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 III > Part 39
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The late Mr. Broadwell in his brief life evinced a genius at good fellowship and gained a host of warm and admiring friends. He was a member of the local chapter of the Native Sons and was also a Mason, and his funeral was held under Masonic auspices, also being attended by all the other seven motor policemen employed by the county.
MOSES NATHAN AVERY, president and a director of the Guaranty Trust & Savings Bank, is one of the best known bankers in Southern Cali- fornia, and is looked to for advice and suggestions in business matters by thousands of Los Angeles residents, especially among those substan- tial citizens of long residence who have been acquainted with him so- cially and through business for so many years.
For "Dr. Avery," as he is known to his friends, though a graduate physician, was one of the founders, in 1890, of the banking institution which has now become through growth and expansion the "Guaranty Bank." He has been continually connected with it ever since; for many years its executive head; and its history has been one of steady, con- servative growth in resources and influence, until now it is one of the important banks of the Pacific Coast, with aggregate resources of more than thirty-four million dollars (March, 1920), rendering through its Trust and other departments a complete departmental banking service.
Dr. Avery was born at Lyndon, Washtenaw County, Michigan, a son of Nathan and Matilda (Rockwell) Avery. His father, who was a native of Elmira, New York, came to Southern Michigan in 1832, being one of the pioneers in that state. Dr. Avery is a descendant of the Groton Averys, a noted family of New England, and one of Dr. Avery's kinsmen, Elroy M. Avery of Cleveland, has compiled and published the family genealogy and history under the title, "The Groton Avery Clan."
Moses Nathan Avery finished his high school course at Chelsea. Michigan, in 1875, and at the age of seventeen taught his first term of district school. School teaching in winter and farming in the summer were the stepping stones by which he reached his profession. He con- tinued this varied occupation until he entered the University of Michigan, in 1879, and was graduated M. D. in 1881.
He practiced medicine at Niles, Michigan, for eight years.
Dr. Avery is a republican in politics, a Presbyterian, a member of the California Club, and the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. July 14, 1880, at Waterloo, Michigan, he married Sarah Elizabeth Gorton, daughter of Aaron T. Gorton. Dr. and Mrs. Avery have two children, Florence Lucile and Dr. Lewis Gorton Avery. i
WILLIAM RICHARD DICKINSON, a resident of Los Angeles since 1904, is president of the Dickinson Company at 300 South Main Street, one of the most prosperous retail drug stores in the city. Mr. Dickin- son has been a constructive factor in the drug business in southern
Dravery
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California. He helped organize and was the first president of the Los Angeles Retail Druggists Association, and has also served as president of the California State Pharmaceutical Association. These organiza- tions have performed a very useful part not only in promoting the mu- tual welfare of the drug business but especially in improving the spirit of friendly co-operation between business competitors in the same city.
Mr. Dickinson was born at Carrollton, Missouri, October 27, 1862, and came to California from the Black Hills, South Dakota. His par- ents were Richard W. and Laura (Kinchelo) Dickinson. His father represented a New York family, while the Kinchelos were Virginians, originally from Parkersburg. William R. Dickinson acquired his early education in the public schools of Kansas City, Missouri, and began learning the drug business there in 1875. In 1879 he went out to the famous Black Hills gold mining district, locating in Deadwood and Central City of Dakota Territory, and after working in a drug store four years, bought out a business and was one of the leading retail drug- gists of the Black Hills, South Dakota, until 1904. His business home for a number of years was in Central City, and he was active in all local enterprises, and was the first democratic postmaster, under the Cleve- land administration, of the Territory of Dakota.
After his store was burned in Central City in 1887, he engaged in the wholesale and retail drug business at Lead, South Dakota, and estab- lished stores in the various cities of the Black Hills, remaining there until he came to Los Angeles in 1904. He was largely interested in gold mining, and was connected with the late Senator Hearst's Mining Investments in the town of Lead, where the famous Homestake mine is located. At Lead he exerted his influence in behalf of every public spirited 'movement for the upbuilding of the city from a log cabin mining town to a modern city of fifteen thousand. He was personally known to every man, woman and child in that section.
Mr. Dickinson came from a family of old-line democrats. He was chairman of the Democratic Central Committee for several years, until Bryan made his first campaign in 1896 on free silver. He resigned from the Democratic Central Committee and organized the Sound Money Democrats of the Black Hills, which later on became a state organi- zation which helped to elect the late President William McKinley, and since that time has been a stanch progressive republican. He has always been active in politics though never to promote his individual candidacy for office.
In 1891 he joined the Masonic Order at Lead, and was advanced rapidly in the honors of the craft. He served as eminent commander of Dakota Commandery No. 1, K. T., as illustrious potentate of Naja Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of the Black Hills, and master of the Kodash Black Hills Consistory for nine years. In 1892 he was Knighted as com- mander of the court of Honor of the Scottish Rite, 32nd degree, South- ern jurisdiction. Since coming to California he has transferred his Masonic activities and membership to the local bodies of Los Angeles. Mr. Dickinson is a member of the Board of Directors of the Union League Club, is a charter member of the Temple Baptist church of Los Angeles, and a member of the Los Angeles Country Club, Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, Merchants and Manufacturers Association, Au- tomobile Club of Southern California, and member, as well as secre- tary, of the Republican State Central Committee of California in 1919-20. Mrs. Dickinson has been a member of the Ebell Club since 1904.
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August 20, 1890, at Snohomish, Washington, he married Miss Celestia Warson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Martin Warson. Her father was a soldier and officer in the Civil war. Mr. and Mrs. Dick- inson have one daughter, Laurel, who was born in South Dakota. She is a graduate of the Los Angeles High School, also of the State Nor- mal School, and finished her education in the Bradford Academy at Haverhill, Massachusetts.
FRANK A. WATERS has been connected with the Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad for nearly twenty years as its general right of way and tax agent, and by profession is a lawyer.
Mr. Waters, who came to Los Angeles more than twenty-five years ago, was born at Chicago, July 22, 1877, a son of Asa K. and Janet (Hendry) Waters. His mother was born at Forres, Scotland. Asa Knowlton Waters was born at Halifax, Vermont, served as a Union soldier in the 11th New York Cavalry, known as Scott's Nine Hundred, and afterward spent his active business career as a contractor and build- er at Chicago, where he married. There were two children, Frank A. and Miss Crystal. The daughter is a talented singer, and used her talents to good advantage in entertaining the American troops in France, Italy, Germany and Austria for eighteen months during and following the war.
Frank A. Waters was nineteen years of age when he came to Los Angeles. For several years he was in the building and contracting business, after which he spent two years in Washington in Government service. In 1901 he entered the service of the Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad. He has been the head of its land and tax department since 1903. While performing those duties he also studied law and was admitted to the California bar in January, 1910. Mr. Waters has been for many years a member of the Union League and Jonathan Clubs, and is at present a member of the California Bar Association, the Automobile Club and the Wilshire Country Club.
April 25, 1905, at Los Angeles, he married Miss Martha B. Bohan, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She is a graduate of the University of Wis- consin, has served as president of the Badger Club of Los Angeles, an organization of Wisconsin women. She was its president for two terms and has also been vice president and secretary of the Women's University Club of Los Angeles. Much of her time during the recent war was given to the Red Cross and other auxiliary work. Her mother is Elizabeth Baker Bohan, a prominent member of the literary colony of Los Angeles, noted as an author and writer of fiction and a student of sociological problems. Mr. and Mrs. Waters have two children, both born in this city, Elizabeth Janet and Knowlton.
JOHN KAHN. A resident of Los Angeles thirty years, the late John Kahn, who died March 20, 1919, enjoyed that distinctive success of the man whose business experience and personal influence increase and expand with the passing years, so that the place' he filled in a large city involved the fortunes and the good will and friendship of hundreds of thousands of persons.
John Kahn was born in New York City in 1862, one of a family of nine children. All these children possessed special talents in music, and while his life was an extremely busy one, immersed in practical affairs, music always made a strong appeal to the late Mr. Kahn. His
JOHN KAHN
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sister, Mrs. Albert Elkus, was for many years president and is now presi- dent emeritus of the Saturday Morning Club of Sacramento, one of the largest and strongest musical organizations in California. Her son Albert is a composer of musical settings for poems which inspire him, his compositions being scored for the piano.
John Kahn was educated in New York, and when about seventeen years of age came to California and became associated with his brothers in a dry goods store at Oakland. The firm of Kahn Brothers conducted the largest business of its kind in the city. Ten years later Mr. John Kahn, leaving the Oakland firm came to Los Angeles and opened what was known as the "Lace House," at first in the Nadeau Hotel Building and later in the Bryson Block. About that time he married Miss Ger- trude Behrendt, daughter of Mr. Casper Behrendt, a California pioneer, owner of extensive walnut groves, orange orchards and ranch prop- erty, and a well remembered factor in the upbuilding of southern Cali- fornia. Her mother was Hulda Behrendt, sister of Kasper .Cohn, and was noted for her broad philanthropies. She died in Los Angeles in 1917.
About 1897 Mr. Kahn sold out his lace business and helped organ- ize the Kahn-Beck Cracker, Candy and Macaroni Company. He was active in this firm, one of the owners, and developed it to one of the leading concerns of the kind in the west.
He possessed the broad character of the successful business man and public spirited citizen and home lover, and much of his effort, espe- cially in later years, was expended in directions of practical charity. His name was associated in some important capacity with nearly every Fiesta committee, public enterprise and movement for the betterment of the city and the entertainment of its people. He liberally bestowed his time among the various charitable organizations with which he was connected, and did much charity that the world never heard of. He was one of the founders and president of the Jewish Orphans Home, was a former director of the Merchants and Manufacturers Associa- tion, a director of the B'nai B'rith Synagogue, member of the Los An- geles Athletic Club, San Gabriel Country Club, for seventeen years was president of the Concordia Club, and was a Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner. In politics he was a republican, and constantly exercised his influence for good government both local and national.
Considering his achievements and what he stood for in Los An- geles for many years, he well deserved the tribute penned by a close friend in the following words :
"When John Kahn was carried to his eternal resting place, the heavens wept. They wept for us who knew him and loved him. They wept for the earth that can ill afford to spare such a man.
"Who that knew him will ever forget him? His name will go down to the children and the children's children. And they shall know that God sent us an angel as he sent angels to the generations of old to bless us and enrich our lives. It was something to have felt the tenderness and love of that man. Such a smile as he possessed was verily a halo. In a world that is filled to the brim with bitterness and conflict, this man came to give us strength and courage, to fill us with hope and trust in God and man."
Mr. Kahn was survived by Mrs. Kahn and two children. Mrs. Kahn, who is a graduate of the Lake School, a fashionable boarding school of San Francisco, has long been prominent in Los Angeles club
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life, and is one of the devoted students of Shakespeare in the city. She is affiliated with the Galpin Shakespeare Club, the Ebell Club, Friday Morning Club and was a leader and founder of Lou V. Chapin Cur- rent Events Club. Mrs. Kahn's daughter, Lillian May, is a beautiful young girl, whose accomplishments as a musician and dancer are well known. The son, Ivan B. Kahn, was one of the very first young men from Los Angeles to enlist when America entered the war with Ger- many. He served as a corporal with the 54th Artillery in France, and had returned to Camp Kearny just a short time before his father's death. He was a member of the Kahn-Beck Company, and has also followed the worthy example of his father by activity in various philanthropies. Now in conjunction with his accomplished wife, whose maiden name was Frances Guihan, he is writing scenarios for the various moving picture productions.
EDWARD A. CLAMPITT, who died at his home in Los Angeles Septem- ber 25, 1919, had for several years been the largest independent indi- vidual oil operator and owner of oil property in California. In his death the oil industry lost its best friend, was the opinion of his associates and friends, who had regarded him as an able counselor in all matters affect- ing the general welfare of the petroleum industry. He was a man of strong friendship, was a vigorous fighter for the rights of his friends, as well as his own, and no man could have done more for the promotion of the legislation for oil interests and oil wells. Mr. Clampitt's holdings in Los Angeles and Orange Counties and in Bakerfield were of considerable area.
He was born in Macon County, Illinois, December 14, 1868, a son of Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Clampitt, who are still living in Los Angeles. Ed- ward A. Clampitt came to Los Angeles in 1888, and from that time until a few days before his death was continuously engaged in some phase of the oil business. He was an oil driller, and helped bring in some of the greatest oil fields in the Southwest. Among his activities were the operation of about forty wells in the old Los Angeles city field. For many years he was a director of the Columbia Oil Producing Company, and was organizer and owner of the E. A. Clampitt Company of Los Angeles. Only a brief time before his death he was appointed counsellor of the American Petroleum Institute. He had some several hundred acres in the Newhall District, where many wells are operated.
Mr. Clampitt worked very hard, but enjoyed each day of life as he lived it. He liked work and he also threw himself with enthusiasm into his play and recreation. He was devoted to his family and home and he exhibited a broad interest in the general welfare. While he was a mem- ber of the city council at Los Angeles he did much to give employment to the unemployed, and in the general industrial organization under his immediate supervision he sought constantly to extend better pay and better working conditions to his men. While he was what might be called a practical business man, Mr. Clampitt long recognized those forces and influences that are classified as spiritual. He understood better than most men some of the spiritual conditions underlying the problems of economic unrest. A short time before his death, in a con- versation with his pastor, Rev. Mr. Monkman, Mr. Clampitt expressed his belief that the world restorative must be supplied by the churches in the spirit of brotherly love, one of their foundation principles, the prac- tice of which would serve better than anything else to stabilize humanity during the process of reconstruction.
Et Clampich
Margaret 7. Clampitt.
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Mr. Clampitt was elected a member of the City Council in 1906 and filled that office for three years. In respect for his public services, the city government of Los Angeles made special recognition at the time of his funeral, which was very largely attended by his multitude of friends, including bankers, lawyers and nearly all the members of the city govern- ment.
Genuine grief at his passing by strong men, and later many letters of condolence and expression of personal loss came from distant points. and numerous newspapers over the country also paid tribute to the pass- ing of a good friend and upright man. His funeral was preached by his friend and pastor, Rev. Dr. Locke of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, and Rev. Mr. Monkman of the Union Avenue Methodist Epis- copal Church. He was a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber of Mines and Oils, the Los Angeles Athletic Club, the Elks. the Masons, and the Knights of Pythias.
The late Mr. Clampitt married Miss Margaret M. Wright. Mrs. Clampitt and two children survive, Leah Margaret and Barbara Hallam Clampitt. Mrs. Clampitt, who has long been prominent socially in Los Angeles, is a daughter of Herman and Nancy (Hallam) Wright. Both parents died in the East. Mrs. Clampitt was born in Livingston County, Illinois. Her father was a merchant and for many years conducted a hotel at Washington, Pennsylvania. It is recorded that this hostelry was the gathering place for all the best people of the historic section of Pennsylvania in which they lived. Epecially on "court days" the city of Washington was crowded with people from the surrounding districts and the best county families would dine and meet socially in the "Hotel Court." Mrs. Clampitt, through her mother, is descended from the dis- tinguished Hallam family, originally of Windsor, England, many of whose members have gained distinction in art and letters. Mrs. Clam- pitt's ancestors were also early Americans. Her Great-grandfather Hallam built the first theater in Philadelphia. Her father was a member of the prominent Wright family of Maryland, extensive land owners, who prior to the Revolution settled around Baltimore and Hagerstown.
Mrs. Clampitt was educated in the public schools of Kansas and the Normal University of Salina, Kansas. She has been a member of the Ebell Club of Los Angeles since 1904, the Wednesday Morning Club since 1902, and for a number of years was a member of the Averill Club and was one of the organizers of the literary La Camarada Club. During the period of the war she was chairman of the Food Commit- tee in her precinct and was active in sugar distribution.
Mrs. Clampitt's parents had a number of children, but Mrs. Clampitt and her sister, Mrs. Rae Johnson, alone reside in Los Angeles. Rea Wright married Harry T. Johnson, who for years had been a close per- sonal friend and business associate of Mr. Clampitt and is now general manager of all the Clampitt properties. Mrs. Rae Johnson during the war was active in united war work and Liberty Loan campaigns, serving as chairman of the committee in her precinct, her home being precinct headquarters. She has always taken much interest in politics, especially since suffrage was conferred upon the women of California. She was for a time a school teacher and is a member of the Ebell Club, and with her sister, Mrs. Clampitt, helped organize the La Comarada Club. Mrs. Johnson and her husband were actively connected with Mr. Clampitt's work and Mr. Johnson was in charge of the development and operation of the holdings of Mr. Clampitt in the Newhall district. Mrs. Clampitt
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and Mrs. Johnson all their lives have been very close and intimate in their interests and activities.
ABEL STEVENS HALSTED, a prominent lawyer, member of the Cali- fornia bar for quarter of a century, has been on the legal staff of the Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad Company since its organization, and is now general counsel for the entire system.
He was born at Mamaroneck, New York, August 20, 1870, son of Samuel Martin and Ida Russell (Stevens) Halsted. In 1876, when he was a boy six years old, his parents moved to California and located at San Gabriel, at what is now Alhambra. Samuel M. Halsted died there, and the old home is now occupied by his widow and a daughter.
A. S. Halsted attended public schools at San Gabriel and Los An- geles, graduating from high school in the latter city in 1889. He then took up the study of law and was admitted to the California bar in 1893, and since that year his work has been at Los Angeles, and he has pur- sued an undeviating career as a lawyer, never seeking or acquiring im- portant outside interests. He became associated with the law depart- ment of the Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad Company at the time of its organization in 1901, and was the first general attorney for Cali- fornia, serving later as assistant general counsel, and since April 25, 1911, as general counsel. He is also a representative of the legal inter- ests for a number of other corporations.
Mr. Halstead is a member of the Episcopal church and a republican in politics. His other social connections are with the California Club, Midwick Country Club, Automobile Club of Southern California, Jona- than Club, Sunset Club, Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, the Val- ley Hunt Club of Pasadena, Los Angeles County Bar Association, Cali- fornia Bar Association and American Bar Association.
May 27, 1897, at San Francisco, Mr. Halsted married Eleanor Hall, whose father, the late Rev. Wyllys Hall, was for many years rec. tor of All Saints Church at Pasadena. Mrs. Halsted was born in Ohio, and received her education in Michigan. Mr. and Mrs. Halsted have one son, A. S., Jr., born at Pasadena.
CORNELIUS COLE. If all the epochs and series of events and de- velopments in which Cornelius Cole participated as an actor or witness were combined in logical sequence the story would be fairly representa- tive of the history of California from the time of the American occu- pation to the present. It is necessary to emphasize with new vitality the old phrase "Grand Old Man" when speaking of Cornelius Cole. In September, 1919, his many friends and relatives gathered to congratu- late Mr. Cole on his ninety-seventh birthday anniversary. To live ninety-seven years and still retain mental and physical faculties and profess an enjoyment of life is of itself a remarkable distinction. But Mr. Cole has come to old age with that honor which represents long and faithful service to the state and nation, and he has been an asso- ciate and friend of all the great men produced by California, himself being not least among California's great men.
Cornelius Cole was born at Lodi in Seneca county, New York, Sep- tember 17, 1822, a son of David and Rachel (Townsend) Cole. He rep- resented substantial stock, with American traditions of education firmly implanted in the family creed. He attended public schools, the Ovid Academy, the Lima Seminary, Geneva College one year, and in 1847
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graduated from Wesleyan University in Connecticut. He studied law in the office of Seward, Morgan & Blatchford at Auburn, New York, and was admitted to the New York bar by the Supreme Court on May 1, 1848. There was no lack of opportunity for the young man of ambi- tion. The war with Mexico had recently closed, and the world was stirred with the news of gold discoveries on the Pacific coast. Cornelius Cole soon determined to join that tide of restless adventurers bound for the gold coast. He was a member of a party of seven which outfitted and started from the Missouri River and crossed the plains and was the first to arrive at Sutter's Fork in the season of 1849. For a year he gave little thought to practicing law, and busied himself with the varied experiences of mining. In 1850 he formed a partnership at San Fran- cisco with James Pratt, but the following year moved to Sacramento and for ten years was a man of prominence in the State capital.
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