USA > California > San Diego County > San Diego county, California; a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 33
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In 1898 Mr. English was united in marriage to Miss Ada Cook, a native of England, and they became the parents of seven children: Ruth, Frank, Rose, John, Clark, Emily and Ada, all born in San Diego county. Mr. English stands high in financial circles of the community and his progressive spirit, strict integ- rity and the force of his character and ability have won him the confidence and respect of all with whom he has had business or social relations.
J. M. WILLS.
One of the most successful and prominent men engaged in lemon growing in Nestor is J. M. Wills, who since 1903 has owned a fine ranch of five acres on Palm avenue. He was born in Ottawa, Illinois, April 27, 1854, and in his childhood worked upon a farm. At an early age he moved to Nebraska and farmed for eighteen years in Hamilton county and for five years in Perkins county, becoming in that time a skilled and practical agriculturist. In 1903, attracted by the business opportunities open to the enterprising and resourceful business man in southern California, he came to Nestor, where he purchased a five acre lemon orchard on Palm avenue, whereon he has since resided. By well directed and intelligent work he has made this one of the most productive fruit ranches in this vicinity, his prosperity being the direct result of his modern and scientific methods and his upright and straightforward dealings. Some idea of the extent of his operations in the cultivation of lemons may be gained from the fact that for eighty thousand pounds of his fruit he received in 1912 sixteen hundred dollars and from January I to September I of the same year he gathered fifty-one thousand pounds of lemons of fine quality. He also has a large family orchard, which yields abundant crops every year. Mr. Wills uses the latest and most improved machinery to facilitate his work, the methods which he follows being practical and at the same time in keeping with ideas of progressive fruit growing.
In 1876 Mr. Wills was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Brown, a native of Michigan, and they became the parents of seven children: Edna, who married J. H. Smith, of Nebraska, by whom she has one son; Luella, the wife of William Dobbins, of Coalinga, California; Viola, who married William Neagle, of
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Nebraska, by whom she has one daughter, Wiebka; Morris, who resides in Mon- tana ; Corinne, the wife of E. Nelson, of San Diego; Dorothy; and Gladys. Mr. Wills is distinctly a business man, alert and enterprising, and has made good use of his opportunities, standing as a result among the representative and successful men of his community.
DAVID M. BALCH.
David M. Balch, chemist and general scientist, was born in Salem, Massa- chusetts, January 22, 1837. He is a descendant of an old historic colonial family, whose progenitor in America, John Balch, came from England to Salem, Massa- chusetts, in 1623. A man of dominating will and forceful personality, he worked among the Indians, made the savages his friends and adherents and there established an English colony. Something of his adventurous spirit and personal magnetism was inherited by his son Benjamin Balch, Sr., the first white child born in Salem. The seventh generation of this family in America is rep- resented by Benjamin Balch, Jr., the father of the subject of this review. He had a varied and romantic career as captain of an old East India vessel, the Glide, with which he made many eventful trips over the waters of the world, sailing out of Salem. In 1820 he was wrecked near the Fiji islands and cast ashore, living among the savages for two years and a half. He was adopted by the king of the tribe and had his body tattooed. There is still in possession of the family an old native garment given him by the natives as a token of friend- ship and of his acceptance by the savage tribe. In later years Benjamin Balch was captain of the celebrated ship The George, which was built for a privateer and with which he made many fast trips to the East Indies. The mother of our subject was in her maidenhood Miss Caroline Moore; also of a family of early American establishment.
David M. Balch was reared in his father's home in Salem and acquired his primary education in private schools of that city. From an early age his interests centered upon scientific things, especially upon chemistry, of which he has made a lifelong study, adding something of value and importance to the history of chemical research. He was graduated from Harvard University in 1859 and established himself in Boston for the practice of his profession. He had already attained a place of distinction when he moved to California in 1881. At that time the town of Redlands was just being laid out and Mr. Balch surveyed the site, purchased land and planted upon his property the first orange trees in the community, thus establishing a great and important industry. He remained in Redlands until 1887, in which year he disposed of his interest there and came to Coronado, where he built a beautiful home and has since lived here quietly, giving his time to scientific research work and to the study of Latin and Greek. He has made some very valuable experiments with kelp, a product to be found along the Pacific coast, and has demonstrated that potash of a fine quality can be extracted from it. After his theories had been proven by definite results Mr. Balch placed his evidence before the government at Washington and under governmental supervision surveys are being made of the entire coast for the
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purpose of ascertaining where the best and most available source of American potash is found. A valuable feature of kelp is the fact that it is present in abundance all along the western coast and reproduces itself every year. In this one discovery Mr. Balch has accomplished a work of worldwide importance, one which is undoubtedly destined to revolutionize American methods of securing potash and to effect in an important way international commerce in this article.
In Salem, Massachusetts, in 1876, Mr. Balch was united in marriage to Miss Emma A. Swasey, a native of that city and a descendant of an old colonial family. One of her ancestors was one of the first shipbuilders in Salem and built and launched the Old Colonial, one of the famous fast ships of early days in Massa- chusetts. Mr. and Mrs. Balch have three children, Caroline M., Mary L. and Emma T. Mrs. Balch is an active worker in the interest of the Episcopal church at Coronado and was one of its charter members. She and her husband are well known in social circles of Coronado, where they have a large representative acquaintance. Mr. Balch's life has been distinguished at all times by quiet adherence to high aims and ideals and to ambitions worthy of his standing as a scholar and a gentleman.
AUGUST LINDGREN.
August Lindgren, well known by reason of his connection with the Moline Plow Company and for the rare inventive genius which has distinguished him during his entire career, is à native of Sweden, born September 25, 1847. He spent his early life in his native country and there acquired his education, emi- grating to America in 1868. His mechanical and inventive ability soon made itself evident and he gave his entire attention to developing it, concentrating his energies upon improvements in agricultural implements and upon new inven- tions along this line. He has taken out forty patents and has received many honors, gaining a gold medal at the St. Louis World's Fair and a diploma at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. He also made an interesting and valuable exhibit at the Centennial Celebration in Philadelphia in 1876.
For over thirty-nine years Mr. Lindgren was connected with the Moline Plow Company of Moline, Illinois, to the benefit of both parties concerned. He is the inventor of the famous Moline plow which has been exploited and sold by the company since 1871 and he has a life contract by which he receives a liberal sum each month in exchange for the exclusive selling rights to his invention. For a number of years he acted as inspector of the vast plant operated by the company at Moline, passing upon all goods made in the factory, but he has since resigned this position, although he still holds a large amount of stock in the enterprise. Mr. Lindgren has lived in San Diego county since 1910, when he purchased a ten acre lemon ranch in Nestor. In the midst of his fine grounds stands his beautiful home, in which he is spending a more or less retired life, giving his attention to raising lemons.
In 1876 Mr. Lindgren was united in marriage to Miss Victoria Stromesth, a native of Sweden, and to them nine children have been born: Alex, who is head of the mechanical department and who also acts as inspector of the Moline Plow
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Company ; Florence, the wife of Ernst Blomquest ; Hugo, who is traveling expert for the Moline Plow Company; George, a representative of the same concern in the Argentine Republic; Effie, the wife of Arthur Deneen; Orton, who travels through Indiana in the interests of the Moline Plow Company; and Willard, Leona and Claude, at home.
Mr. Lindgren has extensive fraternal relations, being affiliated with the Wood- men of the World and the Court of Honor. He is a charter member of Swedish Olive Lodge of the Odd Fellows of Moline, Illinois, having held membership for over forty years. Through a long, honorable and useful life he has accomplished work which has been of material and direct benefit to the country and to the development of one of its greatest industries. His mind, keen, active and intelli- gent, has been broadened by travel throughout every part of the United States, Sweden, England and Scotland and his natural ability and capacity for hard work have supplemented inventive genius of a high order. In his retirement he can rest in the consciousness of useful and honorable work well done and of remarkable talents never unworthily used.
JOHN BENNETT.
A life of intense and well directed activity has made John Bennett the owner of a fine lemon ranch in Otay and has gained for him also success in the real- estate business, in which he is extensively engaged. His affairs are conducted in an able, straightforward and upright manner and in every relation of his life he has proven his honor and integrity of character, being, moreover, entitled to the esteem of his fellow citizens by reason of his loyal service during the Civil war. He is a native of Michigan, born in Coldwater, Branch county, February 28, 1846. He was left an orphan at an early age and when a young boy was adopted by George Hawley, by whom he was reared and educated. On August 20, 1861, when he was only fifteen years of age, he enlisted in the Federal army as a member of Company H, Eleventh Michigan Volunteer Infantry, under command of Colonel W. J. Stoughton, Lewis E. Childs being captain of the company. Mr. Bennett served with the Army of the Cumberland as a member of the Fourteenth Corps, Second Division, and saw active service, being present at many hotly contested engagements. He was in the thick of battle at Stone River, Chickamauga and Mission Ridge and was mustered out at Sturgis, Mich- igan, in 1864. He remained in his native state and worked upon a farm for a number of years after the war, but in 1873 he moved to Salina, Kansas, where he continued to engage in agricultural pursuits. On February 9, 1905, he came west to California and purchased a four acre lemon ranch in Otay, which he has improved and developed since that time. He also deals extensively in real estate and has been deservedly successful along both lines of his interests.
Mr. Bennett has been twice married and has two sons by his first union, namely, Guy and Don. He gives his allegiance to the republican party and while a resident of Kansas was active in local affairs, being a member of the repub- lican central committee and otherwise interested in public matters. In Kansas he also acted as deputy sheriff, constable and city marshal. Since coming to
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California he has given up active identification with politics; but is well known as a progressive and public-spirited citizen, proving his loyalty by his quiet, unostentatious and upright life as conclusively today as he proved it fifty years ago upon the battlefield.
WILLIAM L. FREVERT.
Business interests of San Diego have profited greatly during the past twenty- five years by the activities of William L. Frevert in the retail furniture business. with which he has been connected in different capacities since coming to the city. At present he is president of the Frevert-Bledsoe Furniture Company, a concern which he organized in 1911 and which is already numbered among the important enterprises of its kind in San Diego, and his success in the conduct of its affairs and the control of its policy has strengthened his position among the substantial and representative business men. He was born in Madison, Indi- ana, in January, 1859, and is a son of A. L. and Elizabeth (Bachman) Frevert.
In the public schools of his native city William L. Frevert received his early education and was graduated from the Madison high school in 1876. Immediately afterward he went to the vicinity of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he worked as a cowboy for four years. Returning to Madison he went into partnership with a Mr. Hornff in the wholesale dry-goods business but after four years sold out his interests in order to become secretary and treasurer of the Madison Woolen Mill Company. In 1887 he disposed of his holdings in this concern also and came to San Diego, where he was made assistant manager of the Chad- bourne Furniture Company, one of the largest retail furniture houses in the city. Mr. Frevert's business discrimination and his power of recognizing and using opportunities made him rapidly successful. In 1893 he purchased a half interest in the enterprise and four years later bought Mr. Chadbourne's holdings and assumed entire control. It is interesting to note the stages in his business progress for they have been points in the career of a thoroughly modern and progressive business man, whose movements have been dictated always by sound common sense and accurate judgment and have been influenced by changing conditions and standards. In 1911 he reorganized his concern under the name of the Frevert-Bledsoe Furniture Company and was elected president with Mr. Bledsoe as vice president and J. Fred Schlingman as secretary and treasurer. They handle a complete line of high-grade house furnishings and make it the policy of the company to manage the business along the most systematic and progressive lines. In following this policy they have met with constantly increasing success, their patronage has expanded and the enterprise steadily grown until it is one of the substantial and important business houses in San Diego.
Mr. Frevert married in Madison, Indiana, in April, 1882, Miss Emma Harper and they have one child, Mrs. Marcus L. Miller, whose husband is a retired captain of the United States navy. Fraternally Mr. Frevert belongs to the Masonic order and is active in the affairs of the Knights Templar as well as of various other organizations of this kind. He was secretary and a director of the Cuyamaca Club for ten years and has done able work as president of that
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body. He and his wife belong to the Episcopal church and are active religious workers. Mr. Frevert gives his allegiance to the republican party and is a man of true public spirit, possessing the practical experiences which makes it effective. Not the least important of his services to San Diego is the progressive, conscientious and discriminating work which he did as president of the Chamber of Commerce during his two years' administration and which he has done for ten years as director. He also was the first president for two terms of the Merchants Association. Although his interest in the welfare of the city never takes the form of office seeking, he was yet prevailed upon to accept a position on the city council and he served for two years, standing constantly on the side of right and progress and aiding in the accomplishment of many needed reforms and improvements. In business, social and political circles Mr. Frevert has an important effect on the trend of advancement and it reflects great credit upon his integrity and ability that this influence has never been turned to unworthy ends.
GEORGE L. HENDERSON.
George L. Henderson, one of the important lemon growers in San Diego county in his days and an important factor in the development of that industry, died on his ranch in Chula Vista in 1905, after many years of able work along lines of expansion and upbuilding. Mr. Henderson was a native of Scotland but left his native country when he was about fifteen years of age and came to the United States, settling in Illinois. After two years in that state he went to Iowa and there engaged in farming until he moved to Minnesota. In that state he became connected with the selling of farm machinery and also engaged in the buying and selling of grain for some time. Eventually, however, the west attracted him and he went to Wyoming, where he accepted the position of assistant superintendent of Yellowstone National Park. The work which he did in this capacity is interesting and important. He gradually became actively interested in the development of the park and named many of the points of interest at the Hot Springs and in other portions. Being a man of culture and education he was one of the most successful guides in the district and conducted many of the parties which explored the park for scientific purposes. He supported his ideas and gave them a wide circulation by writing articles on the beauty and attrac- tiveness of the region and these were copied by many eastern papers and undoubt- edly had a great influence in the spread of general knowledge of one of the most wonderful parks in America. Mr. Henderson built the Cottage Hotel in Yellow- stone Park and managed it successfully for a number of years. When he left Wyoming he went to San Diego and later settled in Chula Vista, where he bought ten acres of raw land, which he cleared and put into condition for cultivation. Upon it he planted lemon trees and was extremely successful in the cultivation of this fruit, picking increasingly abundant crops every year. The work of improvement he steadily carried forward along progressive lines, studying methods of operation and becoming acquainted with the scientific aspects of everything connected with fruit growing. His success was inevitable and it soon Vol. II-17
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attained such proportions that it placed him among the important and repre- sentative men of San Diego county.
Mr. Henderson married Miss Jeannette Thomas, a native of Scotland, and of the children born to their union five are still living: Mrs. C. H. Stuart; Mrs. A. Lyall; Walter J., who married Miss Eva Fitzgerald, by whom he has three children, Helen L., Dean and Walter; Mrs. J. H. Ash, who has two children, George L. and Jessie M., the latter the wife of R. D. Lindsey, by whom she has one daughter, Dorothy; and Mrs. H. E. Klamer. Mrs. Henderson passed away in San Diego at the age of eighty-eight years.
Mr. Henderson died in 1905 and in his passing Chula Vista lost one of the men who aided in the early development and later upbuilding of the city. He may be classed with the real builders and promoters of San Diego county, for his work was along representative lines and was actuated by ideals and principles which have become established standards.
WALTER F. BURLINGAME.
Among the real builders and promoters of the business expansion of San Diego county must be numbered the men who developed the fruit growing indus- try, upon which so much of the wealth of the section depends. Prominent among them may be mentioned Walter F. Burlingame, who for twenty-one years pre- vious to his death in 1911 was the owner of one of the finest fruit ranches in National City, and by reason of his business ability was a force in the promotion of progressive methods and in the establishmment of standards. A native of New York state, Mr. Burlingame remained in that section until he grew to manhood and then came to Chicago, where for a number of years he followed the mechanic's trade. From Chicago he went to Nogales, Santa Cruz county, Arizona, and there became foreman of a silver and lead smelter. He there married Miss Mabel Frost, a native of Wisconsin, and they became the parents of four children, Walter H., Della M., Crystal and Anson. In 1890 Mrs. Burlingame came to National City and here bought nineteen acres of productive land, on which she planted lemon seeds and had fine trees partly grown when her husband came to the city in the following year. With characteristic energy he began the work of further improvement, clearing the land and erecting the necessary buildings. The portion which his wife had not cultivated he went over with a small scraper, drawn by one horse, and thus cleared it of brush and stubble. Here he planted lemon trees and soon had eight acres producing fine crops. In his orchard he had five hundred trees of all varieties, including apricots, plums, apples, pears, tangerines, figs and Washington naval oranges. These were in addition to his lemon trees, which yielded four thousand boxes to the acre yearly. His second most important crop was his oranges. Mr. Burlingame carried forward the work of development steadily along progressive, modern lines and was rewarded by crops which constantly increased in quality and abundance. He died in 1911 and his son Walter H., in partnership with Mrs. Burlingame, operates the ranch. When Mr. Burlingame of this review passed away the fruit growing industry in southern California lost one of its most
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conspicuously successful representatives-a man whose business ability made a broad foundation for his special prosperity. He had gained many friends dur- ing his residence in National City, for his successful work had made him prominent and his many fine qualities of mind and character had made him honored and respected wherever he was known.
EDWARD QUINCY DYER.
Since May, 1912, Edward Quincy Dyer has lived in Nestor upon a beautiful fifteen acre fruit ranch, where he is residing in comparative retirement, resting after a long, active and honorable career. For a number of years he was a dominating figure in state politics of Massachusetts, his native state, and well known in business circles of Boston. Throughout his entire career he has given his time and energies to lasting, beneficial and worthy things and has left the impress of his upright and forceful personality upon the business and political history of a great commonwealth. He was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, in October, 1841, and is a son of Quincy and Josephine (Soule) Dyer, natives of Maine.
Edward Q. Dyer acquired his education in the public schools of Boston and after he laid aside his books engaged in the clothing business in Boston for twenty years and afterward was for eighteen years in the hardware business. During this time he became widely and favorably known as a keen, farsighted and progressive business man who was always interested and active in the pro- motion of those enterprises which directly influence and hasten public growth and development. As a result he was carried forward into important relations with public affairs and in order to make his ability and progressive spirit more generally effective entered the political field, where he soon made his influence felt in a vital way. From 1898 to 1902 he was a member of the board of selectmen of Hyde Park, Massachusetts, and then turned his attention to state politics. He was elected to the Massachusetts legislature in 1902 and in the two terms during which he held office was a member of the mercantile committee, serving as its chairman in 1903. It was during his period of activity in this position that the subway bill was passed, under the provisions of which a subway beneath the city of Boston was constructed. Mr. Dyer's official career was dis- tinguished by energetic, able and conscientious work along lines of public improvement and expansion, by careful consideration of the interests of his constituents and by a keen sense of his responsibilities and obligations as a public servant. He remained in Massachusetts until 1905 and then came west, locating in Seattle, Washington. He there engaged in the real-estate business and still owns valuable property, although he left the state in 1912. In that year he set- tled in Nestor, California, and purchased the Hall lemon ranch of fifteen acres, on Palm avenue. However, Mr. Dyer does not specialize in raising lemons. having a number of acres planted in oranges, apricots, peaches, plums, tan- gerines, loquats, figs and apples. He has been very successful in the cultivation of the latter fruit and recently picked from a small tree one apple which weighed one and one-half pounds. Mr. Dyer takes a great interest in the further develop-
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