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 49
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Mr. Rose is a director of the Associated Investment Corporation, Corona Pacific Typewriter Company, Cucamonga Fruit Land Company, Dean Electric Company of California, Delta Investment Company, East Whittier Land & Water Company, and Inyo Consolidated Water Com- pany.
He is a member of the Los Angeles Bar Association, of the Delta Chi Fraternity, and is a democrat and a member of the Episcopal church. At Los Angeles February 12, 1912, he married Martha Starns. They have one child, Andrew H., Jr., now a kindergarten pupil.
DOMINGO AMESTOY. Of the old timers in California one of the names that can be recalled most fitly is Domingo Amestoy. He arrived in California shortly after the discovery of gold. While he engaged in mining, that was not his permanent vocation. His interests lay chiefly in the field of ranching and stock raising, and from his accumulating re- sources he made a handsome fortune and used it wisely and well.
He was born at St. Pierre d' Irube, France, in 1822. The spirit of adventure was in him. At the age of fourteen, after completing his education, he left France and went to Argentine in South America. Hc learned the trade of shoemaker and followed it until 1851. That year brought him to California after a voyage of six months around Cape Horn. At San Francisco he remained a brief time and then went to the placer mines of Tuolumne County. He soon found employment on a large ranch, and worked until he had saved enough to buy some stock of his own. He brought his small herd south to the vicinity of Santa Barbara, but always marketed his cattle by driving them north to San Francisco. Later he moved to Los Angeles, and worked for a sheep rancher named Noriega. Again he went through the laborious process of saving his earnings and gradually accumulating a flock of his own. He finally bought six hundred fifty acres near Los Angeles at Rosecranz. From that time on he increased his holdings in Los Angeles and sur- rounding country. In 1888 he acquired forty-five hundred acres in the San Fernando Valley known as the Encino Ranch. This has been one of the noted ranch holdings in Southern California. Not long after ac- quiring that magnificent property Domingo Amestoy retired, and his death occurred January 11, 1892.
He was one of the charter members of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. He was also one of the original stockholders of the Farmers and Merchants Bank and the Guaranty Trust and Savings Bank. He was a Catholic and in politics a republican.
He had already accumulated considerable property in California when he went back to France and married a girl from his own country. Mary Elizabeth Amestoy was born in 1843 and died March 17, 1891. She became the mother of thirteen children, eight of whom are still liv-
DOMINGO AMESTOY
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ing. Mrs. Junita A. Glass, A. J., J. B., Mrs. Louis Sentous, Jr., Peter D., Michael F., Joseph P. and Mrs. Elizabeth A. Wells, all of whom reside in Los Angeles.
JOHN B. AMESTOY, president of the French Benevolent Society of Los Angeles, is a retired ranch owner and business man whose experi- ence and activities have touched many points in the welfare of Los An- geles and surrounding territory.
Mr. Amestoy was born in Los Angeles county, July 4, 1869. A sketch of his father, Domingo Amestoy, appears on other pages. Mr. Amestoy was liberally educated both in California and abroad. He began his education in a public and private school where Hollywood is now located. In 1875 his parents moved to what is now Gardena, where his father bought a large ranch not far from Rosecrans. While his father was in the sheep business there John attended the public schools of Green Meadows in what is now South Los Angeles. At the age of thirteen an accidental injury kept him out of school for two years. He had a private tutor until 1883, and from that date until May, 1885, was in St. Vincent's College at Los Angeles. His father then sent him abroad and he entered the St. Bernard School conducted by the Christian Brothers at, Bayonne, France. In September, 1887, he returned to Los Angeles and for two years continued his studies in St. Vincent's College.
After leaving school Mr. Amestoy was on his father's ranch at Rose- crans until 1893, and then took charge of the forty-five hundred acre ranch owned by his father, known as the Rancho El Encino in the San Fernando Valley. In 1901 he entered a partnership with the Castrucio Brothers under the name Castrucio and Amestoy Company, wholesale and retail grocers and importers. On selling his interest in that business in 1911 Mr. Amestoy again took charge of the Rancho El Encino, but since 1916 has been largely retired and looking after his private affairs.
He is one of the leading citizens of French ancestry in Los Angeles. He has been identified with many of the war activities, especially those in behalf of the French people. He is a member of the Native Sons of the Golden West, the Westshore Gun Club, is a Catholic and a repub- lican. At Los Angeles October 15, 1893, he married Miss Francoise Hauret. They have three children. The daughters Grace E. and Juanita M. attended the Sacred Heart Convent at Hollywood and are both at home. The son Domingo F., born in 1900, attended the public schools and St. Thomas parochial school, also St. Vincent's College at Garvanza, and from the Hollywood High School enlisted in 1918 in the United States Navy.
MICHAEL F. AMESTOY, who during his active career has represented many of the extensive interests of the Amestoy family in Los Angeles, was born in Los Angeles, January 29, 1877, son of the late Domingo Amestoy, whose interesting career as a California old timer is told on other pages.
Michael was well reared and liberally educated. He was under the instruction of a private tutor in the family home to the age of fifteen, and then took the classical course of St. Vincent's College for five years. Mr. Amestoy handled many of the details of his father's estate, especially the Los Angeles property, until 1900. In that year the inter- ests were incorporated as the Amestoy Estate Company, of which Michael F. Amestoy was president until 1913. Since that date he has looked after his private affairs.
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He is a member of the Elks Order, the Los Angeles Athletic Club and is a Catholic. In New York City June 22, 1905, he married Miss Elizabeth Munn. They have three children, Michael F., Jr., born in Los Angeles, September 10, 1910, is in St. Brendan's parochial school ; John, born April 28, 1915, and William, born on March 19, 1917.
WESTLAKE MILITARY SCHOOL, now in its beautiful home at Santa Monica, was founded February 1, 1915, at Los Angeles. Its first loca- tion was at 802 South Union street. Colonel William Strover, the founder, a retired officer of the United States Army and with many years of experience in military affairs, began his school with only six pupils. Seven months later he moved the school to 701 Beacon street. On June 1, 1917, the school was moved to Santa Monica, occupying a large build- ing on California avenue near Second street. Again the location proved inadequate, and in August, 1918, the school was moved to its present honie, known as Belle Vista, where Colonel Strover also added the prop- erty known as "Miramar," consisting of nearly four acres of park, with many rare trees and shrubs, among them the largest Indian rubber tree on the continent. The main building, "Miramar," is a palatial home, fin- ished with every modern convenience which the former millionaire owner could provide. It contains thirty-eight rooms, all with luxurious appoint- ments. The location of the school is now on Ocean avenue between Wil- shire and California avenues, overlooking the ocean and the Palisades Park. With these buildings and with this location the Westlake Military School doubtless outrivals any other private school on the Pacific coast in appointments and accommodations.
This school is a home for boys, presenting a carefully balanced academic, military and physical training under strict personal supervision. That the school has more than realized the aims and expectations of its founder needs no other proof than its wonderful growth and progress and its present prosperity as evinced by the enrollment and the school buildings and grounds. At present the school has an enrollment of sev- enty-five boys, most of them from remote states and cities and some from foreign countries.
Colonel William Strover, sole owner and superintendent of this school, is a Californian whose career commands especial interest not only because of his connection with the school but for his military career. He was born in Hanover, Germany, June 25, 1861, son of Frederick Strover. He was liberally educated, attending the common schools and the gym- nasium until the age of seventeen. For one year he was in the German army as a cavalryman in one of the crack regiments.
He came to the United States without special means or influence, and for about eight months followed in Philadelphia any employment that would give him a living. Coming west, he located at Santa Fe, New Mex- ico, and was manager of a general store until 1886. He then entered the United States Army in the 10th United States Infantry, and was pro- moted to first sergeant and then to sergeant major, and was in active service during the Indian campaign, known as the Geronimo campaign. On resigning from the army he organized the National Guard of Santa Fe, and was Captain of Infantry, Captain of Cavalry, and later Colonel of Cavalry. In 1898 he organized a company for the Spanish-American war, this being Company G of the First Territorial Infantry, U. S. Vol- unteers. He served as its captain one year. Returning to Santa Fe Colonel Strover became chief draftsman of the United States surveyor
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general's office, Department of Interior. Later he was called to Wash- ington, made office inspector, and subsequently was inspector of United States surveys, in that capacity traveling all over the United States. After about twenty-five years of military and civil service Colonel Strover re- tired in 1913 and came to Los Angeles. He soon after conceived the idea of making his experience valuable to the young manhood of this country by establishing the Westlake Military School.
Colonel Strover is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, Elks and with the Chamber of Commerce and Business Men's Association of Santa Monica, and is a republican. At Lincoln, New Mexico, November 4, 1891, he married Miss Justine Goudreau. Mrs. Strover has the active direction of the domestic arrangements of Westlake Military School, and is a mother to the boys and carefully looks after their welfare. Colonel and Mrs. Strover have one son, Charles F., now twenty-four years of age. He finished his education in the University of Colorado and is now athletic instructor of the Westlake Military School.
CALIFORNIA MISSION OF LATTER DAY SAINTS. From data supplied by Joseph E. Robinson, formerly president of the California Mission, it is possible to present some interesting facts concerning the early Mor- mon activities in and about Los Angeles. It is not generally known that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, commonly called Mor- mons, played a significant part in the settlement of Southern California, in the overthrow of Spanish rule, and the establishment of law and order in Los Angeles and vicinity.
In the making of this early history the chief factor was the Mor- mon Battalion, consisting of five companies of one hundred men (549 to begin with) mobilized at Council Bluffs, Iowa, July 15, 1846. It was equipped at Fort Leavenworth, as a part of General Stephen F. Kearny's command. At Santa Fe, New Mexico, by order of General Kearny, Colonel Philip St. George Cooke was given charge of the Mormon Vol- unteers and led them to the shores of the Pacific, via the Rio Grande, the Gila, the San Pedro and Colorado rivers, a distance of more than two thousand miles.
Of the privations and achievements of the Batallion in this march Colonel Cooke furnishes information in an order issued at Mission of San Diego, January 30, 1847, in which he says :
"The Lieutenant-Colonel commanding congratulates the Battallion on their safe arrival on the shores of the Pacific Ocean and the conclu- sion of their march of over two thousand miles. History may be searched in vain for an equal march of infantry. Half of it has been through a wilderness where nothing but savages and wild beasts are found, or deserts where for want of water there is no living creature. There with almost hopeless labor we have dug deep wells which the future traveler will enjoy. Without a guide who had traversed them, we have ventured into trackless table-lands where water was not found for sev- eral marches. With crowbar and pick and axe in hand, we have worked our way over mountains, which seemed to defy aught save the wild goat, and hewed a passage through a chasm of living rock more narrow than our wagons. To bring these first wagons to the Pacific, we have preserved the strength of our mules by herding them over large tracts, which you have laboriously guarded without loss. The garrison of four presidios of Sonora, concentrated within the walls of Tucson, gave us no pause. We drove them out with our artillery, but our inter- course with the citizens was unmarked by a single act of injustice. Thus,
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marching half naked and half fed, and living upon wild animals, we have discovered and made a road of great value to our country.
"Arrived at the first settlement of California, after a single day's rest, you cheerfully turned off from the route to this point of promised repose, to enter upon a campaign and meet, as we supposed, the approach of an enemy; and this, too, without even salt to season our sole sub- sistence of fresh meat. Lieutenant A. J. Smith and George Stoneman of the First Dragoons, have shared and given valuable aid in all these labors.
"Thus, volunteers, you have exhibited some high and essential quali- ties of veterans. But much remains undone. Soon you will turn your attention to the drill, to system and order, to forms also, which are all necessary to the soldier."
Having arrived at San Diego in the latter part of January, 1847, they were allowed but a brief respite from their arduous march for the Californians were still belligerent, though General Pico had surrendered to· General Fremont sometime before. (The last decisive battle with the Californians was fought at Los Angeles, January 8 and 9, 1847, General Kearny and Commodore Stockton in command of American forces.) The Battalion, however, was called to occupy San Luis del Rey and "Pueblo" Los Angeles as well as garrison San Diego.
Mormon activities in Southern California continued. Companies A, C, D, and E of the Battalion occupied Los Angeles March 23, 1847. These companies ran entirely out of provisions during the week and went to bed supperless and without food until the afternoon of the fol- lowing day, when supplies came in from San Diego where the United States Quartermaster with supplies was quartered. Detachments from Los Angeles were sent from San Gabriel-then occupied by Fremont's followers-and to Cajon Pass and Warner's Ranch in efforts to pacify the country and to punish recalcitrant Indians.
Another interesting order of Colonel Cooke should be quoted. It is No. 9, dated at Los Angeles, April 24, 1847: "The Mormon Battalion will erect a small fort on the eminence which commands the town of Los Angeles. Company A will encamp on the ground tomorrow forenoon. The whole company will be employed in the diligent prosecution of the labors for one week, but there will be a daily' detail of a non-com- missioned officer and six privates for the camp guard, which, with cooks absolutely necessary will not labor during their detail. The hours of labor will be from half-past six o'clock until twelve o'clock and from one o'clock until six o'clock. The guard will mount at half-past five o'clock.
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"Lieutenant Davidson, First Dragoons, will trace to-morrow on the site selected, his plan, which has been approved, of a fort with one small bastion, front for at least six guns in barbette, assisted by the company officers. He will have the direction, as superintendent, which pertains to an officer of engineers. As assistant quartermaster he will procure the necessary tools."
The remains of this little fort can still be discerned on the little point of the hill overlooking the Plaza and immediately over the Broad- way Tunnel, called erroneously, "Pico Heights" and said to be where General Pico made his last stand which is equally erroneous.
The Battalion was discharged honorably at Los Angeles in July, but upon solicitation of Governor R. B. Mason, who succeeded General Kearny as Military Commander, eighty-one men re-enlisted. Governor Mason says of them in his report to the Adjutant General, September 18, 1847 :
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"Of the services of the Battalion, of their patience, subordination, and general good conduct, you have already heard; and I take great pleasure in adding that as a body of men they have religiously respected the rights and feelings of this conquered people ; not a syllable of com- plaint has reached my ear of a single insult offered or outrage done by a Mormon Volunteer. So high an opinion did I entertain of the Bat- talion and of their special fitness for the duties now performed by the garrisons in this country, that I made strenuous efforts to engage their services for another year."
Those discharged took wheat, corn, potatoes, and garden seed to Utah where they arrived by the Northern Route October 16, 1847. Some few remained in California for the winter and among these were six members who were employed by Mr. James W. Marshall, Captain Sut- ter's foreman, at Sutter's Mill near Sacramento, and discovered gold in the mill race, submitting the same to Mr. Marshall to determine what it was. The rest of the history of that marvelous discovery is woven into the very structure of the State of California, and is one of its most fascinating stories. Among members who went direct to Utah by the northern route was one Captain Jefferson, who had charge of five com- panies of the Mormon Battalion. Finding his people in destitute con- dition and provisions unobtainable in the Salt Lake Valley, at which place the Mormon pioneers arrived in July of the same year, he con- cluded to return to southern California, having been so favorably impressed with its wonderful climate and resources.
He set out with a small company of fifteen men and blazed the Mormon trail from southern Utah to the San Bernardino Valley, where they laid out and colonized the town of San Bernardino. Over this trail for years the Mormons came to Los Angeles and Wilmington Harbor for supplies and products unobtainable in the mountains. This kindly interchange of commodities and trade was finally cemented by the build- ing of the Salt Lake Route practically parallelling the old "Mormon Trail."
So much for the early history, which thus feebly told is suggestive of one of the most significant factors contributing to the later as well as the pioneer development of Southern California. It now remains to note some features of the California Mission of Latter Day Saints.
The headquarters of this Mission, which comprises the States of California, Nevada and Arizona, are located at 153 West Adams Street, where they have a substantial and beautiful little chapel with a Mission office and home for the presiding elder, who at this time is Elder Joseph W. McMurrin, who succeeded Elder Joseph E. Rohinson as president of the Mission, April 17, 1919.
President Robinson presided over the Mission for upwards of eigh- teen years. Under his administration successful colonies have been estab- lished at Gridley, Mayten and Grenada, California, and in various parts of Arizona, and their membership in the Mission has grown from a few souls to several thousand.
President Robinson was peculiarly well fitted for his position by his early experiences. His father was a pioneer of California, coming via El Cajon Pass in 1849. He afterward became an Indian Missionary of the Southwest, where his family was brought up under all the vicis- situdes and experiences of pioneer life. President Robinson thus became acquainted with the handling of stock and sheep, also farming, then became a merchant and in succession held the office of assessor and col- lector, county clerk and recorder, ex-officio district clerk, and was elected
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a member of the Constitutional Convention of the State of Utah and of three consecutive legislatures. Finally he was sent by the Presidency of the Mormon church to California to preside over its Mission and interests there. These experiences fitted him to direct the people in all the activities of commercial and agricultural life and to advise them legally in many ways to their profit. They are accordingly growing in prestige, numbers and prosperity, and are a valuable asset to the political, commercial and social life of the Los Angeles country.
THEODORE J. VAN DE KAMP is a very young man, has been in Los Angeles only a few years, but his enterprise has served to set in motion some lines of business which when named will serve to give his personal career the importance it deserves in this city. The chief of these enter- prises is the T. J. Van de Kamp Company, the Holland Dutch bakers, a business that is now a large corporation with its central plant and four complete stores, doing both a wholesale and retail business, and yet three or four years ago it originated in a small shop whose facilities were devoted to the manufacture of Saratoga chips.
The other business with which Mr. Van de Kamp is identified is the American Reporting Service for insurance companies, and it was with a general training in insurance work that Mr. Van de Kamp came to Los Angeles. He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, May 1, 1891, a son of Henry and Sophia Van de Kamp. His education to the age of eighteen was acquired in the grammar and high schools of Milwau- kee. Then, while employed in the day, he attended a night high school for two years. In 1909 he went to work for the Northwestern Mutual Insurance Company at Milwaukee as clerk in their general offices. Later he was promoted to salesman and with a more than routine knowledge of the insurance business came to Los Angeles and his individual motion established the American Reporting Service, which furnishes informa- tion to various insurance companies.
On January 1, 1915, Mr. Van de Kamp and L. L. Frank, who is still one of his business associates, formed a modest partnership with a capital of two hundred dollars and opened their first store at 2361/2 South Spring street for the primary object of manufacturing and selling Saratoga chips. The goods they manufactured were the best of their kind, and the partners both exhibited tremendous energy and· salesman- ship in making their product known. Consequently, March 1, 1915, they opened a second store at 561} South Main street. April 22, 1915, they opened their third store at 4541/2 South Hill street. In November, 1915. a fourth store appeared at 112 South Hill street. In March, 1916, they added a fifth store at 873 South Spring street. Their success encouraged them still further, and on September 1, 1916, the T. J. Van de Kamp Company, wholesale bakers, came into action, with their main baking plant at 222 Center Place. At that time H. J. G. Bruning came in as a partner, and this constituted the business as it is today with respect to the managing personnel. In April, 1917, they vacated the store at 236 South Spring street and moved to 246 on the same street, and in Sep- tember, 1917, made another change to the corner of Third and Spring streets. In October, 1917, they opened a stand at 114 West Sixth street, and since then have eliminated all their Saratoga chips stores and now confine their attention to the wholesale and retail baking business, with office in the Douglas Building, and with bakery at 255-257 Werdin Place. A splendid sanitary baking plant is now being erected for the company at a cost of twenty-five thousand dollars. The four retail
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stores are the Sanitary Market Bakery, and others at 561 South Main street, 412 South Hill street and 114 West Sixth street. About thirty persons are employed in the business.
Mr. Van de Kamp is an independent in politics. April 18, 1918, at Milwaukee, he married Miss Florence Lingelbach. They reside at 455 South Hobard avenue.
MILBANK JOHNSON, B. Sc., M. D., LL. D. Distinguished by long and capable service both in his profession and in civic affairs, Doctor Johnson is one of the best known physicians in Los Angeles, is assistant medical director of the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company of Cali- fornia, and is entitled to special credit for his work while a member of the California Military Welfare Committee during the war as being the author of the so-called California Plan of Vice Control for the protection of soldiers and sailors.
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