History of Santa Clara County California with biographical sketches, Part 58

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

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D. B. Levin, for many years manager of the local Hippodrome Theater, was, in Septem- ber, 1920, appointed manager of the Loew photoplay department of the Pacific Coast. William H. White was appointed San Jose manager.

On September 27, 1920, the San Jose Coun- cil reduced the annual salary of the city man- ager from $6000 to $3600. On October 5, \V. C. Bailey, the manager, was discharged, and C. B. Goodwin, city engineer, was appointed in his stead.

In September, 1920, articles of incorpora- tion of the Direct Steel Process Company, which is to have its principal place of business in San Jose, were filed with the county clerk by B. W. Lorigan, attorney. According to the articles the new concern is incorporated for the purpose of constructing iron works, foundries, rolling mills, developing and work-

ing iron ore, manganese ore, limestone, and other ore. Robert Lang, of Oakland, and Howard Bardue, W. J. Johnston, George Frank and Charles H. Nash are directors of the corporation.

Development of the Moody Gulch oil lands, situated in the Santa Cruz Mountains, above Alma, were undertaken on an extensive scale in October, 1920, as a result of the leasing of the holdings by the Trigonia Oil Company, an Oregon corporation. Wells were cleared out and twenty-five new wells were sunk. Charles Lilly, a Los Angeles capitalist, is the heaviest stockholder in the company. The oil thus far produced has a high grade paraffin base. Gasoline is also produced.

In September, 1920. a rich quicksilver strike was made at the Guadalupe mine. H. C. Davy is the owner of the property and he claims that the mine now ought to be good for 400 or 500 flasks of quicksilver a month.

In October, 1920, the city of San Jose used $33,000 out of the funds paid to the city from the estate of the late Anna E. C. Backesto in the purchase of a park site in the second ward. The property is located between Twelfth, Thirteenth, Empire and Jackson Streets, and was formerly owned by J. Q. A. Ballou. A tract of land adjoining may be pur- chased by the board of education for the bene- fit of the school department.

In 1922 P. H. Scullin, general secretary and organizer of the National Industrial and Peace Association, organized a branch in San Jose. It is claimed that the Assocation is one of the most efficient organizations in behalf of per- manent industrial peace. On April 27th Dr. Ray Wilbur, president of Stanford University, was chosen president. The directors are Dr. A. C. Jayet, Dr. Tully C. Knoles, Victor Challen, F. J. Rogers, Dr. H. C. Brown, Mrs. J. R. Rogers, Rev. Chas. Pease, Rabbi H. B. Franklin, Rev. J. M. Ross, Mrs. A. T. Herr- mann, Mrs. E. E. Stahl, Mrs. E. H. Osburn, C. D. Harvey, A. L. Wilson.

Figures given in the report of the State Con- troller show that San Jose is the cheapest gov- erned city of approximate population in the state. The per capita costs are: Berkeley, $12.49; Long Beach, $15.61 ; Pasadena, $20.57; Fresno, $15.94; Stockton, $18.23; Alameda, $13.25; San Jose, $11.92. On May 1, 1922, at an election an ordinance was carried fixing the rate of taxation from December 1, 1922, to December 1, 1923, at $1.30 on each $100 of taxable property, exclusive of the amount necessary to pay principal and interest on the bonded indebtedness of the city. The rate it supplants is $1.35.

Johna Richardx

BIOGRAPHICAL

JUDGE JOHN EVAN RICHARDS .- A distin- guished pioneer, eminent in the public and intellectual life in which he has so long and so actively partici- pated, is John Evan Richards, Judge of the District Court of Appeals of the First District, who resides at 338 South Tenth Street, San Jose, near which city he was born on July 7, 1856. His father, Richard Evan Richards, was born in Llangollen, Wales, while his mother, Mary Hamilton before her marriage, was a native of Ballykelly, County Derry, Ireland. The father emigrated to the United States in the early thirties and followed the trade of an engraver in the State of New York. In 1849, drawn by the world- wide movement toward the California gold-fields, he came to Cailfornia by way of Cape Horn and engaged in mining on the south fork of the American River, where he mined successfully for about two years. In 1851, however, he removed to Santa Clara County and settled near Edenvale. There he purchased a ranch, which he devoted to the raising of stock and grain. Mary Hamilton who had broken away from the narrow environment of her native village and come to the United States in 1837, had also followed the golden lure and come to California in 1852 by way of Panama, settling in the Santa Clara Valley. In 1854 Richard Richards and Mary Hamilton were married and in 1856 the subject of this sketch was born. Seven years later Richard Richards purchased a ranch at Berryessa, to which the family moved, and there in 1867 he died, from congestion of the lungs. His widow and only son continued to reside at Ber- ryessa for the next several years during which the boy gained his early training in the public school.

Judge Richards recalls with the fondest memories his days at the Redwood schoolhouse at Berryessa. He used, for example, Wilson's Fifth Reader, issued in 1864, and even now, when the Judge wishes inspir- ation for a public address, he takes down his boy- hood copy of this once famous school classic, and cons over some of the sketches, many of which he then learned by heart.

In 1869, Mrs. Richards and her son went to Ire- land, by way of the transcontinental railroad, on a visit to her childhood home. It took seven days to cross the continent by rail and an equal time was required for the ocean passage to Liverpool. The trip held in store many wonderful experiences for the California country lad who had never before ridden on a railroad train or ocean liner. Every day on land and sea was a new marvel to his eager eye and retentive memory and he still relates with zest the incidents of that early experience.

Arriving in the north of Ireland with his mother, they remained there for a year, during which time the boy attended the same school, taught by the self-same pedagogne to which his mother had gone in her childhood. Master Brewster was the Irish school- master's name; he had taught there for more than fifty years; and the thoroughness of the instruction imparted is still recalled with grateful recollection. The youth was much impressed with the simple yet sturdy habitudes of the Scotch-Irish people, whose 21

lives were occupied in the growing and marketing of their products and in otherwise discharging the plain, everyday duties of their rather insular exis- tence. Some forty years afterward a correspondence sprang up between Judge Richards and a cousin, who still lives in the region, and the well-read Judge marvels at her letters, which, with no other basis than that exceptional early training, are wells of English undefiled. At the end of a year, however, the mode of life in this old and easy-going country began to pall upon them and Mrs. Richards and her son decided to return to California. Upon reaching home they took up their residence in San Jose, and there the youth attended the old high school of San Jose which then stood upon the site of the present Horace Mann school, remaining in that institution two years. In 1872 he matriculated at the University of the Pacific where he took up the classical course, and from which he was graduated in 1877 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He then went to Ann Arbor, Mich., entering the Law School of the Uni- versity of Michigan; and in 1879 graduated from that university with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Returning to California, he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court; and soon became actively in- terested in the social, educational and political life of the community in which he lived. In addition to the duties of his growing practice he became chief editorial writer on the "Mercury" with the idea of thereby perfecting his literary style. He also lec- tured upon economics, history, rhetoric and law in the University of the Pacific, and he also early be- came a lecturer upon varied subjects and a writer of very acceptable verse. In 1895, Mr. Richards opened an office in San Francisco as general counsel for the San Francisco "Call."

In 1907 he was appointed Judge of the Superior Court of Santa Clara County, to succeed Judge A. L. Rhodes, in which position he served six years, when he was appointed by Governor Johnson to the posi- tion of Associate Justice for the District Court of Appeals for the First District. Since then, Judge Richards has been twice re-elected to the eminent position which he now holds. In 1918, he served a year as Justice pro tem of the Supreme Court, dur- ing the illness of one of the members, and since that time he has been several times recalled to that court for a like service. In state and national affairs Judge Richards is a life-long Republican, but in local affairs he has never permitted politics to interfere with his support of the best measures and the best men.

At San Jose, on November 23, 1881, Judge Rich- ards was married to Miss Mary Wallace Westphal, a native of San Francisco, where she was born in 1858, the daughter of John T. and Mary (Percy) Westphal. Her father was at one time County Clerk for San Francisco, while the Percys are of Scotch- English extraction, sprung from the Percys of Nor- thumberland. Miss Westphal attended the schools of Santa Clara County, and afterwards became an instructor in the public schools in the vicinity. She has always been, and still is active in the women's

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social, religious and education movements in the community. She is one of the earliest and most devoted members of the Monday Club. She has also been treasurer of the Pratt Home for many years, and is an active member of the Woman's Guild of the Trinity Episcopal Church, and was its president for a number of years. Two children blessed this happy union of Judge and Mrs. Richards, John Percy Richards, who is in business in San Francisco, and Donald Wallace Richards who is an attorney at law, with offices in San Jose. Judge Richards is a member of Golden Gate Lodge No. 30 of the Masonic order, in San Francisco. He is also a member of the Observatory Parlor of the Native Sons, and Modoc Tribe of Red Men of San Francisco; and he is also an active member of the Society of California Pioneers.

Judge and Mrs. Richards live in a quaint old home on South 10th Street, built in 1862 by J. H. Flick- inger, and in the beautiful garden of which are still to be seen some of the trees which the latter planted in that year. Forty-one years later, the Judge bought the place, and he has lived there ever since. There is a great cherry tree on the place, the largest in the region; the trunk measuring thirty inches in diameter, and the limbs spreading more than fifty feet. In 1918 this tree bore a thousand pounds of luscious cherries. The Judge also has a ranch of seven acres in the foothills six miles east of San Jose, mainly devoted to an orchard, but the grounds about the house are given over to the cultivation of wild flowers. upon which Mrs. Richards is an authority and is often called to deliver talks upon in different parts of the state. The garden is really glorious during most seasons of the year, due to the interesting effort on the part of its owners to assemble every available species of California wild-flower life. Both Judge and Mrs. Richards are sincere and earnest students, fond of reading and lovers of books; and not a month passes but what some valuable work in classics in science, in philosophy, in poetry or in general liter- ature is added to their large and valuable library.

S. F. LEIB .- For more than half a century associ- ated with the jurisprudence of Santa Clara County, Judge S. F. Leib forcibly impressed his personal and professional worth upon the community. A native of Fairfield County, Ohio, he was born in the year 1848, his parents, Joseph and Clarissa (Allen) Leib, being natives of the states of Pennsylvania and Ohio, respectively.

S. F. Leib received his preliminary education in the public schools of Ohio; later at a private academy before entering the University of Michigan, where he was graduated in 1869, receiving his degree of LL. B. In the spring of 1864, at the age of sixteen. he enlisted in Company E, One Hundred Fifty-ninth Volunteers, Ohio Infantry, serving in the last year of the war. He is now a member of the John Dix Post No. 42, G. A. R. In 1869 he removed to San Jose, where he entered the law firm of Moore and Laine, and later D. M. Delmas entered the firm. This partnership was dissolved in 1879. During the year of 1903, Mr. Leib was appointed Judge of the Superior Court of Santa Clara County, but resigned before the end of the year to resume his private practice. For years he has served as vice-president of the First National Bank of San Jose; also as director and attorney for the bank. The attainments of this fine and noble early settler are such as to

enroll him for all time with the history builders of the beautiful Santa Clara Valley.

His marriage December 15, 1874, united him with Miss Lida Campbell Grissim, and to them have been born five children; Lida C., the wife of Chas. D. Armstrong of Omaha; Elna, the wife of Professor H. W. Wright; Frank A., manager of one of the Leib orchards; Roy C., attorney at law and partner of Mr. Leib; Earl, a resident of Los Angeles. M.r. and Mrs. Leib also have four grandchildren. Politi- cally Mr. Leib is a stalwart supporter of the Repub- lican party; religiously he was born and reared a Methodist. He occupies an enviable position in the community in which he lives, as a man who serves wisely and well as a jurist, and commands the highest esteem of those with whom he has been associated. Aside from his legal practice, Mr. Leib is extensive- ly interested in orchard property.

WILLIAM G. ALEXANDER .- A man of force- ful character and brilliant attainments, William G. Alexander is an acknowledged leader in the business world, having throughout the years of his commer- cial career met with such success that he now occu- pies a merited position of power and influence throughout the state. He was born in St. Louis, Mo., February 25, 1867, the son of the late John Hender- son Alexander, a native of Tennessee, who migrated to California as one of the Argonauts of 1849. He tried his luck at mining for two years and then was in business in Sacramento and later in San Francisco. He returned to St. Louis in 1853 and 1863, in De- catur, Ill., married Susan Edmundson, a native of that state. In 1880 the Alexander family came to California and settled in San Jose, where the father became secretary of the Independent Mill and Lum- ber Company. His death occurred on November 26, 1893; Mrs. Susan Alexander passed away July 8. 1917. There are three survivors of the family : a daughter, Mrs. Nellie A. Keith, and two sons, William G. and John E. Alexander, the latter a resi- dent of San Francisco.

William G. Alexander, who has made his own way from boyhood, was graduated from the San Jose high school, class of '83; and later he entered the College of the Pacific, but on account of impaired health, he was obliged to discontinue his studies. He then took up work in the office with his father, where he learned bookkeeping; and afterwards he was employed as bookkeeper by the Crystal Palace Tea Co., a grocery firm. In 1887 he entered the em- ploy of the Central Milling Company as an account- ant, and when this company was incorporated with the Sperry Flour Company in 1892, he was made manager of the San Jose office. In that capacity he developed his wonderful executive ability, which was soon recognized by his employers, and in 1906 he was made a director and general sales manager as a reward for his fidelity and valued services.

In 1909, Mr. Alexander accepted the position of president and general manager of the Keystone Com- pany, one of the largest wholesale grocery firms in Santa Clara County, at a time when they were oc- cupying rented property with a frontage of forty feet; and such has been the extraordinary growth of the business under his leadership that today they have their own concrete building with a frontage of 178 feet and extending from Market to San Pedro Street, with entrances from both streets. They have

WG. alestander

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

one of the most complete coffee-roasting plants on the Pacific Coast, and they carry an extensive line of staple and fancy groceries, as well as a complete line of paper and wooden ware. They employ eight salesmen at present, who carefully cover the terri- tory from San Francisco to San Luis Obispo, all working systematically under Mr. Alexander, who has devoted much thought and time to the perfection of the best business methods and plans. One more characteristic that makes Mr. Alexander stand preemi- nent in San Jose is his thoughtfulness for the comfort and welfare of his employes at the Keystone Company. At considerable expense he equipped a well-appointed, sanitary lunch room for their convenience, overlook- ing nothing that would add to their comfort. The highest wages are paid by him and each employe of the large plant has shown a loyalty to him that is most commendable. He is also president and gen- eral manager of the Alexander-Balart Company of San Francisco, an exclusive coffee company which has built up a very lucrative trade in the Pacific Coast states.

Mr. Alexander has been a director and the secre- tary of the Garden City Bank and Trust Com- pany for the past twenty-three years, and is a member of the executive committee-a very im- portant factor in building up the bank's exten- sive business. He is the president of the Conser- vative Realty Company, which has built up South First Street. For nearly fifteen years he served as vice- president and director of the San Jose Mutual Build- ing and Loan Association, and during that period this concern was an important factor in furnishing funds and helping its members to acquire suitable homes, thereby building up the city. Later, he withdrew from this association and engaged in the banking business because of the larger opportunity offered.

He was one of the organizers of the California Prune and Apricot Growers, Inc., is secretary of the executive committee and a member of the board of directors, and was appointed by Governor Stephens as the state's representative on the board. When the local association was in course of organization, Mr. Alexander made speeches all over the state in its in- terests and did much to insure its organization. He is a live wire in the Chamber of Commerce and a past member of the board of managers, and has ap- peared before various chambers in the county and elsewhere in the interest of community welfare work for several years past. He is one of three men who bought the lot and erected the Alexandria building, named in his honor, on the corner of Second and San Antonio streets. Mr. Alexander has the distinc- tion of being one of the freeholders who drafted the charter for the commission form of government for San Jose. He is a member of the Lions', Coun- try and Commercial clubs of San Jose. As one of the organizers and for fifteen years the president of the San Jose Coffee Club, a philanthropic enter- prise of the community, he aided in building up, from a small beginning to a large business undertaking, a philanthropy that has rendered a necessary and valuable service to many.

Mr. Alexander is a Mason, belonging to San Jose Lodge No. 10. F. & A. M., Howard Chapter No. 14, R. A. M., San Jose Commandery No. 10, K. T., of which he is a past commander; is a member and past patron of both San Jose Chapter No. 31. O. E. S. and Sainte Claire Court No. 31, Order of Ama-

ranth. Mr. Alexander was one of the incorporating directors of the Masonic Hall Association and elect- ed the first president, holding office from 1902 to 1911, when he resigned on account of pressure of private business. He was one of the leading spirits and most prominent factors in building the Masonic Hall in San Jose, one of the best appointed and finest temples on the coast and to no one is more credit due for this beautiful edifice than he. Hc was formerly a Presbyterian, serving for years as an elder of the Second Presbyterian Church of San Jose; was active on various important church committees for thirty years and did his full share to build up the membership; was once elected Moderator of the San Jose Presbytery and at one time was the representative at the General Assem- bly in St. Louis; but is now a member of the Christian Assembly. He was a charter member and one of the most active workers in the local Y. M. C. A. and served as its president; in fact has served on every committee and did yeoman service to main- tain the association, was one of the few who stood behind it and reorganized and put the present body on its feet, serving as the first president after re- organization. He has contributed liberally of both time and money to maintain the organization, and is also a past president of the State Y. M. C. A.

Deeply interested in the welfare of the young peo- ple, Mr. Alexander was for seven years superintend- ent of the Intermediate Christian Endeavor Society of the Presbyterian Church and during those years never missed a meeting. He was one of the organ- izers of the Santa Clara County C. E. Union, ac- tive in the work of that and the state organization. and has served as president of both. During the World War he was an active member of the county executive committee and threw himself whole-heart- edly into the work of the organization for raising funds and conserving the resources of the county in the cause of the Allies and largely through his in- fluence Santa Clara County went "over the top" in every loan and benefit drive. As a 100% Ameri- can he subscribed liberally to every bond issue and contributed to every cause. He was one of the "Four Minute Men" and stumped the state for the various causes necessary to win the war.

Mr. Alexander was united in marriage on Decem- ber 23, 1890. in San Jose, with Miss Edith Cory, a native daughter born into the family of Dr. Ben- jamin Cory and his wife, pioneers of 1847 in Cali- fornia. She attended the public schools and the Col- lege of the Pacific and grew up in San Jose. They have an adopted daughter, Ruth L., who married Merle A. Elliott of Chico on July 4, 1918, and there is a granddaughter. Ruth Edith Elliott.

It will be seen from the foregoing that Mr. Al- exander contributes generously of both his time and means to advance the moral and educational, as well as the commercial life of the city, county and state. He is a firm believer in progress in all things, is public spirited to a high degree and always ready to lend his aid to every worth-while project where the welfare of the people is concerned. He gives for the joy of giving and for the pleasure it brings to others, all charitable organizations find in him a warm friend and his philanthropies are many and varied. His neighbors have always been his warm- est friends-a pretty fair test of a self-made man's

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real worth, and the esteem he enjoys-and all with whom he has been associated have felt the force and influence of his large and generous nature.

EVERIS ANSON HAYES .- The traits of char- acter that have brought distinction and success to the representatives of the Hayes family are a direct heritage from a long line of forefathers possessing the sterling qualities of the Scotch race. The family genealogy shows that many generations gone by, some of the name crossed the border from Scotland to the north of England, from which locality in 1683 George Hayes immigrated to Connecticut and be- came the founder of the family in America. Nu- merous of his descendants bore a valiant part in the events culminating in the independence of our nation, and in every generation the family has evinced the ut- most loyalty to country and a high type of public spirit. Following the trend of emigration westward. early in the nineteenth century the family became established in what was then the frontier, beyond the pale of civilization as it then existed.

During the residence of Anson and Mary (Fol- som) Hayes at Waterloo, Jefferson County, Wis., their son, Everis Anson Hayes, was born March 10, 1855. The various industries with which his father was connected, that of railroad contractor, merchant and farmer, proved sufficiently profitable to enable him to give his children the best advantages of that day and locality, and the son, after having com- pleted the studies of the public school, matriculated at the University of Wisconsin, from which he re- ceived the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1879 and that of Bachelor of Letters in 1882. Previous to receiving the latter degree he had made his home in Madison, Wis., where he was a member of the common council and a practitioner of growing prom- inence. During 1883 he removed to Ashland, Wis., and formed a partnership with his brother, Jay Orley Hayes, and Col. John H. Knight. In the spring of that year their mother, a remarkable woman, who was away with her son, Jay O., for a needed rest, heard a voice that said for her sons not to invest their money in pine lands which might be destroyed by fire, but that there was vast wealth awaiting them in iron ore to the east. East of Ashland there was an unbroken wilderness, and Jay O., to whom his mother first communicated, said that he knew of no mines in that direction, but he had implicit faith in his mother. Again she heard the voice and she said to her son, "Yon have a client-a Captain Moore -who will understand and know about it. Going to Captain Moore, Mr. Hayes inquired of him if he knew of any iron ore deposits to the east, to which the Captain replied in the affirmative-that he had made explorations there and that the indi- cations had convinced him that there were valuable deposits in that locality. Mr. Hayes then told Cap- tain Moore that if there was an opportunity to in- vest that he and his brother, E. A. Hayes, would go in with him.

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History of Santa Clara County California with biographical sketches, Part 58

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