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 90
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In 1891, Mr. Van Luven married Miss Helen Edith, daughter of J. B. Shepardson, a bank- er of Iowa, who spends his winters in Colton. Mr. and Mrs. Van Luven have two sons, Jed S. and1 Donald Earl Van Luven.
STEPHEN F. KELLEY, of San Bernardino, was born in San Francisco, December 28, 1858. He was the son of John Kelley, a native of Ireland of good family, who came to Amer- ica when sixteen years of age, and was one of the early pioneers of the Western coast. In 1843 he was owner of a farm in Oregon, and first came to California in 1846, and owned a
HIRAM H. SMITH
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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
farm near the present city of Oakland. He engaged in mining, and in the mercantile busi- ness at Placerville, and later at Virginia City, Nev. In 1855, he located in San Francisco and engaged in business as contractor for public works, and took some of the heavy contracts for the city work. He was one of the organizers of the Republican party in California. He died in San Francisco in 1869 at the age of seventy years.
Stephen F. Kelley received his education in the public schools of San Francisco, and after leaving school, in 1875-8, was in the employ of Murphy, Grant & Co. He next went to San Diego and was employed as accountant by Wing Bros., one year and a half ; then in the same capacity in the Engineering Department of the Santa Fe Railway Co. From there he went to El Paso as freight clerk for the Southern Pacific Railway Co., and one year later, in 1882, to Hermosilla, Mexico, and afterwards to Chihuahua, Mex., in the employ of the Mexican Central Railroad Company. He returned to San Bernardino in 1884, and went to work for the Southern California Railway Co. as clerk and cashier, in the station. He was also with Kirk & Patten, bridge contraoters. He has engaged in various lines of busienss and has traveled extensively in the United States, Europe and Australia. He was for a short time in the employ of the United States Government, as Customs Inspector at Wrangle, Alaska, and in 1898 was appointed under President Mckinley, postmaster of San Bernardino.
Mr. Kelley married Miss Charity Swarthout, daughter of Geo. Swarthout, a San Ber- nardino county pioneer, June 6, 1887. He is a member of Phoenix Lodge, F. & A. M .; Key- stone Chapter, R. A. M .; Saint Bernard, K. T .; and A] Malaikah Temple, of the Mystic Shrine.
HIRAM H. SMITH, late of Redlands, was born in Oxford, New Haven county, Conn., in 1828, and lived in that vicinity until he came to California in, 1884. Soon after his arrival in this state Mr. Smith came to Redlands and took up as a homestead, half a section on Redlands Heights, being a strip of land one mile long by half a mile wide, which now constitutes the upper portion of the improved property on Redlands Heights. With unusual skill and energy for a man of his years, Mr. Smith improved and cultivated this property, setting out 173 acres of it to oranges and grape fruit and maintaining at his own expense for more than seven years seven miles of road. Some of the finest residences in Redlands are now situated on this tract. Mr. Smith was affiliated with the Episcopalian church of this city and was interested in all public affairs. He died December 6, 1903. In 1852 Mr. Smith married Miss Sarah F. Henri- etta, of Huntington, Conn.
BURGESS W. SMITH, of Redlands, the only son of H. H. Smith, was born November 13, 1857, at New Haven, Conn. He was educated in the public schools of New Haven and re- sided there until he came to California and settled at Redlands. Mr. Smith was married in 1878 to Miss Lucy B., daughter of Isaac Mix, of Cheshire, Conn., of which place she was a native. They have one daughter living, Ruth M.
ELI JACKSON YOKAM, of Highland, was born near Mount Vernon, Ohio, December 25, 1835, the son of George and Sarah Wilson Yokam, the former a native of Virgima, the lat- ter of Pennsylvania. They were pioneer settlers in Knox county, having located there in 1811. In 1839 the family removed to Franklin county, Ohio. Eli J. worked steadily on his father's farm from his tenth year and at seventeen had entire charge of the farm of 220 acres. Being fond of study, the young man fitted himself for teaching in the country schools and when he had attained his majority earned money to pursue his education by teaching and raising crops on shares. He graduated from Duff's Business College in Columbus and spent two years at Antioch College and at Ohio Wesleyan University, Deleware. After leaving college he pur- chased a half interest in a weekly newspaper published in the University town of Westerville. Later he bought his partner's interest and for several years published the "Westerville Ban- ner," being editor and sole owner. During these years he mastered the mechanical details both in job and news work. He formed the habit of transmitting his thoughts to type with- out writing and set up many a column of local and editorial matter at the case, without manu- script. He finally sold out and went to Columbus, where he entered the employ of the "Ohio Statesman" as advertising manager. Later he took a position with the "Columbus Daily Dis- patch" as advertising man and local writer. Two years later he formed a partnership with a journeyman printer and bought the "Columbus Sunday Herald," a struggling young paper edited by the son of General Thomas Ewing, then a prominent figure in Ohio politics. Under Mr. Yokam's editorial and business management the Herald at once became self-supporting and paid a fine net income to the proprietors. It was enlarged to a 26 column folio and when he sold the paper in 1876 it was the largest paper in the city. He went to Chicago in 1877 and soon afterward became connected with a history publishing firm. While engaged in that business he, with assistants, compiled, edited and published the history of Peoria county, Illinois, a quarto work of 900 pages. In 1882-3 he was the editor and joint
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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY.
owner of the "Springfield Evening Post," in Springfield, Ill. The Post was a young, independ- ent paper started in a field already well covered with daily papers, and although it acquired a daily circulation of about 2000 copies, it never became self-sustaining.
From 1884 to 1888, Mr. Yokam was agent for A. J. Johnson & Co., publishers of Johnson's Encyclopedia, with headquarters at Chicago. His health becoming somewhat imparied he left that city in 1888, for California, under a two-year's contract with a history publishing firm. Before the expiration of that time he purchased a tract of nineteen acres at Highland, part ot which had been planted to orange trees. He built a small cottage on the place and he and his family moved onto it January 3, 1890. He improved the property in the next two years, paiying out over $1300 for grading and $1000 for orange and lemon nursery stock. Since that time he has devoted himself chiefly to the cultivation and improvement of his orchards. The home place at the intersection of Highland and Orange avenues is one of the most beautiful spots in the valley.
Mr. Yokam has been actively identified with the material and social progress of Highland. He has been a zealous advocate of the co-operative movement for marketing citrus fruits and was one of the committee to draft constitution and by-laws for the Highland Fruit Growers' Association. He originated the movement and was chief instigator in creating the Highland Orange Growers' Association, which was organized at his residence and named at his sug- gestion. He has served as president and secretary of this organization and was four years a director. He has been three times re-elected to the office of president of the Horticultural Club and has been a member of the Highland Library Club from its inception. He was one of the organizers of the San Bernardino County Ohio Association and is serving the third year as president of the same. He was one of the executive officers of the Highland Anti- Saloon League when it was formed. He occasionally contributes articles to the press.
Mr. Yokam was married in 1861 to Miss Lucretia J. Hyde, whom he had known from childhood. She died in 1870, leaving two children, Frank W. and Harriet L. He married Miss Frances E. Loring, his present wife, in Chillecothe, Ill., September 27, 1882.
EDWIN S. WILSEY, of High- land, was born in Albany county, N. Y., February 24, 1868, the son of Silas and Emily Shear Wilsey. both natives of the same county. He was educated in the public schools of his native place and grew up on a farm In 1892 he came to California and located at Highland, where he has ten acres of land.
In 1894 he married Miss Cath- erine Wilsey, of Albany county, N. Y. They have four children, Silas, Gretchen, Hazel and Elmer.
JAMES FLEMING, of San Ber- nardino, was born in Canada, in 1857, the son of Gavin and Margaret La Praix Fleming. His father served for twelve years in the House of Commons, being a leader of the lib- eral party and a man of strong pub- lic spirit and religious feeling. James was educated in Canada and in 1880 came to California and lo- cated at San Bernardino. In 1885 he engaged in the lumber and milling business with his uncle, W. X. La Praix, one of the pioneer lumbermen of the San Bernardino mountains. After Mr. LaPraix's death in 1887, Mr. Fleming assumed entire control of the business as executor and prin- MR. AND MRS. E. S. WILSEY cipal legatee. He continued the when he disposed of his interests and turned his attention to citrus culture and water develop- business successfully until 1897, ment. He is especially interested in Highland development.
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In politics he is a Republican and has always taken a prominent part in the counsels of his party, although he has never sought office. He is a member of the San Bernardino Board of. Trade and is a leader in all movements looking to the progress of the community.
Mr. Fleming was married in San Bernardino, December 22, 1887, to Miss Edna, daughter of J. H. Wagner, an old resident of the city. They have two children, Rosalinda and James B.
CHARLES RUSSELL PAINE was born at Barnstable ,on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, September 9, 1839. His father was a "chaise and harness maker" by trade. In early youth Charles went to Maine and worked on the farm of his uncle who was a Quaker. After some schooling in the district schools of the day, he attended Vassalboro Academy, of which Albert K. Smiley was then principal and there made his preparation for col- lege. At the invitation of Mr. Smiley, Mr. Paine went with him as teacher of elementary Latin to the Friends' New England Yearly Meeting Boarding School, at Providence, Rhode Island, and remained there for two years. The young man completed his preparation for college while in Rhode Island and entered the second year of the course at Amherst. He continued !o
CHARLES R. PAINE
MRS. CHARLES R. PAINE
teach winters during his college course and graduated in 1866, with high honors and a record that made him a Phi Beta Kappa. It had been his intention to study medicine but on ac- count of a failure of his eyes he was obliged to give up this plan. After graduating, Mr. Paine went to Dayton, Ohio, and taught in a Commercial College; he then became princi- pal of the city schools at Muncie, Indiana, was then superintendent of schools in Delaware county and later principal of the Ward School and then of the High School, in Columbus, Ohio. In 1870, having found teaching too confining work, he decided to try fruit raising and came to California. He located on the lower plains of Riverside, then called "New Town," planted a raisin vineyard, only to have it destroyed by grasshoppers. Mr. Paine, soon afterward, opened "Paine's Academy," a private school in San Bernardino. He was made principal of the city schools in 1876 and served as principal and also as county superintend- ent through 1876-77. His work as an educator in this county was marked by the success attending good scholarship and earnest effort. To him is due a marked increase of public interest in education, and the beginnin f a new era here in school work,-that of train- ing pupils to think instead of merely reciting memoriter.
In 1877, in pursuance of his original plan, Mr. Paine discontinued teaching and moved
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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY.
to his present home in Crafton, and began to improve the place which is now, with its rare natural features, one of the most beautiful homes in a section of unusually attractive ranch homes. He has always taken a keen interest in all matters pertaining to horticul- ture and has been successful to a degree in his own efforts in this direction.
On June 30, 1868, Mr. Paine was married, at Muncie, Indiana, to Miss Mary E. Craig, daughter of Dr. William Craig. They have been blessed with a large and healthy family consisting of five daughters and three sons, all of whom have received a thorough educa- tional training.
Mr. Paine is a member of the First Presbyterian church of Redlands. He has been uninterruptedly a member of the Crafton Water Co.,'and of the Redlands Orange Growers Association, since their formation. He took an active part in the formation of the Red- lands, Crafton and Lugonia High School district and was president of the first board of directors. Mr. Paine is one of the intelligent and progressive citizens who have made this community what it is today. He has always been public spirited and has taken an active part in all questions bearing on the general welfare of Redlands and vicinity.
ERNEST MARTIN, managing editor of the Times-Index, was born near Greencastle, Indiana, in 1875. After leaving school he entered the local journalistic field. He came to San Bernardino with his father and brothers and in 1808 joined them in establishing the Evening Transcript. The firm sold this paper in 1902 to Holbrook Brothers of Bucyrus, Ohio. Later Mr. Martin went into a company which consolidated the Times-Index and the Evening Transcript, a com- bination which at once took a foremost place in San Bernardino journalism.
ERNEST MARTIN
JULIUS D. LANGFORD, of Highland, was horn in West Virginia, February 17, 1868, the son of Wesley C. Langford, a native of Virginia and a farmer. Julius D. worked upon a farm until he came to California, to seek better opportunities, in 1888 He came almost at once to Highland. There. were then but seven orange groves in this vicinity and no packing house. He was employed as super- intendent for the Dodd-Dwyer Nursery of orange stock, located where the insane asylum now stands, for about five years. In the meantime he bought land and put out nursery stock for himself. He was for seven years manager of what is now known as the Olney and Sherrod ranch and has since been superintendent for H. H. Linville's orange nursery. Mr. Langford was married in Kansas to Miss Ida McReynolds. They have three children, Julius Roy. Cleveland P. and Gladys. They now reside in Redlands.
CHARLES N. JOHNSON, of Rialto, was born in the state of Indiana, in 1858. He was raised on a farm and attended the public schools and then became .a teacher himself, following that calling in his native state and in Kansas, where he located in 1883. In 1885, he entered a large store as manager, and subsequently became a partner with Jonathan Tinkler, a large land-owner in the Gypsum Valley, Saline County, Kansas. Mr. Johnson was twice mayor of Gypsum City. In 1894, he was Department Supreme Commander of the Knights of Macca- bees, which post he held for a year. In June, 1896, he arrived with his family, at Rialto, where he purchased land and began life as a rancher. Later he engaged in business in the town of Rialto. Mr. Johnson married Miss Anna, daughter of Jonathan Tinkler, at Gypsum City, Kansas. They have four children, Irwin, Carl, Lena and Elizabeth.
GEORGE A. COOK, for many years a resident of Redlands, but now retired to Playa del Rey, Los Angeles county, was horn in Harwintown, Conn., August II, 1836, and lived in that state until he came to California to locate permanently in 1878. He had previously visited the country and looked over the East San Bernardino valley and decided that this was the place for him. On settling here he 'purchased ten acres in Lugonia and planted it to peaches and
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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY.
apricots. In 1881, he, in company with F. E. Brown, opened a dryer and soon afterward Mr. Cook opened a general merchandise store, the first in this section. Two years later he built a larger store opposite the present site of the Casa Loma and for a number of years he did a business that increased as rapidly as did the population of Lugonia and the new colony of Red- lands. Mr. Cook was for five years postmaster of Lugonia, was one of the directors of the Bear Valley Dam Co., and was interested in the laying out and incorporation of the city of Redlands. He was interested in the establishment of the Domestic Water Company, in 1887, and the next year became president of that organization, a position he still holds.
Recently Mr. Cook has retired from active business and now resides at Playa del Rey.
He was married in 1870 to Miss Nettie J. Mathis, of New Haven. She was active in the early social and religious life of Lugonia and Redlands and is one of the band of pioneer women who helped to create the present beautiful city.
LAWYERS.
FREDERICK W. GREGG was born in Vermont in 1855, and passed his youth in his na- tive state. He graduated from Dartmouth College, in his twenty-first year with the class of 1878 and soon afterwards entered Columbus Law School.
FREDERICK W. GREGG
He completed his course here and was admitted to the bar in 1881. He decided that the West offered the best field for a young lawyer with his own way to make and at once started for Arizona, where he located at Tucson and opened an office. Al- though without friends or influence, his strong personality and close ap- plication to business soon commanded attention and won for him the con- fidence of the public. In 1885, upon petition of the Pima county bar, he was apointed county judge and upon the completion of his term he was elected to the office by a large mi- jority. The county court was one of general jurisdiction, involving a large amount of labor. At the close of his term, in 1887, Judge Gregg re- tired with the reputation of a wise, impartial and conscientious admin- istrator of justice.
He came to San Bernardino the same year and formed a partnership with the Hon. Will A. Harris for the practice of law, which continued until 1893, when Mr. Harris removed to Los Angeles. In 1896, he became a member of the firm of Otis & Gregg, which is known as one of the strongest legal firms in Southern California. Few cases of import- ance in San Bernardino county are tried without these gentlemen ap- pearing for one side or the other.
HALSEY W. ALLEN, a resident of Redlands, was born in Jersey City, state of New Jersey, where he received his early education. After graduating from Yale University
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he became principal of a public school in New York state for three years, subsequntly en- tering the law office of the late Governor Beadle of New Jersey. He was admitted to the bar in 1881 and at once engaged in a successful practice of his profession in his native state until his departure for California in 1887. After his arrival in Redlands he was admitted to the California bar and is now engaged in the active practice of law in that city. Mr. Allen is a director of the Redlands Gas Company and also of the Crafton Water Company, and for the past seven years has served as secretary of the latter company. He is a mem- ber of the Episcopal church and is vice-president of the Young Men's Christian Association of Redlands. Mr. Allen is largely interested in productive orange orchards and other val- uable property and resides on Brookside avenue.
HENRY GOODCELL, JR., was born in Dover, England, November 23, 1848. He came to San Bernardino with his parents in 1857 and received such instruction as the pub- lic schools afforded, supplemented by instruction in the high school branches in the private school of J. P. C. Allsop. He be- gan life in 1866 as a teacher in the public schools of the county and af- ter teaching several years he entered the State Normal School at San Jose and graduated therefrom in the spring of 1873-the first Normal School graduate from San Bernar- dino county. In the fall of 1873 he was elected county school super- intendent, which position he filled for two years, at the same time acting as principal of the San Bernardino city schools. In the meantime he had studied law and in 1875 he was ad- mitted to the bar and entered into a partnership with A. B. Paris. In 1879 he married Miss Minnie A. Bennett of El Dorado county, whose acquaintance he had made at the Normal School, of which she was also a graduate. For several years the. wife also taught school to aid in the common support while the husband was establishing himself in his new profession, which he had taken up largely at her suggestion; and to her aid and encouragement he was largely indebted for the suc- cess finally achieved.
Mr. Goodcell served as clerk of the county courts, as assistant in the district attorney's office and later as HENRY GOODCELL district attorney, all of which gave him valuable experience. Later he resumed his partnership with A. B. Paris, with whom he was associated until 1888. In 1886 he suffered a great bereavement by the loss of his wife. The next year, in company with his father, he spent several months in travel, visiting the old home in England, Paris and other points. Soon after his return he formed a partnership with F. A. Leonard, which lasted until 1896. In 1896 he removed with his family to Oakland, Cal., but in 1901 re- turned to San Bernardino and resumed practice in the old home. Mr. Goodcell has con- fined himself mainly in his practice to civil cases and largely to matters involving land titles. water rights and the operations of land and water corporations. While his business has been largely that of an office lawyer and legal adviser, he has also taken active part in court work and has been engaged in some of the most important litigation in the county.
In 1889, Mr. Goodcell married Miss M. H. Bennett, a sister of his former wife, and also a teacher. Three sons of the first wife are living -- Roscoe A., a teacher and now a professor in the Imperial College at Chinanfu, Shantang, China; R. B., a practicing attor- ney, of San Bernardino, and Fred, now editing a newspaper at Phoenix, A. T.
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HENRY CONNER, of San Bernardino, was born in the County Donegal, North of Ireland, June 2, 1824. He was the son of William and Ann Conner. The family is of illus- trious lineage; descendants of the O'Conners of ancient Ireland. His father was a soldier in the ranks of the British army at the battle of Waterloo. He was a hat manufacturer by trade. His mother was also a native of the North of Ireland; a woman of refinement and education, who after coming to America was a teacher in the St. John's schools of New Brunswick, Canada.
Henry Conner received his education principally from private tutors at St. John, N. B., Canada, and in 1841 engaged in mercantile business in that city. In June. 1850, he sailed in the brigatine John French from Boston, Mass., to Chagress, crossing the Isth- > mus to Panama, thence on the steamship Northerner to San Fran- cisco. This was the first voyage of that steamer. In 1851 he engaged in the mercantile business in San Francisco and was consignee of the bark Calao from Boston. In 1852, Mr. Conner bought of C. I. Hutchinson, mayor of Sacra- mento, a one-eighth interest in the eleven-league Spanish grant called "Santos Calle," in Yolo county, £ establishing relations with Hutchinson which eventual- ly wrecked the financial current of his life, and was most disas- HENRY CONNER trous to its future prospects, at a time when unparalleled opportun1- ties were daily presenting themselves. During his residence in the west he has lived in San Francisco, Sacramento, Yolo county, Cal., and in Esmeralda county, Nevada. He was a mem- ber of the first constitutional convention of the state of Nevada, sitting with that body until its close.
Mr. Conner married Miss Harriet M. Stephenson of Kentucky, since deceased. They were the parents of one child, a son, Henry Anson Conner, an attorney -- at-law, now residing in Oregon.
Mr. Conner has been a member of the order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias and American Legion of Honor. He was secretary of the first board of trade of San Bernardino county.
WILL A. HARRIS, now of Los Angeles, but for eighteen years a resident of San Ber- nardino and a member of the San Bernardino bench and bar, was born in Tennessee in 1854, the son of A. G. Harris and the descendant of a family dating back to the earliest settlement of the south. Mr. Harris attended the Cumberland University at Lebanon, Ky., and grad - uated and was admitted to the bar at the age of ninetecn. After a year's practice in Mem- phis, he started westward, spending some months in Texas and Indian 'Territory and reach- ing California about 1875. He located at San Bernardino, where in 1877 he was elected to the office of district attorney for the county. His ability and his great oratorical powers have put him in the front rank of lawyers of the state . He is in constant demand as a speaker upon political and social occasions and always acquits himself to the delight of his audience and the discomfiture of his enemies, or opponents. In 1876, Mr. Harris was mar- ried in San Bernardino to Miss Nettie Allen, a native of New York. They have two sons.
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