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 9
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In him have been developed and have come to fruitage many fine traits and qualities inherited from his ancestry. His father, Rev. George Cochran, D. D., was a prominent Methodist minister and missionary. Mr. Cochran's mother, Catherine Lynch Davidson, was a descendant of the Wesleys, founders of Methodism.
George Ira Cochran was born at Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, July 1. 1863. When he was seven years old his father went to Japan, and lived
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in the Orient engaged in missionary and other church work for six years. While at Tokyo, George Ira Cochran attended private schools. After his father returned to Toronto he completed his education in the Col- legiate Institute and the University of Toronto, and studied law in Osgood Hall. He was admitted as Barrister at Law shortly after his graduation, and in 1888 came to Los Angeles and was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of California in February of that year. Mr. Cochran practiced law until 1906.
Since then the responsibilities of many business organizations have claimed practically all his attention. In 1906 he became president of the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company, one of the oldest and largest insurance organizations in the West. The Pacific Mutual is today listed among the foremost old line American companies, and its business lias been extended practically across the continent. Mr. Cochran has supervised and directed the investment of millions of dollars of this company's assets, and to a large degree has been responsible for the enviable record the company has made.
Many other organizations claim some share of his ability and time. He is a director of the Southern California Edison Company, Los Angeles Trust and Savings Bank, Rosedale Cemetery Association, Home Fire and Marine Company and Anglo California Trust Company of San Francisco, Citizens Trust and Savings Bank, Seaside Water Company, Long Beach Bath House and Amus ment Company, California Delta Farms (Incorporated), and many others. Mr. Cochran is a regent of the University of California and a trustee of the University of Southern California. He served as a member of the Los Ang les City Charter Commission of 1893. He has served as a member of the Republican County Central Committee, as a trustee of the Young Men's Christian Association, and is a member of the California, Jonathan, University, Los Angeles Athletic, Midwick Country, Los Angeles Country and Union League Clubs, and the Pacific Union and Bohemian Clubs of San Fran- cisco. He is a member of the Methodist Church.
August 6, 1890, Mr. Cochran married Miss Alice Maud McClung of Canada. April 7, 1907, he married for his second wife her sister, Isa- belle May McClung.
GAIL BORDEN JOHNSON. In these modern days whene there are, un- fortunately, so many individuals who prove unworthy to the trust re- posed in them, it is gratifying to review the career of one who always kept his life free from contaminating influences, no matter what his sur- roundings, and was fearless in his support of what he d.emed was right. Unfortunately for his community, the late Gail Borden Johnson, of Los Angeles, was never called to high office in the public service. Had he been given the opportunity to bring to bear upon the administration of civic affairs his keen conviction of justice and high moral sense, those coming under his influence would have benefited and politics would have been purified. However, the life of such a man is never lived in vain. Although his sphere was largely confined to the field of life insurance, he did his full duty and gave his world a saner, cleaner viewpoint.
Gail Borden Johnson was born near Richmond, Texas, the eldest of six children, November 11, 1859. He is survived by his aged father, the other children, his widow and three daughters. In young manhood he removed to Houston, Texas, where in 1878 he became the founder of the Houston Post, and published that paper for several years. Sub- sequently he removed to Elgin, Illinois, where he became secretary of
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the Illinois Condensing Company, now known as the Borden Condensed Milk Company. Gail Borden, who invented the process of condensing milk and was the founder of the company which has made this product known the world over, was his maternal grandfather and gave him his name. Mr. Johnson first came to California in 1888, and for a number of years was engaged very successfully in the real estate and building business at Los Angeles. In 1900 he became vice-president of the Ger- man . American Savings Bank, now the Guaranty Trust and Savings Bank, which position he resigned when he became vice-president and treasurer of the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company in 1906.
During the last twelve years of his life Mr. Johnson labored most assiduously and with great ability in and for his company. He was wrapped up in its work and took the greatest pleasure therein. When President George I. Cochran took in hand the consolidation of the Con- servative Life Insurance Company and the Pacific Life Insurance Com- pany and the reorganization of the enlarged company in 1906, Mr. Johnson was closely associated with him. Together they assumed the responsibility involved, and made and put through all the necessary plans for the successful consummation of the undertaking. Neither one aspired to the presidency, and while only one could be president of the company, in a very real sense the Pacific Mutual had two heads. The perfect harmony in which these two leaders worked together was of the greatest benefit to the institution, and it is doubtful if a parallel can be found in the history of life insurance where two men of such decided individu- ality, strong convictions and marked ability have together headed a corporation and worked in such perfect concord.
The one department to which Mr. Johnson gave special attention was the agency department. While he never assumed the title, he was superintendent of agencies, and in this office came into direct contact with the men in the field. How well he discharged the duties of his office the field men well know. He had a keen sense of justice, and when he felt that he was in the right exemplified the courage of his own convictions by refusing to be dislodged from any position which he took. As a good executive he never lost sight of the interests of the company, yet also he never forgot the best interests of the agents and was always thinking and planning for their good. He injected such a wholesome spirit into all that he did that business deliberations between man and man secmed rather the kindly dealings between friend and friend. This was always evidenced at the Home Office, where he kept in close touch with much of the detail of the life business, as effecting the agents and agency matters. He was continually sought in consul- tation and his careful attention was given to matters of seemingly trifling importance as readily as to those of the gravest concern. His office was always open to anyone who sought his advice and his cordial greeting and kindly manner made all feel at home in his presence. In all his bearing he was more an intimate friend, a big-hearted brother, than a head executive of the company.
Mr. Johnson's years of successful experience in the real estate and banking business gave him a peculiar fitness for assisting in the manage- ment of the financial interests and investments of the company, to which he gave a good deal of attention. He was a wise and safe counselor and his judgment was valued highly by the other executives of the com- pany. He made the appraisements and placed the company's loans in certain sections, particularly in his native state of Texas. As an evidence
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of his ability and good judgment in that connection, of the several millions of dollars invested by him in Texas not a single loan gave the company any trouble.
While primarily and distinctively a business man, Mr. Johnson had literary gifts of no mean character, his work in this connection being principally done in adding to the literature of the company with which he was identified. An indication of his gifts in this direction may be presented as an example : "Building the Pacific Mutual. Out of a vision of usefulness came the Pacific Mutual fifty years ago. High ideals caused those great men to lay the foundation deep and strong-befitting the superstructure which was to stand for all time,-a tower of strength,- protecting fortress for coming generations. A building, even the most stately cathedral, can be completely finished, every arch and column architecturally perfect, but ours is a building that is never finished,-a building not made with hands. Each successive management must add its stone-a stone cut from the quarry of service aud polished with aspiration toward perfection. Twelve years ago the present management was called to that quarry and at once determined to serve its generation well and faithfully. Our ambition is that others who come after us, when they look at the stone we leave, may find that it squares with: A profound sense of responsibility, reaching not only to policy holders, but to agents, employes and the public ; an effort to give the greatest amount of protection for the least amount of money ; only a few rules, with in- sistence upon those few, including the one called Golden; honesty, courtesy, efficiency, with a sincere desire to serve; hearty approval of state supervision ; loyalty to our country and its laws."
The following Resolutions, adopted by Mr. Johnson and exemplified by him in his everyday life, strike one of the strong notes of his character : "This day shall be my best if honest effort will make it so. I expect to meet disappointment, annoyances and possibly rebuffs, but I shall try to look upon all hindrances as a part of the day's work, put there to be overcome. I expect also to meet success, because I am out after it. I. shall be cheerful, earnest and persevering, honestly representing Pacific Mutual policies to men who need them. Whatever may be the result of this day's work I shall seek my bed at night with the consciousness that not one hour was wasted and that I did the best I could."
Mr. Johnson's work was of a nature that kept him busily engaged, yet he always found time to assist in outside interests. He was for more than twenty years a trustee of the University of Southern Cali- fornia, an advisory director of the Young Women's Christian Association of Los Angeles from its organization, a trustee of the Mckinley Boy's Home, a director in several banks, a member of the Capital Issues Com- mittee of the Twelfth Federal District, and actively connected with various other organizations and interests. While always willing to do his full share in every worthy form of work where he could assist, he never sought office and was too modest to aspire to numerous other high offices easily within his reach. He was a great lover of his home and the family circle, and was not a clubman in the sense that some men are, yet he enjoyed the companionship of his fellows and held membership in several leading clubs, including the California Club, Midwick Country Club and the Bolsa Chica Gun Club, which are located at or near Los Angeles, and the Bohemian Club of San Francisco. He was a member of the Methodist church, in which he did much work during his life and to which he gave his liberal support. His benefactions were numerous
I'm Francis Ireland
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and totaled a large sum, but were always given without ostentation and were usually known only to himself and the recipient.
In September, 1918, Mr. Johnson went to New York City to attend the annual convention of the National Association of Life Underwriters, apparently in the best of health. He was in excellent spirits and en- thusiastic in his numerous plans for the agency work of the company, and looked forward with much pleasure to his trip and to the opportunity to associate again for a few days with many of the Pacific Mutual agents, who were always close to his heart. The day following the close of the convention, September 7, 1918, while returning to his hotel from breakfast, he was seized with an attack of heart trouble and expired in about ten minutes without regaining consciousness. The remains were brought back to Los Angeles by his friends, and funeral services were held at the home, September 12, interment being made at San Gabriel Cemetery, among the orange groves and not far from Alhambra, where Mr. Johnson once resided. On the day of the funeral the follow- ing tribute was paid to Mr. Johnson in an editorial which appeared in the Los Angeles Daily Times :
.'The time demands strong minds, great hearts, true faith and willing hands.' Of these was Gail B. Johnson, who is borne to his last resting place today ; and it is difficult for those who knew hin best to understand why he was taken. God's over all; and we must have faith-and we do-but we shall miss Gail B. Johnson. We shall miss him in the work the time demands-miss the strong, great-hearted, willing, kindly man of the hour, whose joy it was to be of service to his fellows. He was one of the makers of Los Angeles and one of the type of men the nation relies on today in its period of stress. He was honored in life and long will his memory be an inspiration to his associates and friends. The good he has done will surely live after him-that is the message the last rites over his mortal remains will convey to those who pause to think of him and his busy life today."
WILLIAM FRANCIS IRELAND. To call William Francis Ireland a ver- satile man is hardly to do justice to the earnest and efficient service he has rendered in many forms of social, religious and community work and various business organizations. Mr. Ireland is an ordained minister of the Gospel, one time on the stage, is well versed in the law, though he has never been formally admitted to practice in California, and has a consum- mate ability as an organizer and in handling the complicated interests of business men acting in groups and in association movements.
Mr. Ireland was born at Chatham in extreme eastern Massachu- setts, on the Cape, August 9, 1876. He is a son of Nathan B. and Rhoda Ella (Rogers) Ireland. Both parents were born on the Massachusetts Cape. His mother traced her ancestry directly to Thomas and Joseph Rogers, who came over on the Mayflower. The Ireland tamily came to the United States from Scotland, first landing at Egg Harbor in New Jersey. William F. Ireland has the relationship of third cousin to the late Bishop Ireland of St. Paul. His grandfather, John Ireland, was born at Egg Harbor. Nathan B. Ireland was born at East Har- wick, Massachusetts, while his wife was born at South Orleans in the same vicinity, and they were married there and Mrs. Nathan Ireland still lives at South Orleans. Nathan Ireland spent most of his life in the real estate business, and his business career required his residence at different intervals at Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Chicago, and he died while on a business trip to Milwaukee. As a boy he learned
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the life of the sea under his father, who was captain and owner of sev- eral fishing schooners. The boy himself commanded a fishing schooner for his father. Nathan Ireland was a very active man in the repub- lican party in the different cities where he lived, but never aspired for public office. He and his wife had three children, William F. being the second. The older daughter, Mrs. Harold Scott, lives with her mother, and the younger daughter is Mrs. Harry Palmer of Valley Stream, Long Island.
William F. Ireland was educated in Massachusetts and also at- tended public school in Philadelphia. After school he went on the stage as a vaudeville actor, also took some part in drama, and at one time had a minor role with Henry Irving. For three and a half years ne gave all his time to the study of medicine in the New York Medical School, but before completing his course and beginning practice became diverted into religious lines, and in October, 1899, was ordained a minister of the Baptist church in New York City. His special forte was evange- listic work, and as the "actor evangelist" became known all over the country. Mr. Ireland located at Los Angeles in January, 1905, and continued his religious work for several years. For about three years he was pastor of the Union Church at La Canada in Los Angeles county, holding regular services there each Sunday for a year, and also building a parsonage and establishing the church in a sound financial condition. He also took the lead in the movement which brought about the building of the Highland Park Baptist Church. As a speaker on religious and secular themes Mr. Ireland has been heard all over south- ern California. At the request of. Bishop McIntire and the pastors of other denominations and California business men he took upon himself the responsibility of organizing what was known as the Sunday Rest League. This brought Mr. Ireland into a new profession when they secured his services for legal and collection work. Since the close of 1915 he has been secretary of the Los Angeles Cafe and Restaurant Men's Protective ssociation. When the food administration came about as a result of the war, Mr. Ireland and Vernon Goodwin of the Alexandria Hotel were appointed local food administrators over the hotels and restaurants of southern California, the state administrator, Ralph Merritt, leaving practically all the responsibilities in the hands of Mr. Ireland. Some change of duties were subsequently made, but Mr. Ireland continued during the war as direct representative of the Food Administration over the hotels and restaurants.
Mr. Ireland is secretary-chairman of the Southern California Wholesale and Retail Bakers' Association, whose jurisdiction covers ten southern California counties. In July, 1918, Mr. Ireland called a con- vention of retail bakers in Chicago and was elected second vice president of the Retail Bakers' Association of America, representing the interests of these business men in the United States and Canada. He is also an advisor on nearly all the committees of this organization. He is now secretary of the Restaurant Men's Association of Los Angeles, is ad- visory chairman of the Restaurant Men's' Association of San Diego, San Luis Obispo and Kern counties, and acts in an advisory capacity for the organization of similar associations in other counties of south- ern California. He is a member of the Conference Committee of the Bakers' Industry and is district secretary of both the San Diego and Los Angeles divisions of the California section of the National Bakers' Service Committee. In addition to all these duties he writes for three bakers' papers and three restaurant publications.
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Mr. Ireland was appointed chaplain of a regiment organized for service in the Spanish-American war, but the command was never called into active service. In 1918 he was candidate for city councilman at large in Los Angeles. In politics he is strictly independent. He is a member of the Union League, the First Baptist Church of Los An- geles, and has the honor of being the first Police Court public defender in the United States. For four years by appointment he served as city public defender without pay, at the end of which time the City Council created the office of City Police Court Defender.
June 6, 1901, at Bridgetown, New York, Mr. Ireland married Jean W. Camphell, who was born and reared in Bridgetown. They have two children: William Francis, Jr., born July 23, 1903, at Bridgetown, and Helen B., who was born at Kansas City, Missouri. Mr. Ireland and family reside at 4030 Dalton avenue.
ERWIN WILSON WIDNEY, city prosecutor of Los Angeles, has enjoyed mnich prominence in the bar and in politics during his comparatively brief career.
Mr. Widney was born in Los Angeles, at the corner of Fourth and Olive streets, December 31, 1888. His father, William W. Widney, and his mother, Elizabeth Serrot, were both pioneers of southern Cali- fornia. His father was born in Pickaway, Ohio, and his mother in Springfield, Illinois. It was in 1861, at the beginning of the Civil war, that the Serrot family and William W. Widney came to California. The Serrots made their first efforts to cross the plains in a prairie schooner. On account of the hostility of Indians at the beginning of the Civil war they turned back and finally reached California by the Panama route. On the same boat which brought the Serrot family William W. Widney was a passenger, but he did not make the acquaintance of the daughter Elizabeth at that time. During the voyage to California the boat was chased by a Confederate cruiser. William W. Widney was about seventeen years old when he came to California, where he joined his brother, Dr. J: P. Widney, who had previously established himself in practice at Santa Clara. Soon afterward he was stricken with ty- phoid fever at the old Bella Union Hotel, and it was during that critical period in his life that he met Elizabeth Serrot. W. W. Widney and wife are still living in Los Angeles. They were the parents of five children : Mrs. Paul Pauly, of Los Angeles; Mrs. Sidney N. Reeve, wife of Judge Sidney N. Reeve of the Superior Court of Los Angeles; Mrs. Shirley E. Brewer, of Chicago; Erwin W .; and Joseph P., who died at the age of seventeen.
Erwin W. Widney attended the public schools, being in the old 30th School when Bettinger was principal. He graduated from the Los Angeles High School with the class of 1908 and took his law course in the University of southern California. He was admitted to the Cali- fornia bar September 27, 1911. By appointment from Judge Sidney N. Reeve he served as clerk of the Justice Court two years and then took up active private practice with Spencer Thorpe, under the name of Thorpe & Widney, for two years. Warren Williams then appointed him deputy city prosecutor and later made him assistant city prosecu- tor. May 22, 1917, Mr. Widney became city prosecutor under appoint- ment from Mayor Woodman.
Mr. Widney is regarded as one of the most influential members of the Republican party in Los Angeles. He is affiliated with Arlington Lodge No. 414, A. F. and A. M., at Los Angeles, the Phi Delta Phi
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legal fraternity, and Ramona Parlor, Native Sons of the Golden West. He and his family reside at 963 Menlo avenue. November 12, 1912, he married Miss Marjorie E. Utley, of Los Angeles, daughter of Dr. J. H. Utley, who was one of the pioneer physicians of the city. Mrs. Widney is a native daughter, born and educated in Los Angeles, being a gradu- ate of the Marlboro School for Girls. They have one son, William Hathaway, named for his two grandfathers. He was born April 18, 1914.
CAPTAIN SPENCER ROANE THORPE. Southern California was the home during the last twenty odd years of his life of one of the true sons of the south, a gallant Confederate soldier and officer, who exemplified all the fine qualities of the real southern gentleman in the person of the late Captain Spencer Roane Thorpe. For a number of years he lived in Los Angeles, but had interests outside the city, particularly in the fruit growing district of Ventura county.
He was born at Louisville, Kentucky, January 20, 1842. He was the great-great-grandson of Patrick Henry, of Hanover county, Virginia, who served as captain of the first company organized for service in the Revolutionary war. Captain Thorpe acquired his education in St. Joseph's College at Bardstown, Kentucky, and at the age of nineteen, at the very outset of the war between the states, he volunteered his services to the Confederate government. He enlisted at Corinth, Miss- issippi, in April, 1861, in the 16th Mississippi Infantry. He was wounded in the battle of Drainsville, Virginia, December 20, 1861. At the expira- tion of his term of service he re-enlisted in a company of the Second Kentucky Cavalry, of which General John H. Morgan was colonel and Basil W. Duke, lieutenant-colonel. He held the rank of first lieutenant in Morgan's forces in the raid through Indiana. He was seriously wounded at Corydon July 9, 1863, was left on the field for dead and as a prisoner of war was exchanged at Johnson's Island in October, 1864. He then returned to his regiment, under the command of General Duke, and was a captain when his command surrendered at Woodstock, Georgia, May 10, 1865. Of his service General Duke says : "As the com- mander of that regiment for nearly two years and subsequently of the brigade of which it was a part, and having an intimate personal acquaint- ance with Captain Thorpe from the time he joined it, I can testify to the character of his service therewith. He took part in almost every important raid and expedition, and in nearly every battle in which the regiment was engaged. He served with conspicuous gallantry and intelli- gence and was twice wounded. He was promoted to lieutenant of his company and upon the promotion of Captain Messick near the close of the war he became virtually captain of the company and was in command of it."
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