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 48
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Mr. Fay came to California in the early nineties. Here he em- ployed his resources to engage in the banking business and served for seven years as president of the Citizens National Bank of Los Angeles, and at the time of his death was director of that institution, also of the Citizens Trust & Savings Bank. After seven years he resigned as presi- dent of the bank to engage in the oil business, having acquired extensive holdings in the Fullerton Oil Company and became president of that corporation.
Mr. Fay died March 11, 1918, at the age of sixty-four. In politics he was a stanch democrat, was a member of the Catholic Newman Club, and was an ardent sportsman, having membership in the California Club, was a charter member of the Bolsa Chica Gun Club and the Tuna Club of Catalina.
In 1875 he married Miss Jane Stimson, a daughter of his business partner T. D. Stimson. Mrs. Fay died while making a tour of the world at Rome, Italy, in 1906. She was the mother of two sons and one daughter, Louis, Clarence, and Anna Fay. At Los Angeles, July 29, 1908, Mr. Fay married Agatha J. Sabichi. Mrs. Fay, who survives her honored husband and resides at 2432 Figueroa street, is a native of Los Angeles and represents two of the oldest and most prominent families of Southern California. Her father was one of the most prom- inent lawyers of his day, and her mother was a daughter of William Wolfskill, one of the first American settlers in Southern California. More extended reference to both the Sabichi and Wolfskill families is made on other pages of this publication. Mrs. Fay is the mother of two children, John Francis and Edward Richard Fay.
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KASPARE COHN. Here and there through this publication, as the history of several big business organizations and public utilities is given, and in the stories of successful business men, there is reference again and again to Kaspare Cohn, whose personal and financial resources en- tered into the fabric of such institutions, and it has always been ap- parently regarded as a privilege on the part of other men to mention their associations with him.
Mr. Cohn had lived in Southern California for fifty years before his death, which occurred at his residence in Los Angeles, November 19, 1916. He had come here a youth with limited resources, but long before death overtook him his name was one of the most honored in the entire city. He was born at Loeban in West Prussia, June 14, 1839. His first enterprise at Los Angeles was a retail grocery store. It any man possessed a genius for business it was Kaspare Cohn. He under- stood how to co-ordinate details into a smooth running system resulting in great business enterprises. For a number of years he was associated with Harris Newmark in the wholesale grocery house of H. Newmark & Company, later known as M. A. Newmark & Company. Another extensive business conducted under his name was in the wool, hide and tallow industry. He was one of the original owners of the La Puente rancho, which he and his associates sold to E. J. "Lucky" Baldwin for two hundred fifty thousand dollars.
The story of the San Joaquin Light and Power Corporation, the Southern California Gas Company, and several other great public utili- ties mention Mr. Cohn as one of the original stockholders. His realty holdings comprise an imposing acreage, some of it in Los Angeles county and the San Joaquin Valley and also including some of the most valuable business blocks of Los Angeles. This estate alone it is claimed has an aggregate value of millions.
He was a banker, and took a great personal interest in the organi- zation on July 1, 1914, of the Kaspare Cohn Commercial and Savings Bank, and served as its president until forced by illness to retire about a year before his death. Since his death the name of the bank has been changed to the Union Bank & Trust Co. of Los Angeles, and its affairs are carried on by his two sons-in-law, Ben R. Meyer, president, and Milton E. Getz, vice president.
Many men construct fortunes of material affairs, but achieve no marked success in the wise use and disposition of their means. Mr. Cohn had a double credit, since there are thousands of people in Los Angeles who knew him in the character of a philanthropist rather than as a business man and banker. All his charity was done quietly and un- ostentatiously, and the only philanthropy which bears his name is the Kaspare Cohn Hospital, founded and financed by him, and one of the model institutions of the city.
Mr. Cohn is survived by his widow, Mrs. Hulda Cohn, and their two daughters, Mrs. Ben R. Meyer and Mrs. Milton E. Getz.
Few men in their passing receive more spontaneous tributes of affection and regard than did the late Mr. Cohn. While the general serv- ices were held at his home and in very simple rite more than two hun- dred persons were present to honor his memory, and while despite family request a tremendous offering of flowers was made, many others expressed their tribute through the contribution of sums to the Federa- tion of Jewish Charities in the name of Kaspare Cohn. On the Sat- urday following his death a memorial service was held at the Temple
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B'nai B'rith. The funeral was conducted by Dr. S. Hecht of the Tem- ple, for many years a close personal friend of Mr. Cohn. In the course of his address Dr. Hecht said: "A man has three names; he bears the name his parents gave him at birth, the world gives him a name, and he has the name he makes for himself. It is by this latter name that he is judged. Our departed brother did not belong to his family only. He was of the city and of humanity, for his works were humanitarian in nature and extensive in scope."
MISS GRACE WILSON. Southern California has many interesting women and none more thoroughly consecrated to their chosen work than Miss Grace Wilson, one of the most prominent leaders in the world wide New Thought movement.
She was born near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and when a small child moved to North Dakota, where she grew up on the prairie, attend- ing public school and also the University of Dakota. She spent several years in the study of vocal music and early dedicated her voice to God.
Though reared a Presbyterian, she became attracted to the pre- sentation of the Christ idea as expressed in Christian Science, and made a thorough study of Christian Science when about twenty-five years of age. However, she found that she could not be a willing convert to the presentation of Truth through any single teacher, and eventually found the broader message of the New Thought movement infinitely more far- reaching and satisfying. About 1909 she came to Los Angeles to make her permanent home and for several years was associated with Annie Rix Militz of the Home of Truth in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Her work has been done for both children and adults but especially with children.
In 1914 she was one of a party of four who made a trip with Mrs. Militz around the world, meeting many of the leading New Thought teachers abroad. During the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915 she was secretary of an extensive propaganda conducted under the auspices of New Thought, the propaganda consisting of lectures given by all the leading teachers in all the branches of the advanced New Thought. In September of that year the first annual congress of the International New Thought Alliance was held in San Francisco. At that time Miss Wilson was elected general secretary, and at the close of the year moved to Washington, D. C., and established a general headquarters for the Alliance. For two years that was her work and through her close attention to detail, all the while keeping a large vision of the movement, she was able to lay the foundation of the present world movement. All the time she was in Washington she longed for the charms of Los Angeles and at the beginning of 1918 returned to this city.
In the fall of 1918 Miss Wilson opened the Universal New Thought Studio in the Brack Shops. Her idea was to carry on a small work of individual teaching and healing in the ardent philosophy which had transformed her own life. She soon found that her associations with the World Alliance made it impossible for her to work alone. In a few months she had moved to larger quarters, where extensive lecture courses were conducted by the leading exponents of New Thought. Miss Wil- son herself does very little public work, but everyone feels that she is the mighty power behind the throne and her spirit pervades the en- tire organization.
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A. BLANCHARD MILLER. In many lines of useful effort A. Blanch- ard Miller has been a virile citizen of California, to which state he came in 1893. It is not unusual to find men of great enterprise and business achievement in Southern California, and it is to this class that Mr. Miller belongs.
A. Blanchard Miller was born at Richlands, North Carolina, Sep- tember 5, 1878. His parents were Joseph Kempster and Eliza (Blanch- ard) Miller, and among his ancestors were Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, the hero of the battle of Lake Erie, and Gurdon Saltonstall, colonial governor of Connecticut, who was instrumental in securing the location of Yale University at New Haven. Thoroughly educated with a professional career in view, Mr. Miller determined on a business life instead, and in 1897 began farming in the Perris Valley of Southern California, where he had about 500 acres of land in grain at first, which by 1901 he had increased to 5,000 acres. Then came years of drouth and his grain and livestock depreciated in price, under which circum- stances he turned his attention in another direction to some extent, em- barking in the contracting business, and was concerned with the con- struction of important railroads. In 1904 he went to Imperial Valley, California, as a contractor, and built a large portion of the canal system that waters what is known as "Number 8" of the Imperial Valley, and also graded much of the townsite of Brawley.
In 1905, in association with several San Bernardino County men, he leased from the Fontana Development Company 8,000 acres near Rialto, California, taking an option on the land with the right to purchase it. After farming the land to grain for one year, Mr. Miller with partners, organized the Fontana Land & Water Company, which corporation im- mediately contracted to buy the San Francisco Savings Union's interest in the Fontana Development Company, after which transaction the Fon- tana Land & Water Company began the development of the land-some 19,000 acres-through irrigation, making it one of the most valuable tracts in San Bernardino County.
Although continuing to be actively engaged with the Fontana De- velopment project, Mr. Miller continued his contracting business and in 1906 built for the United States Government the first levees on the Yuma project, twelve miles below Yuma, Arizona, on the Colorado River. The solidity of this work brought Mr. Miller to the front in the field of engineering, and he received battering offers from leading New York Engineers for his services. He was loyal, however, to California, and declined what appeared to be most advantageous business connections.
With the purchase in 1907 of Lakeview Ranch in Riverside County, Mr. Miller came into possession of a tract of 6,000 acres, which he farmed for a season, but later sold to the Nuevo Land Company, which he had organized. He continued the operation of the Fontana Land & Water Company's lands for two years longer, then took over the inter- ests of his former partners, and became associated with large banking interests in Los Angeles. Mr. Miller has continuously since supervised the building of the extensive irrigation system that waters the Fontana properties, and as president and manager of the Fontana Company has directed the development of the Fontana project, which includes planting what is perhaps the largest citrus grove in the world, over 5,000 acres.
As the years have gone by Mr. Miller's activities have continued to expand. In addition to the offices held by him in the Fontana Company he is equally prominent in numerous allied concerns, including the Fon-
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tana Land Company, the Fontana Water Company, the Fontana Union Water Company, the Rialto Domestic Water Company, the Lytle Creek Water Company, the Fontana Farms Company, which he organized in 1918, and the Fontana Power Company, whose plant was completed in January, 1918. Mr. Miller is a member of the Jonathan Club, the Jovian Order and the Newport Yacht Club, and belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at San Bernardino, California. He takes no active part in political campaigns, but his actions speak loudly enough as to his worthy citizenship.
ARTHUR O. OVERELL is vice president and general manager of the J. M. Overell Furniture Company, 700-708 South Main street, Los Angeles. This is a business of land standing, and one that has popu- larized itself on the basis of good service and merchandise until it is one of the leading establishments of its kind in Southern California.
The year of its founding was 1899. The firm of Louden & Overell entered business that year at 538-540 South Spring street. The store was wiped out in a disastrous fire in 1902, at which time the firm dis- solved partnership. Mr. J. M. Overell, father of A. O. Overell, then resumed business on his own account at 652 South Spring Street, where he remained until 1906, when the store was moved to its present site. On the removal the house was incorporated as the J. M. Overell Fur- niture Company, with a paid up capital stock of a hundred fifty thou- sand dollars. On the death of J. M. Overell in December, 1912, A. O. Overell as vice president and general manager took over the active man- agement, and has carried the enterprise through many successive steps of advancement and improvement in the past eight years. Just recently the capital stock was increased to $250,000. The stock carried is com- prehensive, featuring the popular grades of furniture. In addition to the main store a large warehouse is maintained at Eighth Street and Santa Fe Avenue. The reputation of the house for honest merchandis- ing has been the result of many years devoted to a careful conduct of the business.
Mr. A. O. Overell was born at Evansville, Indiana, January 9, 1882. and received his education in his native city, but has lived in Los Angeles since he was seventeen years old. In 1904 he married Miss Grace Brizius, and they have two sons. Their home is at South Pasadena.
Mr. Overell by virtue of his long connection with the commercial affairs of Los Angeles, is a firm believer in its future opportunities, and all movements which have as their object the advancement and im- provement of the city and environs along commercial and civic lines receive his hearty endorsement and active support.
ROBERT BRUNTON. The initiated who keep in touch with the pro- gressive figures in the theatrical art need no introduction to the name and work of Robert Brunton of Los Angeles. One of the dominant characteristics of the man is to talk little of himself, due doubtless to the fact that he has always allowed his art to speak for itself. Never- theless even a brief story of his life has many points of interest.
He was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and educated in London. His father, John Brunton, was a distinguished scenic and landscape painter in Scotland. His mother was a talented actress of her day, while an aunt, Mme. De Vere, was noted as a singer.
Robert Brunton began the study of art at the age of fourteen in
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the Royal Academy of London. At seventeen he joined the scenic staff of the Lyceum Theatre in London, and had the inestimable privilege of working under the direction of Hawes-Craven, one of the greatest scenic painters modern Europe has ever known. Mr. Craven at that time was head of Sir Henry Irving's productions in Shakespearean drama. Un- der Mr. Craven young Brunton worked daily in the Irving atmosphere. Sir Henry Irving was not only a great actor but had the qualities of a successful business man, particularly in his ability to surround himself with men of the highest efficiency in their particular lines and making the heads of his various departments completely responsible for results. Before he was twenty-one Robert Brunton had been made head of the scenic department of the Irving Company, with a hun- dred men under him. Mr. Brunton toured America for two seasons when Irving and Terry appeared in this country. At the close of the second tour he determined to remain in America, feeling that he had greater opportunities here for work and growth. Nevertheless his early days were ripe in experience and trials. He became affiliated at New York with the Shubert and Hammerstein organization, turning out quantities of scenic work for them. As a diversion he and some of his very good friends formed a company that toured Long Island. He painted all the scenes and sometimes doubled and played two parts if necessary.
In 1906, at Cleveland, Mr. Brunton married Miss Jane Holly, a beautiful actress of the New York stage, and daughter of H. L. Flash, a New Orleans business man and poet. After his marriage Mr. Brun- ton came to Los Angeles and became art director and head of the scenic department of the Morosco theater. He was with that institution until 1914. Among his notable productions during that time was the "Arab," and as scenic artist for that production he had the unusual distinction of being called before the curtain on the first night. In 1914 he made a tour of Europe, coming back when war was declared.
During the following eighteen months he was connected with the old "Triangle" organization, made up of Messrs. Griffith, Sennett and Ince. He became art director of this company, and its first production was under his direction. About 1917 Mr. Brunton became head of the Paralto Company as production manager.
In the meantime an idea had taken possession of him and for a number of months he tested its practicality by every experience within his scope. His idea was to create an independent studio where the independent creator or actor could work out his ideas without the neces- sity of powerful financial backing and a complete technical organization for that purpose. About a year or so ago Mr. Brunton began the exe- cution of his formulated plans with one glass stage and two open stages in a tangle of vineyard. The vitality of his idea and the substantial results he has achieved in following out his ideal is now represented by the solid and enduring quality of the buildings and the general estab- lishment of the Brunton studio at 5341 Meltose Avenue. There are twenty-six permanent buildings on the lot, all having to do with the making of pictures, besides sets and temporary structures. It was not long before the independent producer heard of the "People's Studio," where first class equipment was furnished and all the technical assist- ance and management were ready at hand so as to leave the inspiration of the artist freest and fullest scope. Mr. Brunton's ability to handle details has been of invaluable assistance to the independent producer. He
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can figure the cost of an entire production with mathematical accuracy without pencil or paper. One very generous policy of Mr. Brunton is that any ambitious boy who knocks at the gate is admitted and is given the advantage of the artist's personal interest. Had Shakespeare pre- pared an article on Robert Brunton he might have written "A modest man withal, who doth meet the importuning of the interviewer with a well bred reticence and an enigmatical smile."
This studio, one of the features of the Los Angeles artistic colony, began with a ten-acre lot, but now covers more than fifty acres, thirty- five acres devoted to sets. Adjoining is a ranch of five hundred fifty acres within ten minutes ride from the studio. Mr. Brunton now has five stages in operation, with a sixth under construction. He has scenic artists for painting scenes for various companies using his studios, and also a wood carver who can design furniture for any period. He has a wonderful collection of art to be used in pictures, one warehouse being filled with hand carved furniture. On the grounds is a private gymna- sium, with Paul Mullen, physical instructor, in charge. It has taken Mr. Brunton less than a year and a half to build this wonderful place, now one of the largest studios in the world. His own beautiful home is also a feature of the studio grounds.
Mr. Brunton for all his modesty has a wonderful array of versa- tile gifts. He is a skillful electrician, is completely at home as a chef in his own kitchen, is very fond of motoring, an expert fencer and swimmer, and altogether a pleasing and kindly personality. He is some- times called "the Henry Irving of the screen."
EMIL KAYSER, a resident of Pasadena for the past thirty-five years, and a prominent merchant of Los Angeles, came to California from Omaha, Nebraska, in 1884.
His father for many years was a general merchant at Bellevue near Omaha, Nebraska. Emil was one of four sons and three daughters reared in that town, being the only member of the family in California. He attended public school at Bellevue, but left home at the age of four- teen. His early business experience was acquired in Omalla and later in Denver, Colorado, in which city he spent three years.
In the fall of 1884 he came to Pasadena and associated himself with Mr. A. Cruickshank, with whom he had been first connected in Omaha in the dry goods business. The Pasadena firm was known under the name of Cruickshank & Company and continued as general dry goods merchants there for a number of years.
On selling his interests with Cruickshank & Company Mr. Kayser became a partner of the late F. B. Wetherby, a prominent resident of Pasadena whose career has been reviewed elsewhere in this publica- tion. The object of their original association was to engage in the busi- ness of real estate and subdividing.
During 1887 and 1888 they built the Wetherby-Kayser Building in Pasadena and started the Wetherby-Kayser Shoe Company. That was the beginning of the big shoe business now handled under the firm name in Los Angeles. A branch store was established at Second and Broad- way in Los Angeles in 1902, and the following year they sold the Pasa- dena establishment, and made the Los Angeles branch their head- quarters. In that store they developed the well founded and highly standardized business which today ranks as one of the best of its kind on the Pacific Coast.
Sinh Nayser
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Mr. Kayser's home is still in Pasadena, and he continues to be one of the city's most loyal residents. He is identified with the Valley Hunt Club of Pasadena, is a member of the Jonathan Club of Los Angeles, and his public spirit has led him into active participation with many movements for the betterment of the community. He is also a member of the Presbyterian church at Pasadena.
On July 15, 1892, Mr. Kayser married Miss Gertrude Visscher, of Pasadena. Incidentally it should be noted that he and Mr. Wetherby married sisters, and their business partnership was therefore the stronger welded by the tie of family relationship. The marriage ceremony was performed at the Visscher home on South Madison avenue, and fol- lowing this event Mr. and Mrs. Kayser established themselves in their own new home at the corner of Madison and Center avenues, in which place they have lived for over a quarter of a century and where their four children were born. The three children living are Nancy, Frederic V. and Gretchen. Emily Gertrude, the third child, died in infancy. The two daughters, Nancy and Gretchen, are well known Pasadena society girls, Gretchen being a student in the Marlborough School of Los Angeles. The son Frederic is a Leland Stanford man, now associated with his father in the Wetherby-Kayser Shoe Company at 416-418 West Seventh Street, where the attractive new store has been in opera- tion for the past two years.
JOSEPH SCOTT. One of the handiest measures of fame ever devised was described by Kipling as the appreciation of at least twenty thousand people focused and centered upon a single individual or his works. A vastly greater popularity, not only numerically, but in dispersion through many elements of the English speaking races, has been achieved by Joseph Scott of Los Angeles. His name stands for something out of the ordinary in personality and achievement.
Joseph Scott was born at Penrith, Cumberland county, England, July 16, 1867, son of Joseph and Mary (Donnelly) Scott. His father was a native of Cumberland of a border Scotch family, while his mother was a native of Wexford, Ireland, where they were married .. Joseph Scott was educated at St. Cuthbert's, Ushaw, Durham, England, matri- culated with honors in London University in 1887, and came to America in 1889. In 1893 he was graduated A. M. from St. Bonaventure's Col- lege at Allegany, New York. Several institutions of learning have hon- ored him in recent years. He holds the honorary Ph. D. degree from Santa Clara College of California, awarded in 1907; LL. D. from St. Bonaventure College of Allegany, awarded in 1914; and LL. D. from Notre Dame University, Indiana, in 1915; in 1918 he was accorded the Laetare Medal by the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, thereby joining the roll of distinguished American Catholics who have been similarly honored by this University, which every year awards this decoration to some noted Catholic layman who has performed notable achievements in some public way. The roll of Laetare Medalists includes Chief Justice White of the Supreme Court of the United States, Rear Admiral Benson, Bourke Cochran, etc.
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