she came into Big Bear Valley in 1899. In 1883 she was married to James Mon- roe Stocker.
For some years after her marriage Mrs. Stocker devoted herself to her husband and rapidly increasing family, but she saw that if she and her husband were to carry out their plans for the education of their children, they must venture much in hope of large rewards. She was a woman of untiring strength, an excellent cook, and one who was able to look ahead and see how to meet probable obstacles in an efficient and successful manner. In spite of the opposition of her husband, who felt that he could not permit her undertaking so serious a charge, she came to Big Bear Valley, packing in with burros, and on her acre of ground, bought with her long-cherished savings, she opened her camp. At that time there were no stores or postoffice, and for two summers there were no hotels. Her two sons, twelve and fourteen years old, assisted her in packing in supplies over the old Seven Oaks trail. Her first improvement consisted of a cabin home for her family and numer- ous tents, which she rented, and she named her camp Swastika Lodge. Since that primitive beginning Mrs. Stocker has improved her camp, building modern and picturesque cabins, and has now one of the perma- nent camps of the far-famed valley. For the first five years Mr. Stocker did not see this property, he having to remain at Redlands and carry on his own business, while she struggled with the problems in Big Bear Valley during the summer months, although during the winters she and the children returned to Redlands so that they could have the advantages of its excellent public schools. Her camp is supplied with pure mountain spring water and was filed on many years ago by Augus- tus Knight, Sr.
During the years she has operated here Mrs. Stocker has witnessed many wonderful changes which have developed the wilderness into one of the most remarkable mountain resorts in the whole world. When she first settled in her primitive cabin, Bear Valley could only be reached by a difficult mountain trail, but she can now sit on her front porch and not only see the countless automobiles flash by, but also witness the landing of passengers from airplanes. She was one of those who saw John Fisher drive the first automobile into camp. This remarkable lady has by her foresight, energy and fine business ability provided generously for the needs of her family, her natural pluck triumphing over diffi- culties which might have well discouraged the hardiest man, let alone a woman, and one who was the mother of seven children. Many of the men who came into the valley about the same time as she were baf-
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fled by the problems, and returned to the outside world. but she never was discouraged, and worked with a firm faith in the future of the valley. and has lived to see that faith wonderfully justified. Without any doubt she is entitled to a leading position among the really fine American pioneer women.
The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Stocker were as follows: Wil- liam S., who was born in Illinois in 1883, died in the Imperial Valley, June 15, 1921. He was a man of sterling character, and his untimely demise was deplored by his wide circle of friends and business acquaint- ances. John, the second child, was born in 1887 and was on the firing line in France during the World war, in which he participated as a member of the First Division, and he was in the major engagements of the offensive campaigns of Chateau Thierry and the Argonne. Dur- ing the eighteen months he was in France he was wounded several times before he received his last wound, was gassed, and among the missing for a month, having been injured from drinking water poisoned by the enemy. Found unconscious, he was taken to the hospital and reported dead by wire from France, but fortunately recovered, was hon- orably discharged at San Francisco and returned to Redlands, where he is now prospering in the bee business. lla, the third child, was born at Redlands in 1890, and she married Edward Reynolds of Michigan, where she and her husband now reside. Beverly was born in Redlands in 1893 and married Henry L. Crane and they live in Big Bear Valley. James was born in 1896, and he, too, is a veteran of the World war, having enlisted in the famous Ninety-first Division as a member of the Signal Corps. He spent sixteen months overseas and was in the heaviest of the fighting. His division was the one which was under constant fire for nineteen days and nights, and his duties as a first-class member of the Signal Corps made his risks extra hazardous. Following his return to this country after the signing of the armistice, he was mus- tered out at Camp Kearny and honorably discharged. He is now the owner and operator of the transfer business in Big Bear Valley and is very successful. Rosalie, the sixth child, was born at Redlands in 1898 and is a typical mountain girl, as she was only one year old when her mother first came to Big Bear Valley. She is expert at hunting and fishing and is most at home in the open. With the exception of Gus Knight, she was recognized to be the best rifle shot in the valley and hunted deer, climbing mountains after them, including the difficult Sugar Loaf peak. She married Cecil Brandenberg of Portland, Oregon, and they reside in Big Bear Valley, he being State Fish Commissioner for this region. Thomas, the youngest of the family, was born August 11, 1910. He is the only boy ever born in Big Bear Valley. He attends school there and has lived there all his life, living with his sister Rosalie during the winter months and with his mother during the summer season. He is a crack duck shot even at his age and is also an expert snowshoer, being able to outdistance most anyone many years his senior. He has often walked six miles to and from school without a sign of being fatigued and is truly a hardy mountaineer.
FERDINAND GROTZINGER of Corona is one of the valiant pioneers who proved his fighting ability in early days and likewise the ability to meet and cope with the conditions growing out of successive phases of devel- opment in more later times. He has prospered and deservedly so, and is one of the men of highest standing in San Bernardino County. His home is half a mile south of the Jurupa School House.
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He was born at St. Louis, Missouri, March 9, 1860, son of George and Mary Grotzinger. His father was a farmer. Ferdinand was an only son, and his mother dying when he was two years of age, he was placed with his grandfather, a native Frenchman, who moved to Los Angeles in the spring of 1873. Ferdinand's grandfather was a cabinet maker and found work in his trade at Los Angeles.
Ferdinand Grotzinger left school at the age of fifteen, soon after com- ing to California, and from that time forward fought his own battles and earned and saved his capital. He first learned the butcher's trade at which he worked three years and for seven years he was an apprentice and journeyman in the carriage painting trade in Los Angeles. None of the successive stages in the development of this section have escaped his witness. He saw freight teams draw goods from San Pedro to Los Angeles, saw the first railroads, the building of telegraph lines, the first street car, the first theater and the first circus ever in Los Angeles. As a youth he accompanied his uncle, Page Grotzinger, to Arizona, New Mexico and Sonora, Mexico. His uncle established a large blacksmith shop at Tombstone, Arizona, and Ferdinand worked under him. In 1884 he returned to California, locating on the Santa Ana River, where he bought land and leased many hundred acres besides. This was prac- tically all the bottom from the Pines Ranch East. Here he ran cattle and sheep over a portion of the Jurupa ranch lands and he continued his operations on leased land up to 1921. Mr. Grotzinger in 1906 bought his home ranch and also owns land around Redondo and extensive hold- ings of ranch properties in Riverside and Los Angeles counties. He prac- ticed there farming and stock raising, and in recent years has disposed of most of his holdings except his home place and some Beach properties. His ventures have proved profitable, and he has never departed far from his essential industry as a farmer and stockman.
In August, 1884, Mr. Grotzinger married Miss Julia C. Casteel, who was born on the Santa Ana River. Her father, James Casteel, was a Mormon, and in 1852 came from Salt Lake with the Mormon Colony to San Bernardino. He was a sheep and cattle man and he died on the Santa Ana River, where he was a prominent pioneer and one of the leading stock growers of his time. His widow is still living at Los Nietos, California. Mr. Grotzinger is the father of three children: Emma, born at Riverside in 1885, was educated in that city, and is the wife of William Huston, a machinist in the Borax mines of Death Valley. They have a family of three daughters and one son. Bert Grotzinger, born in 1887, is unmarried and is now continuing the farming and stock raising inter- ests of his father. Clarence, born in 1889, is a machinist in the Borax mines of Death Valley and married Lela Jones.
As a young man in the stock business Ferdinand Grotzinger carried a gun to protect himself and his stock from cattle rustlers and thieves. Out of his earnings as a trade worker he saved the money to establish his small nucleus of stock. Cattle were always cheap in those days. He frequently bought good saddle horses at from one dollar to two dollars a head. In one particular dry year he saw sheep sold on the streets of San Bernardino for ten cents a head. In 1877 Mr. Grotzinger saw Samuel Slaughter start out to take sixteen thousand head of sheep to the range and in the fall he returned with only two thousand head, and another instance was Lucky Baldwin, who went to the Bear Lake country with twenty-five thousand head and returned with only six thousand. When Mr. Grotzinger bought his present home ranch it was
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an unirrigated property and he developed a well and pumping plant for irrigation purposes, and has developed it extensively to fruits and alfalfa.
OTIS SHELDON was a lad of eight years when his parents established the family home at Riverside, and when it is stated that here he has maintained his residence during the long intervening period of half a century it becomes at once apparent that it has been his privilege to see the county seat of Riverside County grow from a mere village into one of the most beautiful and prosperous communities in south- ern California, besides having witnessed the transformation of acres of barren sage-brush land into productive orange groves and fertile lit- tle farms that are improved with modern buildings and that go to makeup a district of idyllic charms as well as of industrial prosperity.
Elisha M. Sheldon, father of him, whose name initiates this review, was born in the state of Vermont and was a scion of a staunch New England Colonial family of English origin-one that gave its quota of patriot soldiers to the Continental forces of the War of the Revo- lution. The marriage of Elisha M. Sheldon and Eliza Mary Sharp was solemnized in the state of New York, of which Mrs. Sheldon was a native daughter, she having been of Scotch lineage and of Revolutionary ancestry and one of her grandfathers having been prominent in connection with American trade in Europe. Elisha M. Sheldon became a manufacturer of brick in the state of New York, where he continued his residence until 1872, on the 11th of Decem- ber of which year he arrived with his family in Riverside, California. Here he established, on Colton Avenue, now known as La Cadena Drive, the first brickyard in Riverside County, where he had the dis- tinction of manufacturing the first building brick issued from a local kiln. He continued his successful operations as a brick manufac- turer and building contractor during the remainder of his active ca- reer, and erected many of the more important brick buildings in Riverside, including the Grant Schoolhouse, the Loring Building. the Riverside Hotel on the corner of Main and Eighth streets, and the Frederick Building. He was one of the progressive and public- spirited citizens who aided much in the civic and material develop- ment and upbuilding of Riverside, and his ability and sterling char- acter gave him inviolable place in popular confidence and good will. He and his wife were zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he erected for the Methodist Church its first brick chapel at Riverside, charging only for the material used in the structure, and finally donating even the material. He became the owner of 160 acres of land at Riverside, and this property, which greatly increased in value in the passing years, was divided among his four children at the time of his death, in accordance with the stipulations he had made. He was the owner also of a number of business buildings and other realty in Riverside, and though he was not active in poli- tics and steadfastly refused all importunities to accept public office, he wielded much influence in community affairs and was one of the representative and honored pioneer citizens of Riverside at the time of his death, September 7, 1891, his widow having survived him by only two years and having passed to the life eternal on the 9th of September, 1893.
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