USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume III > Part 7
USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume III > Part 7
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On September 14, 1889, Mr. Copeland married at Los Angeles Carrie W. Willson, a native of Virginia and a daughter of J. A. Will- son, now deceased, of Santa Ana. Mrs. Copeland's family is of Revolutionary stock and of Scotch-Irish descent. Mr. and Mrs. Cope- land belong to Calvary Presbyterian Church of Riverside. They lead an ideal existence in the midst of their beautiful surroundings. While it has taken hard and unremitting work to develop their property to its present high state of cultivation, the results are so satisfactory that neither of them regret the efforts expended on their home. They are held in high esteem by their associates, and are fine representatives of the elder generation of substantial citizens of the Gem City.
JOHN F. LIPPINCOTT .- Happy is the man who knows how to turn disaster into success; who can rise up stronger than ever after a knockout from fate. Not to all is given either the will or the oppor- tunity to accomplish what at the time seems the impossible, but at
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Riverside there are more of these men than in many other communi- ties of many times its size. Here are men, healthy, happy and pros- perous, who a few years ago were told that if they wanted to survive another winter they must move to a more salubrious climate. For- tunately for them they found their El Dorado of health and fortune in the Gem City, and almost from the day of their arrival showed improvement. Now they have practically forgotten that once they moved but under a physician's advice. One of these men who owes his present wealth and prestige to the fact that his health failed him in the more rigorous climate of Nebraska is John F. Lippincott, one of the orange growers of this region, and a man of unquestioned popularity.
John F. Lippincott was born in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, March 10, 1848, a son of John and Mary (Dillon) Lippincott, both of whom are deceased, the latter belonging to an old American family which was established in this country prior to the Revolution by ancestors from Ireland. John Lippincott was born in the vicinity of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and belonged to the prominent Lippincott family of the Quaker City, which was of Pennsylvania-Dutch stock. Both as a shoe merchant and citizen he was a prominent man of his locality. During the war between the North and the South John Lippincott gave his support to the Union, and served as a captain in the Home Guards.
Growing up in the Keystone State, John F. Lippincott imbibed the sterling lessons of patriotism in his home atmosphere, and during the war, although under age, tried repeatedly to get into the service. With pardonable determination he went before the recruiting officers three times, and might, so persistent was he, have succeeded but for the fact that not having reached his full growth he was below the required stature. It has always been a source of regret to him that he was born a little too late for that war, and a little too early to serve in the others of his country, for he is a real American in the highest sense of the word.
After completing his schooldays his father insisted upon his learn- ing the shoemaking trade, but, although he complied with the parental dictum, he did not work at it after he had completed his apprentice- ship, but, going to Fillmore County, Nebraska, engaged in farming, being one of the pioneers of that region, as his arrival in it was dur- ing May, 1870. After eight years he went to Alexandria, Thayer County, Nebraska, and was occupied with conducting a restaurant for the subsequent six years. Leaving Alexandria, Mr. Lippincott then embarked in the drug business at Tobias, Saline County, Nebraska, and continued in it for twenty years, but in 1906 his health broke down, and his physician insisted upon his leaving Tobias for Cali- fornia. Realizing the absolute necessity for the change, Mr. Lippincott sold his drug business, severed his other connections, although he re- tained possession of some property in Nebraska which he still owns, and came to Riverside, resolved to make a most strenuous effort to regain his strength. Buying five acres of oranges at 1296 Kansas Avenue, corner of Pennsylvania Avenue, he made it his home place, and here he has since continued to raise naval oranges. He also pur- chased and still holds ten acres of naval oranges on Arlington Heights on Dufferin Street, corner of Irving. This latter property is one of the oldest groves at Riverside. At one time he was a director and vice president of the Blue Ribbon Packing House, and is now a mem- ber of the Riverside Heights Fruit Association Number 10. A man
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of independent thought, he prefers to select his own candidates irre- spective of party lines, but aside from exercising his right of suffrage, is not active in politics. He was one of the organizers of the Masonic and Knights of Pythias Lodges at Tobias, and served the first as worshipful master and the latter as chancellor commander.
On March 10, 1873, Mr. Lippincott married in Fillmore County, Nebraska, Hannah J. Morse, a native of Iowa, and a daughter of Amos Morse, a farmer of that state. Mr. and Mrs. Lippincott have had three children, namely: Mary is the wife of Oscar L. Brocker, an orchardist on Linden Street and who has the following children, Jen- nie, Lee and John, who are students in the Riverside High School, and Howard, Sidney, Billy and Chloris, who are students in the Riverside grade schools, and Nellie, the baby. Mr. and Mrs. Lippincott lost a son when he was fourteen years old. Roscoe, the third child, of Mr. and Mrs. Lippincott, is a rancher in Silver Valley in the Mojave Desert. He married Miss Mabel Burden, and they have two children, Katherine and Robert.
Mr. Lippincott is an enthusiast with relation to Riverside and the Golden State, and believes that there is no medicine like the healing sunshne of the Gem City. In fact it appears as though it would be difficult for anyone to be borne down with the weight of disease in the midst of such wonderful surrounding as those afforded at River- side. Ideal climatic conditions, a super-abundance of golden oranges and vari-colored flowers, graceful shrubbery and luxuriant vines, everything to make life pleasant and add to the joy of living. Mr. Lippincott's only regret is that he did not come to this "Garden of Eden" even sooner than he did, for its advantages meet with his entire approval, and he is only anxious to share them with his old associates whom he is always urging to follow his example. Since coming to Riverside he has made himself a valned advocate of civic improve- ments, feeling that it is the least he can do to exert himself to advance the material prosperity and secure the adjuncts of a metropolitan community for the city which has given him so much. Personally he has made a host of friends at Riverside, as he has done wherever he has lived, and both he and his wife are very popular.
NELSON C. PETERS .- While Nelson C. Peters, of San Bernardino, has been a resident of that city a comparatively brief period of time, he has already attained a high position and standing in law circles. He specializes in one branch of the law and has a large and ever increasing clientele, which is not confined by any means to this dis- trict. Mr. Peters can truthfully be termed a self-made man, and one who made a very successful job of it, for from an early age he made his own way and secured his very thorough education by his own efforts.
He was born in that country which has given the United States so many worth while citizens, Denmark, at Hallund. June 12, 1875, and he has all the self-reliance and sturdy independence of his ancestors. His father was Nelson Peters, a cooper by trade, now deceased, and his mother was Mary Ann ( Rassmus) Peters, also deceased. He attended the country schools in Denmark until he was fourteen years of age, when he decided to come to America and work out his own destiny. It was an important step for so young a boy, but he had two brothers already in America, one in South Dakota and one in Washington.
Mr. Peters located in Hurley, South Dakota, and worked on farms and taught school for three years. So well did he study and equip him- self mentally that he was graduated from the Dakota University at
Mr. and Mrs. n. C. Peters and daughter May Reece
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Mitchell, South Dakota, at the end of that short period. He knew what he wanted to do in life and he at once entered a law office and was admitted to practice in Guthrie, Oklahoma, in 1901.
He located at once in Enid, Oklahoma, and went to work in the county attorney's office there. He remained a year, getting valuable experience and then moved to Apache, Oklahoma, and practiced there for five years, building up a good business, but he moved to Waurika, Oklahoma, and there remained until 1915, when he located in San Ber- nardino.
In this city he has practiced continuously ever since. He does a commercial law practice and handles the larger part of all the commercial business of the district. He is also the pioneer attorney of the Torrens Title in the County of San Bernardino and has done practically all the business in that line in the county. He has registered many hundred applications under that act. A history of the Torrens Title in San Bernardino County is given by Mr. Peters in the narrative account of this work.
He married in 1907 Hazel R. Reece, a daughter of Prof. William Reece, of Anadarko, Oklahoma. They are the parents of one child, Mary Reece Peters.
Mr. Peters is a member of Apache Lodge, A. F. and A. M., of Apache, Oklahoma ; of Silver Wave Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star and was worshipful master of the Masonic Lodge. He is also a member of the I. O. O. F. and of the Knights of Pythias. In politics he gives his al- legiance to the democratic party, and in religious faith he is affiliated with the Methodist Church.
HISTORY OF THE TORRENS SYSTEM IN SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY- The first property registered under the Torrens System in this county was the home of Walter B. Coombs of San Bernardino. The petition was filed on the 23rd day of February, 1916, by Attorneys Chase, Peters and Craney, and decree of the Superior Court providing for the issu- ance of the certificate of title in its nature, a perpetual guaranty of title by the state, was signed by Judge J. W. Curtis on June 7, 1916. L. R. Patty, the first county registrar, was an experienced abstractor, having for years been in the title business, and he understood all the flaws and defects of the old system and was not only an enthusiastic advocate of the system but he also placed his own property under its protection. With much care and skill he installed the first Torrens Title records in the county, a system with a property index, verified signatures of all grantees, with such certain evidence of title that it bid fair ultimately to replace the old system of certifying to copies of records.
Such men as Sid Harton, chairman of the County Board of Super- visors, and Mr. Wiggins, with a tract of land near San Bernardino of over 500 acres, had their land registered during this summer, but for some time many people were quite timid about using the new system, but on April 2nd of the year 1917. R. F. Garner and his wife, Anna B. Garner, placed all of their San Bernardino County real estate, aggre- gating nearly half a million dollars in value, under the protection of this law, and from that time on it spread fast in popularity and in December, 1921, the number of certificates issued in the county was 749. In the year 1920 an attempt to use the system by fraudulently registering property of another was made by parties from other counties, but was promptly checked by the court, holding there could be no innocent pur- chaser where an adverse claimant was in open possession and that the law was not made to defraud but to guaranty good titles.
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However, much opposition to the system developed, so much so that in the spring of 1921 the Torrens title holders decided that their titles were unjustly slandered and organized themselves in a body known as the San Bernardino County Torrens Title League. They held their first meeting in Ontario on March 19, 1921. Mrs. R. F. Garner was elected President and O. T. Nichols, of Ontario, was elected secretary. Resolutions were passed in substance declaring that the parties fighting the Torrens System were doing so for selfish gain and reciting the many loans made on Torrens Titles by different institutions, including the U. S. Federal Land Bank, and not a single loss having occurred from insufficiency of the title; and the courts all upholding the Torrens Decrees, requiring enforcement of holders' rights of possession with the power of the sheriff backed up, if need be, with the militia of the state or U. S. Army ; and declaring they would aid and build up the institutions fair to their customers and not discriminating against the law. N. L. Levering, while president of the Bank at Highland, and also of the San Bernardino Valley Bank, had not only recommended the Torrens System and made loans on it, but had also registered some property of his. After he had sold out his control of these banks and in the summer of 1921, he undertook the organization of a new bank in San Bernardino to be known as the Santa Fe Bank. He met so much opposition that, it is said, the political power controlling the issuing of bank charters, had the charter withheld from him during the whole year of 1921. Some lenders still demanded a private certificate in addition "to the Torrens Certificate when making loans on Torrens Title. Torrens title holders considered this an unjustifiable extortion, similar to a re- quirement that one should use a fifth wheel in running his automobile. But the Home Investment Association, a building and loan association of Redlands, came forward and announced its willingness to make loans on the Torrens Title in San Bernardino as well as at Redlands. The Ontario National Bank also negotiated large loans on Torrens certificates without requiring private companies to back up the guaranty of the state, and in June, 1921, the Supreme Court of the state again upheld the law, declaring its purpose was to make reliance on decree wholly safe and that it was a judgment in re binding on all the world conclusive of every interest or claim in the property, other than as specified, and its conclusive charter did not wait an expiration of one year, but attached with decree, becoming final on registration. This left the opposition with no argument whatsoever against the system. Yet a lull in the pro- ceedings continued through the fall of year 1921, but with the year 1922 applications again came in for filing, and a course for future growth had become inevitable.
MORTIMER P. MAINE .- After many years of aggressive and suc- cessful business operations Mortimer P. Maine is now living prac- tically retired, although he retains his ownership of his valuable orange grove of ten acres. in the midst of which he and his family are enjoying a quiet and happy life. The city is an ideal spot for those with leisure on their hands, and Mr. Maine rejoices that he selected Riverside as his permanent home when the ill health of his wife brought them West in search of a milder climate. Compared with his earlier years, the time he has spent in California has been one of ease and independence, and he is one of the enthusiastic boosters for this region.
Mr. Maine was born in Henderson Township, Jefferson County, New York, May 10, 1843, a son of Mortimer P. and Sarah (Drum-
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mond) Maine, both of whom are deceased. The father was born in New York State, a member of an old American family of English descent, established in this country in 1670, when its representatives settled in Connecticut. Later removal was made to New York, where the Maines have been prominent, especially in agricultural pursuits. The Drummonds are of Revolutionary stock and Scotch descent, and Mrs. Maine was also born in New York State.
The younger Mortimer P. Maine attended the public schools of Wisconsin, to which state his parents moved in 1849, and with the outbreak of the war between the North and the South he enlisted in the Union army and served four years in Company B, Thirteenth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, in the Army of the Cumberland, un- der Gen. George H. Thomas. He received his honorable discharge at the close of the war in Madison, Wisconsin, December 25, 1865.
For a number of years following his return to private life Mr. Maine followed railroading, but later went to Kansas and was en- gaged in farming in that state for seven years. Returning to Wis- consin, he was there engaged in farming until 1901, when, on account of his wife's delicate health, he came to Riverside. Here he bought ten acres of oranges at 1338 Kansas Avenue, and went into the orange industry. Of recent years he has practically turned over the management of the business to his son, and is enjoying a well-earned ease. The crop is mostly navals, although there are a few valencies. The location is an ideal one, and here a pleasant home is maintained. The crop is shipped through the Sierra Vista Packing House, of which at one time Mr. Maine was a director. He was also for a time con- nected with the banking interests of the city, but sold his stock some time ago. With the majority of the veterans of the war of the '60s he joined the Grand Army of the Republic, and served as commander of the Post in his home town in Wisconsin. Always voting the re- publican ticket, he was quite active in party matters in Wisconsin, serving as delegate to the county conventions and as a member of the City Central Committee, but since he located at Riverside he has not participated to any extent in politics.
In 1874 Mr. Maine married Laura Elizabeth De Haven, a native of Wisconsin and a daughter of Alpheus De Haven, a farmer of Revolutionary stock and French Huguenot descent. Mr. and Mrs. Maine have three children. namely: Morna G., who is the wife of George F. Conway, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work; Beatrice M., who is the wife of Truman F. Gridley, who is living in Coachella, is foreman of the Narbonne ranch: Rexford De Haven, who conducts his father's business.
Since coming to Riverside Mr. Maine has displayed commendable civic pride and has advocated all kinds of public improvements, for he realizes the necessity of keeping abreast of progress in every way. Personally genial and convincing, he has always made warm friends, and his evident sincerity and sterling worth have gained for him the confidence and esteem of the community in which he has been for so long a prominent figure.
CAPT. ALFRED MARCY APLIN .- There could be no historical sub- ject of greater interest than that involved in the reclamation. development and improvement of the former desert regions of Southern California into what is now a well connected landscape of citrus groves. Hardly anyone had a more important and practical part in that development. particularly in the districts around Highland, than the late Capt. Alfred Marcy Aplin. Vol. 111-4
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Captain Aplin, who received his title as a Union officer of the Civil war, was born in Ashtabula County, Ohio, October 14, 1837. While com- pleting a college course he answered Lincoln's first call for volunteers. served a three months' enlistment and then re-enlisted and was with the fighting forces of the North until the final surrender. He was once cap- tured, and for seven days endured confinement in the Belle Isle Prison near Richmond, Virginia. He was in some of the most noted battles of the war, and at Missionary Ridge his captain, Cahil, was killed as he stood looking over Mr. Aplin's shoulder reading a newspaper. This newspaper had been slipped to them by a negro as they lay secreted in the brush, and Confederate sharpshooters had located them by means of the paper. Captain Aplin was an aide to General Thomas in the battles of Chicka- mauga and Stone River, and at the close of the war he participated in the Grand Review at Washington. He went in as a private, was twice promoted for bravery, and retired with the rank of captain. For many years he was a member of the G. A. R. Post at San Bernardino.
In Ohio in 1865 Captain Aplin married Miss Mary Elizabeth Winn, of Athens, that state. She was born in Albany, Ohio, November 14, 1842. When he left Ohio, Captain Aplin lived for two years at Mount Pleasant, Iowa, and from there moved to Chetopah, Kansas. With that town as his headquarters he carried on an extensive business as a cattleman, running his herds over a large territory in Kansas and Indian Territory.
Captain Aplin came to California in 1875. He had a temporary resi- dence on Base Line, and for the first three months worked in the moun- tains at the Little Bear Sawmill owned by Talmadge. In the meantime he was looking about for a permanent location, and in 1875 homesteaded a quarter section in East Highland, what is now known as the Smith Ranch. Almost immediately he became instrumental in developing an irrigation water system, and also planted much of his land to deciduous fruit. One association of those early times was with F. E. Brown, the well known pioneer and founder of Redlands. They established a plant at the north end of Orange Street, and for two seasons bought and evaporated fruit. Captain Aplin designed and constructed the first commercial evaporator at Redlands, a plant which people came miles to see. He operated this plant on Lugonia Avenue near the Beal place in 1878-79. He also invented, though he never patented, a knife for the cutting of clingstone peaches. The design was subsequently adopted and largely manufactured in the East. While associated with Mr. Brown he was also instrumental in bring- ing water to the higher mesas in Redlands. He was a pioneer in the build- ing of the Congregational Church at Highland, and was active in its choir.
About 1880 he bought eighty acres of railroad land, a portion of which is still owned by Mrs. Mary E. Aplin of East Highland. This he improved, setting out one of the first Naval orange groves in the district. He had observed the influence of frost on the sunflowers on lower and higher land, and was one of the first to advocate the higher mesa as the best loca- tion for citrus fruit, a policy and plan since generally followed and approved. He recommended and promoted the first two higher line water ditches from Santa Ana, partly as a means of saving wasteage due to the loss through the sand and also to serve the higher foothill lands. He was partially responsible for the present high line known as the North Fork Ditch or Canal. His first attempt to construct this was met by ridicule, and a number of his neighbors declared the ditch ran uphill and refused to work, taking their teams and going home. It was only after a con- vincing talk with the aid of a surveyor that they returned and helped him complete the work. Captain Aplin with John Weeks and John Cram made the first filing on the waters of Plunge Creek, and Captain Aplin built the
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Plunge Creek Ditch without the air of a surveyor, using a home made level. This was about 1883-84. He also contracted and laid the first pav- ing in the North Fork Ditch, employing two hundred Chinese at a dollar and a quarter a day of ten hours.
Captain Aplin's signature was attached to the contract with the North Fork and Bear Valley Water companies, wherein the Bear Valley Water Company was permitted to divert to the compounding dam certain tribu- taries of North Fork, agreeing to maintain the North Fork ditches and deliver 600 inches of water to it in the months of June, July and August, thus settling a difficult problem of water rights in the district. Captain Aplin was also consulted by the founders of the Bear Valley Dam as to the feasibility of such a construction, and he guided the parties to the site on which the present dam is located.
He was one of the first men from the Highland district to make practi- cal use of investments in the great Imperial Valley. The eighty acres he owned there he improved by planting grapes, deciduous fruits, and experi- menting in other lines. In 1908 Captain Aplin moved from East High- land to a modern home he built in East Hollywood. He remained there four years, and then removed to San Francisco, where the death of this honored pioneer occurred February 28, 1918. Captain Aplin had many solid works to his credit in business affairs, and he was always known as a man of the highest character. He had come to California a thousand dollars in debt, and he paid that off in eight years. Eventually he achieved a fortune, and was thoroughly admired for the qualities of his citizenship.
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