USA > California > Alameda County > Past and present of Alameda County, California, Volume II > Part 34
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W. A. CATTELL, C. E.
WV. A. Cattell is one of the foremost construction engineers of the Pacific coast, being located in San Francisco. He now tends to a large general practice, and is also consulting engineer to many enter- prises, his activities having an important influence upon the develop- ment of Alameda county and other parts of the state of California. Mr. Cattell was born in Princeton, New Jersey, June 16, 1863, and is a son of Thomas W. and Anna C. (Ashburner) Cattell. He attended various public and private schools until 1880, when he entered Lafayette College. From that year until 1884 he took the four years' course in civil engineering in the Pardee scientific depart- ment of Lafayette College, graduating in 1884 with the degree of civil engineer.
He then accepted employment with the State Board of Railroad Assessors of New Jersey, becoming an assistant engineer under Colo- nel James Allen and later serving under Edlow W. Harrison in making resurveys and valuations of the railroad and canal property in the state. He was also later employed by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company on preliminary and location surveys in Kansas and Indian Territory. In 1889 Mr. Cattell accepted the position of assistant chief engineer of the Long Island Railroad, being in charge of the construction department. He had supervision of the design and construction of bridges, buildings, docks, piers and terminals and the location and construction of the new lines. During this period, the road was practically reconstructed, many miles of new lines and double track were added and extensive improvements effected.
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Mr. Cattell remained as assistant chief engineer with the Long Island Railroad until 1897 and from that year until 1905 was en- gaged in general practice as consulting engineer in New York city. He acted in that capacity for the Brooklyn park department, super- vising the construction of steel and masonry bridges; for the Ohio Southern Railroad, on bridges and general improvement, and for the Manhattan Beach Company, on the installation of the electric light, power and refrigerating plants, the electric railroad, marine bulk- heads and shore protection. He assisted William Barclay Parsons and H. de B. Parsons in the valuation of a number of large manufacturing plants, aggregating many million dollars in value, among them the Rogers Locomotive Works and the William Cramp shipbuilding plant at Philadelphia; also on the report on a high-speed electric railway projected to run from Philadelphia to Atlantic City. He made examinations, estimates and reports on a large number of exist- ing and projected railroads, including a belt railway for the city of St. Louis and the proposed terminals for the Southern Railroad at Pensacola, Florida. He reported on the extensive irrigation project in New Mexico now being constructed by the United States reclama- tion service and on a number of minor water supply and power proj- ects in various parts of the United States. He made complete and detailed designs for the buildings and mechanical installations of several manufacturing plants, including a plant for the manufacture of sewer pipe which was erected at Shawmut, Pennsylvania. He prepared the estimate for bids for various construction concerns on extensive improvements, among them the Atlantic Avenue improve- ments of the Long Island Railroad and the section of the New York Rapid Transit Subway from the City Hall, New York, to Flatbush avenue, Brooklyn, including the tunnel section under the East river. He also made the estimates for the track elevation of the New York Central Railroad, Schenectady, New York. He assisted H. de B. Parsons in the examination of the new filtration plants, pumping stations and the aqueduct tunnel of the Philadelphia waterworks system in connection with the charges of graft in the construction of these works. He was appointed chairman of the commission to determine the cause of a fatal building collapse in Albany, New York, by the mayor of that city. He prepared preliminary plans for extensive improvements at Manhattan Beach, involving reinforced concrete sea walls, a large amount of hydraulic filling for reclama- tion, complete water supply and sewerage system, power plant and railway terminal facilities; also prepared the plans for a number of buildings, private residences, a casino and a hotel.
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During 1905 and 1906 MIr. Cattell was consulting engineer for E. H. Rollins & Sons (municipal and corporation bonds) of San Francisco, California, making examinations and reports on various steam and electric railroads, existing and projected, including the Western Pacific Railroad, and on many of the important hydro- electric developments of the state. He was president of the Petaluma & Santa Rosa Electric Railroad, operating thirty-four miles of inter- urban line, and also president of the Marin Terminal and Santa Rosa and Northern Railroads when they projected to build sixty-five miles of additional high-grade interurban lines. Construction work on these lines had been started shortly before the earthquake, but was suspended at that time and has never since been resumed. Since 1908 Mr. Cattell has been engaged in general practice as consulting en- gineer in San Francisco. He was chief engineer of the Clear Lake power and irrigation project; made a reconnaisance survey and report for the Hirsch Syndicate, Ltd., of London, on the Valdez- Yukon Railroad project in Alaska (one hundred and sixty-four miles) ; a report on the terminal pier of the San Francisco-Oakland Terminal Railways, a double-track structure extending three miles out into San Francisco bay, with a special investigation of the effect of sea water on the concrete cylinders which supported a portion of the structure; and a reconnaisance survey for the United States for- est service of a railway line along the Klamath river, California, seventy-two miles in length. At this writing Mr. Cattell is chief engineer of the Trona Railway, a standard-gauge steam railroad in California of which thirty miles are nearly completed. He is con- sulting engineer for the San Francisco-Oakland Terminal Railways. operating two hundred and fifty-six miles of line in Oakland and adjoining cities, and engaged in the design and construction of the new terminals and harbor improvements for that company. He is consulting engineer for the People's Water Company in connection with the litigation now in progress in the federal courts over water rates. He is consulting engineer for the Los Angeles Railway Cor- poration, operating three hundred and sixty-four miles of line in Los Angeles, California, in connection with the valuation of the property in the case now at issue before the State Railroad Commission.
Mr. Cattell is connected with the following scientific and profes- sional associations: American Society of Civil Engineers, of which he is a director; American Society of Mechanical Engineers; Amer- ican Institute of Consulting Engineers; Pacific Association of Con- sulting Engineers; American Water Works Association, and En- gineers' Club of San Francisco. His work has been of the greatest
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importance to the growth and development of Oakland and Alameda county, and his accomplishments will for years to come contribute to the prosperity of its residents.
GEORGE WILLIAM FRICK.
George W. Frick is one of the most prominent educators of Ala- meda county, having three times served in the position of county superintendent of schools, his first election taking place in 1890 and his second in 1907, since which time he has filled that position. Mr. Frick comes of a family which settled in California in pioneer days. It was established in this state by his father, George Washington Frick, a native of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and a son of Abraham Frick, the latter a sturdy settler of German ancestry, whose death occurred in 1880, while his wife died some years earlier. In their family were six sons and two daughters.
George Washington Frick, the father of the subject of this review, sought the opportunities of the middle west, removing to Illinois in 1839, the family making their home on a farm near Galena. He received his education in the district schools there, and also studied privately, subsequently taking a course in the Mount Morris Semi- nary when about twenty years of age. In 1852, in Galena, Illinois, he married Miss Mary E. Bryant, and before the year was out they started for California, accompanied by her parents. They made the long journey without any serious adventures, although they expe- rienced the hardships and privations incident to such a trip. "Mother Bryant," as she was known, however, was crippled by an accident at the beginning of the journey, but was able to do the cook- ing for the party all the way across the plains.
Arriving in the Golden state in 1853, Mr. Frick took up teaching in Santa Cruz, having charge of the first public school there for two terms, at the end of which time he removed to Centerville, Alameda county, where he also followed this profession. He was one of the first republicans in the county and from the date of his arrival took an active interest in the affairs of his party. In 1857 he removed to Sonoma county and purchased a ranch about three miles northeast of Petaluma, his property comprising one hundred and twenty acres. He continued to teach school, having charge of the Bethel school for one term. In 1860 he became the candidate of the republican party
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for sheriff, but later withdrew in order to better the chances of the union party candidate. He was active in the Union League move- ment during the Civil war and was the president of the Bethel Union League near Petaluma. He was also chairman of the Sonoma county delegation to the state convention which nominated George C. Gor- ham for governor. Although his county had a large democratic majority, he was twice elected supervisor, drawing many democratic votes because even his political opponents were absolutely sure of the purity of his motives and the sincerity of all his actions. For fifteen years he served as a school trustee, always taking an interest in the cause of education, and practically all his life he held an official posi- tion of one sort or another in the Methodist Episcopal church.
In 1871 he sold his farming interests near Petaluma and in the following year located in Mendocino county. In 1874 he became a settler of Santa Barbara county, where he was identified with the Lompoc Temperance Colony, of which movement he was a pioneer. He conducted a mercantile establishment in Lompoc and also par- ticipated in the public life of the municipality as school trustee. It was largely due to his efforts that a five thousand dollar schoolhouse was erected, and he also was instrumental in the building of a church edifice for the Methodist Episcopal denomination. After disposing of his store in Lompoc he acquired title to about one thousand acres of land in the San Miguelito canyon, which he devoted to dairying, making the purchase in 1876 and locating upon the property about three years later. Subsequently, however, he leased this land and removed to Oakland in order to give his children the best educational advantages.
Mrs. Frick, who in her maidenhood was Miss Mary E. Bryant, was a daughter of William Cowper Bryant of New England, who at an earlier day became a merchant of Galena, Ilinois. He made sev- eral trips to California by way of Mexico and the Isthmus and while crossing the plains was shot by Indians and for some time carried the arrowhead in his breast, finally having it cut out with a butcher knife, as he was unable to reach a doctor. He was one of the pioneer draymen of San Francisco and while at his work fell through a wharf, receiving such serious injuries that he was crippled for life.
His wife, Anna (Sterret) Bryant, was of German descent and became widely known throughout the state of California for church and charitable work. As "Mother Bryant" she was familiarly known to the inhabitants of San Francisco and the surrounding territory. She crossed the plains on crutches and lived to be about seventy years of age. Two of her sons, John and William, became ministers. Mrs.
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Frick was president of the Women's Christian Temperance Union of Lompoc at the time of her death, which occurred May 3, 1884. Her husband passed away in Lompoc while on a visit, July 12, 1889, at the age of sixty-four years. In their family were the following children: George William, of this sketch; Laura A., who died December 3, 1888, at the age of twenty-seven; Abraham Lincoln, who is a lawyer by profession and served as deputy district attorney of Alameda county in 1891 and later became superior judge; John Frederick, who was graduated from the Oakland high school in 1888 and later studied law; and Blanche.
George William Frick was born in Santa Cruz, California, April +, 1854, and attended the Bethel district school in Sonoma county until fourteen years of age, when he became a pupil in Professor E. S. Lippett's scientific and classical institute at Petaluma. In 1870 he attended grammar school for one term and in 1871 entered the Napa Collegiate Institute. In 1873, when he was nineteen years of age, he apprenticed himself to the printer's trade in a newspaper office in Napa and subsequently removed with his employer to San Jose, where he first began to write for the paper. He subsequently returned to Petaluma and then went to Lompoc, where he taught a private school and also followed newspaper work. Subsequently he studied law for nine months in San Francisco and then returned to Petaluma, where he again acted as compositor and writer and also studied for teaching, receiving his certificate in Santa Rosa in 1877. His first school was taught in Sebastapol. In 1879 he came to Ala- meda county and followed his profession for eighteen months in Cas- tro valley. He next was connected with the two department school at Mount Eden for three and one-half years, and in 1884 became head of the Hayward school of seven departments, and in 1886 of the San Leandro school of eight departments. In July, 1888, he was chosen by the Oakland board of education to fill the principalship of the Tompkins school of eight departments, and in the fall of 1890 was elected county superintendent of schools. After serving his term he became principal of the Cole school of Oakland, and continued in that position for twelve years, being in 1906 again elected county superintendent and having since continued in that position. Mr. Frick has made many improvements since he has taken charge of the office. He has simplified the clerical work and has placed all of the affairs of the office upon a strict business basis. He makes it a point to visit all of the schools in the county, if possible, five or six times a year and keeps in close touch with the teachers and pupils in order to maintain that spirit of cooperation which is so necessary in order
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to insure success. He has also encouraged the introduction of indus- trial education in the country schools.
In Oakland, January 1, 1885, Mr. Frick married Miss Rhoda Louise Tucker, who taught in the Hayward school when he was prin- cipal. Her parents were William J. and Sarah L. (Walker) Tucker. She was born in Brandon, Vermont, and came to California in her early life. She attended the public schools, and graduated as class poet from the University of California in the class with ex-Governor Pardee. Mr. and Mrs. Frick had two children: Gladys C., now Mrs. Shepherd and Raymond L. Mrs. Frick passed away in 1892, her death causing sincere sorrow, not only to her immediate family, but to her many friends, all of whom esteemed her for her womanly qualities of character.
Mr. Frick is thoroughly devoted to his profession, which demands nearly all of his time. He is, however, interested in fraternal work and has been an active member of the Odd Fellow's since attaining his majority, having held all of the chairs in the subordinate lodge and encampment. In 1890 he joined Oakland Canton, No. 1I, of that order, and he is a past grand of Sycamore Lodge, No. 129, and a past chief patriarch of Alameda Encampent, No. 29, both of Hay- ward. For two terms he was district deputy grand master. He is also prominent in the Masonic order, being a past master of Euca- lyptus Lodge, No. 243, A. F. & A. M., of Hayward; is a member of Oakland Chapter, No. 36, R. A. M .; and the Order of the Eastern Star. He is a charter member and past exalted ruler of Oakland Lodge, No. 171, B. P. O. E., and is past president of Oakland Par- lor, No. 50, N. S. G. W. He also belongs to the Loyal Order of Moose. In all the relations of life he has proven himself trustworthy, and he well merits the confidence the public places in him. He is a public-spirited and patriotic citizen who for many years has worked for the betterment of educational opportunities in Alameda county and who has achieved results which will tell in years to come.
CHARLES A. BEARDSLEY.
Charles A. Beardsley, assistant city attorney of the City of Oak- land, and one of the able and prosperous young lawyers of Oakland, connected with important litigated interests as a member of the firm of Fitzgerald, Abbott & Beardsley, was born in Pennsylvania, January 14, 1882, a son of Ezra S. and May ( Fleming) Beardsley.
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Charles A. Beardsley came to California in 1892 and resumed his education, begun in Pennsylvania, in the public schools of this state, graduating from Campbell high school in 1901. He later entered Leland Stanford University, from which he was graduated with the degree of B. A. in 1906 and with the degree of Doctor of Law in 1908. He was admitted to the bar by the first appellate court of California in January, 1907, and on June Ist of the follow- ing year began the practice of his profession in association with Fitzgerald & Abbott, the firm name being now Fitzgerald, Abbott & Beardsley. Mr. Beardsley was made deputy city attorney of Oak- land in January, 1911, and later was made assistant city attorney, which office he now holds, discharging the duties incumbent upon him in a way which reflects credit upon his ability, impartiality and public spirit.
On the 9th of July, 1911, Mr. Beardsley was united in marriage to Miss Agnes I. Lafferty. He is a member of the Nile Club and gives his political allegiance to the republican party. He is a young man of energy, ambition and enterprise, who in professional, official and social relations holds steadily to high ideals, so that he com- mands the confidence and regard of all who are associated with him.
CHARLES JURGENS.
Charles Jurgens, who is one of the oldest business men still active in the commercial life of Oakland, was born in Waldeck, Germany, January 3, 1844. In that country he was educated, pursuing his studies to the age of sixteen years, when, in 1860, he sailed for Amer- ica. Landing in New York, he made his way to Michigan and remained in that state for three years, at the end of which time he started for California by way of the Isthmus route. Crossing the bay from San Francisco on the steamer Clinton, which then made daily trips between the two places, he settled in Oakland when the city consisted of but four business blocks and the streets were of deep sand. He engaged as a clerk in a grocery house in what was then called San Antonio and in 1868 embarked in business on his own account as proprietor of a grocery store in Temescal, now known as North Oakland. After conducting the business for several years he sold out in 1876 and built the St. Johns House, the first brick business block on Twelfth street, having a plate-glass front and a basement. The people generally considered the innovation foolish. He then built the
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present Globe Hotel, at Thirteenth and Broadway, conducting it until recently, when he leased it.
In 1905 he bought out the W. M. Watson Company and called it the Winedale Company, of which he is the president. He is a director in many large banks and business establishments, has dealt extensively in real estate and is one of the very wealthy men of Ala- meda county. He is regarded as a very active, energetic business man, wide-awake to the conditions of trade and at all times alert and enterprising. Fraternally Mr. Jurgens is a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and is popular in that organization. In 1870 he was united in marriage to Miss Catherine Springer, who passed away in 1913, leaving two sons and two daughters. Mr. Jur- gens has witnessed and helped in the growth of Oakland and he marks as epochs in the city's development: 1863, when the Southern Pacific built the Seventh street line; 1868, when the Overland Rail- road was completed; 1876, Centennial year, when the city had a rapid and unusual growth; and 1906, when the city really awoke from a village to realize its true destiny.
WILLIAM C. JURGENS.
William C. Jurgens is secretary of the Winedale Company, con- trolling one of the largest wholesale and retail liquor houses in the county. He was born in Oakland (Temescal), California, January 13, 1873, and is a son of Charles Jurgens. Reared in his native city, the public schools afforded William C. Jurgens his preliminary edu- cational opportunities. He passed through consecutive grades until graduated from the high school, in December, 1892. He next entered the University of California and was graduated in 1897. He subse- quently had charge of the cooperative store at the university for five years, at the end of which time he and his father bought out the W. M. Watson Company, which they have since conducted under the firm name of the Winedale Company. Since that time William Jurgens has been secretary, and as such has been active in the control of a business which is growing along substantial lines. He is watch- ful of all indications concerning trade conditions, is energetic and determined in carrying out his plans, and as the years have passed on has achieved a measure of success which is the direct and merited reward of persistent, earnest effort.
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In Oakland, on the 13th of January, 1911, Mr. Jurgens was united in marriage to Miss Gladys Thorpe. Fraternally he is connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He has never been a politician in the sense of office seeking, preferring to concentrate his energies upon his business affairs, which, capably directed, have brought to him substantial success. He has many friends in the city in which he has spent his entire life and attractive social qualities have made him popular among those with whom he is connected.
FRANK C. FABENS.
Throughout the years of an active business career Frank C. Fabens of Alameda has given all of his time and attention to the railroad business and is today one of the most trusted and valued representatives of the Southern Pacific Railroad in California, ris- ing through the various departments to be manager of the pass bureau, a position which he has filled with credit and distinction since July 28, 1913. He was born in San Francisco, July 7, 1874, and is a mem- ber of one of the well known California pioneer families, his father, George C. Fabens, having come around the Horn from Salem, Massachusetts, in 1864. He also was a prominent railroad official, spending many years of his active life in the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad and holding the position of claim adjuster at the time of his death in 1905.
Frank C. Fabens was three years of age when his parents moved to Alameda in November, 1877. In the public schools of this city he acquired his early education and after completing the grammar- school course entered the Alameda high school, from which he was graduated in 1891. He was afterward a student in the Avdelotte Business College of Oakland, completing the course there in 1892. In the following year he became connected with the Southern Pacific Railroad, entering the claim adjusting department on January I, of that year and giving immediate evidence of unusual ability along this line. Advancement came rapidly but only in recognition of superior merit and accomplishments, and he was soon transferred to the operating department as private secretary to the general super- intendent and general manager. After the San Francisco fire he was made chief clerk to the general superintendent and as such acted until July 28, 1913, when he was made manager of the pass bureau at San Francisco. This position calls for executive ability, business
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discrimination and tact of a high order and upon his possession of these qualities Mr. Fabens has based a success which places him among the leading railroad men in the state.
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