History of San Luis Obispo County and environs, California, with biographical sketches, Part 33

Author: Morrison, Annie L. Stringfellow, 1860-; Haydon, John H., 1837-
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company
Number of Pages: 1070

USA > California > San Luis Obispo County > History of San Luis Obispo County and environs, California, with biographical sketches > Part 33

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Louis Woolman, of Paso Robles; Hazel, the pride of her husband, Mr. Young, the Southern Pacific agent at Templeton ; and Bernice, who lives at home. For twenty years Mr. Exline has been a trustee of the school in the Oakfield district.

WARREN C. BENNETT .- A man of wide business experience, with a well-stored mind, and an agreeable conversationalist who wins you more and more as you come to know him, is Warren C. Bennett, president of the Citizens Bank of Paso Robles, a native of Waverly, Mich., whose father, George H., was born in Devonshire, England, and came to the United States in 1855, first locating in Hillside county, Mich. He had been a wheelwright by trade, but on coming to Michigan began contracting and building flour mills, residing at Waverly, Van Buren county, and later in Allegan. At first he built the old buhr mills, but when the new roller process came into vogue, he became agent for the Nordyke and Marmian roller process, as well as for the La Felle water-wheel, and built the improved form of mill all over the Southern Peninsula of Michigan. On Washington's birthday, 1859, he was married at Jonesville, Mich., to Miss Jane Brain, a native of Birming- ham. England, and the daughter of Richard Brain, a brick-mason, who was a noted builder of the very tall chimneys abounding in the manufacturing centers of England. He brought his family to Michigan and settled on a farm near Jonesville. Six of their seven children are still living.

During the Civil War, Warren's father, with true patriotism, volun- teered to join a Michigan regiment, but was rejected. He then volunteered his services for construction work, and was long engaged by the Federal Government to build bridges in the South. In 1886, he joined his son, War- ren, who had located in Tulare county, California, and a year later he came to Paso Robles, where he busied himself as a builder until he retired. In 1916, he removed to San Jose, and there he and Mrs. Bennett now make their residence.

The fourth eldest of the children born to this worthy couple, and one of five who have come to California, Warren Bennett was born July 7, 1864, and was reared in Allegan, where he received a high school education. He selected the moulder's trade, and completed an apprenticeship in the Alle- gan Foundry, where he became the foreman. \ year later, however, desiring another field of activity, he began the study of pharmacy, taking a clerkship in a drug store of that town, where he continued until 1885. Then he located at Traver, Tulare county. The place at that time was a live city and an important shipping point with large warehouses ; and he soon enjoyed consid- erable prosperity as the manager of a drug store and as an assistant under Postmaster Rockwell.

In the fall of 1888, he came to Paso Robles to engage in the apothecary line ; and leasing the corner at Twelfth and Park streets, he erected there a handsome building. On January 1, 1889, he opened the drug store long so favorably identified with his name, and from the first met with exceptional success. Seven years later, finding that he could not buy the lot, he moved the building and store to the middle of the block on Twelfth street between Park and Pine, and there continued business. The People's Drug Store was popular, and his expert knowledge of medicine and drugs was fully appreciated by his fellow-townsmen, as a result of which Mr. Bennett had a large and lucrative patronage.

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In June, 1910, he completed a new brick block on the same site-a two- story building, 50x80 in size, with provision for stores and offices. The old store was moved again, this time to Pine street, between Twelfth and Thir- teenth, and there, still a good structure, it is used for business purposes.

On December 14. 1914, Mr. Bennett sold his drug trade and good-will- ind seblom did that old-fashioned phrase mean more to a successor-and since then he has been devoting all of his time to his other varied interests. Always a promoter of business enterprises, he was one of the organizers, in 1892. of the Citizens Bank of Paso Robles, in 1893 becoming a director and still later vice-president. Since 1904 he has been popular as the bank's very progressive president, for under his wise supervision and that of the cashier. Al. Pfister, the bank has been made the strongest financial institu- tion in northern San Luis Obispo County, as also one of the strongest in the county. Alden Anderson had come to them when the Bank of Paso Robles was in sore straits and implored them to take it over. Mr. Bennett said that he did not want his stockholders to lose twenty thousand dollars or more, much as he desired to save them, and told him that he and his asso- ciates would liquidate the bank free of charge. Finally, through Anderson's persuasion, the bank examiners took it over with a guarantee against a loss not greater than ten thousand dollars. This was done, and in due time the depositors of the Bank of Paso Robles were paid one hundred cents on the dollar. It is needless to say that the bank enjoys the confidence of the people for its conservative policy and its consequent substantiality. For many years the Citizens Bank has maintained a branch at San Miguel, and the increase in business there has necessitated the erection of a new concrete mission- style bank building, which was begun early in 1917. Mr. Bennett, with two or three others, organized the First National Bank of King City, with a capital of sixty thousand dollars, he becoming a director and vice-president. So well has the bank been established that there are already over one hundred thirty stockholders in southern Monterey county, and a modern concrete building has been erected at a cost of twenty thousand dollars.

For years Mr. Bennett has been engaged in farming, and he is the owner of several desirable tracts of land. One is a grain ranch near Estrella, and two ranches near Paso Robles are devoted to raising fruit. He is subdividing two hundred sixty-seven acres adjoining the city and is setting out almond trees. A large ranch devoted to raising cattle, located fifty miles from Klamath Falls, Ore., and a farm near Aberdeen, Bingham county, Ida., are also owned by him.

At Fort Klamath, Mr. Bennett was united in marriage with Mrs. Anna Randolph ( Wright) Sillsby, a native of Edwardsville, Ill., and a daughter of Dr. J. S. Wright, who practiced his profession there and at Newton, Ia., dying at the latter place. Her mother was Mary Isabelle Randolph, a native of Illinois and a descendant of the Virginia Randolphs. Mrs. Bennett re- «cived a liberal education, specializing in music under Professor Büchel, a Leipsic graduate, after which she taught music. In 1889 she removed to Oregon, and in 1897 to California, still teaching voice and piano most of the time. Becoming interested in library work, she accepted the position of librarian at the Carnegie library in Paso Robles and later in San Luis Obispo. Mr. Bennett has served as trustee of Paso Robles and also as mayor, and during his term the new library building was erected. Fraternally he is a

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Mason, and is a member of Paso Robles Lodge No. 285, F. & A. M., and has served as master two terms. Mrs. Bennett is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

CHRISTIAN KORTNER .- From the picturesque mountains of Norway have come many of the best citizens of this section of California, and the Santa Maria valley has its quota of these admirable Scandinavian men and women, whose special field has ever been the sea and soil. They have a native spirit of honesty, and love of home and fellow men, traits of character that enable them, when they are transplanted to America, to rank among the most desirable citizens.

Such a man is Christian Kortner, now living retired, with his son James, on a part of the Arellanes ranch, three miles west of Orcutt. He was born at Porsgrund, Norway, January 14, 1845, and while a youth went to sea, as did his father before him. For seven years Christian Kortner was a sailor : and having touched at the port of New York, he shipped on the "Twilight," an American vessel, around the Horn for San Francisco, arriving there in 1868. Leaving the ship, he went to work in Alameda county on a ranch and remained there for two years; and then he moved to the San Joaquin valley, where he stayed for a like period.

Four years were spent in Monterey county, ranching, after which he put in the years 1877-78 in Colusa county. Nine more years were spent in San Luis Obispo County in the vicinity of Nipomo, where finally he located on the Tepesquet in the Santa Maria valley, settling on a ranch in the fall of 1891. He first farmed two hundred fifteen acres, then leased land wherever he could do so with profit, and soon became one of the largest grain ranchers in the valley, locating on his present ranch in 1913.

In May, 1887, Mr. Kortner was united in marriage with Mrs. Maria (Hanson) Petersen, a native of Denmark who, by a former husband, had four children : Ellen, who is Mrs. George Tunnell of Santa Maria ; Rasmus, who died in 1910; and Maria and James. Of the union with Mr. Kortner, the fol- lowing children were born: Olga, wife of Walter Elliott of Orcutt; and Laura, Christian, and Henry.

In politics, Mr. Kortner votes the Democratic ticket : in religion, he is a member of the Lutheran Church ; as a friend of education, he has always supported the public schools; and he is interested in every movement for the uplift of humanity.

JAMES KORTNER .- An up-to-date, aggressive, progressive rancher and a native son of the state, James Kortner was born on his father's ranch in San Luis Obispo County, near Nipomo, October 27, 1885, a son of Chris- tian Kortner (whose sketch appears on this page) and his wife, Maria. He has under lease about sixteen hundred acres of the Arellanes ranch, three hundred fifty acres of which he farms, while he sub-leases three hun- dred acres, and on the balance, which is hill and pasture land, he runs cattle. Mr. Kortner is a large bean and stock raiser, being very successful with both.

After leaving the public school, James Kortner at once went to work for his father, and at an early age became familiar with the various branches of farm work. Being also naturally of a mechanical turn of mind, he acquired much skill in the running of farm machinery, which has come into good use in the later years.

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Besides ranch interests, he runs a bean-threshing outfit consisting of a Ventura 26-32 separator, Mogul gasoline tractor engine of the 8-16 class, and six wagons with beds especially built for harvesting beans-the whole repre- senting an investment of about $2,600. In the threshing season he employs twenty men.

During the years Mr. Kortner has been operating his threshing outfit and ranch, he has built up a reputation for square dealing and efficient service. He is a booster for Santa Maria valley and environs, supports all uplifting movements and has won a large circle of friends, who admire his many ad- mirable characteristics.

SAMUEL GRAY .- Beginning life a poor boy, with but little to look for- ward to in the way of more than the ordinary comforts of life, Samuel Gray has grown rich far beyond his expectations when he settled on a ranch of one hundred sixty acres in the Santa Maria valley. He has also grown in the esteem of his fellow men, and with an untarnished record for integrity and square dealing is living in the enjoyment of a well-earned rest. Samuel Gray was born in County Antrim, Ireland, in 1861, a son of James and Mary Ann (Boyd) Gray, both of whom were born, lived and died in their native land, the father passing away in his sixty-fifth year. The grandfather, Robert Gray, a farmer, reached the age of four score ere he answered the final call. Besides Samuel, two brothers-Robert, a farmer near Belfast, Ireland, and Michael, in New York state-and a sister, Mary Jane Bryson, also in New York state, comprised the household of James Gray and his wife.

Samuel Gray attended the subscription schools in Ireland, was reared on a farm, and at the age of twenty-two was united in marriage with Miss Jennie MeKeen. Soon after, the young people sailed for America on their wedding journey, in search of a location where they might settle down and make a home and enjoy privileges that were not offered in their native land. Arriving in the United States, they settled in Allegheny, Penn., where Mr. Gray got work in the harvest fields, binding wheat at a salary of nineteen dollars a month. His next place of employment was in the Allegheny rolling mills, and later he was employed in a pottery, and in 1881 in marble works.

With the able assistance of his good wife, he saved some money from his earnings, and in 1882 they started for California, the land of promise, in- tending to get a little farm and take up agriculture as a more satisfactory way of making a living and laying aside for a "rainy" day. Arriving in San Luis Obispo County, Mr. Gray worked for wages on various ranches in order to become familiar with the farm methods used by Californians; and the pay being good and expenses only nominal, he was able in time to purchase one Imindred sixty acres of cheap land where the town of Orcutt now stands, little dreaming that underneath the sod lay wealth that in a few years would met him a fortune.

Vier the discovery of oil. Mr. Gray laid out what is known as Gray's ri /1006, at Orcutt, and finally he sold out. This was but the beginning of his TITE10:011. From time to time he bought land, and now he owns two valuable Thebees the Santa Barbara county, and one large ranch of 2960 acres in San Lmecole-po County. On one of the former, he has a fine artesian well which gowy enhances the value of the property. Mr. Gray has speculated in oil to the extent, and the proceeds from this source have netted him a small fortune

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Notwithstanding his activities in oil and real estate, he has given of his time and means to further the upbuilding of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties. He is a friend of education ; and by his service as trustee of the Agricola district, he has done much to elevate the standard of the school, serving in 1916 as president of the board. Mr. and Mrs. Gray are members of the Presbyterian Church in Santa Maria and are liberal con- tributors towards all worthy charities. Mr. Gray is a firm believer in the future greatness of the state. He is a kindly, agreeable, large-hearted man ; and during his long residence in the county he has won a large circle of friends.

From the union of Mr. and Mrs. Gray, several children have been born : Robert married Miss Marian Reed and is ranching in Santa Barbara county ; Annie married Jack Shannon and lives in Oakland; David is at home, assist- ing his father on the ranch; Sadie married Alex Fee, and lives in San Fran- cisco; Thomas and John are on the home ranch ; and Jeanie, Mrs. Merritt, lives in Santa Maria.

MRS. HARRIET ESTHER EXLINE .- During the long association of the Exline family with San Luis Obispo County no name has been more famil- iar in the section about Paso Robles than that of Mrs. Harriet Esther Exline. She was born in Will county, Ill., a daughter of Elvin Kendrick Warner, a native of Vermont, born at the foot of the Green Mountains, and descended from Col. Seth Warner of Revolutionary fame. The father moved to Wis- consin and located in Fond du Lac, where he commanded a three-master on the Fox river. He served in the 5th Wisconsin Regiment during the Civil War, after which he removed to Iowa and farmed near Newton, Jasper county, until he died. His wife was Adeline Garrett, born in New York and descended from the Howlands, a prominent old York State family. She died in Newton, Ia., leaving four children, three now living. Milton C. makes his home with Mrs. Exline: Harriet Esther is the subject of this review ; Archibald G. is auditor for a railroad and resides in Des Moines, Ia. : and Elvin died in Watsonville, Cal.

Mrs. Exline was educated in the public schools and Hazeldell Academy, from which she was graduated : and soon after, September 27, 1881, she mar- ried William H. Exline. He was born in Eldorado county, Cal., in 1859, the son of Bernard Exline, also represented in this work, and was educated in the public schools of California and Iowa, later attending the Ilazeldell Academy.

After their marriage the young people came to California in 1882, and settled on the ranch that is now the home of Mrs. Exline, where they engaged in ranching, successfully raising stock and grain until Mr. Exline died, June 7, 1886, near Paso Robles. Mr. Exline took an active interest in public matters, serving his community both as road overseer and as constable. Since the death of her husband, Mrs. Exline has carried on the ranch work herself. with business ability and tact, and has been very successful. She has devoted her entire time and attention to the details of the ranch and to bringing up her four children. For many years she conducted a dairy and had a milk route in Paso Robles, but gave her attention chiefly to hay, grain and cattle. She has sold off some of the land and now retains one hundred sixty acres, devoted to farming. be- sides which she owns residence property in Paso Robles on Park street. 16

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She is a Republican and much interested in the prosperity of the country. She has had to make her own way in the world since the death of her husband, and that she has succeeded financially is well evideneed. Her four children are Ada Belle, now Mrs. Riley of Long Beach ; William T., the cattle buyer in Paso Robles : Vesta Iona, wife of Ray Benadon ; and Aliee Henrietta, wife of joseph Brown, the latter couple both residents of Paso Robles.

Much credit should be given to women who, like Mrs. Exline, when fre mantle of grave responsibility falls upon them, take up their task bravely And unflinchingly. She not only succeeded in keeping her property intact Asl making a success of her farming enterprise, but she also reared and @lucated her family of four children. She is liberal and charitable to a marked degree : and by her kindly qualities, coupled with her amiable manner, she has endeared herself to her many friends, who admire her for her sterling vorth.

An excellent idea of Mrs. Exline's literary work, and evidence of her patriotic sentiments, may be had from her poem entitled "California."

CALIFORNIA.

It may not be ringing through song and through story, What magic would hasten the world to our fold ; But nature's own queen in her temple of glory Hlas written the secret on tablets of gold.

She tells to the world of a land where December Is garish with flowers and dainty with ferns, Wl here summer dies not with the dying September, But garlands with roses our holiday urns.

When nature baptizes anew from her fountains, Our summer is ended and springtime begun, While winter's white plumes lie asleep on the mountains, I'mmarked by a footstep, unmoved by the sun.

The pink and white blossoms of springtime keep shifting. And summer's soft smiles greater riches unfold. od the languorous poppy, her yellow crown lifting, See all the green valleys changed slowly to gold.

The air is so pure that a weary de Leon Might dream that his fountain was spraying our clime, While silver-voiced birds trill a musical paeon, And nature re-echoes the chorus sublime.

Aud Tonder, still louder its praises keep ringing, IM ocean to ocean the story shall tell. Wom new Mecca waits at the font of the singing : Wwihk thon of its waters and thou shalt be well.

Www gold called the many, their nature enchained them, Nol willing allegiance she won from each breast ; WMb pride in her children through love has proclaimed them Hlu daughters and sons of the fair Golden West.

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HIRAM TAYLOR .- It does not take some men long to move, especially when a matter of public welfare is up for consideration, as was shown some years ago when Hiram Taylor concluded that the old street car line, which had been operated by horse-power from the Mud Baths at Paso Robles to the Hot Springs Hotel and on to the depot, two miles and more, had become an eye-sore which should be removed for the beauty of the town. The rails stood above or below the level of the street, as the case might be, and yet the citizens had tried in vain to get rid of the obstruction. While performing civic duties, as a member of the town board, Mr. Taylor found that a quarter interest in the railway was owned by a man in Paso Robles, who would not consent to the rails being removed, as he hoped thereby to keep the franchise alive and so to facilitate its sale to advantage. He also found that the other three-quarter interest was held in Los Angeles, but for the very small sum of five hundred dollars. Without delay or ado, Mr. Taylor went south and purchased a majority of the stock, returned and announced his possession, at the same time declaring that he would refuse to operate the road ; whereupon the holder of the minor interest agreed to let the city tear up the car tracks and to place the rails and ties on a vacant lot. The pro- gressive citizen, through whose enterprise and generosity Paso Robles thus rid itself of a standing annoyance, was born in Santa Rosa, Sonoma county, on September 29, 1854, the son of Alexander Taylor, a native of Illinois, who had come to Knox county, Mo., and from there, about 1849, had crossed the plains with ox teams to the gold diggings in California. Two years later Alexander Taylor returned East, by way of Panama, to his wife, formerly Miss Keziah Snellon, a native of Kentucky, and their three small children. In 1853, he once more traversed the plains, stopping only when he reached the new settlement of Santa Rosa, where he hauled rails for the first fence in the town. For four years he ranched there, and then moved on to Oat Valley, north of Cloverdale. The place had become a station for freighters. and Mr. Taylor saw his opportunity to start a hotel. A few years after- ward he went to Point Arena, in Mendocino county, where he engaged in getting out trees for posts, ties, shingles, shakes and lumber, much of which was shipped by boat to San Francisco. On his return to Cloverdale, he con- tinued farming until 1869, when he removed to San Miguel, where he pre- empted a hundred sixty acres of land and homesteaded another parcel of the same amount on the Monterey and San Luis Obispo County line, which he sold at the end of about ten years. His next location was in Slack's Canon, now Stone Canon, in Monterey county, and there he took up the work of stock-raising until he retired. His wife died at the age of sixty-seven ; and thereafter he resided with his daughter, Mrs. R. S. Cruess, at Indian Valley, until his death, at the age of seventy-one. Nine children were born to them, and of this number two are living: the subject of our sketch and a brother. James, who is serving his fifth term as county treasurer of Monterey county.

Hiram Taylor, or "Hi" Taylor, as he is familiarly called, was brought up on a farm. His education was confined to six months in all, school ad- vantages in those days being limited. He still remembers the school near his father's homestead, on the present site of Mckay Station, and the description of it is full of interest today. It was the first school built there, and was constructed through the elevation of a top rail placed around in a circle in accordance with the size of the room desired, and the stacking up

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against it of brush. on all sides, instead of a wooden or other wall. Boxes were used instead of benches and seats ; and there was no roof over the struc- ture. When the hastily improvised room was not wanted for school purposes, it was called into requisition as a meeting place for divine worship. Lucretia Morehouse. now Mrs. Finley of Paso Robles, was the first teacher.

His father having lost practically all he possessed, Hiram worked out to help the family along, mostly in the saddle, riding the range. In April, 1876, he drove a bunch of cattle through for J. C. Austin, from Parkfield to Arizona, and there ran them on the range on shares until he sold them in September, 1877. and returned to his home. In the following year Hiram and his two brothers, James and Wiseman, started a cattle-raising enterprise, putting their stock out to graze in Stone Canon. There Wiseman was accidentally killed, and then Hiram and James continued the business until 1898, when they dissolved partnership. Until August 13, 1904, Hiram raised stock in Stone Cañon. During this time he accumulated a ranch of eighteen hundred acres in one body in Stone Cañon, stocking it with cattle, of which he some- times had as many as fifteen hundred head, and raising droves of hogs. He extended his range until it took in some three thousand acres.

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History of San Luis Obispo County and environs, California, with biographical sketches, Part 33

Author: Morrison, Annie L. Stringfellow, 1860-; Haydon, John H., 1837- Publication date: 1917 Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company Number of Pages: 1070

Author: Morrison, Annie L. Stringfellow, 1860-; Haydon, John H., 1837-
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company
Number of Pages: 1070