USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume III > Part 59
USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume III > Part 59
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Otis Sheldon gained rudimentary educational discipline in his native state of New York, but, as before noted, he was eight years of age at the time of the family removal to Riverside, his birth hav- ing occurred in New York state on the 2d of July, 1864. He profited
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by the advantages of the public schools of Riverside, and thereafter became actively associated with his father's brick manufacturing and contracting operations. He was twenty-two years of age at the time of his marriage, and has since been actively and successfully asso- ciated with farm industry of the intensive order common to this sec- tion of California. His home place of thirteen acres, on Massachu- setts avenue, was originally given over to an orange grove, but he now uses the tract primarily for the raising of alfalfa. On this tract, at 113 Massachusetts avenue, Mr. Sheldon erected the finest farm house in this district, the same being a brick building of two stories and of modern facilities. He is aligned loyally in the ranks of the republican party, and he is recording secretary of the local organiza- tion of the Foresters of America.
At San Bernardino, in June, 1886, Mr. Sheldon wedded Miss Alice Dunlap, and she is survived by two children: Edward, who is a ma- son by trade and vocation, resides at Riverside, his wife, whose maiden name was Electa Fields, being a native of Massachusetts, and their children being three in number : Joseph, Warren and Helen. Lois, the younger of the two children, is the widow of Charles Doak and now resides at Pasadena. She has three children : Lola, Russell and Richard. The second marriage of Mr. Sheldon was solemnized at San Diego, where Minnie M. Zimmerman became his wife, she being a native of the state of Missouri. Mr. Sheldon's brother, Ezra, is a successful contractor at Riverside. The brother Frederick is de- ceased, as is also the sister, Lois, who became the wife of John Down, the latter likewise being deceased.
EDWARD DOLCH .- As a participant in the frontier development of Southern California for forty years, Edward Dolch, of Victorville. bears witness to the history of that and other localities, and has been one of the steadiest, truest and best esteemed citizens of San Bern- ardino County. .
He is the oldest son of Joseph and Caroline (Pelzolo) Dolch and was born in Silesia, a portion of the German Empire, on December 23, 1860. His father was a farmer. Up to the age of fourteen he attended the common schools of his native land, and then left home to begin his apprenticeship as a barber and surgeon. It was still customary in Silesia for a barber to perform the principal service of the surgeon-blood letting-true to a tradition running back to un- known times.
At the age of nineteen Mr. Dolch was compelled to begin his army service for a period of three years. After he had been in the army about two years an opportunity was presented to escape across Holland border, and he accepted it and came to America. In Silesia he had been vice-president of a local organization known as the Coli- zota Company to promote immigration to America. This was a scheme for projecting a colony in Benton County, Arkansas. On reaching America Mr. Dolch went to the city of this colonial enter- prise in 1882, and soon discovered that conditions were far from what they had been presented to his fellow countrymen back home. He took effective measures to break up this fraudulent scheme, and thus saved many of his compatriots from further losses.
Mr. Dolch spent some time in Little Rock and then at Atkins in Cook County, Arkansas, where he was in the grocery business. The Arkansas climate afflicted him with malaria fever, and in 1885 he had to come to California for the sake of his health. He lived at Los
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Angeles a year or so, and not finding his health restored as rapidly as expected in 1887 he bought some mules and wagon and started for the desert country. He stopped where Hesperia now stands, and settled on the first ranch of one hundred and sixty acres west of the townsite. This was all desert and wild land, and for a time he had to haul his domestic water supply eight miles from Victorville. He planted and developed a splendid orchard of deciduous fruits without irrigation. It was an experiment, but it demonstrated the possibilities of the country. While at Hesperia he was overtaken with two successive dry years, the total rain fall of those two seasons being only one inch. On this account he was compelled to abandon his land, which he later traded, and moving to Victorville he engaged in mercantile business in the old town across the tracks. He bought the business of Strickhouser, who was the first mer- chant and postmaster there, he being the second postmaster. He served five years during the Cleveland administration. Selling out his store inter- est in 1900, Mr. Dolch went to Gold Mountain, then the scene of a great mining excitement, and there he established a general store. This mining camp went to pieces in 1905, and he left there after losing over seven thousand dollars. On returning to Victorville he turned his attention to the improvement of some lots and other property which he had previously acquired, and since then his property and business interests have been in and around Victorville. He has some substantial investments in city property, and has developed a ranch of thirty-two acres adjoining the farm, purchasing the land at a hun- dred and twenty-five dollars an acre and it is now one of the finest ranches in the valley. The old Mormon trail crosses the land, and in the process of clearing many old muskets were unearthed, these being relics of the early conflict between the Indians and Mormons.
In 1896 Mr. Dolch married Miss Elizabeth Greenlee, a native of Indianapolis, Indiana, and daughter of James and Catherine Green- lee. Mr. and Mrs. Dolch have one son, Edward G. Dolch, who was born February 13, 1898, at Cambric City, Indiana. He is a graduate of the Victorville Grammar School, and of the San Luis Obispo Poly- technic. While under age, he attempted to enlist at the time of the World war, but about the time of his enlistment he was stricken with the influenza and pneumonia and was rejected. He then re- turned to his father's ranch and began raising food for his country.
Edward Dolch immediately after reaching America took out citizenship papers, and his record as an American citizen is one of which he may be justly proud. He was originally a democrat in politics, but is now a republican, and has always been a keen student of politics and public affairs and greatly deplores extravagance and waste of public funds by Governmental authority. He still has some holding in mining claims. Mr. Dolch was the first constable in the Hesperia District, was made a deputy sheriff under Sheriff Booth, and he served twelve years as constable of Victorville. At one time this was the toughest town in the state, due to the presence of many Indians, Mexicans and the unlimited use of booze and guns. One of the frequent occurrences was a party of Indians getting drunk and engaging in a free fight among themselves. One night in his official capacity Mr. Dolch had to take six wounded Indians to a hospital. When America entered the World war he volunteered for active service, but was rejected on account of his age. However, he was as- signed to local guard duty, and of twenty-five men selected for such service he was the only one to remain faithful throughout the period of the war. His duty was as guard of the Santa Fe Railroad Bridge
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over the Mojave River. While he was living in Los Angeles Mr. Dolch served as a corporal in the California National Guards, dur- ing 1885-87.
CHARLES FRANKLIN SMITH was educated as a sanitary engineer, but about eighteen years ago retired from that profession and became all orange grower in the Redlands District. He is one of the success- ful horticulturists of San Bernardino County and also a citizen whose influence is constantly directed to the larger welfare and prosperity of this section.
Mr. Smith represents a prominent family and is a son of the late Brigadier General Franklin Guest Smith, who had a distinguished career as an American soldier. General Smith was born in Pennsyl- vania February 16, 1840, and died at the City of Washington October 7, 1912. He was a son of Dr. Franklin R. and Mary (Guest) Smith, his father being a physician. General Smith graduated a civil engi- neer from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1859, and for a brief time was private secretary to the general superintendent of the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad. In the spring of 1861 he was appointed private secretary to Major General George B. McClellan, and in Au- gust of that year was appointed a second lieutenant in the Fourth United States Artillery and subsequently as first lieutenant served with the Army of the Cumberland until the close of the war. He re- mained in the regular army, with promotions at regular intervals, participated in Indian campaigns against the Sioux and Cheyenne tribes, was in the campaign against the Apaches in 1881 and in the spring of 1898 was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the Sixth Artil- lery and served as an artillery inspector in the Department of the South. He was promoted to brigadier general in August, 1903, and the following day was retired from active service. For a number of years he was commissioner and secretary of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Park Commission, and instrumental in plan- ning that great national cemetery. His own monument was erected there during his lifetime as a tribute to his distinguished service. General Smith married, February 8, 1866, Frances L. Dauchy, of Troy, New York. In 1881 he married Georgiana Dauchy of San Francisco. General Smith's uncle, Charles E. Smith, was president of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad during the Civil war and led a most active life. T. Guilford Smith, of Buffalo, New York, Gen- eral Smith's first cousin, represented the Carnegie Steel Company there, and his life is a matter of public record.
A son of his father's first marriage, Charles Franklin Smith, was born at Fort Canby, Washington Territory, August 13, 1874. He was educated largely in the East, and received his training as a sani- tary engineer in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1903 Mr. Smith came to California and located at Crafton, where he bought a ten-acre orange grove on Citrus Avenue. This has been his home ever since. He erected a modern home in the midst of the many duties of this particular location, and besides being a fruit grower he is active in business as a real estate man at Redlands. Prior to coming to California he was employed by the Coast and Geodetic Survey in Virginia, by the U. S. Engineers on the fortifications in Portland, Maine, and by the New York Car Wheel Company in Buf- falo, New York. Since coming to Redlands he have been secretary of the Crafton Orange Growers Association, president of the Crafton Fumigation Association, associated with H. W. Hill, of Redlands,
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California, in the Redlands Automobile Company and when this lat- ter business was sold he entered into the real estate business.
July II, 1907, he married Miss Marjorie Vail Fargo, who was born June 16, 1886, at Lake Mills, Wisconsin, daughter of I_ Latimer Fargo. Her father was an able scholar and his great uncle was one of the founders of Wells Fargo Express Company. Miss Marjorie Fargo came to California with her parents in 1899. She completed her education in the exclusive Girls School at Boston, conducted by Miss Church. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have three sons: Franklin Guest, born September 8, 1908; Latimer Fargo, born December 16, 1909; and Rodney Dauchy, born October 18, 1913. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are members of the Episcopal Church, the Country Club, and both were prominent in local war work. Mr. Smith organized and was president of the local Rifle Club and also organized and was drill master of the Home Guards. He has a button recognition of his skill as an expert rifleman. During the late war he applied twice for military service, but owing to a slight lameness was not accepted.
GEORGE WASHINGTON PENN is one of the oldest residents in the Victorville community of San Bernardino County. He came here nearly forty years ago, when there were only one or two houses in the village. His previous experience as a quarryman brought him here, and his productive work has been largely in the granite quar- ries. The name and activities of this old pioneer have always been associated with sterling traits of character.
He represents the old Quaker stock that originally planted the Pennsylvania colony, and William Penn was his great-great-grand- father. His grandparents were natives of Virginia, and his parents were born at Alexandria, that state.
George Washington Penn was born at Cumberland, Maryland, February 5, 1857, and was the only one of twelve children born there ten being natives of Virginia, while the youngest was born in Wash- ington, D. C. Their parents were William T. and Rebecca Ann (Simmons) Penn. His father was a cabinet maker, and in later years worked at this trade. He had been one of the very prosperous farm - ers and planters of old Virginia, and when the Civil war came on he was worth twenty-five thousand dollars. He was a staunch Union inan, all his holdings were in the South, and they were confiscated by the Confederate government, so that he was financially ruined. He died at Cumberland, Maryland, in 1865, at the close of the war, and his wife died two years later. Four of the oldest sons enlisted and served in the Federal Army.
George Washington Penn was about eight years old when his father died, for several years he lived on a farm in Pennsylvania, and all his schooling did not take any more than six months. At the age of twenty he left Pennsylvania, going to old friends in Iowa, in which state he was led to believe there were better chances for a young man. Mr. Penn was a resident of lowa for seven years, and at the age of twenty-seven he went on to the Northwest of Portland, Ore- gon, and in the fall of 1884 arrived in San Francisco, making the journey by way of steamboat in the absence of any railroad between Portland and San Francisco. Ile was employed and worked at Oak- land until 1886. and in that year came to Victorville through the in- fluence of friends, who requested that he come as an expert to super- vise the work of the marble quarries where an attempt was being made to burn lime. He had become proficient in such operations in
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Pennsylvania. Within two months the concern failed, and he had to seek other opportunities. At that time there were only three houses at Victorville, one of them being the stage station, since destroyed by fire, a brick house, and the Southern California section house. After the failure of the lime burning operation Mr. Penn went four miles below town to the old Turner ranch, where he remained four years, doing general work in the improvement of the property. For fifteen years he was quarryman in the granite quarries. He has quarried material for many of California's prominent public works and buildings. One example of the dimension of materials quarried in the Victorville district by Mr. Penn were the great levelers used in the construction of the foundation for the dome of the Union Ferry Building at San Francisco. There were forty-four of these levelers, 6x6x1 feet, twenty-two 4x4x1 feet, and four of the dimensions 8x8x2 feet, the last weighing twelve tons. A large part of the pav- ing blocks used in various Southern California cities were produced in these quarries. Mr. Penn quarried all the granite used in the New Court House building at San Bernardino and the granite platforms and steps in the New Court House at Bakersfield. When he came to this part of San Bernardino County the largest alfalfa tract in the valley was five acres. He has lived here, has seen the country grow and develop, and has served in the work and the consequent pros- perity.
On November 4, 1891, he married Miss Elizabeth Agnes Leahy, who was born in Massachusetts in 1866. Five children were born of their marriage, all being natives of Victorville. Ethel May, born November 21, 1892, is the wife of Wilson Herrington, and they live at Sierra Madre, California, their three children being Wilson, Jr., Dorothy and Dorris. The second child, Mary J. Penn, born October 3, 1894, died November 5, 1895. The third child, Myron C. Penn, born February 17, 1896, is unmarried and is agent for the Santa Fe Railroad, now located at Hesperia. Elizabeth A., born August 8, 1899, is the wife of Walter Wechlo. William Henry Penn, the young- est of the family and still a boy, was born November 27, 1903.
GEORGE F. HERRICK, who passed away January 3, 1922, was a leading orange grower of Riverside County. He started out to be a railroad man, and made encouraging advancement and progress in that line. However, he was convinced that he was a natural born farmer, and it was his good fortune many years ago to realize his special adaptabil- ity for that role, and during his life in California of a third of a cen- tury his activities had been identified in an increasing degree with horticulture and practical farming.
Mr. Herrick was one of Riverside's most popular citizens. Born at Milton, Vermont, July 29, 1851, he represented some sturdy lines of old American and New England family stock. His parents were Phineas and Emily (Mears) Herrick, both natives of Vermont. His mother was of English descent, while the Herrick name runs back in genealogical record to Eric the Red of Denmark. Phineas Her- rick was a Vermont farmer and a man of character in keeping with the rugged hills of the state. He was a deacon in the Congregational Church and superintendent of its Sunday School many years, and held such posts as selectman, school trustee and town liquor agent at Milton. His son, Edgar E. Herrick, had a notable record as a sol- dier of the Union. He enlisted in Company I of the Sixth Vermont Volunteers in the fall of 1861, served three years and then re-en-
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listed. Going out as a private, he returned a lieutenant. He partic- ipated in forty engagements. His first promotion was a reward for having rescued the colors at Fredericksburg Heights, and he was given the honor of bearing those colors for the regiment. Still an- other son, E. Dwight Herrick, came across the Isthmus of Panama to California in 1853, and in later years was associated with the rail- way postal service on the Union Pacific lines between San Francisco and Ogden. The soldier, Edgar E. Herrick, died at Dayton, Ohio, in 1920. Two others of the family survive: Stephen H. Herrick, of Rockford, Illinois ; and Charlotte E., wife of Richard Corey, of Santa Barbara, California.
George F. Herrick acquired a public school education and took a special course in railroad telegraphy and railroad work at Oberlin, Ohio. For twelve years he was connected with Vermont railroads in telegraph and office work, and then returned to the calling with which he had been made familiar as a boy on the Vermont homestead. In Vermont he rented his farm for three years. In December, 1887, he arrived in California, followed by his family two years later. Making his home at Riverside, he employed his talents as a mechanic at house building the first year, and then went into orchard work. a line of which an experience of nearly thirty years gave him expert and authoritative knowledge. His first purchase was five acres on Ottawa Street. He also bought a half interest in ten acres at 702 Chicago Avenue, where he later had his home. He was one of the staunch and sturdy members of his local fruit exchange after it was organized, shipping through Riverside Heights Packing House No. 10.
In 1893 Mr. Herrick was called upon to act as secretary of the Riverside Y. M. C. A. He held that office eighteen months, keeping up his ranch work with the aid of a hired man. Largely through his influence he kept the association together when it was almost mori- bund. He issued a magazine known as the Y. M. C. A. News as a proper means of publicity and for the purpose of arousing interest in the movement. Just at that time a beginning was made in organiz- ing the athletic side of the association, and altogether Mr. Herrick may be said to have laid some of the sound foundations on which the association rests its prosperity and influence today. While he was secretary the president of the association was Mr. A. A. Adair.
Thus various interests from time to time have enlisted his time and means. He was one of the organizers of the camp of the Wood- men of the World, which later consolidated with the lodge of which he was a member and past consul. He was a charter member of the Knights of the Maccabees and on the Official Board, and for a num- ber of years was trustee of the Grace Methodist Episcopal Church, also leader of the choir and always much interested in the musical activities of the church. In earlier years he was identified with the Congregational Church and was clerk for eleven years.
On September 27, 1874, at Cambridge, Vermont, Mr. Herrick married Miss Susie E. Tyler. She is a native of Vermont, daughter of Frederick Tyler, a farmer. Mrs. Herrick is descended from a long line of New England ancestors, and one branch of the family in- cluded President Tyler. Mrs. Herrick, who died in 1920, was the mother of five children. Charles W., the oldest, a native of West- minster, Vermont, has been in the railway mail service for over twenty years, now on the Santa Fe running between Los Angeles and San Diego. He married Emma Shephard, a native of the State of Maine, and their five children are Robert W., Florence E., Walter
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L. and Martha E. and Margaret E., twins. The second son of George F. Herrick, Walter L. Herrick, died at the age of twenty-two, and the third child, Bessie M., died in infancy. Frederick T. Herrick, the third son, who was for four years physical director of the Riverside Y. M. C. A., and has always been actively interested in church af- fairs, is now connected with the Standard Oil Company at San Fran- cisco. He was born at Westminster, Vermont, and by his marriage to Miss Marian Gates of Berkeley has a daughter, Dorothy M. The youngest of the family is George W. Herrick, who was born at Windsor, Vermont, and is in the dairy business at Riverside. His wife is Ethel Long, of Riverside, and they have a son, Albert E., and a daughter, Helen Leota.
HOWARD SPRAGUE REED, Ph.D., has given his life to study and re- searches and the scientific application of the principles of plant physiology, and for the past six years has rendered many important services to the citrus industry of Southern California in his position as professor of plant physiology at the Riverside Citrus Experiment Station.
Dr. Reed was born at North East, Pennsylvania, a section famous for its grape industry, on August 6, 1876, son of Joseph H. and Emma Gertrude (Sprague) Reed. His father, a native of Pennsylvania, is an extensive farm owner in Erie County, owns and conducts two large farms, and has also enjoyed an influential place in the commu- nity for many years. He has served as burgess, as town clerk and county auditor. He is of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and one of his an- cestors, Colonel Joseph Reed, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. Dr. Reed's mother was born in New York State and is now deceased. Her people on coming from England settled in Connecticut in Colonial times.
Howard Sprague Reed as a boy attended the grammar and high schools of North East and subsequently entered the University of Michigan, where he was graduated A.B. in 1903. As a youth his inclinations led him to an enthusiastic study of botany, and while carrying his classical studies at the University he served as assistant in plant physiology from 1899 to 1903. From 1903 to 1906 he was instructor in botany at the University of Missouri, and at the same time was doing his advanced work in science which earned him the degree Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Missouri in 1907. From 1906 to 1908 he was expert in soil fertility for the Bu- reau of Soils of the United States Department of Agriculture. Dr. Reed was Professor of Mycology and Bacteriology at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and also Plant Pathologist of the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station from 1908 to 1915. While thus en- gaged he obtained a leave of absence and went abroad during 1913, studying plant chemistry at the University of Strasburg, Alsace, France, and Naples, Italy, where his investigations in plant physiol- ogy were chiefly conducted on marine plants. Much of the material he collected for his studies came from a grotto on the Bay of Poz- zuoli, a grotto mentioned in Virgil's writings, and also near the town of Pozzuoli, where Saint Paul landed after his shipwreck on his jour- ney to Rome.
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