USA > California > Alameda County > Past and present of Alameda County, California, Volume II > Part 42
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In 1878 Mr. Garthwaite was married to Miss M. L. Mason, a pioneer settler of Yuba county, California, and unto them have been born two children, a son and daughter. Mr. Garthwaite is deeply interested in civic matters and his indorsement and cooperation have constituted valuable features in measures and movements which have been of direct benefit and value to the community. He is recognized as a strong man-strong in his ability to plan and perform, strong in his honor and good name,-and the importance of his business affairs, as well as the length of his residence in Oakland, makes him one of her most valued and honored citizens.
The Oakland Bank of Savings was organized August 13, 1867, with a capital stock of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which in 1869 was increased to three hundred thousand dollars and in 1871 to one million dollars. In January, 1910, The Oakland Bank of Vol. IT-27
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Savings took over the business and assets of the Bankers Trust Com- pany of Oakland, California, at which time its capital stock was in- creased to one million one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The last published statement of the bank shows aggregate deposits of over twenty-two million dollars and total resources of over twenty-four million dollars. The bank began business in a small brick building at Broadway and Ninth streets but moved to its present location at the northeast corner of Broadway and Twelfth streets about January, 1877, and since then the rapid increase of its business has four times necessitated the enlargement of its banking quarters, the last resulting in the present magnificent structure which it occupies.
The control of the bank has always been in strong hands and the management has practically remained unchanged during a long series of years. There are eleven members of the board of directors of the Oakland Bank of Savings: W. W. Garthwaite, president; W. B. Dunning and Henry Rogers, vice presidents; J. Y. Eccleston, cashier and secretary; and A. Borland, Arthur H. Breed, George H. Collins, Horace Davis, J. P. Edoff, James K. Moffitt, and M. L. Requa. The other officers of the bank are: J. A. Thomson and A. E. Caldwell, assistant secretaries ; Samuel Breck, F. A. Allardt, Les- lie F. Rice and A. W. Moore, assistant cashiers; and D. A. Bulmore, trust officer.
PETER WILBERT.
Peter Wilbert is not only a pioneer of Hayward, where he has been successfully engaged in the real-estate and insurance business for twenty-two years, but has made many valuable contributions to the development of the town, of which he has served as trustee, also being one of the organizers of the Chamber of Commerce. In point of service he is the second oldest real-estate man in his city and the high reputation which he enjoys is greatly to his credit, for it stamps him as a man who only follows the fairest methods and who has ever discharged all obligations laid upon him and who has fulfilled the expectations which the people had in him when they entrusted their affairs to his care.
Mr. Wilbert was born in Carroll, Fairfield county, Ohio, Septem- ber 12, 1849, and is a son of Valentine and Elizabeth ( Kling) Wil- bert, natives of Germany. The father was born in 1792. He took part in the famous Napoleonic campaign against Russia in 1812, at the
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time when Prussia was under the domination of the great French emperor and when the Prussian battalions fought with the French arms in order to reduce the Russian empire. He was stationed for a time at the military barracks near Coblenz on the Rhine, the old and famous city which was founded by the Romans under the Roman empire. The parents of our subject came to America between 1833 and 1835 and settled in Ohio, near Cleveland. The father's reason for going so far west was because no work could be found in the east, but in Ohio the Hocking canal was being built and in its construction many workmen were needed. Cleveland at that time was a cluster of half a dozen cabins and Mr. Wilbert built a log house for his wife and their five children in the woods. There he left them while he went to work on the canal, receiving thirty-seven and a half cents per day in remuneration for his labors. Industrious, thrifty and saving, he acquired the means which permitted him to engage in farming, an occupation which he followed in Ohio for the remainder of his life. He died about 1878, his widow passing away in 1880. In their family were ten children, of whom Peter is the youngest and of whom four came to California, two of these having passed away. One brother of our subject, Martin L., is now engaged in business pursuits in San Francisco.
Peter Wilbert was educated in the public and high schools at Carroll, Ohio, but at the age of twenty decided to embrace the beck- oning opportunities of the west, and set out for the land of promise on his twentieth birthday. This was in the first year of the railroad, the last spike of which was driven in April, while Mr. Wilbert came to California in September. He traveled by train and, tarrying in several places en route, it took him fully a week to make the trip. He arrived in San Francisco on the 27th of September. His sole financial resources consisted of a twenty dollar greenback, which was worth fifteen dollars in gold, minus twenty-five cents which was charged for exchange. He, therefore, found himself with four- teen dollars and seventy-five cents. He accepted any work that came to hand, making his livelihood as best he could, but in less than two years became connected with railroad work, beginning as an oiler and then spending a short time as locomotive fireman. His ability, faithfulness and trustworthiness were soon recognized and gained him promotion to the position of engineer. In that capacity he con- tinued for seventeen years. In 1887 he left the railroad employ and turned his attention to the real-estate and insurance business at Clov- erdale, also being interested at the time in a newspaper in that city. Four years later he removed to Oakland and was for eight months
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successfully engaged in the real-estate business in Fruitvale, but in June, 1892, came to Hayward and, establishing himself in the real- estate business on June ist of that year, has ever since continued along that line, also writing a considerable amount of insurance. He enjoys the best reputation on account of his business methods and also on account of the great information which he has upon all local real-estate conditions. His advice is frequently sought and he has handled a number of important deals affecting the community and county most favorably. He has been interested in a number of busi- ness enterprises and is always active in movements which have for their purpose trade expansion. He has induced a number of new concerns to locate in Hayward, bringing in that way additional cap- ital into the city, and he has also cooperated in the municipal devel- opment. It was Mr. Wilbert who prepared a petition for the pav- ing of Castro street after the failure of the chairman of the town board to do so. By two months of unremitting labor he secured the signatures of nearly every property owner on the street to have it paved. His petition when presented to the town board represented eleven thousand of the twelve thousand feet fronting on that street and the result was that the work was at once begun and that a street which had long been an annoyance to all those who had to pass it and an eyesore to all visitors and residents soon was one of the best paved in the city. He was also one of the organizers of the original Chamber of Commerce of Hayward and always has been a director, having also served as president and secretary. For one term he served as town trustee.
In 1876, at Stockton, California, Mr. Wilbert married Miss Carrie Petty, a native of California, who died in 1885. In 1889 he was married in Cloverdale to Mrs. A. Zuver, who was born in Ohio. He has one daughter, Mrs. J. M. Mendell, of Claremont.
Mr. Wilbert has always given his allegiance to the republican party and is thoroughly informed upon all questions and issues of the day, although he is not a politician in the ordinarily accepted sense of the term. He is a member of the Congregational church and has always taken a deep interest in its work. Fraternally he be- longs to the Woodmen of the World, being one of the organizers of the Hayward lodge, which is known as Cypress Camp, No. 141, and was founded in 1893. He was its first consul commander and has served as secretary of this organization for fourteen years. He is also identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, belong- ing to Garden City Lodge, No. 142, of San Jose. There is much that is creditable in the career of Peter Wilbert, who throughout
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life has shown himself a public-spirited and patriotic man, ever ready to sustain new enterprises and to work for the benefit of the community, having made many sacrifices for that purpose.
OTTO R. LUDEWIG.
Otto R. Ludewig is one of the pioneer business men of Rich- mond and was the first to open a meat market in the city. He has progressed with the development and upbuilding of the community, of which he has seen practically the entire growth, and, utilizing the advantages which it offered for progress, is today the owner of three of the largest and most sanitary butcher shops in Contra Costa county. During the twelve years of his residence here he has been active in public affairs and has held various positions of trust and responsibility, being now chairman of the common council.
Mr. Ludewig was born in Germany in 1867 and in his native country learned the butcher's trade. He came to the United States in 1892, and after spending three years in Chicago removed to San Francisco in 1895. He was in the butcher business there for five years and then removed to Richmond when the town was first or- ganized. He found here a cluster of rude shacks and has seen the town grow to a populous and prosperous community, whose inhabi- tants number fifteen thousand. Mr. Ludewig established himself in business in a small shop at Point Richmond and in twelve years his trade has increased so rapidly that he now owns three modern and sanitary stores, known as the Richmond, the Central and the Union markets. These are conspicuous examples of commercial en- terprise and ability and are among the finest retail stores in Contra Costa county. Each market is handsomely finished in marble and stone and combines the features which give elegance and neatness to an establishment of this kind. The main shop, at 510 Macdonald avenue, is equipped with a large refrigerator, an ice-making ma- chine, capable of manufacturing two tons of ice daily, and a com- plete refrigerating system. The Harbor Creamery is also owned by Mr. Ludewig and in this department there is an ice cream machine in which cooled air is used exclusively and a butter making ma- chine which turns out forty-five hundred pounds daily. The Har- bor Creamery has a reputation for selling the best dairy produce, eggs, butter and ice cream, and its prevailing motto is absolute clean- liness. Mr. Ludewig conducts a strictly sanitary business in all de-
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partments and this applies with equal force to the modern abattoir at San Pablo. Six years ago he erected the two story brick structure at 510 Macdonald avenue, and owns all of the buildings in which his markets are located. He buys cattle in carload lots and has the larg- est pay roll in the city among the retail houses, his staff numbering from eighteen to twenty people.
Mr. Ludewig married Miss Prantsch, and they have become the parents of three children : Otto, Jr., Victor and Metar. Mr. Lude- wig is connected fraternally with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Maccabees and the Elks. He gives his political allegiance to the progressive party and has been very active is public affairs, following four years of able service on the common council by his present activity as chairman of the board. His administration has been characterized by the ac- complishment of a great deal of constructive, businesslike and straightforward work in the best interests of the city. Mr. Ludewig has been in the meat business for thirty-one years and thoroughly understands it in principle and detail, founding his success upon long experience, unremitting industry and keen business insight.
JUDGE EVERETT J. BROWN.
The active career of Judge Everett J. Brown has been guided and controlled by a spirit of enterprise, progress and initiative, has been influenced by high professional and personal standards and dominated always by a sense of his responsibility as a man and as a public servant, these qualities bringing him distinction and success at the bar and on the bench and gaining for him at the early age of thirty-three the position of judge of the superior court of Alameda county. He is not only the youngest judge on the bench, but, what is of more value, his administration of the law has been of a charac- ter that has won for him a high position among his colleagues as a jurist and as a man and an enviable place in the regard of the public at large.
Judge Brown acquired his early education in the grammar schools of Oakland and was graduated from the Oakland high school in 1894. He afterward entered the University of California where he made an excellent record, graduating with the degree of Ph. B. in 1898, when he was twenty-one years of age. With him there was no hesitation or indecision in choosing a life work, for the profes-
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sion of law had always attracted him, and he had fully determined upon this before his graduation. He promptly enrolled as a stu- dent in Hasting's College of Law, affiliated with the state university. and he supplemented his studies at the college by practical experi- ence in the offices of Hon. Victor H. Metcalf, with whom he re- mained until the latter's appointment to ex-President Roosevelt's cabinet. He thus had the advantage of constant association with a fine legal mind and was consequently unusually well equipped for practice when he was admitted to the bar in 1901.
Judge Brown opened his first office in Oakland and was imme- diately successful, his ability, enterprise and knowledge of his pro- fession, drawing to him a large and representative patronage. He became connected with a great deal of important litigation and skilfully conducted a number of difficult cases, proving able in argu- ment, lucid in presentation and effective in his appeals before the court. Having attracted considerable attention as a rising young attorney, he received the appointment as deputy district attorney of Alameda county in 1903 and completed one term, serving with such energy, conscientiousness and ability that at the expiration of the period he secured the nomination on the republican ticket for the office of district attorney, to which he was elected by a gratifying majority. About two years of his term had expired when he was elected to the bench of the superior court of Alameda county, a position which he has since filled with credit and dignity. Judge Brown is an alert, active and vigorous young man and an excellent judge, always ready to weigh carefully both sides of a case, never ready to compromise in any way with his principles, but withal courteous and sympathetic in his relations with his associates and with the public. People who know him personally find him an unselfish and cordial young man who recognizes all the ties and obligations of life and meets them promptly and in a cheerful spirit. He seems to have learned by precept and example what most men have to learn by experience, and this is probably one of the greatest elements in the success which has brought him at the age of thirty-three to his present high and responsible office.
Judge Brown married in Oakland in 1905 Miss Winifred L. Osborne and they are the parents of three children: Winifred, Everett and Jean. His mother Mrs. Matilda Brown is well known in the city where for many years she has been a leader in the promo- tion of various charitable and philanthropic enterprises. At present she is president of the King's Daughter's Home. The official career of Judge Brown has been marked by straightforward, able and
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constructive work in the public service and in the private relations of his life he has proved himself loyal, honorable and upright-one of the men of distinction and ability in this part of California.
JOEL RUSSELL.
From comparative obscurity Joel Russell advanced steadily in business connections until he became one of the large landowners of Alameda county and also figured prominently in connection with public affairs which shaped the policy and promoted the progress of his section of the state. He lived to a ripe old age, and esteem and respect were accorded him because of his many manly qualities and his close conformity to the principles of right and honor.
He was born July 16, 1822, in Waterford, Oxford county, Maine, so that the width of the continent separated him from his birthplace after he had become a resident of this state. The first seventeen years of his life were passed in the Pine Tree state and, then while he did not leave New England, he left home to enter upon business activities at Medford, Massachusetts. He secured a clerkship in the drug store of Luther Anger and divided his time between work in that position and the continuance of his education as a pupil at Bethel Academy in his native county, from which in- stitution he was graduated and was accorded a teacher's certificate. The discovery of gold in California and the business possibilities thereby opened up in the state attracted hundreds of the sons of New England to the Pacific coast and the number included Joel Russell, who left home on the 30th of October, 1849, in company with a few intimate friends, among whom was his special friend and shipmate. W. H. Stearns. They took passage on the Henry Ware, com- manded by Captain Noah Nason and, sailing from Boston by way of Cape Horn, arrived at San Francisco on the 13th of March, 1850. For a brief period he engaged in contracting and building in Stockton, California, and while there formed the acquaintance of Captain Charles Weber, who formed a friendship with the young man with the result that he received a deed for a hundred and sixty acres of farm land near Stockton. During the winter of 1850-51 Mr. Russell built a house upon the tract and made preparations to cul- tivate the farm, but there was a lack of necessary rainfall that season, causing him to abandon his purpose of developing the ranch. Sell- ing his property, he afterward spent a year in the mines in northern
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California with the usual experiences, ofttimes exciting, that came to the early miner. There were the encounters with Indians and other events that made a part of the hazardous life of the early miner in this state. Mr. Russell traversed the mountain ranges from the Humboldt bay to the Columbia river and in February, 1852, again reached San Francisco.
Mr. Russell was without funds at the time of his return and once more planned to engage in general agricultural pursuits. He ex- pended his last cent for fare upon a sloop that bore him to Mayhew's Landing and in Alameda county he secured employment that in time, as the result of his industry and close economy, brought him a sufficient sum to enable him to rent land and engage in farming on his own account. In January, 1853, he settled as a squatter on what proved to be a portion of the Soto ranch. The claimants to the property secured their title by resort to the courts in 1856, after which Mr. Russell purchased the tract upon which he had settled, comprising one-seventh of the ranch. This he divided among his fellow squatters, reserving sufficient to protect his own possessions. From that time forward he added to his holdings until he became one of the large landowners of Alameda county.
It was about the time that he acquired the ownership of the ranch that Mr. Russell was married in August, 1856, to Miss Caroline M. Bartlett, a native of Oldtown, Maine, and unto them were born a daughter and two sons, Maude F., Thomas B. and Frederick James. As time passed on Mr. Russell concentrated his efforts successfully upon the development of his land and the acquirement of more property, and success attended his ventures in large measure.
In addition to his extensive ranch interests, Mr. Russell became active as a factor in the public life of the community. In 1854 he was elected justice of the peace of Eaton township and for one term he served on the bench as an associate judge in the court of sessions with Judge A. M. Crane, who was then county judge. His interest in the law was thus aroused, and he afterward successfully passed the required examination and was admitted to practice in the courts of Alameda county, continuing active in the profession until his death. For several years he was town attorney of Hayward, estab- lishing the boundaries of that town while filling the office. He was the candidate of the prohibition party for governor in the election of 1866 and campaigned all over the state. He gave earnest sup- port to the liberal party when James J. Birney was its candidate for the presidency and in 1852 at Centerville precinct, adhering to his principles, he nominated his own electors and cast the one vote of
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his county for John P. Hale, of New Hampshire, who was then the presidential candidate on the free soil ticket. Following the organization of the republican party he continued one of its stal- wart champions for many years. Later, becoming convinced that the temperance question was the paramount issue before the people, he joined the ranks of the prohibition party. It is well known that Mr. Russell never faltered in the support of any course or a principle which he believed to be right. He voted as his judgment dictated and in all things was ruled by broad common sense, a progressive spirit and the desire to promote the general welfare. He passed away February 19, 1888, when in the sixty-sixth year of his age, and left behind, not only a substantial competence, which was the result of earnest and intelligently directed endeavor, but also bequeathed as a priceless heritage to his family that good name which is rather to be chosen than great riches.
LEWIS CASS MOREHOUSE.
A man's position in public regard is established by the con- sensus of opinion on the part of his fellows. Judged in this way, Lewis Cass Morehouse can, without invidious distinction, be termed the most prominent resident of San Leandro, and it can be said of him, and it cannot always be said of capitalists, that he is well liked and esteemed by all with whom business or social relations have brought him in contact. His judgment of others is founded upon individual worth and not upon wealth, and in the attainment of his own success he has followed methods so straightforward and honor- able that the most envious cannot grudge him his prosperity.
Mr. Morehouse is a native of Onondaga county, New York, born December 29, 1833, and is a son of Oliver Morehouse, who, in 1843, removed from the Empire state to Lake county, Illinois, where he owned and cultivated a farm only eighty rods south of the Wisconsin border. There the family lived until 1852, when Oliver Morehouse and his son Lewis, leaving the family in the east, crossed the plains in a prairie schooner with Sacramento as their destination. For a few months both were employed on a ranch near Davisville, after which they went to the mines at Sonora, Tuolumne county. In February, 1853, they went to Stockton, where the father died. Later in that year Lewis Morehouse drove a five team train of oxen to Mariposa, and in December, of the same year, he came to San
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Leandro, where he was employed on a ranch bordering the creek on the east side of the road that is now known as East Fourteenth street. After six months there passed he gave up his position and went across the road to the San Antonio ranch, where he remained for two years. During the succeeding summer he engaged in farming on his own account and in the spring of 1858 he returned to Illinois, where he remained until the spring of 1866. During his residence there he married and in the spring of that year he secured several teams and organized a party to come west. The start was made from Kenosha, Wisconsin, and they traveled straight through to San Leandro, where Mr. Morehouse has since made his home. Here he engaged in teaming and after a few years was elected constable. He was later appointed deputy under Sheriff Morse, and he also engaged in the collection agency business for several years In 1882 he was a candidate for membership on the state board of equaliza- tion, which was then comprised of men from eleven counties. He was elected to the office and represented the south district. The. state was at that time entirely under democratic rule and Mr. More- house was the only republican elected to the board. In that capacity he served for four terms of four years each, remaining therefore sixteen years in this one position, his reelections coming to him in recognition of the ability, fidelity and fairness with which he dis- charged the duties of his office. He made a careful study of all the questions which came up for consideration and a spirit of equity guided him in all of his decisions.
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