USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume III > Part 61
USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume III > Part 61
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Mr. Williams was born at Waverly, Iowa, on the 8th of December, 1866, and is a son of Alfred and Delia (Clarke) Williams, the father having been a sterling pioneer of the Hawkeye State. Edwin F. Williams continued his studies in the public schools of his native state until he had attained the age of sixteen years, when his independent spirit and love of adventure led him to go to Wyoming, where he gained a full quota of experience in handling cattle on the great open ranges. He continued his service in this vocation for several years, within which he
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found employment also in Idaho, Nevada and Colorado. His ability eventually gained him promotion to high positions with the great cattle companies of the West. He lived up to the full tension of the vigorous life of the cattle range of the early days, and his experiences were marked by arduous work and by conditions that would be considered hardships by one not inured to the free and open life of the western frontier. Mr. Williams recalls with satisfaction many herculean tasks performed by him and his faithful associates, the loyalty of the cowboy to his "boss" being proverbial. Mr. Williams on more than one occasion worked to hold the herd of cattle together in the face of raging bliz- zards, fought the blinding snow, endured bitter cold, crossed torrential rivers, and never thought of deserting the herd. Nothing less would have been considered by him and his companions to be consistent with the ethics of the range. In 1888 Mr. Williams made his way to Arizona, and there he purchased land, a portion of which lay across the border in Mexico. He became successfully established in independent operations as a cattle man, and incidentally built and conducted a meat-packing plant at Canenea, Mexico. His holdings in Mexico became varied and important, but he lost all of these as a result of revolutionary dis- turbances, which involved the closing down of mines in that section of Mexico and the disruption of all normal business enterprises. In 1906 he came to Palo Verde, California, to look over the Blythe Ranch estate, and he passed some time in sizing up the situation and the pos- sibilities offered. After making his visit to this section of California, Mr. Williams returned to his ranch and business in Arizona and Mexico, but in the spring of 1909 he came again to the Palo Verde Valley, where he obtained a tract of land and instituted the improving of the same. He brought to bear his best energies and broad experience in further- ing the development of this beautiful and productive valley, was the first to receive by popular election the office of director of the Palo Verde Mutual Water Company, and he served for a long term of years as president of that company, a post which he finally resigned to accept that of president of the Palo Verde Joint Levee District. A gigantic work was that here achieved in the early days of development, and adverse conditions and all manner of discouragements failed to dampen the ardor and determination of Mr. Williams, who overcame innumerable obstacles and showed marked executive ability in carrying forward the work which he knew to be necessary. In early days it was found necessary to make frequent, and often heavy, assessments, and Mr. Williams and other pioneers sacrificed a goodly portion of their land holdings to provide funds with which to insure the successful prosecution of the general work that should redeem the land of the valley to effective productiveness. Mr. Williams held to his course with confidence and faith, and he continues to live on his homestead in the Palo Verde Valley where he is one of the honored pioneers and representative citizens, and both his character and his achievement mark him as well deserving of the unqualified popularity which is his.
In 1912 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Williams and Miss Edyth Everett, who was at that time residing in the City of Albu- querque, New Mexico. Mrs. Williams was born in England, and in addition to her general culture she is a talented artist. The home con- tains. many fine specimens of her work in pastel and oil and water colors. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have one child, Edwin F., Jr., who was born in July, 1913.
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Mr. Williams has been in the fullest sense one of the world's con- structive workers, and his advancement along both mental and material lines has been the result of his own ability and well directed efforts. Leaving school while yet a boy, he continued his studies by the camp- fires maintained at night in connection with the herding of cattle on the open ranges of the early days, and by careful study and reading he has become a man of broad information and wide intellectual horizon. He has done a splendid work in redeeming barren lands to cultivation, and for his service in this important field he is entitled to enduring honor and commendation, as no better contribution could be made in be- half of generations yet to come. He has a capacity for big things, and in the Palo Verde Valley he has given full evidence of this capacity in his admirable work and service.
JOHN E. CUTTER .- Riverside was the home of John E. Cutter for nearly forty-five years. One of the oldest residents of that city at the time of his death, November 19, 1921, he contributed much to its de- velopment as a horticultural center and enjoyed that place of esteem given to those who have labored most unselfishly and public spiritedly for the general welfare and progress.
Mr. Cutter was of New England birth and ancestry. The genealogy of the Cutter family has been traced back in direct line to King Alfred the Saxon. The Cutters came to America in 1639, and many descend- ants of the old New England stock are still in the East. One Cutter was surgeon general for the East End Department during the Revo- lutionary war.
John E. Cutter was born March 16, 1844, at Webster, Maine, son of Dr. Benoni and Olive S. (Drinkwater) Cutter, his father a native of Jaffrey, New Hampshire, and his mother of Cumberland County, Maine, where her father was also born and where the Drinkwater's were pioneers. Dr. Benoni Cutter was a competent physician who died when just coming into the enjoyment of the rewards of his talents, at the age of about thirty-five.
John E. Cutter attended common schools at Webster and remained at home there until 1862, when, at the age of eighteen, he enlisted in Company E of the 23rd Maine Infantry. He received his discharge from this regiment in 1863, but at once re-enlisted, joining Company K, 29th Maine Infantry. This regiment was a part of Gen. W. H. Emory's 19th Army Corps, and he was in service under General Banks in Louisiana and later under Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley. With the close of the war he returned home and finished his education in the Maine Wesleyan Seminary at Kent's Hill.
Mr. Cutter for many years was devoted to educational work, and his first associations with Riverside were with the local schools. He taught school in various places in Maine after graduating from college, and then became a pioneer in Murray County, Minnesota, where he homesteaded a hundred and sixty acres. Every winter he was in Min- nesota he taught in Olmstead County, and after Murray County was organized he was appointed the first superintendent of schools, in 1872. Soon afterward he returned East, to Sabatis, Maine, and continued teaching there for five years. The last two years he was principal of Litchfield Academy at Litchfield Corners.
It was in the spring of 1878 that Mr. Cutter came to Riverside, and for a year was principal of schools and later taught two terms in another school. In the meantime he was developing some land to fruit. In
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1879 he bought eight acres on Cypress Avenue, planting it to oranges and grapes, and in the same year acquired ten acres on East Eighth Street. Here he became associated with A. J. and D. C. Twogood in the nursery business, and continued in that business until 1894, after which he concentrated his time and energies on his individual fruit ranch. He had but recently practically retired from business, though superin- tending the work on his ten acre grove on East Eighth Street. Mr. Cutter was one of the organizers of the Riverside Heights Orange Growers Association in 1894, and a director in that pioneer organiza- tion, and was also a director of the Riverside Fruit Exchange.
In his political views he was a republican, but never accepted a public office. He gave liberally of time and money as a member of the River- side Methodist Church and was one of the leading members of River- side Post No. 118, Grand Army of the Republic, and a member of the Present Day Club and until a short time before his death was identified with the Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Cutter never abandoned the in- tellectual and literary interests of his early manhood. He was a con- tributor of both prose and verse to papers and magazines, and had a thorough knowledge of the many books in his private library and of other literature as well.
In March, 1876, at Litchfield, Mr. Cutter married Miss Annie L. Dinsmore, who was born at Canaan, Maine. She was also a teacher, and after coming to Riverside she taught several terms in the public schools while Mr. Cutter was busy with his fruit ranch. She died at Riverside, May 24, 1894, and is survived by one child, Charlotte Mary, who later married Frank A. Noyes, Jr., also a granddaughter, Natalie A. Noyes. In June, 1897, Mr. Cutter married Ellen E. Prescott at Trinidad, Colorado, who survives him.
CHARLES A. BOECK, of Redlands, can claim a residence in this part of Southern California for more than a quarter of a century. He is a business man who early mastered the practical side of citrus culture, and his financial standing in the community is evidence that his efforts have been more than ordinarily successful.
Mr. Boeck was born December 6, 1871, at St. Louis, Missouri, and he grew up in that city and acquired a good knowledge of business under his father, the late Adam Boeck. Adam Boeck was born in Frankfort, Germany, February 9, 1838, and came to America in 1853, when he was fifteen years of age. He landed at New York and spent the remaining fifty cents he then possessed for a pocket book which attracted his attention. His first employment was as a striker for a blacksmith. While working during the day he attended night school, studied bookkeeping, and accepted every opportunity to qualify himself for a career of usefulness as an American citizen. Going west to St. Louis, he was employed by a real estate firm known as Webb & Caine, and subsequently entered that business for himself as one of the firm of Greather and Boeck. The title of this firm was frequently mispro- nounced, and one day an Irishman entered the office and inquired for "Mr. Get there and back." Adam Boeck was in business continuously for half a century. He enjoyed the especial esteem and confidence of the large German element in the population of St. Louis. His knowledge of real estate conditions and his ability brought him such clients as Hetty Green and Jay Gould. When the Gould interests undertook to build the great Union Passenger station at St. Louis Mr. Boeck was intrusted with the responsibilities of purchasing agent for the Gould
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interests. The district now covered by the great station and the train sheds was then completely built over with residences. Mr. Boeck bought all this property preparatory to the erection of the depot. In 1888 he acquired the interests of his partner. About that time he brought his personal capital of a hundred thousand dollars to Southern California and invested in real estate in San Diego. For a time his property increased until he was probably worth a million, and then came the deflation when he lost heavily and returned to St. Louis. He earned several fortunes through his real estate business. He was not a speculator in real estate, and most of his wealth came from earned commissions. He believed in practicing the principle of doing what had to be done immediately. That characteristic once earned him a com- mission of a hundred thousand dollars on one transaction. Requiring the signature of certain parties to papers to close the deal, he went to the home of the party at midnight, woke him out of bed, and had the deal practically closed when early the next morning nine of his com- petitors sought out the same party for a similar purpose.
In 1906 Adam Boeck returned to California and located at Los Angeles, where he loaned his money on real estate, but lived practically retired at Hollywood, where his death occurred November 2, 1918. At the age of twenty-nine he married Mary Kriechbaum at Des Moines, Iowa. She died at their home in Hollywood in 1913, at the age of sixty-seven. They were the parents of six children: Nellie, born in 1867, now Mrs. Ball, living in New York; Walter, born in 1869, who died at Los Angeles in 1908; Charles A .; George, born in 1875, who succeeded to the real estate business of his father in St. Louis ; Mabel, born in 1878, and died at the age of five years; and Percy A., born in 1882, now a resident of Los Angeles.
Charles A. Boeck grew up and acquired his education in St. Louis, and for ten years had more or less active association with his father in the real estate business. He arrived in California March 1, 1894, and at that time planned to learn thoroughly and engaged in the citrus fruit industry. Before investing any of his capital he worked for Mr. Drinkwater of Corona, a man who specialized in the care of groves. His first hundred dollars of capital he made and saved through physical labor. Later he was employed by Mr. Hatch of Redlands, with whom he worked three months for his board in order to learn the bee industry. In 1897 Mr. Boeck bought seven and a quarter acres from George Gray, this acreage being set to navel oranges. The purchase price was forty-three hundred dollars. His practical knowledge and increasing experience has made him one of the very successful orange growers of Riverside County. He has always treated his trees for scale by the use of kerosene in the dormant season, and his grove has regularly passed inspection. On this land at a picturesque spot on Highland Avenue he erected the beautiful modern home, which he sold in June, 1921. This home was built by day labor. At that time it was possible to secure carpenters for two dollars and a half a day of ten hours. He consequently completed the house at a cost which was three thousand dollars less than the highest bid submitted by any contractors.
After completing his home he married, in 1898, Miss Pearl Bangle. Mrs. Boeck was born near Oxford, Mississippi, November 26, 1875, daughter of Henry Worth and Mary Bangle. Her father was a Mis- sissippi farmer, and after comming to California secured Government land in the Perris Valley. Mrs. Boeck was educated in California schools. She is a member of the Holiness Church and an energetic
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and consistent Christian who has given much of her time to charity in addition to presiding over her beautiful home. Mr. and Mrs. Boeck have one child, Grace, born December 24, 1901. She is a graduate of the Redlands High School and is now attending Southern Branch of the University of California, preparing for a teaching career. She is specializing in higher mathematics and is also a talented musician.
After selling their Redlands home Mr. and Mrs. Boeck purchased an attractive home at North Hobart and Melrose streets in Los Angeles, where they now reside.
DAVID H. WIXOM .- San Bernardino has in proportion to its popula- tion probably more of the real pioneers, the men of the early adventure- some, wild and picturesque days than any other city in the district, and few of them have been longer identified with the city than has David H. Wixom. He is an almost Californian, just missing being born here by three short years, but those three years do not count for much, as he has spent the remainder of his life here, was educated here and has made a success of his life in his home town.
Mr. Wixom has followed for a time several lines of business most successfully, has been elected and appointed to various public offices, and in all things he has been the peer of any man, filling the posts of honor and trust most acceptably, always sure of himself and giving an un- swerving fidelity to every trust. He is never afraid to tackle the big things of life, and many times his mettle has been severely tested, but he came through every ordeal unflinchingly and there is no such word as compromise in his vocabulary. He is a man who has all his life made warm friends, whom he holds in ever growing attachment, and he is getting out of life just what he put into it, kindness, good will, loyalty to home and friends.
Mr. Wixom knows his California and many are the tales he could tell of the early days, of Indian fighting and of pioneer methods of handling things. He has seen a transformation so wonderful it must seem like a dream, the modern civilization which encompasses him, the beauty of groves, lawns and flowers replacing the sage brush and greasewood, the ease and luxury of life as compared to the hardships he underwent as a boy in common with all the intrepid souls making up that primitive village of the pioneer days of the fifties and sixties.
Mr. Wixom was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on February 7, 1848, the son of Nathan and Betsy E. ( Hadlock) Wixom, both of whom were natives of New York. His father was a farmer and trader in the East for many years, and hearing the many tales of California, rife at that time, he decided to come here in 1851, and in December of that year he reached his destination, after the usual perilous journey by means of ox team, undergoing dangers and hardships, with his wife and family, safe and well. He located first in Monterey County, but shortly afterward came to San Bernardino and at once he and his wife knew they had found their home, and here he lived happily, farming and stock raising for too brief a period, for he died within fifteen years, but not before he had won the esteem and friendship of everyone. He not only farmed, but he took up a ranch on Lytle Creek, now known as the Glenn ranch, and he also ran a feed stable and he built property which he rented, and improved many things. His wife was his faithful partner in all things, the encouraging indomitable wife he needed. These qualities they surely transmitted to their son, the subject of this sketch. She died in 1885 in San Bernardino.
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David H. Wixom was one of a family of twelve children, the tenth in order of birth, the others being: Reuben, deceased; Clarissa, wife of Charles Ferguson, deceased; Elizabeth, wife of Richard Mat- thews, both deceased; Mary Ann, widow of Lucian D. Crandall, living in San Bernardino; Willard, Elmira and Jasper, deceased; Eliza, wife of a Mr. Muchman, deceased; Cynthia, wife of Joseph Paine, living in San Bernardino; Charles W., deceased; and Chauncey, deceased.
Mr. Wixom was educated for a short time in Monterey County pub- lic schools and then in the public schools of San Bernardino, also attending a private school and a night school. He then went into farming and teaming, following this for nine years outside of San Bernardino, and also teaming to Prescott, Arizona. He then had to move into San Bernardino, to take charge of his mother's business, caring for the property for four years.
In 1882 he was elected city marshal and served two terms, was deputy assessor for four years, and was appointed chief of the fire department and filled that office for about five years. He then de- cided to return to private life and bought a ranch at Highland, with three hundred colonies of bees, and stayed there four years, but the lure of the city became too strong and he moved back into San Ber- nardino. He was next elected a member of the city council and served two terms, being re-elected. In 1897 he went into the laundry business with Dr. Clarence Dickey, but sold out and retired from all active business for a time.
His next move was to take up a homestead on the mountains, and this he proved up on and made it a beautiful place, planting four hundred apple trees and building a fine house. One of its attractions is a large fish pond. He must often think of this beautiful environ- ment of the days of old, and especially of the time in February, 1867, when he was one of the party who went out on the trail after the In- dians who had murdered Bemis, Whitesides, Parish and other white men. They were out two weeks, and made "good Indians" of many and ran the rest out of the country, and this ended for all time the real Indian trouble, the killing of the whites.
In addition to his home, Mr. Wixom owns other city properties. In addition to his other public service he was school trustee for seven years of the Mt. Vernon School.
He married on December, 25, 1866, Mary Ann Stuchberry, a na- tive of Australia, the daughter of John and Emma (Cadd) Stuch- berry, both her parents being natives of London, England. Mr. Stuch- berry moved to Australia when a young man. They crossed the ocean to America in 1858, making the voyage in a sail boat and arriving at San Pedro, Los Angeles County, State of California, in November, 1858, they continued their journey to and settled in San Bernardino, and remained until their deaths.
Mrs. Wixom is the oldest of the following children: John Franklin, deceased ; Thomas, living in Pomona : Elizabeth, widow of Thomas Harris, of San Bernardino; William, deceased ; Ellen, wife of Ben Southern, of San Bernardino: Joseph Henry, living in San Bernardino ; James, in Los Angeles.
Mr. and Mrs. Wixom are the parents of the following children : Emma Louisa, wife of W. B. Reeves, of San Bernardino, who has the following children : Mand I: Blanche, married to William Amblen, of San Bernardino: Ellen, wife of Dr. Clarence Dickey. Jr., of San Bernardino; Frank Wixom Reeves, married and living
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in Texas; and Elizabeth. David William, of San Bernardino, married Elizabeth Smith and has three children: Mabel, married to Carl Barco of Colton ; Ennis, married to Olive Switzer, and Percy. Laura E. married Frank M. Meisner of San Bernardino. She has one child by a former marriage. Arthur H. married Norah May Harmon, and they have three children: Clifford, Frances and David. Nathan Chaun- cey died in 1875, at the age of two.
Mr. Wixom is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, of Woodmen of World and of the San Bernardino Society of California Pioneers. Mrs. Wixom is also a member of the Pythian Sisters, Women of Woodcraft and the Maccabees. In politics they are democrats.
VERNON E. STOCKWELL .- Volumes have been written concerning the romantic experiences and adventure of the California argonauts. How- ever, the age of romance is not dead since some of the men who have come to California in comparatively recent years have ventured and achieved in a way fully as interesting and perhaps even more beneficial to the country at large than the early gold seekers.
A story in point is that of Mr. Vernon E. Stockwell of Los Angeles. who some years ago dared to come over the mountains against the warning of a physician who said he could not live to make the trip, who reached here a stranger and with only a few dollars at his command, and now has business interests and connections spread all over the country around Los Angeles, including some that make him a man of prominence and interest in San Bernardino and Riverside, counties.
Mr. Stockwell was born at Spearsville in Boone County, Indiana, August 25, 1872, son of Austin and Mary P. Stockwell, who were natives of Ohio. Vernon Stockwell grew up on his father's farm, had a working experience while attending common schools, and as a young man took a course in a Horological College at La Porte, Indiana, and also graduated from the Myers Institute of LaPorte, thus receiving a technical training in the watchmaker's trade and as an optician. He was in the jewelry and optical business for three years, located in Iowa and Missouri and part of the time traveling over these states selling jewelry and optical goods. Failing health compelled him to seek a different climate and after about a year of invalidism he went to Denver, Colorado, and entered the piano business as salesman for the McCammon Bros. at 16th and Champa streets. He traveled over Colorado, New Mexico and Utah as a general salesman and with more than ordinary success. In December, 1900, he came to Los Angeles, primarily because he was unable to live on the eastern side of the Rockies and he hoped and realized his expectations of finding in Southern California a genial climate where his strength would be restored and also some business oppor- tunities. He reached here with nine dollars in his pocket. It was a period of hard times. In seeking work he applied to the Los Angeles Piano Company. They had too many men already, said the sales manager. "Have you pianos to sell?" asked Mr. Stockwell. The manager indicated that they had plenty of goods to sell and he immediately proposed to sell on commission. At the end of the first week his sales had enabled him to put a hundred ninety dollars in the bank. Later he was employed by the Southern Cali- fornia Music Company, but in 1901 took up the field that has afforded the widest opportunity for his genius, real estate. He
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