USA > California > Alameda County > Past and present of Alameda County, California, Volume II > Part 30
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of the city. They have demonstrated its advantages, have tested its possibilities and, with a belief in its future which has already to a large extent been justified, have stimulated the spirit of activity and progress which is the basis of municipal advancement. Both are able, discriminating, farsighted and progressive business men who are widely known and highly respected in the city where the name Hobson & Pavert stands for progress, for high standards of integrity, and for honorable business dealings.
WELLS DRURY.
Wells Drury is unusually well qualified for his present position of secretary of the Chamber of Commerce of Berkeley, California, as he is intimately acquainted with the resources and possibilities of the Bay country. He has a still broader background for his work as he knows conditions throughout the state of California and even on the whole Pacific slope. The greater part of his life has been spent west of the Rockies, and he held editorial positions on many of the important papers in California, thus being brought into direct contact with present-day conditions in the state. He is making the Chamber of Commerce of Berkeley a potent force in the develop- ment of that beautiful university city and finds his knowledge of the country of value in his work. He is vice president of the Alameda County Exposition Commission and secretary of the Publicity Com- missioners of Alameda county, California.
Mr. Drury was born in New Boston, Illinois, September 16, 1851, a son of Squire Thompson and Rebecca (Newton) Drury. His education was acquired in the high school of Olympia, Washington, and in Christian College located at Monmouth, Oregon. In his youth he acted as interpreter for the superintendent of Indian affairs on Puget Sound, Washington, after the Medicine Creek treaty. He served an apprenticeship as compositor and pressman and worked at this trade in Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, from 1866 to 1870. After he had learned the mechanical part of the printing business he became editor of the Monmouth (Ore.) Mes- senger, holding that position from 1871 to 1873. In 1873 he moved to San Francisco where he joined the staff of the Alta California. He was connected with a number of papers throughout the Pacific slope, being editor of the Carson City (Nev.) Daily News from 1876 to 1878 and of the Virginia City (Nev.) Daily Stage, 1879- 1880. In 1881-1882 he was city and managing editor of the Daily
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Territorial Enterprise of the last named city, and in 1888 we find him as city editor of the San Francisco Examiner. He founded the Daily Evening News of Sacramento, California, being also its editor, and so continued until 1893. In 1895-6 he was managing editor of the San Francisco Daily Call and from 1900 to 1901 he was man- aging editor of the Los Angeles Daily Record, after which he was in the period from 1902 to 1906 news editor of the Sacramento Union, becoming city editor of the San Francisco Daily Examiner in 1907. On the Ist of August, 1908, he left the field of journalism to become secretary of the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. Drury has written voluminously for newspapers and maga- zines aside from his work as an editor and is the author of "To Old Hangtown or Bust," published in 1912, and in conjunction with Aubrey Drury he compiled the "California Tourist Guide and Handbook," published in 1913. During his residence in Nevada he was deputy secretary of state from 1882 to 1886 and from 1887 to 1889 a member of the Nevada house of representatives, of which he was speaker pro tem. He was for years a member of the First Regiment, National Guard, of Nevada, being a commissioned officer from 1877 to 1883, rising from second lieutenant to first lieutenant. He was captain and aid-de-camp of the First Brigade from 1883 to 1887. Mr. Drury is a charter member and ex-president of the San Francisco Press Club and is an honorary member of the Typo- graphical Union, associations which keep him in touch with the field of newspaperdom.
DR. JOHN A. LESOINE.
Dr. John A. Lesoine, who in the practice of chiropody is ac- corded a liberal patronage, was born in New York state, October 3, 1888, a son of John and Antoine L. Lesoine. He attended the pub- lic schools of Monroe county, Pennsylvania, to which place his par- ents had removed in 1893, when he was a lad of five years. He continued his studies to the age of fourteen and then worked as a clerk in a grocery store for six months. He was next employed in a wholesale grocery house as clerk for a year and a half, after which he went to Los Angeles and remained for four months, securing employment in a restaurant there. He next undertook the study of chiropody and was active in that line of work for one year. On
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the expiration of that period he went to San Francisco and prac- ticed as a chiropodist for four months. He afterward returned to Monroe county, Pennsylvania, and remained with his parents for six months. Later he went to New York city and attended a chi- ropodist school for three months, when he again went to Los An- geles and was in the employ of a chiropodist of that city for three and one-half years. He then embarked in business on his own ac- count in Los Angeles, where he remained until July 21, 1911, when he sold out and embarked in the wholesale fruit business, in which he continued for a year. Disposing of his interests in that line, he next went to San Francisco, where he practiced chiropody for five months, after which he came to Oakland, where he has since re- mained. He follows his profession and the excellence of his treat- ment is attested in the liberal patronage which is accorded him. He is very successful and his business is growing month by month.
Dr. Lesoine belongs to the Masonic fraternity and to the Wood- men of the World. He also belongs to the Sciots and to the Pedic Society of California. His political belief is that of the republican party, and his religious faith that of the Lutheran church. What- ever success he has achieved is the result of his own efforts and labors. Gradually he has advanced along lines which have brought him substantial results, and in all he has been actuated by a spirit that recognizes the fact that efficiency and capability are the only qualities which really entitle one to advancement.
STUART S. HAWLEY.
Stuart S. Hawley, a prominent business man of Oakland, engaged in the land development and general investment business, is a native of this city, born October 12, 1883. His father, George T. Hawley, was an early settler in California, having taken up his residence in this state in 1859.
Stuart S. Hawley acquired his education in the public schools of Oakland and in the University of California, from which institu- tion he graduated with the class of 1905.
Since that time he engaged for a time in banking and then in land development and general investment business, and is now the man- ager of the H. W. Meek Estate and the Hawley Investment Com- pany, with all their allied interests, covering lands and investments in Alameda, Los Angeles, San Diego, Tehama and Inyo counties.
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He has had complete charge of the development of their different holdings, which have comprised over forty thousand acres, in addi- tion to their numerous other interests.
Mr. Hawley married Miss Harriette E. Meek, and they have one son, Stuart M. Hawley.
Mr. Hawley is a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of the Bohemian Club of San Francisco and the Commercial Club, Athen- ian Club, Claremont Country Club and Mystic Shrine of this city.
M. J. KELLY.
On the roster of county officials of Alameda county is numbered M. J. Kelly, serving with credit and ability as county treasurer. He is a native of West Virginia, born in Benwood, near Wheeling, April 27, 1864, and came to California as a boy, beginning his independent career as a nailmaker's apprentice. He afterward followed this trade until 1894, when he was tendered a position in the United States mint in San Francisco. For thirteen years thereafter he remained connected with the mint, rising step by step through the various departments, being assistant smelter, dissolver, and weigher, in the assay department, and eventually humid assayer, in charge of the assaying of silver, a position which he held until the time of his appointment as Treasurer of Alameda county. During this time he had established an enviable record for honesty, reliability and effi- ciency and his resignation was received with regret when he tendered it to the mint officials in order to take up his broader work. In March, 1906, he was appointed by the board of supervisors to the office of treasurer of Alameda county to fill the unexpired term of A. W. Feidler, whose death occurred about that time. Mr. Kelly has since filled this office with his characteristic efficiency, and during the period of his administration he has inaugurated needed reforms which have corrected the loose methods prevailing in the past. The office is now conducted along the most approved and businesslike lines and courtesy has been made the first policy of the department. Mr. Kelly's popularity throughout Alameda county is unquestioned and the best evidence of this lies in the fact that he has been twice elected to his present position and at the last primary election he received the republican, democratic and union labor nominations for his present office.
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As a private citizen Mr. Kelly is noted for his kindly disposition and his desire to help whenever and wherever he can. A bachelor himself, with a strong friendship for boys, he has informally adopted a number of them and they have been largely those whom the great majority of people would not consider desirable. They have been young men that have lacked many of the advantages of birth, educa- tion and favorable environment; but the more they lacked, the more Mr. Kelly felt they needed a guiding hand. A man of broad charity, progressive views and high ideals, Mr. Kelly has made his influence felt as a constructive force in official and social circles of Oakland, where his many excellent personal characteristics have won him a wide circle of friends.
ALBERT J. MAZURETTE.
Albert J. Mazurette, a young and successful architect of Oak- land, who owes his present position entirely to his own efforts and ability, has here been engaged in business since 1910 and is president of the Melbourne Construction Company of Oakland and Alameda. His birth occurred in Detroit, Michigan, on the 17th of September, 1888, his parents being O. A. and Bella (Robidoux) Mazurette, of Montreal. The mother passed away in 1895. Five years later the father came to California and in this state has since held positions in different sawmills.
Albert J. Mazurette attended the public schools of Stockton and Oakland, California, until 1904 and then pursued a special course in drawing in the Polytechnic high school of Oakland, leaving that institution in 1905. His later valuable training was acquired in the "university of hard knocks." He first secured a position in a planing mill in Santa Clara, California, and there learned every branch of the business. In 1905 he left the mill and went to Stockton, entering the employ of the Enterprise planing mill as designer under R. P. Morrell, who is one of the foremost architects of Stockton and to whom he is indebted for the major part of his present knowledge of the profession. In February, 1906, Mr. Mazurette returned to Oak- land and was here employed by the Pacific Coast Lumber & Mill Company until 1907, while subsequently he was in the service of Karl H. Nickel, the "bungalow king," until 1910. In that year he em- barked in business as an architect on his own account and has since maintained offices in the Bacon building in Oakland. In January,
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1914, he organized the Melbourne Construction Company, of which he is president. This company has offices in both Oakland and Ala- meda and specializes in heavy construction of all kinds, bridges, warehouses, factories, pumping plants, schools, amusement parks, wharves and docks all falling within the scope of their activities. They have the contract for and are building the Alameda-Venice swimming baths and amusement park, located on the shore of the bay at Almeda. The work involves an expenditure of three hun- dred thousand dollars and is the largest place of its kind west of the Rockies. The fact that the Melbourne Construction Company has been awarded the contract for this work is in itself proof of the splendid reputation which the company has already gained. The work is progressing splendidly under the direction of its able presi- dent and its completion will add greatly to the prestige of the com- pany.
In fraternal and social circles Mr. Mazurette is popular. He belongs to Alameda Lodge, No. 1015, B. P. O. E., the Gamma Chapter of Sigma Omega Psi (an engineering fraternity), the Alpha Chapter of Delta Kappa Sigma and the Knickerbocker Club of San Francisco.
BENJAMIN F. BERGEN.
A man who achieved distinction as an official of the United States government and who later sustained a high reputation as a member of the bar of the Bay cities was Benjamin F. Bergen. A native of Schuyler county, Illinois, born in 1838, Mr. Bergen was the descendent of the early New Jersey Bergens, the first of whom came to America with Henrik Hudson in 1621. The head of this family married the first white woman to be born in the province of New Netherlands. The great-grandfather of our subject was a soldier in the Revolution and his grandfather an officer in the War of 1812. His father, George S. Bergen, conducted a large stock farm in Schuyler county. He was a native of New Jersey, from which state he removed to Kentucky in 1818, the same year that Illinois was admitted to the Union. Four years later he went to the latter state and entered Shurtleff College, which had just been founded. On completing his course of study there he settled at Jer- sey Prairie, near Jacksonville. At this time Illinois saw a large Vol. II 20
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influx of people from the northern Confederate states, who settled in the country between the Wabash and St. Louis rivers, especially. in Vermilion, Edgar, Champaign, Sangamon and Morgan coun- ties. The mixture of these old families with those of the pioneers produced a race of people from which sprang many of the country's greatest men.
Benjamin F. Bergen received his early education in the common schools near his home and at an early age decided to become a lawyer. This meant in those days long and steady application to his studies in a law office, but he persevered and was finally admitted to the bar. Although he was of an exceedingly studious turn of mind, bent on further perfecting himself in his profession, he found time to participate in politics, being affiliated with the democratic party. He possessed an aptitude for organization and had few peers in the state. As long as he remained in Illinois-nearly twenty-five years-he was a delegate to nearly every state convention of his party and he numbered among his associates such men as Hon. Virgil Hickox, Hon. William M. Springer, Hon. James C. Allen, Hon. William A. Richardson, Hon. O. B. Ficklin, United States Senator John M. Palmer, Hon. William R. Morrison and others who have left their impress upon the pages of history. He was a member of the democratic state central committee from the state at large for many years; a member of the executive committee of that body; and also secretary of the state central committee during the Tilden campaign, spending several months at the headquarters in Chicago. He called to order the memorable convention in the Windy City at which Tilden was nominated for president.
In 1885 Mr. Bergen was sent to California and went to Eureka, Humboldt county, as special agent of the United States land office to investigate irregularities in the acquirement of certain redwood timber holdings, being commissioned by President Cleveland. He prosecuted several cases successfully in the federal courts and became the bane of the "land-sharks" of those days. In the course of this work he reclaimed many hundreds of acres of valuable timber lands which had illegally been taken from the government. When Cleve- land was succeeded as president by Harrison he resigned and began the practice of law in San Francisco. When first he tendered his resignation it was not accepted, the reasons for which are later seen in letters from Washington. He made his home in Berkeley until 1910, when he moved to Alameda. Until 1896 he maintained his law office in San Francisco, achieving much distinction and handling much important litigation. Then he removed his office to Oakland,
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that he might be nearer his family, and continued to practice until his death, which occurred on June 22, 1912.
During his residence in Alameda county he took an active inter- est in local affairs and in 1894 was a candidate for the superior bench. He served several terms as member of the board of education of Berkeley and in 1898 was appointed a director of the Deaf, Dumb and Blind Institute in the college city.
Mr. Bergen was first married at the age of twenty-three to Eliza- beth Ann Clark, daughter of David C. and Martha Ann Clark of Santa Rosa. She died in 1900. In 1910 he wedded Mrs. Louise (Briggs) Bigler of Alameda. Four children were born of the first union : Anna, who married James U. Smith, of Berkeley ; M. Emily; Benjamin C .; and Ethel, the wife of Frank N. Lowell of Berkeley.
Among the records of his career as a government official which were treasured by Mr. Bergen and which go far to show that he had been one of its valued agents is a letter received by him from the commissioner of the land office, on receipt of Mr. Bergen's resigna- tion, which is reproduced herewith:
Washington, D. C., May 9, 1889. B. F. Bergen, Eureka, California :
Dear Sir :- Referring to your request to have your resignation as special agent accepted as soon as practicable, I have to say that I regret very much to learn of your purpose to leave the service, and hope you will reconsider the matter and find it agreeable to remain. Your thorough knowledge of the land laws and the duties of your office have enabled you to render service which has been of incal- culable benefit to the government; and I feel it my duty to do and say whatever I can to keep you in the service. You have proven your- self to be an honest and efficient officer, and the government cannot well afford to lose your services. The able manner in which you conducted the trial in the California redwood case is especially deserving of the highest commendation and praise. I shall therefore decline to recommend the acceptance of your resignation, as long as I believe you can be induced to remain in office.
Yours very truly, S. M. STOCKSLEGER, Commissioner, G. L. O.
The "California redwood case" to which the foregoing letter referred was the prosecution of the California Redwood Company, or "Scotch Sydicate," in which he was bitterly opposed by the best
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legal talent procurable. It involved the title to some sixty thousand acres of redwood timber land in Humboldt county, valued at twenty million dollars. The case was long contested, over four hundred witnesses being examined, but Mr. Bergen won it for the government. In further recognition of his valuable services and summarizing well his career, William F. Vilas, then secretary of the interior, when Mr. Bergen's resignation finally was accepted, wrote to him: "An honorable record is your just reward for public labor."
As a lawyer in after years, in private practice, Mr. Bergen main- tained his high reputation for ability, integrity and faithfulness to the interests of those who intrusted their affairs to him. In social life he was one of the most companionable of men, of genial disposition, and popular among the host of friends who were privileged to know him.
JOHN C. STOUT, M. D.
For sixteen years Dr. John C. Stout has been located in Oakland, California, and is numbered among the city's foremost physicians, specializing in nervous diseases. He was born in Greene county, Illinois, January 27, 1846, and is a son of J. M. Stout, M. D., who never was a permanent resident of California, but once made a visit to this state extending over six months. John C. Stout, the son, was educated in the public schools of Greene county, at Illinois College, at Jacksonville, Illinois, and at Shurtleff College, at Upper Alton, Illinois. He had begun the study of medicine, but when the war broke out, although but sixteen years of age, he enlisted in the Nine- ty-first Illinois Volunteer Regiment and served over three years, being discharged on account of disability due to a severe wound in the hand. While in the service he distinguished himself by faith- fulness to duty and bravery before the enemy.
Upon his return to his Illinois home Dr. Stout became an employe in his father's drug store, again taking up the study of medicine at the same time. He came to California in 1874 and for one year was connected with the wholesale drug house of Langley & Michael, of San Francisco. He then went to Gilroy, where he practiced for two years and then returned east as far as St. Louis, Missouri, where he took a medical course in the American Medical College, graduat- ing in 1878. He next was engaged in practice in Edwardsville, Illinois, remaining there three years, and in 1881 again came to Cali- fornia, locating in San Jose, where he was successful, enjoying a large
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and profitable practice until July 1, 1895, when he went to Los Angeles. Two years he remained in that city, but on March 1, 1898, came to Oakland, where he has been located ever since. It is now sixteen years since he began practice in Oakland, and he has made for himself a place among the foremost physicians of this city. He makes a specialty of nervous diseases and is very often called in con- sultation on account of his deep knowledge upon this particular sub- ject. Dr. Stout has always remained a student of human nature and human ailments, and as the years have passed has gathered a vast amount of experience which entitles him to the consideration which he enjoys among his colleagues in the profession. While yet a resi- dent of the east he served as the first vice president of the Illinois State Medical Society and also was president of the Madison County Medical Society. He served for two terms as president of the State Eclectic Medical Society of California and for one year held the same office in the Santa Clara County Medical Society. He is still a member of the California State Medical Society and the National Eclectic Medical Association. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and is past medical director of the Department of California, also regimental surgeon of D. D. Porter Post.
On October 31, 1876, at Upper Alton, Illinois, Dr. Stout mar- ried Miss Gertrude L. Smith, a native of that city, who died May 1, 1911, leaving three children: Pearl H .; Arthur G., of Ogden, Utah; and Olive G. Dr. Stout is a lover of nature and throughout life has been a student of botany, having a fine appreciation of the wonders of plant life. He also has interested himself in mineralogy, although he has not taken up that study so exhaustively as the first mentioned.
Politically he is a republican, conversant with the principles of his party, ever eager to promote its success, but not an active poli- tician. He served as commander in chief of the Army and Navy Republican League of California, in the days of its greatest influence. He has been offered that office on various occasions since but has always steadfastly refused. For the past forty years he has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and in 1894 was one of the organizers of Observatory Lodge, I. O. O. F., at San Jose. He is a past grand, for many years has served as high priest of Golden Rule Encampment, and was made district deputy grand patriarch in 1913. He is also regimental major of the grand can- ton. He is surgeon and captain of the uniformed rank of the Knights of Pythias and also is a past chancellor in this organization, of which he has been a member for many years. He is also a past
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master of the Woodmen of the World and has been a member of the Baptist church since boyhood, being now connected with the Twenty- third Avenue church, at Oakland. Dr. Stout is a man of robust physique, his strength and reserve force being greater than that of many a younger man. He has a liberal mind and broad sympathies and is interested in all measures and movements which have the betterment of humanity for their purpose or which are intended to improve living conditions. In a quiet way he has contributed to the development of Oakland and has been a valued factor in the development of Alameda county.
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