History of Santa Clara County California with biographical sketches, Part 141

Author: Sawyer, Eugene T
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1934

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In 1892 Mr. and Mrs. Howe purchased the tract of six acres known as the Pitkin orchard, located on Meridian Road in The Willows and this has since been the famliy home. Mr. Howe passed away on May 14, 1914, honored and respected by all who knew or had business dealings with him. Since his death Mrs. Howe has carried on the ranch with fair financial returns. She is a member of the Parent- Teachers Association of the Willow Glen School and of the San Jose High School. She has an adopted daughter, Eola A. Howe, now a student in the San Jose State Normal. Mr. Howe was a Thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and a Shriner. holding

membership in Aahmes Temple in Oakland. He was made a Mason in 1878 at Salem, Wis., but de- mitted to the San Jose lodge after he settled here. He was also a member of the Woodmen of the World and in politics he was a Democrat on national Issues, but for local affairs he supported the best man for public office, regardless of party affiliations. At his passing the county lost a stanch and honor- able citizen, one who was respected and honored by all who knew him.

GEORGE L. KEESLING .- Among the early set- tlers of Santa Clara County came the Keesling fam- ily from far-away Minnesota, now so worthily repre- sented by George L. Keesling, the manager of the Earl Fruit Company of California; and having lo- cated in San Jose, they have ever since performed their share in the building of the city. George Kees- ling was born in Minneapolis on October 10, 1867, a son of Thomas B. and Elizabeth (Hasty) Keesling. both of whom are now deceased, the latter having passed away on January 25, 1913, and the former on January 11, 1918. Mr. Keesling, who came to Cali- fornia with his family in 1873, had been engaged as a farmer and a merchant in or near Minneapolis, and lie became one of the pioneer orchardists of San Jose.

George attended the Willow Glen grammar school, and then pursued the courses of the high school in San Jose, and topped off his studies with a good practical commercial course in the Garden City Busi- ness College of San Jose, receiving in all a splendid training for the duties of life. He busied himself in his father's orchards until he reached his twenty- first year, and then he was for four years in the employ of the Wells Fargo Express Company. He next clerked in a grocery for three years, and in 1891 planted an orchard on Bird Avenue, to which he gave his personal attention until 1915, when he subdivided the five acres, which were in the city limits.

Since 1918, Mr. Keesling has been manager of the San Jose branch of the Earl Fruit Company of Cali- fornia, a position for which his long years of special training and broad experience have eminently quali- fied him. The San Jose branch of this famous com- pany employs, during its busy season, more than 100 people all comfortably quartered in one of the most sanitary establishments of modern equipment such as always makes work easier, and it is not sur- prising that the company is able to send out a product of only the highest quality, and easily to maintain the standard. Mr. Keesling was elected to member- ship in the city council, but he served only a portion of the term, having been compelled to resign on ac- count of the demands of his private business affairs.

Mr. Keesling's marriage on April 26, 1891, united lim with Miss Lila M. Hodges, who was a native of San Jose, and now they are the parents of two children, George H. and Jeannette L., who became Mrs. Thomas P. Kennedy and passed away at the age of twenty-four. In his earlier years Mr. Keesling served for three years in the National Guard of California, and thus maintained the public-spirited, patriotic tradition of his pioneer folks. His parents Icared and educated eleven children, all of whom are still living, save one,-Oliver M. Keesling, who died cn October 10, 1921. The others yet honoring the good name of their ancestors are Mrs. G. W. Hanson. F. M. Keesling, L. B. Keesling. H. G. Keesling, A. C. Keesling, Mrs. Carrie E. Mitchell, George L. Kees-

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

ling, Thomas C. Keesling, and Edwin E. Keesling, and his twin-sister, Mrs. Jacob Knack. In national politics a stanch Republican, Mr. Keesling belongs to San Jose lodge No. 522, B. P. O. Elks.

MRS. EMMA HIRSCH .- Widely known as one of the best-appointed and most up-to-date of all under- taking establishments in Santa Clara County is the spacious, ornate building, elegantly and appropriate- ly furnished, belonging to Mrs. Emma Hirsch, a woman of attractive personality who so well mas- tered her profession, and so well succeeded in her business that she has not only built, but paid for, her extensive equipment; and risen to her leading position in both Santa Clara and San Jose. Her strength of character, her agreeable temperament and uplifting sentiments, her family connections which have always made and kept her active in society, where she is a favorite,-all these features have con- tributed to draw to her those in distress and need- ing, often at the very moment when most helpless themselves, guidance, comfort and helpful service. Mrs. Hirsch is entitled to the credit of building up her well-arranged and well-managed enterprise un- der the name of the Santa Clara Undertaking Com- pany, which is now located at 1098 Jackson Street. at the corner of Benton. She started business in the building of the Bank of Italy, and when the owners decided to remodel the edifice so as to devote the entire building to banking offices and stores, Mrs. Hirsch, finding no other place suitable for her needs, decided to put up a structure of her own. She is the widow of the late Emil G. Hirsch, for many years justice of the peace and for five years an un- dertaker at Santa Clara, who had died on March 31, 1913; and as she had learned embalming and the other details from her husband, she had continued to con- duct the business founded by him.

She was born in San Jose, and is a daughter of the late Fred and Emma (Kreig) Bunemann, well-known pioneer merchant folks at San Jose. They came to San Jose in early days, and Mr. Bunemann was well and favorably known as a manufacturer and business man. He contracted erysipelas and died in less than two weeks at the age of forty-two. Mr. Bunemann was a gifted vocalist and frequently fav- ored San Jose audiences with his beautiful voice and he was much loved and esteemed by everyone. His widow now lives in San Francisco, the mother of five children, among whom our subject is the second.

She attended the schools in San Jose, enjoying both grammar and high school advantages, and then clerked for Nathan & Dohrman, the Palace Crockery dealers. On May 2, 1894, she was married to the late Emil G. Hirsch, a native of Chicago who came to Santa Clara as a young man, and for eighteen years worked for the Eberhard Tannery Company. He was elected justice of the peace in Santa Clara and served for a term; during this time he studied law and became well versed in all legal matters. He then went into undertaking, after he and his tal- ented wife had taken the courses at Barnes School of Embalming, from which hoth graduated, receiv- ing state licenses. However he passed away just as he had the business established, leaving a daughter, Ora Lec, a graduate of Santa Clara High and the Practical School of Business in San Jose and during the war saw service as a yeomanette, rising to the position of Chief Yeomanette. She is now the wife

of Theodore E. Merritt, a broker in Oklahoma City, Okla. Judge Hirsch was a prominent Mason and was past master of Liberty Lodge, F. & A. M., Santa Clara, and was also a member of San Jose Chapter, R. A. M. and San Jose Commandery, K. T., and Islam Temple A. A. O. N. M. S. in San Francisco. He was also an Odd Fellow in which he was a past grand.

Mrs. Hirsch drew the plans, and built and paid for her fine building at the corner of Benton and Jackson streets, in Santa Clara, which is designed exclusively for undertaking; and she is able to de- velop her ideas as to the ideal thing in undertaking, as fast as the ever-growing patronage makes it pos- sible to expand. She belongs to the Rebekah lodge of Santa Clara and Santa Clara Chapter, Order of East- ern Star; and also to the Kings Daughters in the same city, and she is a member of the Episcopal Church in Santa Clara. She is a niece of J. J. Son- theimer, the father of Urban Sontheimer, justice of the peace of San Jose, and of Gustav Nelson, the retired capitalist of that city, and she is also a niece of the late John J. Stock of San Jose. Thus popular and welcome in business, religious and fraternal cir- cles, Mrs. Hirsch exerts an enviable influence for good, to the brightening and stimulating of many lives, and accomplishing far more than merely the making of success in a commercial enterprise.

CHARLES M. RICHARDS, M. D .- Prominent among the representatives of medical science in Cali- fornia may well be mentioned Dr. Charles M. Rich- ards, the Roentgenologist, of whom both San Jose and Santa Clara County are justly proud. He was born in the pretty home town of Watsonville on No- vember 10, 1881, the son of William S. Richards, who came to California with his family in 1878 and five years later removed to San Jose, where he be- came president of the Security Bank, which he had organized. He married Miss Alice Alexander, a cul- tured lady who exerted a wide influence, made many friends and passed from this life to the Great Beyond on April 22, 1920, Mr. Richards having preceded her, his death occurring on June 10, 1915.

Dr. Richards began his educational training at the Washburn School, after which he matriculated at Stanford University from which he was duly grad- uated, with the Bachelor of Arts degree, in 1903. Going East, he commenced the study of medicine at Harvard, and in 1907 was graduated from the medi- cal department of Harvard University, with the degree of M. D. "cum laude." He spent a year as interne in the Boston City Hospital, then went to Europe and studied in Vienna. Returning to America Dr. Richards settled at San Jose, the only place in which he has ever practiced, and from the beginning of his career here he has been unusually success- ful. He belongs to the American Medical Associa- tion, the State and County medical societies, and also the Pacific Coast Roentgen Ray Society, American Roentgen Ray Society, the Radiological Association of North America. In addition, as a representative man of affairs, he is vice-president of the Security State Bank of San Jose.

Dr. Richards was married at San Jose on August 28, 1907, to Miss Alice Rodgers, a native of Quincy, Cal., and the daughter of Chas. G. and Elizabeth ( Hcmler) Rodgers; and their union has been blessed with the birth of two sons: William S. and Charles M.

Emma Hirsch

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

Richards, Jr. The family attend the First Pres- byterian Church of San Jose. Dr. Richards is a member of the Elks, the Rotary and the Country clubs, and he devotes some of his leisure to his hobby, the study and enjoyment of music, being di- rector of the Elks Concert Orchestra of San Jose, and the Richards Club,-a chorus of male voices. He is a former member of the San Jose Library Board and the Board of Health, and during the World War he served for eighteen months in the U. S. forces as captain in the medical corps with Base Hospital No. 30 in France. Since returning from the service he has limited his practice exclusively to X-ray and radium work.

ANGELO DI FIORE .- Coming to California in the vigor of his early manhood forty-eight years ago, Angelo Di Fiore, is an excellent representative of the pioneer element of his day. Daring, enterprising, and full of life and energy, he at once became identified with the development of the horticultural resources of the state. A native of Italy, he was born in Paler- mo on January 23, 1848, a son of Dominic and Rose Di Fiore, his parents coming to the United States forty-two years ago. Both parents have passed away.

Angelo di Fiore was educated in the public schools of Italy and Santa Clara County, and came to Amer- ica when he was twenty-two years old. He worked on ranches for a time and later traveled over the East and South, dealing in oranges and other fruits and became well known as an honest and conscien- tious dealer. In 1874 he settled in Santa Clara County and his first purchase of land consisted of twelve acres on which he built his house and planted his orchard, and still is the home-place. He bought another place of eleven acres near by and set that to fruit trees; then he purchased forty acres in the Perryessa district, and in addition to that has 240 acres above Saratoga; fifty acres now in grapes, which is one of the most profitable ranches in the fertile Santa Clara Valley. It is known as the Sum- mit Rock Ranch, and in order to reach this vineyard he was obliged to build seven miles of private road. Success has come to him through his faithfulness, industry and hard work, and he is counted among the most enterprising and successful orchardists of his community.

Mr. Di Fiore's marriage occurred in Santa Clara and united him with Miss Rose Flora, and they are the parents of five interesting and intelligent chil- dren: Rose, Elizabeth, Angeline, Domenico and Genevia. In national politics he supports and votes for the candidates as endorsed by the Republican party. The optimistic spirit which he possesses sus- tained him through all the trials of frontier existence and brought him, in the enjoyment of a competency, to the present era of prosperity and progress.

BYRON MILLARD .- Anyone who has been in San Jose for a considerable time knows what su- perior postal facilities that progressive, fast-develop- ing city enjoys, but not everyone is aware that the public is indebted for the perfected and well-main- tained service largely to Byron Millard, the genial and accommodating postmaster. He first saw the light at Green Lake, Wis., on October 9, 1861. His father was George S. Millard from New York State, who had married Miss Phoebe J. Cook, also a native of that state; and they became early settlers in Wis- consin in the '50s. After a while, they migrated to

California and San Jose; and here the esteemed old folks lived until their deaths. They had six children, and Byron was their third child.

He attended the grammar and high schools in Wisconsin, and for several terms taught school in that state and in North Dakota. Then he was in the railway mail service for six years in North Dakota and Montana, but in 1893 came out to California. He went into the book and stationery trade, and in part- nership with his brother, F. J. Millard, started the firm of Millard Bros., still under that name. They started in a modest way, worked hard and have been very successful.

On October 14, 1891, Mr. Millard married Miss Gertrude B. Tilden, a graduate of Jamestown College and a member of a long-established New England family. Their union has been blessed with four children: Phoebe passed away at the age of eight; Bryant Tilden is a graduate of Stanford and as a civil engineer worked on the State Highway; Roger B. is in high school; and the next younger is Ger- trude B. Millard. The family attend the Trinity Episcopal Church and they share Mr. Millard's en- thusiasm for fishing and camping in the mountains.

Mr. Millard's party preferences lead him to affiliate with the Democrats, but he is both broadminded and public-spirited, and has served very acceptably as a member of the board of education. He belongs to the Lions Club and was a director of the Cham- ber of Commerce for a number of years, and always takes an active part in civic affairs. Very naturally he came into line for still greater service to his tellow-citizens, and he was made postmaster in July, 1913, serving until 1922, his appointment being one of the first in the state by President Wilson.

ROBERT I. BENTLEY, JR .- A well-organized, highly productive and very prosperous establishment of which San Jose is justly proud is the Muirson Label & Carton Company, whose president is Robert I. Bentley, Jr., a native of Santa Clara, where he was born on April 3, 1887. His father, Robert I. Bentley, was born in Chicago, the son of a Methodist Epis- copal clergyman who came out to San Jose in early days. The father came with his folks to San Jose when he was six years of age, and eventually became manager of the Fifth Street Cannery. Now he is president of the California Packing Corporation. He married Miss Georgia Dixon, a native of Santa Clara County, whose parents came across the plains with the Pyle family. Growing up, Miss Dixon taught school and so had a special share in helping to lay the first timbers for the commonwealth's foundation. Both parents of our subject are still living.

The family left for Sacramento when Robert was still a child, and he attended the Military Academy at Belmont and afterwards finished at the University of California. Then he was with the California Fruit Canners Association in San Francisco until 1910, and after that went into business for himself. In 1914 he came to San Jose and with G. A. Muirson estab- lished the business with which his name has become so intimately associated. Mr. Muirson was presi- dent until his death in December, 1919, when Mr. Bentley succeeded to that responsible office. The company employs fifty men, and has another plant at Stockton where it gives steady employment to as many more skilled workers. Mr. Bentley belongs to the San Jose Chamber of Commerce and also to the Rotary Club. In national politics a Republican, he

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

does what he can to favor sound legislation favorable to a healthy state of business good for everybody.

At Oakland, on April 27, 1908, Mr. Bentley was married to Miss Edna Whitney, of that city, and they have two children,-a son, Robert I. Bentley, third, and a daughter named Edith Adams Bentley. Both the Country and the Sainte Claire clubs claim Mr. Bentley as one of their own, and he is fond of golf and other outdoor recreations. Patriotic and public- spirited to a high degree, he was major of field artillery in the recent World War, enlisting as a pri- vate in June, 1917, and served six months in France.

JAMES MILTON KIDWELL .- Hard work, economy and perseverance constitute the basis for the success of James Milton Kidwell, a rancher on the Homestead Road, two miles west from Santa Clara. He is a native of Missouri, born near Newark, Knox County, August 30, 1878, the son of Lee and Martha (Eve) Kidwell. The father was a native of Kentucky and removed to Danville, Ill, when a young man and farmed there; later he removed to Knox County, Mo., where he farmed near Newark until he sold the place and returned to Illinois, engaging in farming and stock raising near Danville, Vermillion County, in time becoming the most extensive feeder of cattle in that region. He died in 1885, aged only thirty-five years, leaving a widow and five children, of whom James Milton is the third oldest. The mother con- tinued on the farm for a year when she moved to Knox County, Mo. She was also born in Kentucky. but her brothers were living in Missouri, and there she purchased eighty acres of land and reared her family. A noble woman, she lived for her children and did all she could to rear and educate them well. She passed away at the age of sixty years.

James Milton Kidwell divided his time between at- tending the local school and working on the home farm until twelve years of age, after which he worked out on farms for wages, which he gave to his mother. so the most of his education has been obtained by self-study, reading and in the school of experience. and he has become a well-informed man. Soon after reaching his majority he was married at Shelbyville, Shelby County, Mo., August 17, 1898, to Miss Lena Cox, a native of Knox County, Mo., the daughter of James Howard and Rebecca (Plunkett) Cox, born in Indianapolis, Ind., and Sangamon County, Ill., re- spectively, but were married in Missouri and became well-to-do farmers near Newark, Mo. The father is now seventy-two years of age and the mother is sixty- five. Of their six children Mrs. Kidwell is the sec- ond oldest, and she received her education in the puh- lie schools in Missouri. Soon after their marriage they purchased twenty acres at Epworth, Shelby County, and engaged in general farming, until they decided to come to California. Selling their holding they arrived at Santa Clara, Cal., March 13, 1902. where Mr. Kidwell was in the employ of the Pacific Manufacturing Company for eighteen months when they returned to Shelby County, Mo., purchasing an eighty-aere farm. However, their longing and desire to live in the land of sunshine and flowers became so great that they sold this farm and on April 7, 1909, they returned and purchased a home in Santa Clara and Mr. Kidwell returned to his former place of em- ployment, continuing until 1912, when he purchased an eleven-acre ranch, a part of the old Woodham place on Woodhams Avenue, later seventeen acres

adjoining, so he now owns twenty-eight acres in a hody. The ranch is amply irrigated and in full-bear- ing prunes and apricots. He also has leased a thirty- seven-acre orchard on the Homestead Road and farms this in connection with his own place. He also owns another residence on Homestead Road as well as town property in Herald, Sacramento County. He has been a close student of horticulture and has be- come one of the best-informed men in that direction in his section. Mr. and Mrs. Kidwell are the parents of two children: Hazel is now Mrs. Morton of San Jose; Carl, a native son, born April 7, 1912, is at home. Mr. and Mrs. Kidwell are both stanch Republicans; fraternally Mr. Kidwell is a member of Santa Clara Lodge No. 238, I. O. O. F. They are both consistent members of the First Baptist Church of Santa Clara in which Mr. Kidwell is a deacon and trustee, while Mrs. Kidwell has been clerk of the official board for several years and is a member of the Ladies' Auxil- iary. She is a woman of much energy and business acumen, and Mr. Kidwell gives much of the credit for his success to her faithful cooperation, encourage- ment and assistance.

EDWARD FRANCIS DISTEL .- Among the men who stand for progress and improvement in all that has to do with the public life of the community and has made a place for himself in the business circles of San Jose, is E. F. Distel, manager of the San Jose Engraving Company. He was born in San Francisco on February 11, 1869, the son of Francois and Josephine (Anstett) Distel. The father came to California in the early sixties and engaged at first in the shoe business and followed this occupation until his death in 1880.

Edward Distel received his education in the schools of San Francisco and then started engraving at the age of sixteen. He was one of the first men to learn the art of photo-engraving in California, studying under Van De Castell and R. S. MeCabe, who intro- duced photo-engraving in San Francisco. The devel- opment of this new art was an epoch-making event in the printing world, as it revolutionized the whole field of illustration. So accustomed is the present generation to life-like illustrations and elaborate lay- outs, worked out with the utmost artistry, as, for instance, in magazine advertising, that it is difficult to realize the radical change that photo-engraving has brought since the days of woodcuts and lithog- raphy. The first money he ever earned was on March 17, 1887, when he made some of the first photo-engraving for R. S. MeCabe Company, who furnished all the daily papers of San Francisco, namely, the Morning Call, Evening Bulletin, Daily Alta California, Chronicle, Examiner, Evening Post, Franco-Californian and the Daily Report. On Oc- tober 9, 1902, he came to San Jose, where, on Oc- tober 10, 1902, he established the business in which he is now engaged and where he employs six men. At first it was a hard struggle to get the business on a profitable financial basis but he has now at- tained success, the well-deserved reward of a man who has had to put forth every effort in his early years of business.

Mr. Distel's marriage united him with Winifred Veronica Wise, born in Watsonville, Cal., whose father, Preston Wise, was a veteran of the Mexican War and settled in California in the year 1852. In religious faith Mr. Distel is a Catholic. He is past

I m Kidwell Lena a Kidwell

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

grand knight of the San Jose Council Knights of Columbus, and is a member of the Elks, Loyal Or- der of Moose, the Grand Fraternity and the Native Sons of the Golden West. A firm believer in the principle of protection Mr. Distel in national politics is a Republican.

HENRY W. LESTER .- The owner of a large acreage comprising some of the finest orchard prop- erty in the Edenvale district, Henry W. Lester las made a decided success in the field of horticulture. The oldest living son of one of Santa Clara County's most esteemed residents, Mr. Lester was born at . Norwich, Conn., on June 6, 1876, his parents being Amos and Carrie (Spicer) Lester, both members of old Colonial families of New London County, Conn., prominent since pre-Revolutionary days in the life of the state.

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History of Santa Clara County California with biographical sketches, Part 141

Author: Sawyer, Eugene T Publication date: 1922 Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co. Number of Pages: 1934

Author: Sawyer, Eugene T
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1934