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 7
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ROBERT L. BOYLE has been a resident of Los Angeles a number of years, was at first known in mining circles, but since 1915 has been one of the leading undertakers of this city.
Mr. Boyle was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, June 13, 1881, son of John and Carrie (Demand) Boyle. He was well educated and had a careful rearing, attending private schools first, and in 1899 graduating from St. Mary's College at St. Mary's, Kansas. Returning to Cincin- nati he was with his uncle J. J. Sullivan under the name J. J. Sullivan & Company, undertakers, as an assistant, and while there acquired a thorough knowledge of the undertaking business. Mr. Boyle first came to Los Angeles in 1904 and for the next six years was a mining pro- moter. He then went back to Cincinnati and was again assistant to his uncle until 1915. In that year he came to Los Angeles and formed a partnership with Thomas J. McNally under the firm name of McNally & Boyle, undertakers. In 1916, when the partnership was dissolved, Mr. Boyle entered business for himself under his individual name and now has a complete organization and facilities for his business at 1020 South Figueroa street.
Mr. Boyle is a Catholic, a member of the Knights of Columbus, Gamut Club, and the Young Men's Institute. At Los Angeles, December 8, 1908, he married Winifred Ramsey. They have three daughters, Mary Elizabeth, Alice Winifred and Ada Angalin. The two older daughters attend the Blessed Sacrament Convent in Hollywood.
WILLIAM BRAYTON OGDEN, a Los Angeles lawyer with offices in the American Bank Building, has had a busy professional career not only in Southern California but in Nevada and Colorado, and during his younger years played an influential part in Colorado politics.
While his life is not a long one measured in years, he has lived in many different localities and has had a varied experience. He was born at Athol, Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada, August 26, 1876, son of William Norman and Mary L. (Rice) Ogden. When he was three months old his parents moved back to Jefferson County, New York, where his mother was born and reared. His maternal grand-
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father was Albert E. Rice, a California forty-niner who had unusual good fortune as a gold seeker in the West, and after returning to New York State bought extensive tracts of land in Jefferson County along the hanks of the St. Lawrence River. He spent his last years retired in Chicago. William N. Ogden and wife were married at St. Vincent, near Watertown, in Jefferson County, New York, and after their resi- dence in Canada they lived in that county for a number of years. In 1881 he removed to Chicago and engaged in the business of importing ponies and horses, making frequent trips to Wales to the pony markets and to France to buy Percheron horses. In 1886 he moved west to Boulder, Colorado, where he was engaged in farming until his death in 1901. His widow is now living in Hollywood, California.
William Brayton Ogden, only' child of his parents, received some of his early education in Chicago and from the age of eleven attended public schools at Boulder, Colorado, also graduated from the State Preparatory School there and is a graduate of the State University of Colorado at Boulder. He finished his law course in the University of Colorado in 1896, receiving his LL. B. degree and admission to the Colo- rado bar before he was twenty years of age. For six years he prac- ticed at Boulder and vicinity. During four years he was managing clerk for Judge S. S. Downer, one of the most powerful men in politics in Colorado. He practiced two years alone at Boulder and for about three years was a member of the Chicago bar, being admitted to the Illinois courts in 1902. In 1905 he moved to Nevada, locating at Goldfield when that town was the mecca for all the gold miners of the country. He was admitted to the Nevada bar in that year, and he regards the five years spent at Goldfield as the happiest period of his life. For four years he had an individual practice and for one year was associated with Walter C. Stickney under the name Ogden & Stickney.
In June, 1910, Mr. Ogden came to Los Angeles and was in prac- tice alone until January 1, 1916, and from that date until January 1, 1918, was in partnership with Ralph E. Esteb under the name of Ogden & Esteb. Since 1918 he has again been alone and does a general prac- tice. He is also secretary of a number of oil companies in California, Nevada and Arizona.
While living at Boulder he served as secretary for six years years of the County Central Committee, one year as chairman of the Republi- can County Central Committee. He was also solicitor for the sheriff's office two years and county attorney of Boulder county a short period and city attorney of Eldora for three years. For about three years he was also president of the Bank of Eldora. Mr. Ogden has given an un- swerving allegiance to the republican party through all the years since he attained suffrage. He is a member of the American Bar Association, is a Delta Tau Delta, a member of the Union League of Los Angeles, Chamber of Commerce, and is affiliated with Hollywood Lodge No. 355, F. and A. M.
He and his family reside at West Hollywood. On June 19, 1911, at Los Angeles, he married Miss Alta May Swartwout, daughter of F. D. and Emma Bell (Andrews) Swartwout of Los Angeles. Mrs. Ogden was born in Hardin county, Iowa, and was three years of age when she came with her parents to Los Angeles, where she was educated, being a graduate of the State Normal School. Before her marriage she taught at Graham in Los Angeles county. Mr. and Mrs. Ogden have one son, George Robert Ogden, born in Los Angeles county.
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JOHN H. GAGE. The place of John H. Gage in Los Angeles busi- ness circles will be immediately and widely recognized when it is stated that he is founder of and is secretary and manager of the Pig'n Whistle Company, whose wonderful stores and confectionery and ice cream · parlors are the talk and admiration of every visitor to the Pacific Coast.
Mr. Gage has had a most unusual and varied business career. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, June 17, 1876, son of Charles F. and Martha (Adams) Gage. His father, who was born at Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1846, had a common school education, and went to work as station agent for the Boston & Maine Railroad at Lynn, Massa- chusetts. He was there a year, was freight claim agent, and is a vet- eran and master of railway traffic and very recently retired as general freight claim agent after fifty-one years of continuous service with the Boston & Maine.
John H. Gage at the age of five years accompanied his parents to Winchester, Massachusetts, where he received his early schooling, gradu- ating from high school at the age of seventeen. Much of his experience in business has been in hotels and in early life he was connected with hotels all over the country. He first came to Los Angeles in 1892, and for six months was clerk with J. P. Stocksdale, retail grocer. From here he went east to Chicago and for six months had charge of one of the concessions at the World's Fair. His next location was at Phoenix, Arizona, where he conducted a restaurant a year. He then became steward for the Lane Hospital in San Francisco a year and a half, was steward for the Children's Hospital one year, and for a year and a half was steward on the Southern Pacific dining car system. For one year he was manager with the Markell Hotel System, then conducted a restaurant at San Francisco nine months, and soon after Tonopah became the center of the great mining industry of Nevada he established a restaurant there, also engaged in the general merchandise business under the name Gage & Long. Returning to San Francisco in 1906 Mr. Gage erected the Gage office building at Seventh and Market streets, and in conjunction therewith operated the Hotel America.
But the distinctive feature of his business history is concerned with the "Pig'n Whistle" organization. On December 12, 1908, he opened the first Pig'n Whistle confectionery store at 224 South Broadway, in Los Angeles. This store immediately became famous for its splendid and expensive interior finish, entirely in solid mahogany, and costing twenty-five thousand dollars. Since then the company has expended more than fifteen thousand dollars additional for furnishings. In 1912 he opened the second store at 212 West Fifth Street. This was also finished in mahogany at a cost of eight thousand dollars. In 1914 the third store was established at Pasadena, costing twelve thousand dol- lars. Here also the treatment in mahogany has been carried out. Decem- ber 8, 1914, the fourth store was opened at 712-14 South Broadway, and on this was expended eighty thousand dollars. Persons competent to judge have asserted that it is the finest confectionery and ice cream parlor in the United States, and there are few who would dissent from this judgment. One feature of this fourth store is its wonderful oil. paintings, valued at sixty thousand dollars, some of which have received gold medals both at the San Francisco Fair and the Paris Exposition.
Mr. Gage has been secretary and manager of the Pig'n Whistle Company since December 12, 1908. They are not only dealers but manu- facturers of ice cream and candies, and their products have a national reputation.
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Mr. Gage is a member of the Los Angeles Rotary Club, is a repub- lican and a member of the Congregational Church. At San Francisco, January 6, 1903, he married Miss Isidore Violet Gray. They have one daughter, Dorothy, born in 1917.
LAWRENCE L. FRANK during his residence at Los Angeles has been identified with one of the most important services that can engage the attention of business men, that of providing and distributing whole- some food stuffs. He is one of the partners in the well known T. J. Van de Kamp Company, whose chain of bakeries and whose products of Holland bread and cakes are household words as well as composing part of the staff of daily life throughout Los Angeles and surrounding territory.
Mr. Frank was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, March 23, 1887, son of Nathan and Bertha Frank. His education before he was eighteen was the product of attendance at public schools and under a private tutor. Since then he has been making his way in the business world on his own account. For four years he sold furniture for his brother Arthur A. Frank. His next associate was his father in the meat pack- ing business, under the firm name of L. Frank & Son Company. Three years later the son withdrew and established a business of his own, in the wholesale confectionery novelties business. Eight months later he sold out and came to Los Angeles, and here found an opening with Kramer- Frank Food Company and with his brother Ralph as a partner. For this company Lawrence L. Frank opened and managed their shelled nut department for one year. Another year he spent as salesman with the Pasadena Furniture Company, and then in 1915 established the T. J. Van de Kamp Company, with T. J. Van de Kamp, his brother-in-law. As told in the sketch of Mr. Van de kamp this is one of the remarkable instances of business progress and development in Los Angeles and starting with a meager capital and with the principals practically un- known in Los Angeles, their output has been increased until their capital and their individual resources are now devoted to a half dozen plants and stores.
Mr. Frank is independent in politics. He owns a beautiful home at 969 Woodland avenue in Pasadena. He married in Los Angeles, March 28, 1913, Miss Henrietta Van de Kamp, of Milwaukee.
RAY L. CHESEBRO, a judge of the Police Court of Los Angeles, is a lawyer of ten years' experience and practice, and came into his pro- fession after a long service as a railroad man, stenographer and private secretary to a number of railroad officials and public commissions.
Mr. Chesebro was born at Mazeppa, Minnesota, August 28, 1880, a son of George and Sarah (Hill) Chesebro. He was left an orphan by the death of his mother when he was seven years old and that of his father when he was ten. He then lived with his grandfather, attended school to the age of fifteen, and for two years took his place as a field hand on his grandfather's farm. At the age of seventeen he went to Pine Island, Minnesota, studied telegraphy under James Fine- gan, station agent of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway, and after a year and a half was appointed a night telegraph operator at Minne- apolis for the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway. He was in that posi- tion for a year and a half, and from there went to St. Paul and was with his cousin W. A. Tilden in the wholesale commission business for another year and a half. He next became connected with the auditing
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department of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and for one year carried on night studies in stenography. His first work as a stenographer was in the general freight office of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railroad, and subsequently he became private secretary to H. M. Pearce, the general freight agent.
Leaving Minnesota Judge Chesebro came to Los Angeles in 1904, and for eighteen months was a stenographer in the offices of the Santa Fe Railway. He was secretary of the Consolidation Commission of Los Angeles until that commission wound up its work in 1907. His next service was as secretary to the Los Angeles County Highway Commis- sion, and while with that body he again resumed night study, this time in a law course, and was admitted to the bar in 1909. He at once resigned from the Highway Commission and began private practice. In 1911 he was appointed judge of the Police Court and has since been twice re-elected and has made a thoroughly capable record in that office.
Judge Chesebro is a republican, a member of the Los Angeles Bar Association, is affiliated with the Masons, Elks and Foresters, and is a member of the First Christian Church. At Los Angeles, April 9, 1909, he married Ada Tripp. They have two children, Marvin, born in 1913; and Geraldine, born in 1915.
J. ROBERT O'CONNOR. On October 1, 1917, President Wilson appointed J. Robert O'Connor, of Los Angeles, United States District Attorney for California to succeed Albert Schoonover. When on Janu- ary 8, 1918, the United States Senate confirmed this appointment their act made Mr. O'Connor the youngest incumbent of the office of district attorney in any of the states of the Union. It was a notable honor to a young lawyer, and a man whose record has been not without distinc- tion. The appointment was made the occasion for a notable gathering of his friends, and when Mr. O'Connor was called upon for a speech he told some of the interesting facts of his career and how he happened to become identified with Southern California. In the course of that speech he gave all the credit for his work and the honors that had come to him to two women, his good mother and his good wife, from whom he received the inspiration and the strengthening of his resolve at all the critical turns of his career.
Mr. O'Connor was born at Stanberry, Missouri, July 13, 1885, a son of Edward and Laura Belle (Fielding) O'Connor. His father was born at Columbus, Ohio, October 28, 1855, was educated there, practiced his profession as a civil engineer at Stanberry, Missouri, later removed to Texas, where he died several years ago. At Fayette, Missouri, in 1884, he married Laura Belle Fielding, and they had only one child, J. Robert.
The latter was educated in the public schools of Galveston and Dallas, Texas. He graduated from the high school of the latter city in 1905. He studied law in the University of Texas at Austin, graduat- ing LL.B. in 1908. He returned to Dallas and on February 1, 1912, went to Midland, Texas, and in November of the same year arrived in California. But from here the record is best told in the words of his speech to his friends.
"Six years ago I left the State of Texas to come to California, After my graduation I started to try to practice law in Dallas, Texas. I was not achieving any remarkable success. One day I met a lawyer friend from a little western town by the name of Midland, who told me that Midland was on a boom, that a new railroad was going to go
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through the town and business was humming. He suggested to me that old 'go west, young man' proposition. And so I put my law library, consisting of the Revised Statutes of the State of Texas, in my pocket, and went west. For a while things boomed nicely. I won a few cases, among them the most important case of a man's life-a wife-and then all of a sudden the directors of that railroad changed their minds and likewise changed the right of way of that railroad, and it missed Midland and pretty soon Midland missed the boom and the bottom fell out. It was not long until I found I was back again to my original law library constituting the Statutes of the State of Texas, and with only a couple of dollars in my pocket. I decided I had not gone far enough west. So I consulted with my wife and we decided to go further west, and we got on the train and went all the way to Long Beach, and we decided that was as far as we could go without getting wet. That was six years ago, my friends. I arrived in the State of California with a copy of the Revised Statutes of the State of Texas and with a couple of dollars in my pocket. I did not have a friend in the state, nor was I upon speaking terms with any man here. I had two letters of intro- duction. Outside of that I had nothing except the courage and the hope of that little wife of mine.
"I soon found that the Revised Statutes of the State of Texas were not enforced in the State of California, so I lost my law library. One of my letters of introduction was to a man by the name of O'Neal in San Diego. So I went down to San Diego and presented my letter to him and said, 'Mr. O'Neal, what chance is there in San Diego for an hon- est young lawyer who is a democrat?' He said, 'My friend, as an hon- est young lawyer you will have absolutely no competition, and as a democrat you will be protected by the game laws of the state.' So I spent my last dollar and opened a law office and waited for my victims to appear. The most I did was to wait. After about a month or so Mr. O'Neal called me to his office one day and said, 'O'Connor, are you busy ?' I said 'Not unreasonably so.' He said, 'I have decided to run for mayor and I want you to manage my campaign.' I said to him, 'Well, I can't be of any service to you; I am a stranger here and abso- lutely can't do you any good.' He said, 'The very fact you are a stranger here is the reason I want you to manage my campaign. You haven't been here long enough for them to find out anything about you. especially anything bad, and that is why I want you to manage my campaign.' O'Neal's opponent was one of the merchant princes of San Diego, a man by the name of George W. Marston. He had been in San Diego for forty years and was really the father of the city. O'Neal was a newcomer, having been there only seven years, and worst of all he was a real estate man. But I had seen something of politics back in Texas, so I started in to manage his campaign as best I knew how, and when the votes were counted O'Neal was elected."
And that was Mr. O'Connor's real introduction to the people of California, and at San Diego he grew in favor and acquired a consid- erable law business. On February 1, 1914, he was appointed Third Assistant United States Attorney by District Attorney Albert Schoon- over. In 1915 he was promoted to second assistant, and in 1916 was again promoted to first assistant and in 1917 was appointed United States Attorney by the United States District Court. Following that came the presidential appointment with senatorial confirmation above noted.
Mr. O'Connor is a valuable aid to the government as a skillful
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lawyer, a man of experience in affairs, and among men, but most of all his work has been appreciated because these qualities have been sup- plemented by the sterling patriotism which has prompted him to use all the prestige of his office and personal influence to back up the gov- ernment in the war. And some day when it will be possible to review in detail the war record of Southern California there will be more than incidental credit given to the district attorney's office and its incumbent.
Mr. O'Connor is affiliated with the Elk and Masonic orders, is a member of the Phi Delta Theta, the City Club of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County and State Bar Associations and is a member of the Presbyterian Church.
At Midland, Texas, June 10, 1912, he married Marion Gray. They have three children: George Gray, born in 1913; J. Robert, Jr., born in 1915, and Mathew Gunner, born in 1917.
JOHN E. KOEBERLE. The history of the oil development in Cali- fornia covers a period hardly more than thirty-five years, and it is an interesting fact that John E. Koeberle, of Los Angeles, has been iden- tified with the industry practically from the beginning. His experi- ence, judgment and initiative have served to promote some of the most widely known oil fields of the State, and either with corporations or independently he has well earned his fame as one of the leading operators.
Mr. Koeberle was born at Paducah, Kentucky, April 13, 1866, son of Dr. Theodore Koeberle. He finished his education in the Richmond Academy at Augusta, Georgia, leaving school in 1882, and coming west to Los Angeles in the fall of the same year. For a time he was em- ployed as bookkeeper in a hardware store, but in 1884 acquired his first practical knowledge of the oil industry as clerk with the Puente Oil Company. He was soon given responsibilities in the selling and distributing of crude oil. At that time there were only two consumers of fuel oil in Southern California, one being the Los Angeles Gas & Electric Corporation and the other being the Maier & Zobelein Brewery. These two firms consumed the entire production of the Puente Oil Com- pany. The maximum production of the company at that time being about 9,000 barrels per month, which was furnished to these consum- ers in small tank cars at $2.00 per barrel f. o. b. Los Angeles, plus switching charge of $2.50 per car. Mr. Koeberle was with the company when they erected the Chino refinery and made the first discovery of the fact that gasoline from California crude petroleum and of 74 degrees of gravity, had a calorific value of about one-third more than the eastern product. The entire product of the company was sold for gasoline stove cooking and found much more economical than the artificial gas which was then being furnished for family cooking at $2.00 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In 1895 he resigned and joined the Rex Oil Company, as assistant to the general manager, and soon afterwards was given charge of that company's field operations. In 1897, he was transferred to the Kern River field in Kern County, and there started the drilling of the second well in that field. He was thus instrumental in bringing into production the largest field in the state. In 1907 the company sold out to the Reed Crude Oil Company, Mr. Koeberle remaining with the latter and spend- ing three years in extending the use of fuel oil over the northern part of the state. In the time of over-production of that field, he sold oil as low as ten cents per barrel loaded on cars in the field.
Sengia 1. Bullock
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He then retired, and spent two years resting at Los Angeles. He then interested capital in the Sherman Oil Field near Los Angeles, on the Ida Hancock property, and within about one year had developed a field production of more than five thousand barrels per day. Within about eighteen months after first operation in this field the company sold forty-nine per cent of its stock to the Associated Oil Company for a large remuneration. Immediately after that deal the Associated formed the Amalgamated Oil Company, for the further development of the field, and later the remaining holdings of the original company was purchased by the Associated on the basis of about three million dollars · for the property. Mr. Koeberle, remained with the Amalgamated Oil Company as purchasing agent and superintendent of transportation six years.
His next work was in developing some virgin territory in the Mid- way Field for the Wellman Oil Company. Mr. Koeberle was field man- ager and developed the property to a considerable production. Later these holdings were sold to Oakland capitalists, and for some years past the Standard Oil Company has owned this property. Since about 1911 Mr. Koeberle has been employing his resources and experience as an independent operator in California properties. He is affiliated with the Knights of the Maccabees and in politics is independent. At Buffalo, New York, October 4, 1905, he married Harriet E. Bourne.
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