USA > California > San Diego County > San Diego county, California; a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 41
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In 1877 Mr. Culbertson was united in marriage to Miss Ruth L. Hawley, a native of Ohio, and to them five children have been born: Allen, who is a mechanic by trade; James; Mary, the wife of Dr. Ernest Plant, of La Jolla ; Anna, who is teaching school in El Cajon valley; and Harvey, a student in the electrical engineering department of the California State University.
Mr. Culbertson is president of the El Cajon Mutual Life Insurance Company and is otherwise interested in business affairs. He is a member of the Presby- terian church. He never seeks public office, yet those things which are the basis and support of all citizenship find exemplification in his life. He is always one of the leaders in movements for the further development of El Cajon valley and his popularity throughout this section is the direct result of his beneficial, lasting and useful work throughout a quarter of a century.
MAJOR C. B. VOGDES.
Major C. B. Vogdes has retired from the United States army and is living in San Diego county, where he gives most of his time and attention to the con- duct of a twenty-seven acre fruit ranch. He was born in Key West county, Florida, and was graduated from the West Point Military Academy in 1880. Immediately afterward he was attached to the First United States Infantry as second lieutenant and served at the army posts of Texas, Arizona and California from 1886 to 1893 being for four years afterwards military instructor in the
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University of Iowa and returning to California in 1897. At the outbreak of the Spanish war his regiment was attached to the command of General Shafter and sent to Cuba, where Major Vogdes saw active service. He was in the trenches before Santiago de Cuba and was in front of the city at the time of the sur- render. He was later on duty in the Philippines in the capacity of transport quartermaster. In November, 1901, he returned to the United States and in 1905 retired from the army with the rank of major. He came immediately to Lemon Grove, San Diego county, and in 1906 bought twenty-seven acres of land, upon which he built a fine home and engaged in lemon raising. Major Vogdes studies conditions and methods of operation systematically and keeps in touch with the most advanced ideas by his membership in the Lemon Grove Fruit Growers' Association, of which he has served as president. This association was established in 1908 and controls the entire output of four hundred and sixty-four acres of lemon and orange ranches in the valley.
In 1886 Major Vogdes married Miss Harriet Hawkes, a native of Chicago, and they have two daughters, Marion and Blanche. He is highly esteemed in San Diego county for the many fine qualities of his mind and character and during the six years of his residence here has constantly shown himself to be what he is, an upright and honorable gentleman.
EDWIN M. CAPPS.
Since the beginning of his active career Edwin M. Capps has been engaged in civil engineering, and in a profession in which advancement is entirely dependant upon individual effort and merit he has gained a position of distinction and prominence. He was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, December 23, 1860. His father, Thomas J. Capps, was professor of mathematics in the University of Eastern Tennessee and was a colonel in the Union army during the Civil war. After the close of hostilities the family moved to Shelbyville, Illinois, and here Edwin M. Capps was educated. After completing the usual course in the public schools he studied civil engineering under his father, who was an able and well known man in that profession. In 1878 the family went farther west to Golden City, Colorado, and then to Denver, where in 1884 Edwin M. Capps began the practice of his profession, to which he added mining engineering. Two years afterward he came to San Diego and was appointed chief engineer of the Lower California Mining Company, in which capacity he acted for three years. He gradually became well known throughout San Diego county and his services were in constant demand. He acted as chief engineer of the San Miguel Land & Water Company, which was later merged into the Jamacha Irrigation District. At the time of this amalgamation Mr. Capps was retained as chief engineer and he did able and conscientious work in the interests of the corporation until July 3, 1893, when he resigned in order to accept his appointment as city engineer of San Diego. On May 1, 1899, he was elected mayor of the city on the democratic ticket and served for two years, after which he went to Los Angeles and built up an extensive private practice in that city. In 1902 he became chief engineer of the Tujunga Land & Water Company and superintended their construction
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and engineering work until he went to Seattle on account of his failing health. Here he was successful in the general practice of his profession but when his health was restored he returned to San Diego, where he was again appointed city engineer, assuming his duties for the second time in May, 1909. His work has been constantly constructive and always along broad lines of improvement and has had a noticeable effect upon the beauty and development of the city and county. In January, 1912, the San Diego council appointed Mr. Capps super- vising engineer of the extensive harbor improvements for which a million dollar appropriation has been voted by the city government. The important enterprises with which he has been connected are sufficient proof of his rank in his pro- fession. He has had a thorough training in the mechanical and scientific aspects of his work and this, combined with natural ability and long experience, has made him one of the most careful, efficient and successful civil engineers in this part of California.
N. J. PEAVEY.
All that is progressive in standards and methods of modern farming finds exemplification in the work of N. J. Peavey, practical agriculturist and success- ful stock-raiser, in his management and conduct of his one hundred and five acres of land in Nestor. This is generally conceded to be one of the finest properties in San Diego county, since it has been steadily improved and developed along practical and systematic lines by a man who stands in the front ranks of progres- sive and able farmers. Mr. Peavey is a native of Maine, born on the 25th of January, 1878, a son of Hollis M. Peavey, who in 1880 moved with his family to Mitchell county, Iowa, and on November 1, 1893, to California. In this state he settled on a ranch in the Tia Juana valley, where he engaged in farming for many years in conjunction with his son.
N. J. Peavey acquired his education in the public schools of Iowa and came to California with his father in 1893. They operated a ranch in the Tia Juana valley in partnership until 1905, when N. J. Peavey purchased his father's inter- ests and has since conducted the enterprise alone. He has from time to time added to his holdings as the opportunity arose and now has one hundred and five acres of the finest alfalfa land in this section of the state. This indeed forms his principal crop and he has the distinction of being the first man to raise alfalfa on an extensive scale. He has been very successful in its cultivation, cutting seven crops a year, averaging ten tons to the acre and curing nine hundred tons yearly. Mr. Peavey is likewise extensively interested in raising fancy stock, keeping fine horses and cattle. He is the owner of the black Percheron stallion Ursus, weighing two thousand pounds at five years of age. Mr. Peavey has raised some fine blooded colts and now has animals from two to three years of age which weigh from eleven hundred to thirteen hundred and fifty pounds. He also buys and sells cows and heifers, keeping always from thirty to forty head of young stock on hand. In addition to this he has fourteen horses in his stables. which are necessary in order to conduct the farm. This has already become one of the finest and most scientifically operated ranches in this section of the state
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2. J. Peavey
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and upon it are found all the features of a model farm property of the twentieth century. Mr. Peavey was the first man to develop water on a large scale in the Tia Juana valley and now has the best water plant in San Diego county, consist- ing of five wells ninety feet deep, with one hundred and seventy-five miners inches of water. He has installed a fine system of irrigating ditches, put in at a cost of from fifty to seventy-five dollars per acre. Everything about the place is in excel- lent condition, indicating the owner's care, skill and practical methods. Mr. Peavey began as a small landowner, operating on a small scale, but success soon rewarded his well directed work and his activities have constantly broadened. From time to time he bought more land, brought it to a high state of development and improvement and is today as the result of his own energy and efforts one of the successful and prosperous farmers of this community. He has rented out twelve acres of his land to a truck farmer, receiving forty dollars per acre a year. On this small tract his tenant has raised potatoes averaging one hundred and seventy-five sacks to the acre, a remarkable instance of the fertility and produc- tiveness of California soil.
Mr. Peavey has been twice married. The children by his first marriage are Alvin H., Hollis M. and George T. His second union occurred in 1912, in which year he wedded Miss Opal Russell and there is one son by this marriage, Webster Russell, born October 15, 1912. Mr. Peavey is entirely responsible for his own prosperity, for he has worked diligently and intelligently to attain it and has therefore steadily progressed toward the goal of success. Furthermore, he has never failed to do his part in citizenship and in all business relations has adhered to high commercial standards and thus enjoys the confidence and good-will of all with whom he is associated.
GUY K. BRINK.
Guy K. Brink, well known in Spring Valley as a successful fruit grower, was born in St. Clair county, Michigan, September 5, 1853. He is a son of George and Delia (Hilliker) Brink, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of New York. They moved to Michigan in early times and the father was a pioneer in the lumber business and afterward one of the successful and pros- perous business men of St. Clair county.
Before he came to California Guy K. Brink made many changes in occupa- tion and interests and engaged in business in various parts of the United States. The family removed to Saginaw in 1864 where Guy K. Brink received his educa- tion in the public schools. He became interested in steamboating on the Saginaw river, following this line of occupation for four years, after which he engaged in the lumber business. He next went to Rutherford county, North Carolina, and after one year in the lumber business there went to Montezuma, Georgia, where he spent four years. His next location was made in Minneapolis, where for four years he was connected with the Northwestern Retail Coal Dealers Association, going at the end of that time to Halcyon Hot Springs, British Columbia. There he located seventeen timber limits, which he sold in 1910 at a profit and came to Imperial valley, locating in Holtville. These many changes and removals were
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not made at random but were influenced by broader opportunities for advance- ment and were so well timed that each one influenced materially Mr. Brink's busi- ness progress. He has shown himself to be an energetic, capable and far-sighted business man, whose own labors have formed the solid foundation for his present prosperity. Soon after his arrival in California he came to Spring Valley and in May, 1911, purchased a fifteen acre fruit ranch, which he has since greatly im- proved and developed. He has four and a half acres planted in oranges and lemons, two acres in strawberries, one in blackberries and the remaining portion of the tract in alfalfa and garden truck. His methods are always practical and progressive and are consequently productive of excellent results, Mr. Brink being today numbered among the prosperous and representative men of this com- munity.
In Saginaw, Michigan, in 1883, Mr. Brink was united in marriage to Miss Annabel Liddell, a daughter of Mark and Marjorie (Madden) Liddell and a native of Ontario, Canada, and to their union were born four children, Morse, Irma, Rodney and Guy K., Jr. The three eldest of these children were born in Michigan and the youngest in Georgia. The family are well known in Spring Valley, where they have a wide acquaintance and many friends. Mr. Brink holds membership in the Masonic order and politically is a republican. He is deservedly successful and has gained the confidence and good-will of all who have had business or social relations with him by reason of the honorable and straightforward policies which he has ever followed.
JOHN D. HAMMONDS, M. D.
Dr. John D. Hammonds, who has retired from the practice of medicine and is giving his time and attention to the development and improvement of his fine ranch of fifteen acres in Spring Valley, was born in Pulaski county, Kentucky, July 17, 1846. He received his early education in the public schools of that sec- tion and in 1862 went with his family to Pike county, Missouri. Having deter- mined to make the practice of medicine his life work, he entered the University of Nashville, in Nashville, Tennessee, and was graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1872. He located near Monroe, Louisiana, and there practiced his pro- fession until 1890. He was a careful and conscientious physician and surgeon, well versed in the underlying principles of medicine and trustworthy and capable in his application of them. He had, morever, a keen sense of the responsibilities which devolved upon him and in consequence he secured a large and representa- tive patronage, being very successful in its conduct. Dr. Hammonds is a man of forceful personality, progressive instincts and efficient public spirit and he was gradually carried forward into important relations with the political life of his section. In 1876 he represented his district in the Louisiana legislature, doing such able and conscientious work that in 1878 he was reelected. After his sec- ond term had expired he served for five years as county superintendent of schools and was later a member of the police jury of the county board of supervisors. His official career was in all respects honorable, upright, courageous and straight- forward and distinguished in all of its phases by a sense of his responsibilities
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as a public servant and of his obligations to his fellow citizens who had conferred upon him the high honor of public office. In 1890 Dr. Hammonds left Louisiana and came to California, settling in Spring Valley, near La Mesa, in San Diego county. He purchased here a fifteen acre tract of land and planted eight acres in lemons, of which he gathers large crops every year, the average yield of his ranch being two thousand boxes. The rest of his land is planted in grain. Everything about the place is modern and well kept, the attractive condition of the ranch reflecting the careful supervision of the owner, who is a skilful and able agriculturist as well as a shrewd and far-sighted business man.
In 1890 Dr. Hammonds married Miss Elizabeth M. Holt, a native of Arkansas and a pioneer in California. In her childhood she crossed the plains with her mother, making the journey in a wagon drawn by ox teams. The party was eight months upon the journey and arrived in California in 1869. Mrs. Hammonds and her mother settled near Campo, San Diego county, but three years afterward went to San Diego, where they purchased a piece of property at the corner of H and Fifteenth streets. She later returned to Arkansas but in 1883 came again to San Diego and in that year built a residence upon the property which had been pur- chased in 1872 and there Mrs. Hammonds lived until her marriage. She and her husband are well known in Spring Valley, where they have a wide circle of acquaintances and many friends.
HOWARD I. SHAW.
The activities of Howard I. Shaw, first settler on the Lakeside farms, have been so many and of such great importance that it is difficult to determine which have been most directly beneficial. Undoubtedly he has been one of the most dominating influences in the expansion and development of the public interests of the settlement and a powerful force in the growth of farming and dairying along sanitary, modern lines. He owns one of the finest dairy ranches in San Diego county and has been unusually successful in its conduct because he has studied methods and conditions in a scientific way. Mr. Shaw is a native of Dane county, Wisconsin, but was reared and educated at Bozeman, Gallatin county, Montana. When he had completed his education he spent some time mining for gold in Gilt Edge and Kendall, Montana, where he was superintendent of the Barnes King and the Great Northern mines. Finally his activities along this line brought him to Rawhide, Nevada, where he was superintendent of the New Camp mine for two years.
In July, 1909, Mr. Shaw came to Lakeside, San Diego county, California, the first settler on the Lakeside farms, and here he bought a ranch of sixty acres. This he has devoted to the raising of alfalfa, cutting his crops seven times during the year, and partly to the raising of corn and the pasturing of his fine herd of cows. At the time this land came into his possession it was almost entirely undeveloped, covered with hay and stubble, which Mr. Shaw cleared. He erected a fine cement plastered house and in this made his residence while he carried on the work of his model dairy. Every sanitary, modern convenience necessary for the conduct of an enterprise of this kind is to be found upon his
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property and he has besides a fine milk house and cow shed. He owns a herd of thirty-eight Holstein cattle, full-blooded and high-grade animals, with a full- blood Holstein bull at the head. He recently tested some of his cows and found that one three year old with her first calf gave sixty pounds of milk daily, which tested three and eight-tenths per cent. This cow gave an average of four gallons of milk every day for one year. Another cow in Mr. Shaw's herd with her third calf gave sixty pounds of milk daily, and he has other animals with records almost as good. He has devoted much time recently to the erection of sanitary buildings in his dairy and now has besides his milk house and cow shed a silo, in which he stores ensilage for his cattle.
In 1899 Mr. Shaw was united in marriage to Miss Nellie Coleman, a native of Minnesota, and they have two children, Eleanor and Howard, Jr. Mr. Shaw's success in sanitary dairying and his interest in the entire development of the Lakeside farms have led him into important relations with the business enterprises in the locality. Among the most important of these is the Lakeside Farms Mutual Water Company, of which he is secretary. This company operates three pumping plants. The first plant is equipped with a fifty horse- power engine, a six-inch centrifugal pump and a triplex pump for high pressure, and it raises one hundred and forty inches of water to an elevation of one hun- dred and twenty-five feet. The second plant has a seven-inch pump and a thirty- five horse-power engine, and throws about one hundred and fifty inches of water. It has seventeen thousand feet of cement pipe line on high pressure and one thousand feet on low pressure. Mr. Shaw gives a great deal of attention to the affairs of this company but it forms only one of his varied interests. It is im- possible to estimate the value of the work which he has done in the development of progressive methods and in the establishment of standards. His success has been well deserved, for it has come by reason of his fine business ability, made forceful and effective by the study and specialization which are the foundation of accomplishment.
U. J. STEVENS.
Among the men who fought in defense of the Union during the dark days of the Civil war and to whom as veterans of that conflict the country owes a debt of gratitude which can never be repaid U. J. Stevens held an honorable place. For thirty-seven years he made his home in California, utilizing the opportunities which the west offered for business progress, and winning thereby notable suc- cess. He became one of the most extensive and successful operators in real estate in El Cajon valley and his activities contributed to general progress and improvement as well as to his individual prosperity.
Mr. Stevens was born in Knox county, Ohio, March 17, 1837, and there spent his boyhood and youth, acquiring his education in the public schools. In 1857 he came to Iowa and remained in that state until the outbreak of the Civil war, when he enlisted in Company M, Third Iowa Volunteer Cavalry, under command of Colonel Bussey. This company was attached to the Sixteenth Corps, with General Curtis in command, and was mustered into service at Keokuk, Iowa. Mr.
U. J. STEVENS
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Stevens' regiment campaigned through Missouri and Tennessee and was in the thick of the battle at Pea Ridge and in many .ninor ski. wishes. He received his honorable discharge in 1864 and one year later went to Des Moines, Iowa, where he engaged in the grain-shipping business. He came to California in 1875 and for some time made his headquarters at San Jose, while traveling through the east in the interests of the San Jose Fruit Company. Going from San Jose to Fresno, he there built a cannery which he conducted until he came to El Cajon in 1887 and here he resided until his death. At first he took up ninety acres of ranch land which he planted in nursery stock and was very successful in the conduct of this enterprise, engaging extensively in fruit raising. After six years, how- ever, he disposed of the property and turned his attention to the real-estate business. He handled some of the most valuable ranch property in the valley and it is a notable fact that he sold some tracts three times, each sale marking an advance in price, a splendid example of the rise in value of California land. Mr. Stevens was extensively interested in subdivision work and laid out a large amount of acreage in the town. He built two fine houses on Magnolia avenue and also owned a beautiful six room bungalow on Park boulevard, in San Diego. His business was very extensive and profitable and for many years he was an important force in the development of El Cajon valley.
Mr. Stevens was twice married. His first wife was Miss Sylvania Jones, by whom he had one son, William J. His second union was with Miss Gertrude Good, whom he wedded in 1911. Mr. Stevens was a democrat in his political beliefs and a prominent figure in the party's councils, having been a member of the democratic central committee and a delegate to many democratic county conventions. He belonged to Heintzelman Post, G. A. R., of San Diego. He was active to an age when most men retire and made his life a power and a beneficial influence upon the growth of his community. The death of Mr. Stevens occurred on Thanksgiving day, 1912.
CHARLES C. MCCUTCHEN.
Charles C. Mccutchen is the owner of the valuable Illini ranch in El Cajon and of a fine three hundred and sixty acre ranch in the mountains, and his labors have for a number of years been an important factor in the further development and progress of fruit raising in southern California. He was born in Fulton county, Illinois, October 19, 1865, and for forty years thereafter lived in the precinct in which he was born and for thirty-five years in the house where his birth occurred. He is a son of Augustine and Mary A. (Dewey) Mccutchen and a grandson of Finis Mccutchen, who came from Kentucky to Illinois in 1835 and there acquired land from the United States government, paying one dollar and a quarter per acre. This property for seventy-five years remained in possession of members of the Mccutchen family who held title to it until 1910, when it was disposed of at two hundred dollars per acre.
Charles C. Mccutchen was reared upon his father's farm and has always to some extent been identified with the cultivation of the soil. When he began his independent career he gave special attention to the raising of fine blooded live Vol. II-21
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stock, keeping large herds of thoroughbred Shorthorn beef cattle and high- grade horses. He was also one of the largest breeders of Duroc Jersey hogs in the state, having raised an average of two hundred and fifty head per year. At the same time he engaged in general farming and was numbered among the prosperous agriculturists and landowners in his part of the state. He was a member of the Illinois Live Stock Association and was interested in the State Farmers Institute and in the State Chautauqua. In 1905, however, he left Illi- nois and came to San Diego county, settling in the El Cajon valley in June, 1907. At that time he purchased his present ranch of fifty acres which he called the Illini ranch in honor of the Indian tribe of that name who formerly made their home in his native state. This property contains the oldest vineyard in El Cajon valley and the vines are still bearing, having produced seven tons of wine and table grapes in 1912. Since locating here Mr. Mccutchen has set out five acres in peaches and plums and he picks fine crops of both fruits each year. He has made substantial improvements in buildings and equipment, has installed a fine electric pumping plant for irrigation purposes and has equipped his plant with other improvements, conveniences and accessories. In addition he owns three hundred and sixty acres in the mountains, constituting the old Juanita ranch. This is particularly valuable because it has an elevation of from fourteen to six- teen hundred feet and the soil is rich and fertile. Fifty-seven acres have been planted in fourteen varieties of eucalyptus trees and there is also a valuable citrus orchard in bearing. Fine roads have been constructed through the ranch and it is Mr. Mccutchen's intention later to make here a unique and attractive resort. He was one of the founders and is a member of the executive committee of the San Diego County Mutual Fire Insurance Company and has other impor- tant business interests, all of which are conducted in a capable, straightforward and energetic way.
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