USA > California > Los Angeles County > Ingersoll's century history, Santa Monica Bay cities prefaced with a brief history of the state of California, a condensed history of Los Angeles County, 1542-1908 > Part 38
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Charles E. Towner, the subject of this sketch, was the fourth of the family. He was born at Homer, Michigan, December 2nd, 1849. From 1851 to 1860 the family lived at Batavia, Ill., and then came west to Kansas where they lived at Manhattan until 1878 when they removed to Colorado, locating on the Platte
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River at Buffalo Station-about forty miles west of Denver on the Rio Grande Railway. Here they lived until 1883 and then came to Santa Monica. Mr. Towner bought twenty acres of land of Judge Lucas which he improved and sold. Later he purchased twenty-four acres in the same vicinity at $300.00 an acre, which was regarded at that time as a fair price. In 1903 he, in company with W. A. Erwin, purchased three hundred acres of land comprising what is now known as Erwin Heights, promoted the Erwin Heights Land & Water Company. developed water in abundance, laid about twelve miles of water pipe and platted Erwin Heights. Mr. Towner also platted and piped water for the Towner Terrace Tract, of about one hundred aeres, and made other substantial improve- ments. Mr. Towner was the first settler in this now delightful terrace country and has ever been in the lead in the matter of local improvements. This country was originally open and devoid of trees and foliage of any kind, whereas the broad avenues are all lined on either side with tall and stately shade trees, the result of Mr. Towner's personal energy and artistic thrift, which makes Towner Terrace one of the most attractive and homelike residence tracts on the coast. Of the Towner Terrace, about one-half is sold off, and a large amount of money has been expended on streets and water system. Mr. Towner has associated with him other men of large capital and experience in the development of this enterprise.
The present Mrs. Towner was Mary E., a daughter of Robert Dobson, a California pioneer and resident of Towner Terrace. Mr. and Mrs. Towner have one son. Charles E. Jr. Mr. Towner has two children by a former marriage C. C. Towner, District Attorney at Abilene, Kansas, and Mrs. Daisy B. Stroup, of Santa Monica, California.
General William E. Towner, the progenitor of this branch of the Towners, was born in Massachusetts in 1758. He studied for a physician and served as assistant surgeon and surgeon in Washington's army in the Revolution. He afterwards settled in North Adams, Mass., and married Lurana Chadwick. mother to Charles E. Towner's father. He was successively Justice of the Peace, physician, Brigadier General of Massachusetts Militia, and, in 1812, was appointed Major General of Massachusetts troops. He would have taken the field in 1813 but was taken sick and died at Pownall, Vermont, January 12th, 1813.
W. E. SAWTELLE, a quiet and genial citizen of the city that, by reason of his unique personality and popularity took unto itself his name, is a native of the town of Norridgewock. Maine, and was born August, 1850. His ancestors were Hueguenots who fled from France upon the revocation of the Edict of Nantes and sought refuge in England. Later generations came to America and became pioneers of Massachusetts. Richard Sawtelle was a native of Groton, Mass. Closely following the American Revolution he settled in Norridgewock, Somerset County, Maine, when that country was a virgin forest dominated by Indians.
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George Sawtelle was a son of Richard, and was born and grew up at Norridgewock. He became a merchant and man of affairs in his native town where he was for about twenty years postmaster, having received his appointment of President Lincoln in 1861. He there married Sarah Peet, who was also a native of Norridge- wock. She was a daughter of Rev. Josiah Peet, a minister of the Congregational Church. George and Sarah Sawtelle had three sons and a daughter. One son Dr. F. G. Sawtelle, is a prominent physician of Providence, R. I. He served in the Union Army during the Civil War as a member of the Third Maine Battery. F. J. Sawtelle is an architect and lives at Providence, R. I. The daughter is Mrs. M. S. Hopkins, who lives in the old homestead at Norridgewock, Maine.
W. E. Sawtelle grew up at Norridgewock and at nineteen years of age went to Worcester, Mass., and became a member of the mercantile firm of The Sanford- Sawtelle Company, dealers in books and manufacturers of blank books, the busi- ness having been founded in 1835. It was one of the oldest established houses of that wealthy old city. He was associated with this concern for a period of about twenty-seven years.
Mr. Sawtelle married Miss Mary Wheeler and they have two daughters, Katherine and Barbara. In 1896 Mr. Sawtelle, with his family, came to Califor- nia. In 1899 Mr. Sawtelle became part owner and an officer of the Pacific Land Company, the promoters of the then embryo town of Barrett Villa. Mr. Sawtelle assumed the business management of the new enterprise and by reason of his splendid qualities of mind and heart became exceedingly popular with the people. He was soon elected president of his company. He organized and was made president of the Sawtelle Water Company, and in fine was ever alert for the pro- motion of any and all enterprises looking to the betterment of his city.
In the year 1900 application to the United States postal authorities was made for the establishment of a postoffice at Barrett. The name being so similar to that of Bassett P. O. in this state, the department wished another name, and the wishes of its people centered on their chief citizen as a fitting evidence of the high esteein in which he was held.
WILLIAM JACKSON, one of the early pioneers of Santa Monica, was born in Yorkshire, England, September 27th, 1852. He was a son of Richard Jackson, a tailor by trade and occupation. He came to America in the year 1855 and located about forty miles northeast of Toronto, Canada, in the town of Peel. Later the family went to Detroit, Michigan, where the father died leaving the widow and two sons of whom William was the youngest. They soon thereafter went to Oil City, Penna., where Mrs. Jackson married John A. Donald, a Scotch- man who in 1875, with the family came to Santa Monica. At the auction sale of lots in the then new townsite, young Jackson purchased Lot S., Block 194, now No. 134 North Fifth Street (old number) and still owns the same. He also owns five acres of the Old Lucas Traet on Front, now Fremont Street, opposite
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Twelfth, which is his present home, one of the most sightly and pleasant family homes in the city.
John A. Donald became a well known and useful citizen of Santa Monica. From 1877 to 1883 he was the efficient local agent for the Jones & Baker interests. He died in 1886, highly respected and lamented by a wide circle of friends and business acquaintances. Mrs. Donald survived until 1899.
Mr. Jackson married in Santa Monica in 1891, Miss Amy, a daughter of R. D. Saunders, now of the Los Angeles Times editorial staff, and they have one daughter, Dorothy S., an efficient teacher in the Santa Monica public schools and two sons Lawrence R. and Leland W. Mr. Jackson took an active part in local affairs of the new town of Santa Monica. He may be regarded as one of the founders of the first fire department of the town, since he and the late Robert Eckert agitated the subject for nearly two years and finally induced the city trustees to provide a hose cart and a hook and ladder truck. The first fire company was duly organized with twenty-two volunteers who served without pay. Mr. Jackson is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
GEORGE D. SNYDER. The history of the Santa Monica Bay cities would not be regarded as complete without including a brief sketch at least of the life of George D. Snyder, who for more than two decades has been one of the most enterprising and successful citizens of the Bay Coast country.
Mr. Snyder is a descendant of Holland Dutch ancestors who emigrated to America at a time antedating the Revolutionary War, settled in New Jersey, and later removed to Seneca County, New York. The head of this family was George W. Snyder. During the war with England he served as a scout under General Washington and endured many hardships.
Porter Snyder, a son of George W. Snyder, was born in Seneca County, New York, was there engaged in farming and while still a young man, moved to Calhoun, Michigan, located new land, which he improved, and also engaged in the building business at Marshall. He also served one term as sheriff of Calhoun County. At the time of his death he was sixty-two years of age. After the death of his first wife (by whom he had two sons now living) he married Sarah Jane Eddy, a native of Calhoun County, Michigan, still living in Marshall. In the family of Porter and Sarah Jane Snyder were three sons and one daughter. Two of the sons-George D., the subject of this sketch, and W. P., are contractors at Ocean Park, California.
George D. Snyder was born near Marshall, Michigan, April 12th, 1859. In boyhood he learned the carpenter's trade in the shops of the Michigan Central Railroad. Later he followed mill-wrighting until 1886, when he came to Califor- nia and entered the employ of the Southern California Ry. Co. as foreman in their building department, having charge of repair work and erection of build- ings. Later he was made storekeeper for the track, bridge and building depart- ments with headquarters in San Bernardino.
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After the great strike of 1894 he resigned his position and removed to Los Angeles to take up general contracting and building. In 1899 he located at Ocean Park, then known as South Santa Monica, and entered actively into build- ing and became associated with various public movements for the development and building up of that now beautiful section of Santa Monica city. He has erected upwards of four hundred and twenty-five cottages, residences and other buildings, forty-five of which were built in 1901. During that year he also erected the Hotel Savoy, then the Holborrow Hotel at a cost of $10,000, closing the work in twenty-four days, with forty-eight men on the job the last week. The rapidity and thoroughness of the work elicited general comment as a "record breaker." His efficiency and thoroughness has brought to him an extensive business. Fre- quently he is called to Los Angeles and other cities to erect houses and public buildings. Mr. Snyder is gifted with a true mechanical genius and masters the various complicated problems of his work without difficulty. He is his own architect, a fact which enables him to give his work a character and indivi- duality that puts it, in a measure, in a class by itself.
Mr. Snyder was married in Jackson, Michigan, to Miss Jennie C. Keeler. July 11th, 1883, a native of Racine, Wis., and they have two children, Alma and Clyde. Although his father was a Democrat, Mr. Snyder has from earliest manhood affiliated with the Republican party, his first ballot being in support of Republican men and measures. This seems natural since his first vote was cast within a stone's throw of the old oak at Jackson, Michigan, under the wide-spread- ing boughs of which the Republican party was organized. Mr. Snyder's interest in public affairs has manifested itself in every community where he has made his home, having served on local political committees and as a delegate to various political conventions and has done much to advance the interests of his party. He was made a candidate for the office of Trustec of Santa Monica city by an aggressive constituency and failed of election by a margin of four votes. In 1907 he was nominated for councilman of the First Ward under the new Free- holder's Charter, and was elected by a good majority.
His varied and practical experience in local public affairs is appreciated by his official colleagues and he is serving on the Council Committees of Railroads, Wharves and Bridges, Judiciary and Ordinances, and Buildings.
Mr. Snyder is a member of the I. O. O. F., A. O. U. W., Maccabees, K. of P., Elks, Pythian Sisters. He is a member of the Santa Monica Board of Trade, and one of the Executive Committee.
WILLIAM I. HULL, who is one of the most active and influential citizens of Santa Monica, is a native of Lynn County, Oregon, born December 4th, 1859. His father, Nathan Hull, was a public school teacher by profession, upwards of thirty years of his life being given to the work. He was born in Cattaraugus County, New York, August 2nd, 1823. He came to California as early as 1852
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and mined in the placer gold diggings of the central part of the state and like- wise in the bed of the American River, in which he was moderately successful. In 1853 he emigrated to Oregon, locating in Lynn County, where he pursued his profession, held the office of County Superintendent of Schools and also en- gaged in farming. He there married Miss Nancy Stillwell, who was a native of Indiana; she came west at eighteen years of age, an orphan, to live with a sister. In 1876 the family removed to Inyo County, California, purchased a farm, and located near the town of Bishop. There Mr. Hull founded and served as president of the first corporation organized to take water out of the Owens River for irrigating purposes, which enterprise has developed into the most suc- cessful system in the Owens River Valley. He owned a transit and made his own surveys. In 1884 he removed to Los Angeles where he purchased a ranch on Alameda Street, adjoining the city limits to the south; there he died in 1891 at sixty-eight years of age. He was a man of great energy; while possessing strong religious convictions he was not a member of any church. He had ten children, of whom William I. is the fourth and oldest living.
Up to sixteen years of age William I. lived in Oregon and enjoyed the advantages of good schooling. In 1882 he came to Los Angeles where he found employment with Northcraft & Clark, furniture dealers. In 1884 he came to Santa Monica and embarked in business for himself, furnishing tents and camp supplies. This business he pursued about two years. In 1886 he built a bath house on the ocean front at the foot of Colorado Avenue, known as Cen- tral Bath, which he sold a year later. During the real estate boom of 1887 he bought and sold real estate, handling only his own property. In 1891 he purchased of J. L. Allen what was the nucleus to his present extensive furniture business. It was a small store on Third Street, between Utah and Arizona Avenues, having about 1500 feet of floor space. Mr. Hull has been continuously in the business from that date and now has a veritable emporium in the two story W. C. T. U. Building, 1429 Third Street, with over 8000 feet of floor space and 15,000 feet of floor space in buildings of his situated at 1517-1521 Third Street, embracing an extensive stock of house furnishing goods of nearly all descriptions.
In 1888 Mr. Hull married Mary A., a daughter of Thomas H. Elliott, one of Santa Monica's esteemed pioneers. (See index.) Mr. and Mrs. Hull have two sons, Francis E. and Walter I. An only daughter, Grace, died in 1903 at five years of age.
It is safe to say that no citizen of Santa Monica has been more intimately in touch with the civic, business and social development of the city than has Mr. Hull. He has always taken a personal interest in municipal affairs and has ever been found on the side of clean government. By instinct and training a temperance man, he has stood for principles advanced by the National Prohibi- tion Party and has opposed the saloon on general principles as a menace to good society and public morals and has, therefore, worked in harmony with all move-
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ments to regulate the local liquor traffic. When Mr. Hull came to Santa Monica it was a small town of about 300 people, supporting twelve saloons. It is for the citizen of the beautiful city of today to say whether or not organized opposi- tion to saloons and rigid regulation of the same by fostering a strong public temperance sentiment is a good thing for a growing community.
When called by his party to stand for public office, Mr. Hull has accepted the role that he deems the duty of every American citizen, and was made the candidate for his party for the State Assembly in 1902 and the State Senate in 1904. Mr. Hull was one of the organizers of the first city fire department in 1889 and served as president of the organization about fifteen years. He re- tired from active membership of the department in the spring of 1907, tendering the fire boys a banquet as a fitting recognition of long terms of faithful service. Mr. Hull has served five years as a member of the City Library Board of Trustees and was president of the Board from 1903 to 1907.
He is one of the organizers of the Santa Monica Board of Trade, which is an alliance of citizens representing the leading business and commercial interests of the city, having at heart the public weal, civic and otherwise, and has been president of the reorganized board two years. Mr. Hull has never been a seeker for public office, preferring as a rule to work in the ranks. In response to what seemed a call of duty; he became a candidate for mayor of Santa Monica under the Freeholders Charter of 1907, and was loyally supported by a large constituency. With two other candidates in the field, he failed of election by 107 votes. His campaign for the office was made upon a platform which clearly and frankly defined his position upon questions of public expediency that were made issues of the campaign, which was dignified and noticeably free from the average political bickerings and invidious personalities.
Mr. Hull is a member of the Independent Order of Foresters and has served one term as Chief Ranger and a like period of time as High Auditor of the State. He is a Good Templar of thirty-six years standing and has been an active sup- porter of the work of the local lodge. He is very active in the Grand Lodge of the State, and Chairman of the Finance Committee for many years. No citizen of Santa Monica entertains higher ideals of true American citizenship and more nearly succeeds in living up to those ideals than W. I. Hull. He is essentially a man of action and during his twenty-four years residence in Santa Monica has been identified with every public movement for the city's upbuilding and growth.
N. H. HAMILTON, M. D., one of Santa Monica's leading citizens, at the head of his profession, is a native of Michigan and was born at Ann Arbor, Feb. 17th, 1852. His parents, in 1854, removed to Winona, Minnesota, and here the child grew to manhood. He there passed through the grammar and high schools and returned to the place of his birth and passed through the Medical College of the Michigan University. He subsequently took a thorough course of study at the Rush Medical College, Chicago, now the Medical Department of Chicago 24
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University, from which institution he graduated in 1877 and almost immediately entered upon the practice of his profession at Grafton-a new settlement in North Dakota. The country rapidly increased in population and wealth and Grafton became a populous and very prosperous young city and Dr. Hamilton there built up an extensive practice. He remained at Grafton until 1893 and became thoroughly identified with the civic, industrial and political interests of the community. He was for fourteen years President of the United States Board of Examining Surgeons for soldiers' pensions and for a similar period held the office of County Physician. For two years he served his County as Coroner ; for four years he was a member of the examining board for the insane, and nine years was secretary and superintendent of the County Board of Health. He was the first Vice President of the North Dakota State Medical Society, and served as District Surgeon for the Northern Pacific and Great Northern Railway Com- panies. The multiplicities of his duties and demands of his profession, coupled with the rigors of that northern climate, made such inroads upon his health that he found it necessary to make a change of location and accordingly came to Cali- fornia and located at Santa Monica in September, 1893.
Dr. Hamilton's name in his adopted city stands for all that is good, progressive and right at all times and under all conditions. Aside from the duties of an exten- sive medical practice, he is District Surgeon of the Southern Pacific Railway Co., medical examiner for all the old line insurance companies in Southern Califor- nia, and acts in the same capacity for the fraternal insurance organizations. He is one of the organizers of the Santa Monica Bay Hospital Company, and is presi- dent of the company ; a history of which splendid enterprise may be found else- where in this work.
Dr. Hamilton is a member of long standing of the American Medical Asso- ciation, the largest association of prominent physicians in the world. He is also a member of the California State Medical Society and the Los Angeles County Medical Association. Despite his engrossing professional and business cares he has also actively identified himself with some of the leading fraternities. He is a Royal Arch Mason, a member of the Commandery and the Mystic Shrine and affiliated with Santa Monica Lodge, No. 307, F. and A. M., Chapter and Com- mandery, and Al Malaikah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Los Angeles. He is also member of the Uniform Rank, Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Foresters of Santa Monica. He is a director in the Western Masons Mutual Life Association of Los Angeles and maintains a deep interest in its wel- fare. Dr. Hamilton is an almost life long Republican, an active and influential member of the Presbyterian church.
Dr. Hamilton was married October 21st, 1887, to Miss Bertha R. Crookston, a native of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and they have three daughters-Helen, Clara and Esther.
The family residence, No. 522 North Fifth Street, is one of the finest of the many beautiful homes in Santa Monica City.
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MYRON H. KIMBALL, well known in Santa Monica and Los Angeles as a sub- stantial and staid pioneer, was one of the earliest denizens of the Angel City to discover the beauties and desirability of Santa Monica by the sea as a place for retirement, in which to spend the declining years of a business life.
He is a native of Oneida County, N. Y., born in the town of Verona, September 13th, 1827. His father, David Kimball, was a native of New Hampshire, a contractor and builder. He came west in 1837, and located in Monroe County, Michigan, and for many years was in the employ of the Michigan Southern Ry., as a bridge builder. He later retired to his farm neaı Adrian, Michigan, where he spent many active years of his life, and finally returned to Oneida, N. Y., where he died at seventy- three years of age. Young Myron, early in youth, acquired a burning desire to see the world and lead a free and independent life and accord- MYRON H. KIMBALL. ingly at ten years of age left home and obtained a situation in a grocery store at Toledo, Ohio, which was then a small town of about fifteen hundred people. He remained there about seven years and in 1844 went to Lafayette, Ind., where he clerked in a general store. His employer's father, Captain Brayton, was owner of a steamboat that navigated the Wabash River between Lafayette and Terre Haute, and young Kimball, then seventeen years old, was offered, and accepted, a position as clerk on the steamer and at times was its commander. He then went to Cincinnati and traveled from that city as a salesman for a wholesale tea and tobacco house. He made his way east to New York city, via Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Louis. He spent about five years in and out of the city of Cincinnati. The art of making Daguerreotype pictures had just been perfected, the beauty and utility of which appealed to young Kimball as at once a most attractive and practical means of making money and he placed himself under a thorough course of training and mastered the art. The year 1853 found him again in New York City as World's Fair correspondent of the Philadelphia Enquirer. This was the first World's Fair that ever took place on the American continent and was held in the famous Crystal Palace, erected for the purpose on ground now occupied by a public
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square at Sixth Avenue and Forty-first and Forty-second Streets. Mr. Kimball spent six months at the Crystal Palace and his descriptive articles so widely portrayed the wonders of the great fair as to bring to the Enquirer an extended reputation and wide popularity, for which he was liberally compensated.
While a resident of Cincinnati, Ohio, Mr. Kimball took a course of instruction in the new art of Daguerreotype picture making from E. C. Hawkins, a pupil of Samuel F. Morse, the inventor of telegraphy. Mr. Morse had obtained a know- ledge of the art from Daguerre himself while on a visit to exhibit his own wonderful invention. After relinquishing his duties as correspondent to the Enquirer, Mr. Kimball opened a picture gallery in New York City, on Broadway near Canal Street, where he promptly built up a profitable business. The Deguerreotype proved, however, to be only the forerunner of something better, as Mr. Kimball and others were quietly experimenting along lines that eventually produced a superior picture, known as the Ambrotype and superseded its predecessor. About this time the photographic picture process made its appearance and Mr. Kimball was one of the first to adopt and introduce it in New York. He sold his gallery and opened on a much more extended scale as No. 477 Broadway, near Broome Street, which was then in the heart of the uptown business center of the city. He did business there about five years.
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