USA > California > San Bernardino County > Ingersoll's century annals of San Bernadino County, 1769-1904 : prefaced with a brief history of the state of California : supplemented with an encyclopedia of local biography and portraits of many of its representative people > Part 69
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Twenty-eight years after leaving England, Mr. Poppett received the first news of his father through an advertisement in a Salt Lake paper. After some correspondence, Mr. Poppett sent money to pay the passage and his father came to this country and passed the last fifteen years of his life with his son.
Mr. Poppett married Miss Alice Case, of San Bernardino, in 1863. They have had twelve children, ten of whom are living, and all residents of San Bernardino county. George W. lives at Randsburg ; Edwin, policeman in San Bernardino; Joseph L., Morrison and Ira at San Jacinto; Grover C. and Thurman at school; Irene, the wife of W. H. Hitchcock ; Leah. Mr. Poppett joined Phoenix Lodge. F. & A. M., of San Bernardino, more than thirty years ago. Five of his sons belong to the Native Sons.
RICHARD WEIR, of San Bernardino, was born in London Township, Ontario, Canada, July 17, 1856, the son of John and Jane Talbot Weir. His father was a native of Ireland, whose family emigrated to Canada in 1810. His mother was the daughter of Colonel Talbot of the British army, a native of Ontario, Canada.
Richard Weir lived on the home farm until thirteen and was then apprenticed to the carpenter trade. After serving his term he was employed as a journeyman by a firm of contractors and finally went into business on his own account. He lived at London, On- tario, until 1883. when he came to California and spent a year in Sacramento. He returned to Canada and in 1887 removed to this state with his family and located at San Bernardino. where he has followed his trade. He has a pretty home on Birch and Olive streets.
M !.. Weir is very fond of outdoor life and spends a part of every summer with has
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family in the mountains hunting and camping under the pines. He is an honorary member of the San Bernardino Pioneer Society, and joins in their pioneer camping and hunting parties.
He was married December 28, 1882, to Miss Sarah Jane Heck, a native of Kingston, Canada, and a direct descendant of the founder of Canadian Methodism, Barbara Heck. who came to Canada from New York in 1776, and whose ancestors landed at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts, in 1620. Mr. and Mrs. Weir have four children-Herbert Heck, a graduate of the San Bernardino High Schoo; Emma Edna, also a graduate of the High School; Alma Jane and John Wesley.
ASEL ALBERT LATHROP (deceased), a native of Tallend county, Connecticut, was the son of Horace Lathrop, a carpenter by trade.
Asel A. Lathrop learned the trade of ship carpenter and lived in his native village until maturity. He there married Miss Cynthia Rabel and they were the parents of six children, but mother and children were stricken with cholera and all died. From Connecticut, Mr. Lathrop went to Nauvoo, Illinois, where he opened a place of business known as "the Key- stone Store." At Nauvoo he married Miss Jane Placock. In 1854 he came to the Chino rancho, in San Bernardino county, and, purchasing a large drove of horses and cattle, re- turned with them to Utah, where he sold them at a profit. Bringing his family with him, he returned to California. He settled at Mormon Tavern, in the northern mines, where he lived two years conducting a tavern store, freighting to the mines and doing a large business. This town is now known as Lathrop. From Lathrop he removed to San Juan, then in Monte- rey county, and was overseer of a large stock ranch for one year. In 1856 Mr. Lathrop came to Los Angeles and acted as agent in charge of rentals for Pio Pico. The following year he located on what was then known as the Rubidoux ranch, remaining there two years. In 1859 or '60 he went to San Clemente Island, off San Diego coast, where he planted three hundred acres of grain, intending it for use of government troops, but the troops werd removed, leaving the crop on his hands, entailing a serions loss. His next move was to Yucaipe, where he engaged in farming, and from there to Temescal in 1860. Here he pur- chased a ranch of John F. Miller, where he lived until 1888, after which he located in San Timoteo canyon. Mr. Lathrop died at Mound City in 1891 at the age of eighty-one years, leaving a widow, six daughters and three sons. Mrs. Lathrop died at Mound City in 1895, at the age of seventy-four years. Horace Lathrop is a resident of Riverside; Mary, is Mrs. W. B. Evart, Ora Grande, San Luis Obispo county : Ellen, Mrs. John Burrell (de- ceased) ; Augusta, Mrs. J. G. Goodwin, Mound City ; Asel Lathrop, San Luis Obispo; Mina, Mrs. Frank G. Allison, Claremont; Emma, Mrs. Geo. M. Frink, Los Angeles; and George Grant Lathrop, Mound City.
George Grant Lathrope was born at San Juan, Cal., September 27, 1856. In 1877 he married Miss Caroline Dewitt, daughter of R. L. Dewitt, a pioneer of San Bernardino county. They are the parents of four children. Mr. Lathrop is an orange grower of Mound City, and for two years has been road overseer.
MONROE STEWART was born in San Bernardino in 1856. His father, Mathew Stew- art, was a native of Ohio, by trade a mechanic. His mother was Mrs. Hannah Spiller Perris. He came to San Bernardino in 1849 and engaged in carpentering and in ranching. In those days grain was harvested with an old swinging cradle, and Mathew Stewart was an expert in this work, often entering contests and winning many prizes as the champion cradler of the country. Later he went to England, where he engaged in business until the breaking out of the civil war, when he returned to Ohio and enlisted in the Fourteenth Ohio Cavalry. He was taken prisoner and confined in the Confederate prison at Andersonville, where he died of starvation. He left a widow and three chidren-Monroe; Mary Inez, now the wife of Robert Hornbeck, Redlands, and one who died, Herbert Loyd.
Monroe Stewart came to San Bernardino in 1878 and engaged in the contracting and building business. Later he became interested in mining. In 1880 he married Miss Alice Printz, of Iowa. They are the parents of six daughters and one son. Mr. Monroe was elected a member of the city board of trustees in 1897.
JOHN TEMPEST LEFFEN was born in London, June 1, 1832, the son of Frederick Leffen, of Dover, a sea captain, and of Martha Isabel Arnold, of Bath, England. He was educated as a machinist and was employed for two years in the Charles Myers Iron Works, London. He was then sent to North Wales with a force of 500 men to construct a tubular bridge across Maira Strait, Isle of Anglecy, where he remained until the bridge was com- pleted seven years later. He next located in Liverpool, where he followed the occupation of engineer, running from Liverpool to Scotland, and then to Dublin and North Wales. In
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1849 he was employed as engineer on the steamship "Great Britain" and made six trips across the Atlantic on that steamer. He crossed the Atlantic for the last time in the ship "Commeleas," landing at New Orleans in June, 1853. From New Orleans he went to Keokuk, Iowa, and from there he crossed the plains by team, reaching Salt Lake late in 1853. He remained in Salt Lake City for about three years and then started for California. In order to pay his passage from Salt Lake to Carson City he drove an ox team for a Mormon missionary ; then, in company with five other young men, started on foot across the Sierra Nevadas to Sacramento. Arriving there, he found all business at a standstill. He was without money, but after camping out for a time he secured work and then worked his way on a steamboat to San Francisco. He found that city in the hands of the vigilantes. who had just hanged Casey and Cora. He was employed for a time by the vigilantes helping to tear down fortifications, and later secured employment on a coasting steamer plying between San Francisco and San Diego. After a year and a half in this business he located at San Pedro, where he was employed by Gen. Banning as a blacksmith. From this point he came to San Bernardino, where he has since resided. He was employed for some time at the Chino ranch, and aso worked as a blacksmith at the Chino saw mill. He purchased a ranch from ex-Senator Conn and built a cottage. He was also engaged in min- ing in Holcomb valley. From 1877 to 1885 he was engaged in boring wells in San Ber- nardino, being the pioneer well borer of the community. For fifteen years he owned and carried on a blacksmith shop at C street in San Bernardino. He died in 1904.
Mr. Leffen was first married in Keokuk, Iowa, to Miss Jane Creighton, of Belfast. Ireland, who died while he was employed in Holcomb Valley, leaving three sons -- Tempest, Samuel and Fred. In 1870 he married Miss Hannah McCartney, of Cork, Ireland, who died October 18, 1895. Of this union there were eight children-Samnel; Caroline, now Mrs. Arthur Henderson; William, Frederick, George, John, Isabelle and Annie.
OTHER PIONEERS.
CORNELIUS JENSEN (deceased) was a Frisian, born on the Island of Sylt, an island off the coast of Denmark. He was the son of Boy Jensen, a blacksmith and small farmer, native of the same place. Boy Jensen was the father of three sons by his first marriage-Michael, Cornelius and Hans. By a second marriage he had one son-Jens Jensen.
Cornelius Jensen was born in 1815. He went to sea at an early age, as was customary with the young men of the North Sea coast, and, having a natural aptitude for mathemat- ical calculation, became a thorough navigator. He was proficient in languages, speaking his native Frisian besides acquiring a knowledge of Spanish and English. As first mate of a sailing vessel trading between Hamburg and Pacific coast ports, he made several trips aroud Cape Horn, visiting South American port cities, Mexico, and was in California as early as 1844.
In 1848 he was in the harbor of San Francisco, master of a trading vessel from Ham- burg, with a cargo to exchange for hides and tallow. The gold excitement was at its height ; the bay was dotted with hundreds of vessels from which the crews had departed to seek their fortunes in the gold mines. Captain Jensen fared no better than the captains of other vessels. He was left by his crew, and finally gave up his ship and went to the mines of the Sacramento valley, where he opened a store and traded in miners' supplies. He there made the acquaintance of Ygnacio Palomares and Ygnacio Alvarado. They were pleased with his honest manner and sound business methods and urged him to come with them to Southern California.
His first business operation was building a saw mill in Devil's Canyon. This was operated by water power, and while he made some lumber, the investment was not a success financially, and was abandoned. In 1854 Mr. Jensen opened a store at Agua Mansa, near the old church on the hill. He built a substantial store building which is still in good con- dition. He also owned several flocks of sheep and about two hundred head of horses near Temecula, now in Riverside county. After the great flood of 1862 he sold his store prop- erty to Cisto Martinez, father of A. J. Martinez, and purchased one-sixteenth interest in the Robidoux ranch-including the interests of some of the Robidoux heirs-and engaged in grape culture and the making of wines. He raised alfalfa, cattle and sheep until the drought made sheep raising unprofitable.
Cornelius Jensen married Señorita Mercedes Alvarado, edest daughter of Don Fran- cisco Alvarado, one of the early Spanish settlers of San Bernardino county. This marriage was a fortunate and happy one. They were the parents of twelve children, two of whom
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died in infancy, and ten are now living-five sons and five daughters. Joseph, the eldest child, was born in 1855 at Los Angeles; Concepion is the widow of Fred Milliken; Tomasa is Mrs. Philip Graser of Riverside; Cornelius ; Francesca, now Mrs. Gunner Kjilburg, lives near Riverside; Henry; Erolinda, Mrs. A. W. Thorne, Los Angeles; John; Mary, Mrs. Walter Pitney, and Robert. The children not otherwise indicated reside near the old home. Mr. Jensen was a man of domestic tastes and habits. Though his business frequently called him from home, he always made a point of returning at night. He was twice a member of the board of supervisors of Los Angeles county and made a very efficient public official, but was not a politician. His sturdy good sense and honesty gained for him the
CORNELIUS JENSEN
MERCEDES ALVARADO JENSEN
respect of the whole community, and enabled him to retain it throughout a long life. Mr. Jensen died December 12, 1886, at the age of seventy-two years. His remains repose in the old cemetery at Agua Mansa. Mrs. Jensen resides at the old home, passing her de- clining years in restful quietude amidst the scenes and surroundings of her earlier days.
DON FRANCISCO ALVARADO, one of the earliest Spanish residents of San Ber- nardino county. was born in Santa Barbara, the son of Pomoseno Alvarado, who is said to have been the administrador of the San Bernardino Mission under the priests of San Gabriel. He married Juana Maria Abila, daughter of Don Anastacio Abila, of Compton. They settled at Agua Mansa at a very early date when the nearest trading point was Los Angeles. Don Francisco would often ride to Los Angeles and return the same day to procure thread, or some other necessary article. He died in 1898 at the residence of Mrs. Cornelius Jensen, his daughter.
WILLIAM HENRY ROBINSON, of Halleck, was born in Pottawatomie county, Iowa, August 30th, 1851, the son of William Jones Robinson, a veteran of the Mexican war and a native of Missouri. The family moved to Utah in 1852 and about 1858 came to the San Bernardino valley. In 1868 W. H. Robinson located on the Mojave and engaged in stock raising. He now has 800 acres of land and is extensively engaged in the business.
In 1879 he married Miss Josephine, daughter of Theodore and Harriet Mathews. Mr. Mathews was also a Mexican war veteran. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson have two sons, William Edwin, born July 18th, 1881, and Theodore, born October 17th, 1885.
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HISTORY OF THE CRAM FAMILY.
The name Cram is a familiar one to all pioneers, for the Cram family has borne an important share in the development of this section since the year 1852, when John Cram, with his six stalwart sons-Lorenzo, Goodsel, Henry, John, Rensler and Lewis F .- arrived in California by the southern overland route and settled in San Bernardino county.
The American ancestors of this family were among the forefathers of New England. Sanborn Cram, a native of New Hampshire, was born at Unity, in the Connecticut River valley, in 1738. He was a son of John and Mary Sanborn Cram, who lived at Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, as the records show that Mary Cram and one child died here, and from this place John Cram enlisted in the American army dur- ing the Revolutionary war. John Cram had a family of nine children. of whom Sanborn was the third, In company with two brothers-James and Ebenezer-Sanborn removed to New York at a very early date and settled in the town of Jay, Essex county. Two of the brothers of this family of pioneers, located in the "Western Reserve," now Ohio; an- other brother settled in Illinois, in the vicinity of Rockford, where he died, and where descendants still reside. Others of the family contin- ued to reside in Essex county, and their children and grand-children are now citizens of that locality.
JOHN H. CRAM, the Califor- nia pioneer, was a son of Sanborn Cram, and was born in Essex county, New York, in 1788. He grew up in his native place and being of a mechanical turn of mind, learned the LEWIS CRAM trade of cooper; he was also a shoe- maker. He inherited from his fore- fathers the instinct for adventure, and passed his entire life upon the frontier, always moving in the advance line of civiliza- tion. In 1836 he, with his family, began their long westward journey, first removing from New York state to Michigan and settling in the southeastern portion of that territory. two years before it became a state. Here the only daughter, Mariah, married Levi Miller. and when the family three years later again moved, this time to Ohio, she, with two brothers-Sanborn and Chester-remained in that state. The rest located in Middlebury, Summit county, Ohio. In 1843 they pushed further westward to the woods of Illinois and stopped at Bushville, Schuyler county. Here they remained until the discovery of gold in California drew the tide of immigration in that direction. It was natural that John Cram and his sons were among the first to join the throng of gold-seekers. In company with Daniel H. Rogers, S. S. Reeves and Hankinson Kimball. young men of Schuyler county, they started for California with ox teams and wagons. The party made their way south- westward, crossing the Mississippi at Hannibal, Missouri, and the Missouri at Booneville. Upon reacring Independence, they joined with others who were California bound and made up a train of 22 wagons, with Daniel H. Rodgers as captain. They started out on the Santa Fe trail and soon fell in with a train of 30 freighting wagons on the way to Santa Fc. This proved a fortunate thing for the Illinois travelers, as they were total strangers te the country through which they must pass, and which was overrun by Indians who meyed upon the "tenderfoot" expeditions at every turn. The Santa Fe traders were "old "tigers" who knew how to deal with the Indians and who cheerfully gave to the band of immigrants their assistance and protection. Thus the party reached Santa Fe without seri-
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ous trouble. After a brief rest here they bade farewell to their friends of the road and started on the trail, then but little traveled, to Fort Yuma. The route lay through long stretches of dry and desolate country, of which no member of the party-not even Captain Rodgers-had any definite knowledge. The country was full of hostile Indians, and at a point near what was then Santa Cruz, about 200 miles southeast of Tucson, one of the party by the name of Crandall was killed by the Indians. A number of the party, in con- sequence of exposure to the heat and the use of alkali waters, were stricken with malarial fever. One of these was Mrs. Cram, wife of John Cram and mother of his sons. She had been a strong, hardy frontierswoman, but here in the desert, with no comforts or medical aid possible, she yielded to the fever and died. She was laid by the side of Mr. Crandall.
The hardships of the journey were so great that the company gradually broke up, one after another losing heart and falling out along the route. Supplies were almost ex- hausted and the want of money and provisions was so great that on reaching Fort Yuma the Crams were compelled to sell their last oxen and cattle. They packed their remaining belongings upon "jacks" for the rest of the way to San Diego.
The party that left Fort Yuma consisted of John Cram and his sons, all of whom were single men, except Goodsel, who was accompanied by his wife and two small children. A man by the name of Clemmenson, with his wife and two chidren, followed not far in the rear. The Cram family after a slow and wearisome trip reached San Diego and there stopped for rest and recruiting. Four of the sons soon started out to get work and to look over the country to the northward. Henry and Lewis F. found employment on the Chino rancho with Col. Isaac Williams, while John and Lorenzo went on to Los Angeles and found work in the harvest fields near there. About three months later they all met at the Puente rancho, where they hired land and there they raised grain and produce until 1854. They then came to San Bernardino county and took up their residence in the Old Mission. Here they embarked in an enterprise which was of importance to the residents of this frontier settlement.
The zanja furnished a fine stream of water flowing through their premises, and here they turned their mechanical knowledge to good use by constructing a water wheel to utilize the power at their door. They improvised a turning lathe and other necessary ma- chinery and began the manufacture of furniture from the timber which grew along the creek and in the adjoining foothills. They manufactured upwards of one thousand chairs, with solid frames, and with seats of cowhide, besides making tables, cupboards and bed posts. Ready sale for their product was found not only among the setters of San Ber- nardino, but throughout the district surrounding. It is said that A. D. Boren, a well known pioneer resident of San Bernardino, purchased these chairs by the wagon load and peddled them as far as "El Monte." This was the first furniture factory in Southern California. and it turned out substantial work, very different from the flimsy and veneered stuff of today. Some of these chairs are still in use at Puente, San Bernardino and Redlands.
In 1857 the Crams removed their mill up the zanja to what is now Crafton, and thus established the first water right of that neighborhood-a right which has since been the ground of extensive litigation.
In 1859 John Cram, with Henry and Lewis F., homesteaded the land in East High- land which has since that date been the home of the Cram family and is known as the "Cram place." In 1864 John Cram, surrounded by his sons and family, passed away at the homestead, aged seventy-six.
John Cram was married in 1810 at Unity, N. H., to Rebecca, daughter of Captain Isaac Pease, a navigator who sailed the open seas to all the leading seaports of the world. That he was a man of special ability as a mariner is evidenced hv a very crefully written log book now in the possession of Mrs. Mary F. Cole, of Old San Bernardino, a great- granddaughter, which records his observations while making a vovage from 1772 to 1774. Mrs. John Cram, as we have seen, died in 1852 while en route to Caifornia.
HENRY CRAM, the eldest of the sons who came to California, still lives, one of the respected citizens of East Highlands. He has been an active and successful orange grower and has accumulated considerable property. He never married, but has always made his home with Lewis F. Cram, with whom he has maintained a partnership for forty years or more. He was engaged in the Mexican war with another brother, Goodsell, and belongs to the Mexican War Veterans.
Lorenzo' and John Cram lived together many years in East Highland. The former died in 1899 and since then John has lived in San Bernardino.
LEWIS F. CRAM was the sixth son of the family. He was born in New York
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statc, April 19, 1834, and accompanied his father's family in its wanderings until they finally settled at East Highlands. September 27, 1865, he married Sarah, the daughter of Andrew J. Wakefield, who came from Illinois to California in that year. The Wakefields also crossed the plains and had a long and perilous journey. At that date the United States troops had been largely withdrawn from the western country, and the Indians in consequence were very troublesome. The party was accompanied by about two hundred soldiers, mostly Indians officered by white men, from Council Bluffs. On the North Platte they were joined by about forty trading wagons bound for Salt Lake, and 150 emigrant wagons. The gov- ernment escort found it difficult to save their party from the attacks of hostile bands. De- tachments of soldiers were sent ahead to scout the country and stationed along the line from 50 to roo miles apart, and as the train brought up the rear, it was common to find along the route and at nearly every station, dead soldiers, stripped of clothing and firearms, and scalped. Only the shoes were never touched; the Indians had no use for these.
At Salt Lake about twelve wagons left the rest to come on to California. They were accompanied by an experienced freighter, George Garner, a brother of Mrs. Wakefield, who was familiar with the route, and reached San Bernardino without further incident. Mr. Wakefield died in 1868. His wife spent her declining years with a daughter, Mrs. Matilda Barr, of Fresno, where she died in 1885.
Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Cram have raised and educated a family of seven children, all of whom were born at the Highands home and still live in the vicinity.
Andrew, the eldest son, was born August 6, 1867. June 7, 1892, he married Miss Hattie, daughter of Samuel Elkins, of Highland. They have four children-Maggie, Mollie, Mabel and Flossie. Wm. H. Cram, born April 22, 1869, married Miss Lottie, daughter of Theodore Davis, late of San Bernardino, March 22, 1891. They have three children-Clara, Arthur and Harry. Mary E., born October 20, 1870, is the wife of Joseph M. Cole of Oid San Bernardino. They have two children-Frank R. and Florence. Lewis F. Cram, Jr., born December 27, 1873, married Miss Kittie, daughter of H. E. Longmire, of Highland. They have one son-Frederick L. Edward J., born July 13, 1876, an orange grower of Highlands. James E. was born May 24, 1879. Robert E. was born March 17, 1881.
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