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 59
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He was born in the Province of Ontario, Canada, July 22, 1886, a son of John and Anna Belle (Kimberly) Bell. His father was born in England in 1840, was reared and educated there, and in Canada became a civil engineer. He was one of the engineers of the Grand Trunk Rail- road and later with the Canada Land Company, surveying their forests and roads. He died in 1901. In 1872 he married, in Ontario, Miss Belle Kimberly. They were the parents of six children: Matilda, deceased ; Josephine, wife of J. F. Burley of Pasadena; John, an instructor of trainmen of the Pacific Electric Railway of Los Angeles; James, a trainmaster of the Pacific Electric Railway; Margaret, Mrs. C. W. Stevenson of Los Angeles, and Charles R.
Charles R. Bell was educated in Ontario, and after graduating from high school in 1903, at the age of seventeen, went to work for the Sovereign Bank of Canada. This is one of the largest banks of the Dominion. Beginning as bookkeeper, he worked steadily along until he was promoted to teller, and resigned that office when he came to Los Angeles in 1908. Here he became connected with the All Night and Day Bank, and in 1911 was elected its cashier. In 1913, when the All Night and Day Bank was reorganized and the name changed to the Hellman Commercial Trust and Savings Bank, Mr. Bell was made secre- tary and treasurer of the larger institution, a position he has since held, and is one of the younger bank officials in this city.
Mr. Bell, who is unmarried, left his duties in July, 1918, to join the Heavy Artillery Officers' Training Camp at Fortress Monroe, Vir- ginia, and went through the training preliminary to an officer's commis- sion. Ten days before the commission would have been issued he re- ceived his honorable discharge on December 1, 1918.
Mr. Bell is a member of the Los Angeles Athletic Club, the Presby- terian Church and is a republican in politics.
CHARLES D. WAGNER, who came to Los Angeles in 1902, has de- veloped an organization and service as a building contractor which is exemplified in its perfect results by scores of the finest homes, business blocks and apartments in and around Los Angeles.
Mr. Wagner was born in Woodward, Iowa, March 24, 1873, son of Philip and Eva (Stauber) Wagner. Up to the age of ten he attended public school at Woodward, and his parents then removed to Peabody, Kansas, where he continued attending school and working on his father's farm. At the age of twenty-one, leaving the rural districts, he went to Kansas City, Missouri, and was in the employ of the Wells Fargo & Company Express until 1902. In that year he came to Los Angeles, and has ever since engaged in the building contracting business.
The following are some of the more important building contracts handled by him and the approximate costs of each: Residences of D. A. Hamburger, $25,000; E. C. Hauser, $20,000; David E. Thompson, $20,000; J. J. Itan, $20,000; S. A. Hanlin, $20,000: C. B. McCoy, $30,000 ; Frank Baker, $40,000; Francis G. Keene, $30,000; David Beid- ler Flats, $40,000; Phelps Apartments, Sixth and St. Andrews streets, $60,000; also the Greer-Robins garage and many other business blocks and apartments too numerous to mention. Mr. Wagner has his own drafting department, and has an organization of about a hundred men. As the above list indicates, he has erected many of Los Angeles' beauti- ful homes, and he constructed twenty-eight of the fine residences in the exclusive Lafayette Square at 7 Pellessier Square.
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Mr. Wagner is a republican in politics. At Los Angeles, January 10, 1910, he married Ethel Hawkins. They have one daughter, Lillian Claire, born in 1912.
FRED L. HUNT is a business man as well as a lawyer, and Southern California is indebted to his enterprise in developing some of the lands of this district into productive farms and fruit ranches. Mr. Hunt has had a varied career, and is said to have been the first volunteer soldier in the Spanish-American war.
He was born at Spencer, in Clay county, Iowa, December 26, 1875, son of Mark and Flora (Dodge) Hunt. His father laid out the town- site of Spencer. When Fred was four years old his parents moved to Elkhorn, in Walworth county, Wisconsin, and there he attended district schools to the age of eleven. On leaving school at this early age he went to work on farms, and only in the intervals of self-sustaining work did he find opportunity to attend school. At the age of twenty-one he entered Beloit Academy, in Beloit, Wisconsin, and paid his way by out- side work for two years.
Mr. Hunt served in the Spanish-American war as a member of Company E of the First Wisconsin Volunteers. He was with his regi- ment eight months, and on being honorably discharged went to Rockford, Illinois, and studied law in the office of Works & Hyer. He was ad- mitted to the bar in March, 1901, and practiced law at Belvidere, Illinois, and soon became prominent in local and state politics. He served as corporation counsel of Belvidere and was also Senate Clerk in the Illi- nois Legislature. He attended many republican conventions and was a staunch ally and political friend of Frank O. Lowden, now governor of Illinois.
Mr. Hunt came to Los Angeles in 1906. For one year he was em- ployed in the escrow department of the Title Insurance Company. He then spent a year in the law office of Denis & Lowenthal, following which he began an individual practice. After two years he became a member of the law partnership of Hatch, Lloyd & Hunt. After the death of David Hatch, in 1911, the firm continued as Lloyd, Hunt, Cheney & Geibel for a year and a half. Mr. Hunt then retired from his practice to devote three years to improving his ranch properties. In that time he succeeded in improving out of raw and unproductive land fifteen farms, planted and in condition for orchard production. These farms were all in the vicinity of Los Angeles. Since 1917 Mr. Hunt has resumed the private practice of law.
He is a Royal Arch Mason, a member of Roosevelt Camp of the Spanish-American War Veterans, Los Angeles Athletic Club, Union League Club, and is an associate member of the Ellis and Women's Lyric Clubs. In politics he is a republican, and is chairman of the Board of Trustees of St. Andrews Episcopal Church. At Rockford, Illinois, Sep- tember 10, 1902, he married Bertha M. Hyer.
WILLEDD ANDREWS, who has practiced law since 1909, is one of the younger members of the Los Angeles bar, but has achieved many in- fluential connections and is a man of the highest standing both profes- sionally and socially.
He is a son of Carl Adams and Florence (Marsh) Andrews. His father, who has had a most successful business career, was born at New Haven, Connecticut, in 1860, and finished his education in the University of Arkansas. For several years he lived in Little Rock, and while there
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became interested in the development and promotion of various coal mine properties and gas companies. His business affairs have required his residence in a number of cities and he is practically known from East to West. He is now president of the Andrews Coal Corporation of New Orleans, Louisiana. For a number of years he was a prominent polo player. At Little Rock, in 1882, he married Florence Marsh, They had five children : Willedd; Dean, in the United States Navy ; Catherine Andrews Lassing, wife of Commander Walter Lassing, whose home is at Washington, D. C .; Claiborne, who lives at New Orleans and is secre- tary of the Andrews Coal Company, and is also interested in sugar plantations ; and Martha, at home.
Willedd Andrews was born at Little Rock, Arkansas, November 17, 1883. He spent his youth in a number of different cities and his educa- tion was derived from a number of different schools. He began his schooling at Memphis, Tennessee, attended school at New Orleans to the age of ten, at which time his parents came to Los Angeles, and he was in school here two years. He then finished his high school work at New Orleans and took his preparatory course in the Academic De- partment of Central University at Richmond, Kentucky. After finish- ing his preparatory course in 1901 he was a student in the collegiate department of Central University for two years, and from there came to the University of Southern California, where he was in the Law School four years. He graduated with the LL. B. degree in 1908, and in 1909 received the degree LL. M. Since then Mr. Andrews has been in continuous and successful practice and has specialized in civil and corporation law. In 1909-10 he served as special deputy district attorney under Captain Fredericks.
Mr. Andrews is a Knight of Pythias, a member of the Fraternal Brotherhood, the Union League Club, the college fraternities Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Theta Nu Epsilon, and in politics is a republican. October 27, 1912, at Los Angeles, he married Helen Stocker. They have two children: Virginia, born in 1913, and Lesley Brand, born in 1915.
JAMES GUSTAVE SCARBOROUGH has been a resident of Los Angeles nearly thirty-five years, is still in active practice of law, and has sustained and expressed a broad and generous usefulness in the community, though with few of the superficial marks of honor and dignity enjoyed by many lesser men.
He was born in Louisiana of Southern parentage, and when a boy his parents moved to Brenham, Texas, and later to Waco, in that state. He attended private schools, later Waco, now Baylor, University, and finished his education in Howard College, a military school at Marion, Alabama, presided over by Col. J. T. Murfee, at one time commandant of the Virginia Military Institute, the most famous military school of the South. Graduating at the age of twenty-one, he received the highest honors, being validictorian of his class and holding the highest military office awarded to students. He was graduated with the A. B. degree, and then returned to Waco, Texas, and read law in the office of the prominent law firm, Anderson & Flint. He was admitted to the bar in the District Court in September, 1884, and in the Supreme Court of Texas in February, 1885.
Mr. Scarborough arrived with his brother at Los Angeles on Feb- ruary 18, 1885, and until June, 1886, was in the offices of Bicknell & White. The junior member of that firm was Hon. Stephen M. White,
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at one time United States senator from California. Mr. Scarborough opened his own office at Los Angeles in November, 1886, and practically from the beginning enjoyed a large civil law practice, representing some of the leading interests and real estate operators.
In February, 1890, he accepted the attorneyship of railroad and other interests promoted by Mr. James McFadden and his associates at Santa Ana, Orange county, moving to that city in March, 1890. While there he served one term as. district attorney of the county and also accumulated a large clientage in private practice.
Mr. Scarborough removed his home and reopened his law office at Los Angeles in 1896, though at the same time retaining his office and clientage at Santa Ana. For the past twenty years at Los Angeles he has been associated with William M. Bowen under the firm name of Scarborough & Bowen, while at Santa Ana his associate is Horatio J. Forgy under the firm name of Scarborough & Forgy.
Newspaper notoriety seldom is bestowed upon the class of business which Mr. Scarborough seeks in the professional field. He avoids sen- sational cases, politics, political office and all publicity. His civic record is on a par with his professional one. It is frequently noted that some of the most useful sitizens are those whose names appear seldom in public print. He has been a part of and assisted in the growth and development of Los Angeles for over thirty-four years. He has repre- sented large interests and many clients in important law suits, but those of greatest public interest were the actions through which the tract of land now known as Exposition Park was recovered from private claim- ants for public use through the efforts of his partner, William M. Bowen, whom he assisted.
For more than ten years Mr. Scarborough was lecturer on code pleading and practice in the Law School of the University of Southern California, reducing the study to a comprehensive and practical system by a series of lectures, a synopsis of which has been published in form which has proved useful to both student and practitioner. He is a member of the Episcopal Church, of all the Masonic bodies, being on the Jurisprudence Committee of the Grand Commandery, is a member of Al Malaikah Temple of the Mystic Shrine, belongs to the Jonathan Club, Los Angeles Bar Association and other organizations.
October 4, 1887, Mr. Scarborough married Miss Florence Pendle- ton, now deceased, daughter of Rev. William H. Pendleton, then pastor of one of the leading Baptist churches. Mr. Scarborough has one son bearing his own name, a graduate of the University of California, an officer in the United States Army during the late war, and now studying with his father preparatory for admission to the bar.
SACRED HEART ACADEMY. Hundreds of men and women in South- ern California cherish the recollections of their early school days spent in the Sacred Heart School. The training afforded there under the good Dominican Sisters has been a foundation stone in the success and char- acter of many of the former pupils. The school is now nearly thirty years old.
It was opened September 1, 1890, by Mother Seraphina and two companions as an adjunct to the Sacred Heart Church. The school is in the Lincoln Heights district, which twenty-five years ago was by no means so densely populated or so wealthy a community as it has since become. There were only fifty children in the school at the beginning. The first building was an unpretentious two-story structure, serving
Nice C, Prachen
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both as a school and as a home for the Sisters. There was a steady growth and the need became insistent for a better building and larger grounds. In 1901 the entire block was purchased and a four-story building erected fronting Sichel street. The old building was moved and conjoined with the new one. The new building had what was re- garded at the time a. superlative equipment and facilities, including all the equipment for dormitories and living conditions, as well as school- rooms. In 1907 a right wing was built, affording four class rooms, din- ing room and another dormitory. In that year the high school was first opened with eight pupils. Still another addition was made in 1913, and the left wing restored the symmetry of the building, and afforded special rooms and facilities for the high school, including an auditorium.
Today the Sacred Heart Academy, accredited by the University of California, is conducted as a day and boarding school for girls and is one of the most perfectly appointed institutions for elementary and high school education in Southern California.
WILL C. PRATHER, head of the Prather Investment Company, stocks, bonds, loans, real estate and insurance, in the Merchants National Bank Building, has been a resident of Los Angeles since 1905 and was for- merly a merchant and business man in the East.
He was born in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, August 5, 1868, a son of James Newton and Nannie (Bell) Prather. His great-grandfather Prather served as a major in Washington's army in 1776 and was identi- fied with the cause of independence actively for four years. In 1780 he settled on Harrod's Creek, near Harrodsburg, in Mercer county, Ken- tucky, and achieved a place in the making of that illustrious common- wealth. Nannie Bell was a daughter of Dr. David Bell and grand- daughter of George Robertson. George Robertson is one of the most conspicuous names in the early annals of American history. He was in Congress when Monroe was president and resigned to return to Ken- tucky and was speaker of the State Legislature and instrumental in securing Henry Clay's nomination for the presidency. George Robertson was a brilliant orator and jurist, served as chief justice of Kentucky, and his opinions were the first of any American lawyer to be quoted in England. Many of them were imbedded in the statutes of most of the Southern states. Kentucky honors him and his family connections with the county names of Robertson, Letcher, Owsley and Bell.
Will C. Prather was educated in the public schools of Harrods- burg, in Center College of Danville, Kentucky, and on leaving school became identified with the coffee business. That was his principal line for nineteen years, seven of which were spent with James Heekmn & Company in Cincinnati, and later he was connected with Potter, Parlin & Company, W. L. Johnson Company and W. C. Prather Company of New York City.
On coming to Los Angeles in 1905 he established the wholesale house of Prather, Garvey & Company, but sold his interest to Clarence Garvey in 1906. Since then he has engaged in the real estate business. Mr. Prather is a member of the Masonic Order, a Presbyterian, and by his marriage in 1898 to Kathryn D. Smith has three sons and one daughter. The family reside at their country estate at Royalton Heights between the city limits of Los Angeles and Venice.
JUDGE DANA REID WELLER, who is one of the judges in the Los Angeles judicial system, has spent nearly all his life in this city and has
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been a prominent lawyer for over twenty years. He is likewise well known in Masonic circles and was a captain in the army during the Philippine war.
Judge Weller was born at Oneoto, Superior county, Minnesota, March 24, 1874. His father, Levi Weller, who has been a resident of Southern California more than forty years, was born in Ohio, October 12, 1835, was liberally educated, finishing in Oberlin College, taught school at Wapello, Iowa, and in 1873 moved to Northern Minnesota and taught in Duluth. In 1875, on coming to Los Angeles, he continued teaching and also conducted a farm near Los Angeles. He has lived retired since 1917. He married at Wapello, Iowa, February 22, 1865, Cordelia Woods. They have three children: Mrs. Lulu Hunter of Los Angeles, William W. of Los Angeles, and Dana R.
Dana R. Weller received his education in the grammar and high schools of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Normal, and in August, 1893, began the study of law with John T. Jones, paying his way by work as a stenographer. In April, 1895, he was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court of California, and in 1899 admitted to practice in the Federal Court. After his admission to the bar he became associated with Mr. Jones as a partner, and their firm continued for many years, one of the most substantial law firms in Southern California. Judge Weller has also been active in business affairs.
He joined the National Guard in 1891 and at the outbreak of the Spanish-American war became major of the Seventh California Infantry, United States Volunteers, serving from May to December in 1898. From September 16, 1899, to June 30, 1901, he was captain of the Forty-fourth United States Infantry, volunteers, in the Philippines. He is a member of the United Spanish War Veterans.
Judge Weller is a past master of Southern California Lodge No. 278, A. F. & A. M., has taken the degrees in both the Scottish and York branches, is a member of the Mystic Shrine, and served as grand master of the Grand Lodge of California in 1911. He is also a director of the Union League Club and was its president in 1909 and 1919, and is a member of the Chamber of Commerce.
October 14, 1897, he married Jessica Rhodes of Los Angeles. They have one daughter, Catherine, a graduate of the University of Southern California High School, and now attending University of South Caro- lina.
L. R. WHARTON. The work of L. R. Wharton as a lawyer which has brought him his high standing in the Los Angeles bar has been chiefly in connection with probate law. He has handled many important inter- ests in that branch of practice and has been a member of the Los Angeles bar for over fifteen years. His name and services have also figured in local politics not as a politician, but as a friend and worker for good government, and he was one of the leading figures and campaigners in behalf of various war auxiliary movements during 1917-1918.
Mr. Wharton was born in Mercer County, Illinois, December 24, 1874, a son of Samuel and Arilla (Merryman) Wharton. His father, who was born at Zanesville, Ohio, in 1836, made a trip when a boy across the plains to the mining regions of Pike's Peak, Colorado. He looked for gold in that district, and on his return East became a farmer and stock raiser in Mercer County, Illinois, where he lived until his death in December, 1910. He and his wife had a family of six children, five of whom are still living: Willard A., a lumberman in Mercer
IN. Valentine
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County ; Nellie M., who died in 1900; Leroy R .; Leota, of Rock Island, Illinois ; Mrs. Louisa Witter, whose husband is the present city attorney of Rock Island, and Captain J. F. Wharton, who is an army surgeon, and in the spring of 1919 was still on duty at Bordeaux, France.
L. R. Wharton attended grammar and high schools in Illinois, graduating in 1892. For a year he sold farm implements. Being unable to look to his family for much assistance in securing a higher education, he practically worked him way through college, attending Knox College, at Galesburg, from which he graduated in 1898 with the Bache- lor of Science degree. In the same city he studied law with J. Dougherty for two years. He took the bar examination before the Supreme Court at Chicago, and returned to Galesburg to practice. By appointment from Federal Judge Kohlsaat he served as referee of bankruptcy.
A well-known Los Angeles financier, O. T. Johnson, came to Cali- fornia from Galesburg. It was Mr. Wharton's good fortune to have represented Mr. Johnson in some legal matters, and on the advice of the older friend and client he came to Los Angeles in 1903, and his reputa- tion as an able counselor has been steadily growing ever since.
Mr. Wharton was one of the organizers and the first secretary of the City Club. He is identified with the Municipal League, Union League Club, Knights of Pythias and Los Angeles Bar Association. He has been active in several promising movements for civic and political progress in Southern California. During the war he gave a large part of his time in behalf of several war activities and made over two hundred fifty speeches. His work was especially commended during the last Salvation Army drive Mr. Wharton is a republican and is unmarried.
LOUIS H. VALENTINE, judge of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, has been a member of the Los Angeles bar over thirty years, and the honors and services that have accrued to his credit make an imposing record.
Whatever distinction there is in being a native Californian is in- tensified in the case of Judge Valentine, who first saw the light of day at old Sutter Mill, where gold was discovered by Marshall in 1848, thus precipitating the movement of population which was the corner stone of California's incorporation in the Union of States. He was born there November 13, 1859, son of William H. and Laura J. (Cromwell) Valen- tine. He was well educated, graduating from high school at the age of seventeen, and in 1887 received his LL. B. degree from the law depart- ment of the University of California. The following year he located at Los Angeles, and the subsequent years have brought him a large experi- ence as a lawyer and rank among the foremost members of the bar in the county.
First and last, Judge Valentine has had a long record of public service, frequently in positions that carry no ยท remuneration but great responsibility. Before he became a lawyer he taught school seven years, being principal of the Placerville School, and two years a member of the Board of Education in Eldorado County. He served in the State Legislature from Los Angeles County in the sessions of 1897 and 1899, and the extra session of 1900, and during the last two sessions was chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, and former Governor Gage has asserted that it was Judge Valentine's co-operation in prepar- ing the state budget which made it possible for the Governor to carry out his ideas of conservation and economy as applied to all state depart- ments. He also secured the passage of the bill regulating the manage-
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ment and work of the State Printing Office, resulting in a great saving, and was author of the law requiring street contractors to furnish a bond in one-half the amount of their contract for the benefit of laborers and material men.
In 1901 he was appointed by President Mckinley to the office of United States attorney for the Southern District of California, and under reappointment from Roosevelt served more than four years. Judge Valentine was chairman of the first non-partisan organization in Los Angeles County organized prior to the passage of the direct primary law, for the purpose of selecting judicial, educational and other strictly non-partisan officers. At the time of his appointment to the bench he was a member of the Public Service Commission of Los Angeles. This is the department of city government that controls and manages the vast water and power properties of the city, including the Owens River Aqueduct. Although the members of the Commission serve without compensation, their responsibility . is probably greater than that of any other city official excepting the mayor. Judge Valentine's services while on the Commission assisted materially in bringing about the present con- tract between the city and the Edison Company, by which the city realizes an income from the sale of its electric power in excess of sixty thousand dollars a month.
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