USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > Los Angeles from the mountains to the sea : with selected biography of actors and witnesses to the period of growth and achievement, Volume II > Part 26
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Mr. Rossetti became a member of the Los Angeles financial com- munity when he accepted the post of cashier of the Farmers & Merchants National Bank on July 1, 1911. July 1, 1917, he was made cashier, di- rector and vice president of this, one of the largest financial institutions of southern California. He is also vice president and director of the Sun Drug Company, a director of the Ville de Paris Store, a director of the National Chemical Company, treasurer and director of the Yellow Aster Mining and Milling Company, a director of the Frank Graves Sash, Door and Mill Company, and a director of the Morris Plan Com- pany of Los Angeles. He is a member of the Los Angeles Securities Committee of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and a mem- ber of the Executive Committee of Group Five, California Bankers' Association.
In addition to his work as a private citizen in behalf of patriotic movements during the war, he was an executive for the Fuel Administra- tion of California and a member of the Los Angeles Division of the Council of Defense. Mr. Rossetti is a member of the California Club, is a Republican in politics and a member of the Catholic Church. On June 20, 1906, at San Francisco, he married Irene Silvestri. Mrs. Rossetti was born at San Francisco. . They have one daughter, Eleanor Mae, born at Los Angeles February 1, 1919.
ANTONIO ORFILA is a prominent Los Angeles lawyer, has been a member of the bar over thirty years, and has earned many of the solid distinctions of his profession and of citizenship.
He comes of a long line of ancestors prominent both for their in- tellectual attainments and social standing. Mr. Orfila was born in Los Angeles May 13, 1865. His father was Antonio Orfila Sr., a native of the city of Mahon, Balearic Islands, on the Mediterranean, a Spanish subject. The grandfather, Bartolome Mateo Orfila, achieved fame and scholarship that made him known around the world. He was author of many leading medical works, particularly on medical jurisprudence. He was liberally educated, attending the University of Paris, and for a number of years and until his death was president of that great institu- tion. The Orfila homestead adjoined that of the Serra family, where Padre Junipero, the founder of the California Missions, was born. Both families were closely allied, and the present generations remain on terms of intimacy.
Antonio Orfila Sr. came to California in the early '50s, locating first in San Francisco and later moving to Santa Barbara, where he married Maria Antonio Dominguez. In 1862 they came to Los Angeles, where they have since lived. Antonio Sr. was engaged in the mercantile business for a long period of years. The Orfila family is distinguished by its longevity. With few exceptions all the members of several genera- tions have attained ripe age, none living less than ninety years.
Antonio Orfila Jr. was educated in the public schools of Los An- geles, attending high school, and later entering St. Vincent College, when it was located at Sixth and Hill streets. He concluded his studies there in 1884 with the highest honors of his class, graduating cum laude and receiving the first gold medal of excellency. While in high school and college Mr. Orfila practically paid his own way, working at any honorable occupation that would furnish means to carry out his ambitions scheme for a higher education. After graduating he studied law in dif- ferent offices, and in 1886, at the early age of twenty-one, was admitted to practice both in the state and federal courts. He practiced law in
Catania Orfila
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Los Angeles for several years, and in 1897 removed to Tucson, Arizona, where he had his home and offices until 1907. Since then he has been located in Los Angeles and has a large practice.
Mr. Orfila is past grand chief ranger for the state of California in the Order of Foresters of America, and was also a member of the Law Committee of the Supreme Session at Portland, Maine, and Atlantic City, New Jersey. He is affiliated with the Native Sons of California, the United Ancient Order of Druids, the Independent Order of Foresters, the Gamut Club, and in politics is independent. At Los Angeles, May 1, 1887, he married Miss Eliza Elwell of San Buena Ventura. Eight chil- dren were born to their marriage, most of them natives of Los Angeles. Orestes is now United States consul at Mazatlan, Mexico. Elinor, wife of Mr. M. Levy, lives in Los Angeles. Antonio Jr. is in the automobile business, being assistant manager of the Stutz Company. Mauricio now lives at Tucson, Arizona. Ernest is a graduate of the University of Southern California and was admitted to the bar in June, 1918, but almost immediately entered the naval service of the United States, and in December, 1918, was honorably released and is now associated with his father in the general practice of law. The younger children, all at home, are: Ella, Azalia and Guadalupe. Mrs. Orfila's grandmother, Senora Cipriana Llanos de Flores, is one of the interesting figures of Santa Barbara, having passed the age of one hundred, and is still in possession of all her mentai faculties. She is the widow of General Flores, distinguished in the Mexican era of California.
MAXIMILIAN FREDERICK IHMSEN. Sometimes bankers take credit to themselves for the great stream of money that flows through their hands, and publishers might similarly pride themselves on the volume and importance of another form of wealth, the news and daily record of life and affairs in the world which runs its current through the implements and machinery of the fourth estate. As publisher of the Los Angeles Examiner since February, 1909, Mr. Ihmsen has directed one of the largest and most complete news gathering and distributing organs of the southwest, and has given that paper many exclusive triumphs that serve to distinguish it among the chain of Hearst papers.
Mr. Ilimsen, however, is more than a publisher. Thirty years ago he was doing his first reportorial work on a paper in his native city of Pittsburgh. For a number of years he lived the dramatic life of one close to the big events of the world, gained distinction after distinction as a special correspondent, and as political correspondent and editor had a place all his own in the east for many years.
Mr. Ihmsen was born at Pittsburgh, March 14, 1868, son of Fred- erick Lorenz and Josephine (Darr) Ihmsen. He is a member of one of the oldest families of western Pennsylvania. The firm of Ihmsen & Company was in existence more than a century and established and operated the first glass factory west of the Allegheny Mountains, founded by his great-grandfather, Charles Ihmsen, in 1787.
Mr. Ihmsen was liberally educated, attending the schools of Alle- gheny, Pennsylvania, graduating from high school in 1886 and finishing his college work in the Pittsburgh Catholic College.
After about a year as clerk in the Pittsburgh postoffice he went to work as a reporter on the Pittsburgh Leader in 1888, and the following year joined the staff of the Pittsburgh Post. One of the Greatest Amer- ican tragedies in the last century was the Johnstown flood of May, 1889. Mr. Ihmsen was the first newspaper man to reach the source of that
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disaster, and, as the first observer on the ground, was able to give to the world an authentic report as to the cause of the catastrophe. By the time he was twenty-one years old his reporting was given world-wide publicity and his resourcefulness had attracted the attention of the larger newspaper world.
In 1890 he was sent to Washington as correspondent for the Pitts- burgh Post, and the next year became a member of the Washington staff of the New York Herald. In 1893 he was transferred to New York as political reporter for the Herald, and in a short time had a personal acquaintance with all the big political leaders and was showing the greatest skill in diagnosing and reporting political conditions.
When William Randolph Hearst entered the New York newspaper field in 1895, he engaged Mr. Ihmsen to represent the New York Journal at Albany, and the following year he was called to New York City as city editor of the Journal. In 1898, after the Maine was blown up, Mr. Ihmsen returned to Washington in charge of the bureau of the Hearst publications. In the weeks preceding the declaration of war upon Spain the responsibilities and opportunities of his office at Washington were of the most delicate and important nature. The news dispatches which were furnished by his bureau to the Hearst papers stood in a class by themselves. Compared with other correspondence from the same source, they seemed like daring prophecy, but their accuracy was invariably es- tablished, and it was at that time that the reputation of the Hearst news- papers for profound insight into international diplomacy was achieved.
Mr. Ihmsen was in charge of the bureau at Washington during Mr. Hearst's celebrated fight for the abrogation of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty and the immediately preceding fight for the right of the United States to fortify the Panama Canal and absolutely control it, as finally voiced in the Hay-Pauncefote treaty.
Mr. Ihmsen has always regarded as the most gratifying single in- cident of his newspaper life his dispatch announcing the intention of the United States to intervene with military force in China during the Boxer rebellion. That news was far in advance of apparent develop- ments, and its accuracy was denied in many responsible quarters both in America and in Europe for several weeks.
In 1901 Mr. Ihmsen went back to his duties as city editor of the Journal, and a year later became political editor of the New York American, founded at that time by Mr. Hearst. He continued active as editor and as a valuable associate and ally of Mr. Hearst in politics in the east until 1908, when Mr. Hearst sent him to Los Angeles to take charge of the Examiner. Since then he has been managing director of every department of this great newspaper.
Mr. Ihmsen has been a political, newspaper and business associate of Mr. Hearst for over twenty years. He was one of the originators of the movement for the nomination of Mr. Hearst for president of the United States at the Democratic National Convention of 1904, and was in personal charge of the Hearst interests on the floor of the convention. In 1905 he organized the Municipal Ownership League of New York, and in the same year managed Mr. Hearst's campaign as candidate of that party for mayor of New York City. It is generally conceded that Mr. Hearst was actually elected to this office, though he was counted out by the Tammany organization. In 1906 Mr. Ihmsen aided in organizing the Independence League and was chairman of its state committee during the New York campaign for governor of that year. While directing political forces of such magnitude it was perhaps inevitable that some
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of the voltage of politics would strike Mr. Ihmsen himself. Thus, in 1907, he reluctantly accepted the urgency of the Independent League and many Republican leaders to become candidate for sheriff of New York County on a fusion ticket. This ticket was defeated by the Tammany organization as a result of similar tactics employed in the election of 1905. Mr. Ihmsen ran considerably ahead of his ticket and polled over a hundred twenty thousand votes. From 1900 to 1904 Mr. Ihmsen was secretary of the National Association of Democratic Clubs, and in 1902 was a member of the executive committee of the National Democratic Congressional Committee.
During the last ten years Los Angeles could count upon no better informed, more forceful or public spirited citizen in every worthy under- taking than Mr. Ihmsen. He is interested in the city and southern Cali- fornia personally, as well as through the great institution of which he is managing director He is a member of the California, Jonathan, Los Angeles Country and Los Angeles Athletic Clubs of Los Angeles. March 17, 1894, Mr. Ihmsen married Angeline Arado of New York City.
ST. VINCENT'S COLLEGE, now known as Loyola College, was the pioneer institution of higher education in southern California, and has been closely associated for the upbuilding of Los Angeles for over half a century. The story of its founding, its struggles, and the stages of its growth properly belongs in this publication.
In the spring of 1865 the Visitor of the Congregation of the Mis- sion, Very Rev. S. V. Ryan, afterward Bishop of Buffalo, sent to south- ern California the Revs. John Asmuth, C. M., M. Rubio, C. M., and J. Beaky, C. M., to open a school. After investigating the condition of affairs, these men reported unfavorably upon the plan and departed. But they were soon to return, thanks to the zeal of many good Catholics. In the summer of 1865 these pioneer priests, accompanied by Very Rev. J. McGill, C. M., returned to Los Angeles. By the Plaza, then the heart of Los Angeles, they planted the standard of Christian education in southern California. With the sturdiness and devotion of the Franciscan of old, and with the generous help of a benefactor, they bore that stand- ard aloft amid many vicissitudes. In December, 1865, Father Asmuth passed away, and a few months later Father Beaky. Failure seemed to stare the remaining priests in the face, until Providence laid at the com- mand of the young institution the generous gift of a noble gentleman, the late O. W. Childs. Mr. Childs presented the Fathers with a splendid site of some ten acres in what were then the suburbs of Los Angeles. For the improvement of this site the Fathers were aided by funds from many of the prominent families of that day, and Los Angeles County contributed a thousand dollars, and the city government five hundred dollars to the fund. Other workers were also sent from the Congrega- tion of the Mission in the persons of Rev. T. O'Leary, Rev. M. O'Brien, Rev. J. More and Rev. F. Guedry, who arrived in 1867.
August 15, 1867, was a day of general observance in Los Angeles, when, in the presence of a large concourse of people, Bishop Amat laid the cornerstone of the new building, which stood until a few years ago at the southeast corner of Sixth and Hill streets. In March of the fol- lowing year the solid brick structure, one of the finest in southern Cali- fornia, was ready for use, and on the 17th of that month the faculty and students moved to their new home. August 15, 1869, the college received its charter from the state of California, being granted the privileges of a university.
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In its new home St. Vincent's throve under the successive adminis- trations of Father McGill and Rev. M. V. Richardson, C. M., who suc- ceeded him, until in 1883 the demands of the students required the erec- tion of an additional wing to the first building. In 1884 Father Rich- ardson was succeeded as president by the late Very Rev. A. J. Meyer, C. M., and under the mastery of that gentle hand old St. Vincent's was recognized as a potent factor in the educational life of southern Cali- fornia. Growth and expansion were the order of the day under his ad- ministration.
In the winter of 1886 the school was moved from its old location on Sixth street, between Broadway and Hill, to the new home established at Grand avenue and Washington street. In February, 1887, the new college was formally opened, but even so its capacity was soon taxed by the increasing number of students who were attracted by its faculty and its strong and gentle president. Thereafter, keeping pace with the mar- velous growth of Los Angeles, adapting itself and its forces to the situa- tion created by a metropolis, St. Vincent's constantly aimed to bestow upon youth the education that the experience and accomplishments of years can furnish. Along with the purely secular work of the institution was combined religious and moral teaching.
The death of Father Meyer, February 12, 1898, brought to the presidency Rev. J. A. Linn, C. M., who had formerly for several years been a member of the college faculty. Father Linn in turn was suc- ceeded in 1901 by Rev. Dr. Joseph S. Glass, C. M., the present Bishop of Salt Lake City. After an administration of ten years, Dr. Glass and the Vincentian Fathers relinquished the work to the Jesuit Fathers, who opened their school on West Avenue 52, in Highland Park, in several bungalows and a temporary class building. Rev. R. A. Gleeson, S. J., now Provincial of the California Province of the Society of Jesus, was the first president under the Jesuit regime. He was succeeded in 1914 by Rev. W. J. Deeney, S. J., who in turn gave place in 1915 to Rev. Frederick A. Ruppert, S. J.
Under the presidency of Father Ruppert expansion was the order of the day. A fine tract of land on West Sixteenth street was secured, and there in a commanding location the first of what is to be a splendid group of college buildings was erected in the spring of 1917. The war has necessarily delayed further work, but the college is prepared to continue with its plans when conditions shall warrant.
EMILIO C. ORTEGA is a prominent and well-known Los Angeles busi- ness man, founder and proprietor of the pioneer Chili Packing Com- pany, now the Ortega Chili Cannery, at the corner of Sixth and Santa Fe avenue. His business associates him closely with the everyday and modern life of southern California. But his own life and his family history goes far back into the dim past of this part of the state. His relationship to the old days of southern California, ante-dating the Amer- ican occupation, may best be told by quoting some of the paragraphs that appeared in the Ventura Weekly Democrat of Friday, May 28, 1909. The main article concerned the death and funeral of his venerable mother, and the caption of the article read : "Was a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and great-great-grandmother." The article said in part as follows: "The remains of the late Dona Concepcion Ortega were laid to final rest in hallowed ground in the Catholic Cemetery yesterday morning. The solemn and impressive obsequies were held at the Old Mission, high requiem mass being celebrated. The services were con-
E. G. Ortega
Concepcion Dominguez de Ortega
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ducted by Father Grogan, and the attendance of former neighbors and friends was large, in addition to the mourning relatives, three genera- tions being represented. The Father spoke briefly, but earnestly and with much feeling, of the Christian life and character of the deceased.
"In compliance with a request made some time previous to the death of the aged mother, the loving hands of her five sturdy sons, Ramon, Juan, Theodore, Emilio and Victor, with a grandson, J. D. Reyes, acted as pallbearers, bearing the remains to the ancient Mission where she had faithfully worshipped for more than half a century, and also deposited all that was mortal in the narrow house of clay overlooking the city and sea.
"To recount the historical facts associated with the life and family of this good woman would require a volume. Back through the long vista of years in the march of time covering nearly a century from the cradle to the grave, there have been hardships, happiness and sorrow. Children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchil- dren have brightened her life, in age ranging from seventy-six years to the prattling babe in arms.
"Deceased was the daughter of Jose Dominguez, and first saw the light of day in Santa Barbara December 8, 1811. Her father was the trusted overseer for the Mission Fathers of the ancient Rancho Todas Santos, and was murdered by the Indians during a raid in 1821.
"At the age of twenty-one she was united to Don Miguel Emigdio Ortega, a member of one of the most distinguished families of the earliest Mission days, whose great-grandfather was Captain Jose Maria Ortega, the father of the Santa Barbara branch of the Ortega family, who was commandante of a company of cavalry at Loreta. His wife was Ignacia Carrillo, to whom were born seven children, one of whom, Juan, was the father of the husband of the subject of this sketch. With the mar- riage union of the sons and daughters of Jose Maria Ortega, and their descendants, was formed relationships with all the leading families asso- ciated with the earliest history of Santa Barbara, notable among the list being the Olibera, Arguello, Dela Guerra, Ramirez, Arrellanes, Tico, Hill, Den, More and O'Neill families, all of whom were concerned in the history surrounding the Mission Fathers and the vast ranchos of their day and generation.
"Probably in all of California no other woman, at death, was mourned by as large a family of direct descendants as Dona Concepcion Ortega, who was surrounded by three generations. She was the mother of thirteen sons and daughters, nine of whom survive her. There are now living (1909) forty-five grandchildren, seventy-two great-grand- children, and five great-great-grandchildren, a family total of 131.
"Many years of her life in this city, up to a few years ago, were passed in the old adobe homestead at the foot of Main street, on the river bank, and has long occupied a place among the more interesting landmarks of Ventura. Its reproduction on paper has been viewed by thousands throughout the United States, foreign lands and the islands of the sea, as it is the accepted trademark of E. C. Ortega, founder and sole owner of the Pioneer Chili Packing Company of Los Angeles, the product of which industry reached every country and clime. It was a home of openhanded hospitality and good cheer.
"In the early days Mrs. Ortega was much alone, her husband being the chief overseer of various Mission ranches and properties of the south- ern portion of the state. She reared her large family with a kind and attentive hand, and the devoted care given her during her declining years
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in return by them proved a self-satisfying reward, and is also a testi- monial to her many motherly virtues. May her soul rest in peace eternal, and the memory of her life long cherished in the hearts and minds of those left behind, till the final call of the Master."
Emilio C. Ortega, a son of Miguel Emidio and Concepcion (Domin- guez) Ortega, was born at Ventura August 8, 1857. He was educated in the public school, also the Franciscan Fathers College at Santa Bar- bara, from which he graduated in 1873, and for one year attended Healds Business College at San Francisco. His business career began as a clerk in Samuels' silk house at San Francisco. A year later, return- ing to Ventura, he bought a grocery store, and was its proprietor four years. Selling out, he became manager of the L. Vignave Company at Bakersfield four years, and then was a rancher in San Diego County until 1890. Following that came an experience as manager and stock- holder in the Esmeralda Rancho in Valencia County, New Mexico. Dis- posing of his interests there in 1893, Mr. Ortega became assistant super- intendent to the general superintendent of the Atlantic & Pacific Rail- way at Alberquque for one year. Ill health caused his resignation and retirement, and for several years he was again engaged in farming at Ventura.
It was in 1899 that Mr. Ortega founded the chili canning business, through the growth and development of which his name now means so much to Los Angeles. His start was a very crude one, with meager facilities. The chief instrument of his business at the beginning was a roaster worked by hand. - Later he improved a roaster, which he pat- ented. In 1900 he moved his plant to Los Angeles, locating at 811 Stephens avenue. In 1901 he removed to 348 South Alameda street, and in 1905 bought the corner at Sixth and Santa Fe, ground 280x140 feet. This property is now covered with one and two-story buildings com- prising his plant, probably the largest in the western United States. The plant is equipped with modern machinery, and has a capacity of one hundred fifty cans per minute. The company manufactures a general line of chili products, employs about four hundred people, and whereas the first year's business amounted to about a thousand dollars, the value of manufactured products at present aggregates two hundred fifty thou- sand dollars a year.
Mr. Ortega is a member of the Rotary Club, Merchants and Manu- facturers' Association, Credit Men's Association, National Canners' As- sociation, Southern California Canners' Association, and the Los An- geles Chamber of Commerce. He is a republican in politics and a member of the Catholic church. February 22, 1901, he married in Los Angeles, Angelina Alexander.
WILLIAM FRANCIS EDGAR, M. D. Like many of the early settlers of California, the late Dr. Edgar was a man of cosmopolitan experiences and tastes, and as an army surgeon spent many years at eastern posts of duty, though the happiest period of his life was passed in southern. California.
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