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 42
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70
Mr. Glassell is a democrat in his political affiliation. March 31, 1886, he married Miss Rietta M. Ring, daughter of George P. and Vir- ginia (Micou) Ring, of New Orleans. At the time of her marriage, Mrs. Glassell's mother, Virginia M. Ring, was the second wife of the late Andrew Glassell Sr. Mr. and Mrs. Glassell had three children: Andri- etta, who became the wife of Milton Clark Somers; Virginia, who died at the age of twelve years, and William Micou, who married Margaret Dagmar Sheerer.
FREDERICK P. GREGSON. The qualifications which enabled Fred- erick P. Gregson to render such signally useful services to the business interests of Southern California in his capacity as manager and secre- tary of the Associated Jobbers of Los Angeles were largely derived from his long and expert experience as a railroad traffic official. Mr. Gregson has been a resident of Los Angeles over thirty years, and prob- ably knows the complicated subject of rates and traffic details as thor- oughly as any man in this section of the Southwest.
Mr. Gregson was born in Brooklyn, New York, March 17, 1862, .son of John Proctor and Marie (Larimie) Gregson. His father was an attorney by profession, but later became a naval officer. He served at one time as paymaster in the United States Navy and was one of the men who hoisted the United States flag at Monterey. He and his wife are both deceased and he spent his last days retired in Illinois.
Frederick P. Gregson, who was the seventh in a family of eleven children, had a brief schooling but sufficient to give him a knowledge of the branches he has utilized so well in connection with his keen in- telligence and masterful mind. As a young man he entered railroading as an assistant to Ed Chambers and W. G. Barnwell of the Santa Fe system. He first came to Southern California in 1883 and located here permanently in 1887 as an employe of the Sante Fe System.
The Los Angeles Jobbers Association was formed October 11,
734
LOS ANGELES
1899, and it opened its traffic bureau in 1908. Mr. Gregson was chosen to head this bureau, and has served the association as an adviser and administrator on all subjects connected with freight rates and other traffic problems. For a number of years the association had been en- gaged in a fruitless effort to obtain rate concessions, but the accomplish- ment of that end was left to Mr. Gregson. He has secured not only a just regulation of transportation rates affecting Southern California, but through his constant watchfulness has safeguarded the trade and industries of Los Angeles from discriminations and adverse legislation arising either in the city ordinances, state laws or national legislation. He has also rendered a great deal of practical assistance in promoting the harbor improvements for Los Angeles. He was publicity represen- tative of the United States Railroad Administration, and in that work divided his time between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Mr. Gregson who has never married, is independent in local poli- tics and a democrat in national affairs. He is a member of the Los Angeles Athletic Club, the City Club and is a member and active in the Transportation Committee of the Chamber of Commerce, and in re- ligion is a Catholic.
EARL CURTIS PECK is a Los Angeles lawyer, beginning practice here in 1910, and is identified with a busy and important practice as a corporation lawyer. He is largely a product of Southern California, where he has lived since boyhood, but represents by birth and family con- nections some of the oldest New England stock.
He was born at Stratford, Connecticut, November 1, 1881, a son of Wilfred M. and Emily Josephine Peck. His father was a native of Pennsylvania and his mother of New York State. They were married in Connecticut. The paternal ancestry is traced back to Rev. Elijah Peck, who lived in Northeastern Pennsylvania in Revolutionary times. The Curtis family were English people who settled in Connecticut prior to the Revolution. Many of the Peck family have been prominent in educational affairs. Wilfred M. Peck and wife are living retired at Hollywood. The father was an attorney and practiced at Los Angeles about five years, retiring from his profession in 1915. He was formerly a lawyer at Hartford, Connecticut. Earl Curtis Peck is the oldest of three children. His sisters are Adaline, wife of Walter M. Noble, of Hollywood, and Emily, Mrs. Paul Adams, of Portland, Oregon.
Earl C. Peck was twelve years of age when his father came to California. He graduated from the Riverside High School in 1900, spent two years in the University of California beginning in 1901, and took his law work in the intervals of other employment, at the University of Southern California. He had a thorough business training before be- ing admitted to practice, having worked for two years with the South- ern Pacific Railroad and later with the Pacific Electric Railway and in 1910 resigned from a position in the Los Angeles Gas and Electric Com- pany. He was admitted to the bar in June, 1909, and began active prac- tice in January of the following year. He has been alone in practice and has formed his principal connections in corporation work.
Mr. Peck is a republican, a member of the legal fraternity Phi Delta Phi, City Club, Los Angeles County Bar Association, Brentwood Country Club, Automobile Club of Southern California.
He and his family reside at 610 North Kenywood Street in Glen- dale. April 7, 1910, at Los Angeles he married Miss Ethel Rose Wil- son, a daughter of James and Anna Wilson, who are living at Oakdale,
/
735
FROM THE MOUNTAINS TO THE SEA
California. Mrs. Peck was born and educated in Southern California. They have a daughter Catherine A., born in Venice, California.
FRANK WEBER BENTON, known to the literary world as F. Weber Benton, is one of those enviable men whose lives have presented a suc- cessful combination between the literary and artistic and the practical experience of doing things, getting things done with businesslike effi- ciency. Mr. Benton, who has given nearly fifty years of his life to work as an author, journalist, poet and publisher, is the present editor and general manager of All-Color California Magazine, of Los Angeles, the world's only all-color magazine.
He was born May 8, 1855, at Sheffield, Illinois, and was only fifteen years old when he contributed his first articles to the newspaper press. In 1874 at the age of nineteen he edited and published in St. Louis the Envelope magazine. He afterwards published the Home Circle, The Little Giant and The Criterion the latter being widely read and quoted as an authority on art, book reviews, drama, etc. Mr. Benton also had reportorial and editorial experience with the St. Louis Times, the St. Louis Republic (then the Republican), St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis Globe-Democrat, Star Sayings, Kansas City Star and other promin- ent journals. Many of his short stories, poems and general articles fre- quently appear in eastern magazines. In 1898 he wrote the History of St. Louis, Missouri, published by John Devoy of New York.
Mr. Benton had his home in St. Louis, except for the period of his travels in descriptive work, until 1903, when he came to Los Angeles for permanent residence. He had previously visited Southern Cali- fornia, spending a year here in 1886-7 and another year in 1892. In 1903 he established the Pictorial American, a popular, artistic and high class magazine. Some years later the name was changed to Scenic America, later to Semi-Tropic California, and finally to All-Color Cali- fornia Magazine. In 1915 he wrote and published a book on California, reputed to be the most artistic volume ever issued on the Pacific Coast and one containing much valuable information on this section of the country. A specially prepared copy of this work in a massive silver casket was presented by the City of San Diego through Congressman William Kettner to President Wilson at a cost of one thousand dollars.
Mr. Benton's Magazines serve to illustrate in a striking manner his ideals and aims as an author and publisher. While he has been very successful with many of his publications, the financial side has been less attractive to him than the artistic feature which he has upheld and em- phasized above all others. In addition to the partial list enumerated above Mr. Benton is author of the libretto of a successful opera, "The Lost Prince," and has written and published a number of other books, among which may be mentioned "Author's Manual," "Feathers and Foam," a novel, and several humorous works. A man of rare versa- tility and gifts is Frank Weber Benton.
RALPH LUTHER CRISWELL. As one of the present City Council- men of Los Angeles, Ralph Luther Criswell not only has shown excep- tional qualifications in handling the duties entrusted to his department, but is broadly and sympathetically representative of a large proportion of the city's population, especially those who work and labor.
Mr. Criswell is a printer and has been identified with the printing trades all his active career. He was born in Rushville, Illinois, October 12, 1861, son of Edmund L. and Susan Catherine (Wright) Criswell.
736
LOS ANGELES
His father fought with an Illinois regiment during the Civil war in the Union army, and in civil life was a contractor. Ralph L. Criswell, the oldest of six children, had opportunity to attend public schools only through the sixth grade and his best education was obtained as a prac- tical man in the printing arts. He learned the trade of printer, and has been a journeyman printer, proprietor of newspapers and identi- fied with every other phase of the business and in many places both east and west. Mr. Criswell has been a resident of Southern California since February 23, 1897. At one time he owned and published a paper at Santa Paula. For many years he has been identified with the composing rooms of the Los Angeles Herald and Examiner. He was elected a city councilman for a two year term in 1917, and re-elected in 1919.
December 20, 1885, he married Mrs. May (Greene) Hathaway, of Illinois. They have a son, Ralph Greene Criswell, who enlisted in the navy as an apprentice seaman and after six months was sent by his commanding officer to the Pelham Bay School, where he passed a suc- cessful examination and received a commission, holding the rank of ensign at the close of the war.
In politics Mr. Criswell is a republican, and is affiliated with South- gate Lodge No. 320, Free and Accepted Masons, and Johnson Lodge No. 185, Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Johnson, Nebraska. He is also a member of the Society of Sons of the Revolution.
He is deeply interested in the Los Angeles Typographical Union No. 174, and has filled all its offices and represented the Union at both state and national conventions.
WILLIAM H. MOORE, JR. Throughout his residence in Los Angeles William H. Moore, Jr., has been connected with the Board of Trade, and for the past eight years has held the responsibilities of the office of trustee and receiver in bankruptcy of various estates administered through the Federal Courts.
Mr. Moore was born on Catawba Island in Lake Erie, Ottawa county, Ohio, March 29, 1886, son of William H. and Lydia (Newton) Moore, the latter now deceased. His father for many years has been a captain on the Great Lakes. The Moore family is of old American Colonial stock, and Mr. Moore is a member of the Society of the Sons of the Revolution.
He was educated in the public schools of Port Clinton, Ohio, at- tended a business college in Cleveland, and in 1904 at the age of eigh- teen came to Los Angeles.
Mr. Moore is a democrat in politics, a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of the Los Angeles Athletic Club, and the Brentwood Coun- try Club. In religion he is an Episcopalian. On April 17th, 1912, he married Hermia C. Feuser, daughter of Anthony and Amelia (Besuden) Feuser, at Cincinnati, Ohio. They have one son, William H., III.
CHARLES H. WHITE. ' Perhaps there is no other veteran in the serv- ice of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company more widely known and more popular among his associates both old and young than Charles H. White, Chief Clerk General Passenger Office of the railroad com- pany at Los Angeles.
He is almost a lifelong resident of California, although he was born! ยท at Chelsea, Massachusetts, June 14, 1854. His parents were David and Elizabeth J. (Campbell) White. His father, a piano maker by trade, came west to the California mines in 1854 bringing his wife and two children, one of them being Charles H., then only a few weeks old.
737
FROM THE MOUNTAINS TO THE SEA
David White was killed in the mines in 1855. Charles H. White went back to Boston with his mother in 1856 but in the winter of 1862 the family again came west, locating in Klamath county, Oregon, where he attended school. In 1865 he lived at Arcata in Humboldt county, where he continued schooling and in 1873 the family located in Los Angeles.
In the fall of 1873 Mr. White entered the service of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company as clerk and assistant to the agent John Mil- ner. Later he was advanced in responsibilities to the post of ticket agent, and held that until 1900, in which year he was made chief clerk.
One incident related by a newspaper correspondent not long ago will serve to indicate Mr. White's initiative as a railroad man under the old regime. "In 1886 a falling out between the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe brought on a rate war. Round trip tickets from points as far east as the Missouri River were hammered down to fifteen dollars. Charlie White, who then conducted the Southern Pacific Office in the Baker Block and had full authority to make new fares, surprised the rival road by establishing a tourist rate of just one dollar."
May 4, 1879, Mr. White married Miss Nellie M. Daniels. They have two children : Charles H., who died several years ago; and David. Mr. White is a republican in politics, is a member of the Railroad Traffic Association, the Pioneers of Los Angeles County, is a Mason, a member of the National Union, Knights of the Maccabees and re- ligiously a member of the Christian Science church.
MARTIN C. AGUIRRE. While all classes of citizens know and admire the career and personality of Martin C. Aguirre in Southern California, his name and services have an even wider recognition, being known to penologists and practically all the great class of scholars and students interested in prison reform. Mr. Aguirre has spent most of his life in some official position requiring contact with the criminal element, and while his life has been one of vivid interest and adventure, it is possi- ble here to note only its salient details.
Mr. Aguirre was born in San Diego, California, son of J. A. and Rosaria Aguirre. His father was a native of Spain, coming to America at the age of sixteen, and for a number of years owned ships which sailed between Southern California and the Orient and Central Ameri- can ports. Martin Aguirre is the youngest in a family of four children. He was educated in public and private schools, and received his higher training in Santa Clara College. As a young man he was in the employ of J. W. Woolfskin and when only nineteen accepted the opportunity to become deputy in the sheriff's office, an opportunity that has really been converted into a life career. He was elected the first republican constable in Los Angeles in 1887. In those early days one daring in- stance of courage and resourcefulness on the part of Mr. Aguirre did much to establish his popularity and reputation throughout Los Angeles county. February 22nd, '1886, while he was serving as deputy sheriff, he risked his own life again and again to save a number of women and children who were in dire danger as a result of flood waters. A group of people had become marooned on a temporary island in the midst of the floods and Mr. Aguirre on the back of his horse made several trips until he had rescued more than twenty persons, chiefly women and chil- dren. In the last attempt he nearly lost his own life.
At the following convention Mr. Aguirre was nominated for sheriff and defeated Tom Rowan, then chairman of Board of Supervisors. He
738
LOS ANGELES
later received the nomination by acclamation and was defeated by a very small majority largely on account of the opposition at that time prevailing through the instrumentality of the A. P. A. to all Catholic candidates.
Probably the service which gave him his widest fame was the four and a half years he spent as warden of the State Penitentiary at San Quentin. At that time the subject of prison reform was not so much a popular subject of discussion as in recent years, and in fact the reform of prison life had only a few advocates. Mr. Aguirre took up many problems involved in the subject from a practical standpoint, yet he established principles which even today are recognized as sound and incorporated in the body of constructive measures dealing with the subject. He weeded out all the dope in San Quentin under Governor Gage's administration, something the prison has not been free from be- fore or since Mr. Aguirre was warden. He established the shower baths in the prison and allowed the prisoners to play baseball, hand ball and other games, and changed jute mill from steam to electricity, which it is today in San Quentin prison. After his term at San Quen- tin expired Mr. Aguirre went to Central America and was engaged by different governments to overhaul prisons and introduce his different methods of prison management. He was on his way to fill a similar engagement for the Cuban government when on account of a yellow fever outbreak he returned to Los Angeles. He then accepted a re- appointment as deputy sheriff and has been a deputy continuously since then and in point of service is now the senior in the sheriff's de- partment of the County Government. He never had a single escape while sheriff of the county or warden of San Quentin penitentiary. Sheriffs W. A. Hammell and J. C. Cline were deputies under Mr. Aguirre while he was sheriff.
Numberless incidents might be cited to prove that Mr. Aguirre has throughout his long official career been distinguished for utter fearless- ness, determination and administrative efficiency. He has engaged in many criminal hunts and never once has he delegated to another man a more dangerous part than he himself had assumed. In politics he has always been a stanch republican. Mr. Aguirre has never married.
RT. REV. JOSEPH SARSFIELD GLASS, C. M., D. D., LL. D. Though his duties since June 1, 1915, have been as bishop of Salt Lake, and his official residence at the Cathedral in Salt Lake City, Bishop Glass still feels a great interest in Los Angeles and California, where his services as president of St. Vincent's College were of the broadest and most constructive usefulness.
Joseph Sarsfield Glass was born at Bushnell, Illinois, March 13, 1874, a son of James and Mary Edith (Kelly) Glass. He attended the parochial schools at Sedalia, Missouri, several years, and in 1887 first came to Los Angeles. He was a student at St. Vincent's College four years, after which, returning to Missouri, he entered the St. Mary's Apostolic College at Perryville, completed his course of study there, and in 1891 became a novice of the Congregation of the Mission. He took his Philosophy and Theology in St. Mary's Seminary, in Perry County, Missouri, and was ordained a priest by Bishop George Montgomery in St. Vincent's Church at Los Angeles August 15, 1897. He also studied abroad at Rome, attending the University De Urbe (Minerva) and graduated in 1899 with the degree D. D. On his return to America he
-
739
FROM THE MOUNTAINS TO THE SEA
taught Dogmatic Theology in St. Mary's Seminary in Missouri in 1899- 1900, and the following year held the chair of Moral Theology and the office of Director of Seminarians.
Los Angeles has undoubtedly always exercised a strong hold upon his affections, and he considered it a most congenial destiny when he was appointed president of St. Vincent's College in 1901. At the same time he was made pastor of St. Vincent's Church of that city. He was president of the college ten years, and during that time did much to ele- vate the standards of the institution and give it first rank among the educational institutions of Southern California. He broadened the cur- riculum to a full university course, introduced technical branches of in- struction and increased the attendance so as to make necessary a large addition to the college building. He remained its president until 1911 and continued as pastor of St. Vincent's Church until 1915. He was consecrated Bishop of Salt Lake August 24, 1915.
Bishop Glass has been identified with a number of educational and religious organizations, including Bishop Conaty's Diocesan Council, the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Public Library, and was honorary president of the Alumni Society of St. Vincent's College. While a res- . ident of Los Angeles he was a member of the University Club, the Young Men's Institute, and in every way was an individual source working for the best interests of the city and state. During an Eastern tour of the "Mission Play," its author named Bishop Glass the "Bishop of the Mis- sion Play."
In 1917 the University of Niagara (New York) made Bishop Glass a Doctor of Laws, and in 1919 he was appointed by Cardinal Gibbons to membership in the National Catholic War Council. Bishop Glass was also a member of the Committee of Bishops appointed to prepare the program for the meeting of the Bishops of the United States of America in Washington in September, 1919.
M. JESSIE YORK, one of the prominent women of Southern Cali- fornia, member of the Board of Education of Los Angeles, having been elected June 3, 1919. Miss York, who is the daughter of Judge Waldo M. York, was one of twenty-two candidates in the primaries, fourteen of whom were nominated. She stood ninth in the list, and it is a matter of interest that her father was also ninth when he was made candidate for the Board of Education a few years ago. In the election he received the third largest vote, while Miss York stood fourth.
Miss York comes by her talents and abilities naturally. Her father was for many years a judge of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. She is a granddaughter of Rev. George F. Whitworth, D. D., one of the best known missionaries in the Northwest and founder of Whitworth College in Washington, and she is a sister of Judge John M. York. She graduated from the Pasadena High School, and from the Cumnock School of Oratory. She was also a student in the University of California Summer School and took special work for one term at Stanford University. Several years she has been engaged in public work as an elocutionist and in various philanthropies. At one time she gave private lessons in physical culture and elocution and drilled students for , intercollegiate debates and oratorical contests. Later she was head of the department of oratory and physical culture in Occidental College. For several years she was a member of the Hospital Board of the Chris- tian Endeavor Society of Los Angeles County. In politics Miss York
740
LOS ANGELES
is a republican. She is a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Los Angeles.
In these stirring modern times, when the question of the right of women to vote is settled in California and almost settled in the nation, Miss York feels the satisfaction that comes to a person who has labored in a long and difficult cause, against great obstacles, with a present realization perhaps greater than her most sanguine expectations. Miss York was a suffragist even while in high school. Just before graduating from high school she wrote, "Why Women Should Vote." This essay was entered in a prize contest conducted by the California State Woman's Christian Temperance Union for Southern California, was awarded first prize, and there is an interesting proof that it accomplished a great deal of good. A number of years later an American lady touring Switzerland sent her a copy of a newspaper published at Geneva con- taining a French translation of this essay, so that it is not far from the truth to say that the words of the high school girl were read around the world.
JUDGE WALDO M. YORK. During the past quarter of a century the Superior Court of Los Angeles County has had almost continuously a York as one of the judges. The present Superior Judge, John M. York, is a son of Judge Waldo M. York, who for over twelve years held and dignified this high judicial office. Judge Waldo M. York is one of the old. st attorneys at the California bar and has achieved an important distinction as a lawyer, judge and citizen of the Pacific Coast.
He was born January 18, 1846, across the continent at Dixmont, twenty miles from Bangor, Maine, only son of David P. and Sarah (Vinal) York. His father was a thrifty farmer in Penobscot County, and a son of a Baptist minister. Members of the Vinal family were sea- faring people as a rule, and Sarah Vinal's father was a sea captain. Two of her brothers became eminent professional men, one a Philadel- phia physician and the other a judge in Connecticut. Still another of her brothers was a respected public servant in Maine for over forty years as a member of the Legislature and in other public offices. Sarah Vinal York died in January, 1890, and her husband six years later. They had only two children, the daughter. Mrs. Albert Mudgett, dying some years ago at Dixmont, Maine.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.