USA > California > San Diego County > San Diego county, California; a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 45
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ing in the city schools of San Diego. Mr. Black made a second visit to Europe in 1908 for the purpose of studying European systems of education. Resigning the presidency of the Normal School in August, 1910, against the expressed wishes of the board of trustees, he and his daughter, Pauline, took a trip around the world, covering a year. He now seems to spend most of his spare time at the rooms of the University Club of San Diego, of which he is a member.
HARRY A. SEIDEL.
Among the men who for many years have been active in shaping the business history of San Diego county and the development of the fruit-growing industry in southern California Harry A. Seidel deserves special mention, for his ranch of sixty acres in the El Cajon valley is one of the most valuable and most highly productive in this part of the state and has been developed by his own well directed efforts from a tract of raw land. Mr. Seidel is a native of Iowa, born in Winthrop on the 6th of July, 1865, his parents being Charles W. and Emmagean (Mills) Seidel, the former a native of Germany. The father left his native land when he was twelve years of age and came to America with his parents. During the Civil war he served as captain of a colored regiment and after his discharge engaged in the lumber business in Winthrop, Iowa. He came afterward to the El Cajon valley and purchased a tract of raw land which he developed and improved in partnership with his son until his death, which occurred in 1906. His wife was in her maidenhood Miss Emmagean Mills. She is a native of Illinois and a near relative of Mrs. Mills, president of Mills College for Girls, at Oakland, California. Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Seidel had four children: Frank C .; Clarence T .; Harry A., our subject ; and Mrs. Susie Mills Smith, a teacher of art in Mills College.
Harry A. Seidel acquired his education in the public schools of Winthrop and Storm Lake and afterward learned the jeweler's trade. When he came to San Diego county he became associated with the Naylor Jewelry Company of San Diego and worked in their interests for one year, after which he joined his father in the cultivation and development of a fruit ranch in the El Cajon valley. When they purchased this property it was a tract of raw land covered with a dense growth of sagebrush and presented an extremely unattractive and discouraging appearance. With characteristic energy the father and son set themselves to the task of improving the property. Clearing the land, they set out fruit trees, studied the best methods for their care and cultivation and steadily carried forward the work of development, giving special attention to beauty of appearance. The father died in 1906 and since that time H. A. Seidel of this review has carried on the work alone, owning today one of the finest and best improved fruit ranches in the valley. The entire tract is sixty acres in extent, twenty-five of which are planted in oranges, lemons and other fruits, the rest being still raw land. Mr. Seidel's naval oranges have averaged five boxes to the tree and some trees have yielded ten boxes. One twenty acre tract is separated into four divisions, eleven acres being planted in naval oranges, four in lemons, three in Valencias and two and one-half in tangerines. The latter
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fruit Mr. Seidel puts up in twenty pound boxes and ships to the San Francisco markets, where all that he raises finds a ready sale and commands a high price. In 1912 he shipped fifteen hundred boxes of tangerines, a portion of which were shipped to Honolulu and in the same year picked enough fruit from twenty acres to fill fifteen cars. Mr. Seidel's fruit reaches all the principal markets of the world and large amounts are sent annually to Seattle and Chicago. He is an independent shipper, dealing directly with the wholesale merchants and, being an able, resourceful, shrewd and far-sighted business man, he has become wealthy and prosperous, holding a high place in financial circles of the section. He is intensely interested in the development of his ranch and never neglects anything which will add to its value or to the attractiveness of its appearance. He has a seventy-foot well on the premises from which he obtains a five and six inch flow of water and has besides installed all the modern machinery necessary to facilitate his work. Fifteen years ago he determined to make his place worth one thousand dollars per acre and by hard, earnest and unremitting work during the intervening time has succeeded in accomplishing his ambition, his ranch today being one of the most valuable in this part of the state.
In 1906 Mr. Seidel was united in marriage to Miss Clara N. Paul, a native of England, and a daughter of John Maxwell and Eliza Smith (Dunn) Paul, who came to the United States in 1892, and became residents of El Cajon valley. Mr. Seidel is progressive and public-spirited in his citizenship and no measure for the public good seeks his aid in vain. His labors have been a co- operant factor in the systematic development of the fruit-growing industry and he well deserves the success he enjoys, which places him among the representative and prominent men of the El Cajon valley.
FRANK E. KINNEY.
Scientific efficiency is rapidly becoming a necessary element in all success and upon it Frank E. Kinney has founded a prosperity in the dairy business which places him among the foremost men in this line of activity in San Diego county. He has reduced dairying to a systematic science, has studied improved methods and followed government experiments and has attained widespread recognition as an authority upon all questions relating to the sanitation, equipment and care of dairies. He was born in Bridgetown, Nova Scotia, February 1, 1882, and remained in that country until he was eighteen years of age. At that time he came to the United States and settled in Great Falls, Montana, where for some time he was active in the mercantile brokerage business, his duties consisting of selling goods in carload lots all over the Pacific coast. In March, 1909, he abandoned this occupation, came to Santee, San Diego county, and bought three hundred acres of land which he operates as a dairy farm. No modern improve- ment making for increased efficiency or more sanitary conditions is absent from his property. Mr. Kinney is building a modern groom house, in which he has installed a government septic tank, and has erected four cow barns with eight thousand two hundred and sixty square feet of space. He keeps eighty-eight head of Holstein cows and sells all his milk wholesale in San Diego, the daily
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average being two hundred and twenty-five gallons. It commands a high price and a ready sale in the markets of the city, for the conditions under which it is obtained are widely known and the quality and purity of the product undoubted. Mr. Kinney follows the government experiments in methods and conditions and their effects upon dairy products very closely and has studied scientific farm- ing and dairying in all its aspects, so that he is one of the most progressive, able and thoroughly efficient men in his line of work in the state of California. He has developed two hundred miners inches of water upon his premises and has one hundred and fifty acres planted in grain, his barley production averaging thirty sacks to the acre. Sixty-two acres of his rich river bottom land are planted in alfalfa, of which a number of crops are harvested annually, and his oats average one and one-half tons to the acre. He makes his own ensilage of fermented ground corn for cattle feeding and stores it in two silos made of cement with a capacity of one hundred and thirty tons each. These silos were built from plans secured from the agricultural department of the United States government at Washington, D. C. Mr. Kinney followed the plan closely and was the first man in San Diego county to build reinforced concrete silos. He has besides sani- tary cow barns and a milk house and everything about his place is kept in excel- lent condition, reflecting the care and supervision of a modern, progressive and scientific farmer.
In 1908 Mr. Kinney married Miss Julia Chesley and they have one daughter, Frances E. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Order of Elks and the Masonic order, in which he holds membership in the shrine. Mr. Kinney is still a young man, but he has already attained a remarkable degree of success. There is no reason to believe that his future advancement will come more slowly than his past progress and he is therefore on the road to prominence and prosperity.
ROBERT DICK.
Robert Dick, identified with real-estate and building operations in San Diego, is among the sons of Scotland who have sought the business opportunities of the far west. He was born in the land of hills and heather, February 21, 1869, and in the schools of that country acquired his education. A comparative review of the opportunities in the old world and the new led him to determine to try his fortune in the United States and when twenty years of age he landed on American shores, making his way to Chicago. He there took up carpentering and contracting and in time built up a good business. Still his desire for residence in the west was unsatisfied and in October, 1904, he came to the coast, settling at San Diego. In manner he is quiet and unassuming, seeking to carry on his business without any flourish of trumpets and he has now secured a good patronage, having operated quite largely in real estate and erected a number of substantial buildings here Each year he has added to his property holdings and his success is the merited reward of close application, indefatigable energy and sound judgment.
Mr. Dick was married in March, 1892, to Miss Evelyn L. Le Gallis who died May 4, 1912, leaving two children: Alfred, nineteen years of age; and Rebecca, fifteen years of age. He is affiliated with no clubs or fraternal organiza-
ROBERT DICK
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tions, preferring to concentrate his energies upon his business affairs and spend his leisure hours at his own fireside or in the company of friends. The sterling quality of his personal traits is widely recognized and his business enterprise has found expression in his present prosperity.
ALONZO J. MOODY.
With the qualities of an upright and honorable character as the foundation of achievement the late Alonzo J. Moody worked his way upward against the ob- stacles of early poverty, limited education and hampering conditions of life to a high and worthy place in agricultural and business circles of the district around Fall Brook, his former labors having brought him a competence which enabled him to pass in comfort the last years of his life. He was born in Augusta, Maine, in 1838, and was a son of James and Lydia (Ellis) Moody, the former a native of New Hampshire and the latter of Maine. During his active life the father followed general farming in the latter state and there his death occurred. In his family were six children.
Alonzo J. Moody's childhood was spent under rather hard conditions which, however, seemed only to develop in him the energy, perseverance and steady industry which were qualities in his character. His educational advantages were extremely limited and in order to assist in the support of the family he was early obliged to work in a cotton mill. After this all further study ceased and the little boy grew to manhood, toiling for a living. He was twenty-two years of age at the outbreak of the Civil war and he immediately enlisted in Company B, Ninth Maine Volunteer Infantry, and served for three years, receiving his honorable discharge on October 29, 1864. Three of his brothers were also mem- bers of the Federal army. After his discharge Alonzo J. Moody returned to Maine and was just in time to cast his vote for Abraham Lincoln. He secured his old position in the cotton mill and applied himself assiduously to his work, rising steadily from department to department and resigning finally as manager. In 1891 he came to California and settled near Fall Brook, where he purchased ten acres of fruit land, which he developed and improved successfully. From time to time he added to his holdings and owned finally ninety-seven acres of the best land in this part of San Diego county. He gave his entire attention to fruit raising until 1907, when his comfortable fortune and his advancing age justified his retirement and in 1907 he sold his ranch of ninety-seven acres for five thousand dollars. He then retired to a beautiful home within the city lim- its, enjoying the confidence and esteem of a large circle of friends, all of whom respected in him the sterling and upright qualities by which he eagerly opposed conditions and won for himself an honorable and worthy career.
On June 25, 1866, Mr. Moody married at Somersworth, New Hampshire, Miss Annie E. Wright, who was born in Paris, Maine, in 1840, a daughter of Ezra and Esther (Richmond) Wright, who lived and died in the Pine Tree state. To their union were born eight children, of whom only one, the widow of the subject of this review, is now living. To Mr. and Mrs. Moody were born three children : Gertie May, who took a course in a commercial college and who is
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the wife of Charles C. Wheeler, a laundryman of Fall Brook; James, who died at the age of two years; and Russell W., who was also educated in a commercial college and who is now engaged as a painter in Los Angeles.
Fraternally Mr. Moody was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and belonged to the Masonic lodge. He kept in touch with his com- rades of fifty years ago through his membership in the Grand Army of the Re- public and he drew a pension of thirty-one dollars per month as compensation for a wound which he received in the service. A man of upright character and hon- orable principles, his dealings with his fellowmen always conformed to the highest standards and he was respected by all who knew him. He passed away on April 2, 1913, and with him went one of the honored residents of Fall Brook to his last resting place. His memory is not only cherished by his immediate family but by a large circle of friends.
WILEY C. JOHNSTON.
Wiley C. Johnston has a beautiful place of eighty-five acres four miles north- west of Escondido, on the Twin Oaks and San Marcos road, and has met with a gratifying degree of success in its cultivation and development. He was born in Tennessee in 1861 and is a son of J. G. and Nancy (Francisco) Johnston, both natives of that state. Of the children born to their union two are now living be- side the subject of this review, namely: Martin Luther; and Robert L., both of whom reside in Wise county, Texas. After the death of his first wife Mr. John- ston married Miss Orleana Turner, also a native of Tennessee, and they became the parents of two children: Walter, whose home is in Oklahoma; and John, a resident of Wise county, Texas.
Wiley C. Johnston was educated in the public schools of Tennessee and re- mained at home until he was twenty years of age. He began his active career as a farm laborer and worked at this occupation for two years, after which he moved to Texas and bought one hundred and sixty acres of land which he devel- oped and improved for five years. When he sold this property he came to Cali- fornia, settling immediately in the Escondido valley, where he bought a small tract of land already improved. He moved upon this property and planted fruit trees, giving his entire attention to their care and cultivation for eight years. At the end of that time he sold the place and bought eighty-five acres on the main road to San Marcos, an attractive property with a beautiful home built on a high hill and surrounded by level acres of the finest land in San Diego county. Mr. Johnston has improved the place substantially and is developing water for irriga- tion. He has a fine walnut grove and a productive vineyard and has made both a profitable source of income to him.
In 1884 Mr. Johnston married Miss Charity A. Golden, a daughter of S. R. and Julia C. (Hogue) Golden, natives of Alabama. Mrs. Johnston was born in Arkansas and is one of seven children, the others being: Carrie, who mar- ried C. W. Sharpe, of Compton, California; Mary, the wife of A. G. Erickson, of Los Angeles ; Dora, now Mrs. Howard Farnsworth, of Modesto; Minnie, the wife of T. B. Mason, of Modesto; Margaret, who married R. S. Sprinkle, of
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Hanford; and John S., a ranchman of Escondido. Mr. and Mrs. Johnston became the parents of six children: Katie, who married L. O. Church, of Los Angeles, by whom she has two sons, LeRoy and Lawrence; Clarence, a ranch- man of Escondido, who is married and has two children, Helen and Dorothy; Paul, of San Diego, who is married and has one child, Mabel; Ruth, who is at liome; Donald, who is attending high school in Escondido; and Mildred, who is also attending school. The family are adherents of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Johnston gives his allegiance to the democratic party and for four- teen years has served as school trustee. He is an enterprising and progressive citizen who takes a commendable interest in public affairs and during the period of his residence in San Diego county has made a host of warm friends.
GEORGE D. STEVENS.
George D. Stevens, postmaster of Bonsall, one of the most prosperous gen- eral merchants in the town and prominent also in agricultural ,circles of this part of San Diego county, was born in South Paris, Oxford county, Maine, in 1838, where the father's death occurred. His mother later removed to Wis- consin, where she made her home until her death.
George D. Stevens acquired his education in the public schools and Paris and Hebron Academies and later entered Colby College, where he graduated with the class of 1863. In January, 1864, he went to Richland Center, Wis- consin, where he spent seven years teaching school. During this time he also preached as a Baptist minister and was one of the most potent individual forces in the spread of Baptist doctrines throughout the state. Eventually, however, he resigned from the ministry, still retaining his membership in the church, and came to California, locating at Bonsall, where he established himself in business. He erected a fine modern building, in which in 1895 he opened a general mer- chandise store which has grown to be one of the most profitable enterprises of its kind in this locality. Mr. Stevens gives a great deal of his attention to keep- ing his lines of goods modern and complete and his stock tastefully arranged. He has displayed excellent business ability in the management of his affairs and in the promotion of the growth of his enterprise along progressive lines and well merits the success which has come to him as a general merchant. Aside from his business interests in Bonsall he is also well known as a successful agricul- turist and stock-raiser. He owns an interest in a ranch of two hundred and fifty acres and for a number of years has had full charge of this property, which he has made one of the finest farms in San Diego county.
Mr. Stevens has been twice married. In 1868 he wedded Miss Ellen Wing, who was born in Somerset county, Maine, and educated at Kents Hill, in the same state. She died in 1892 and three years later Mr. Stevens married her sister, Miss Linda L. Wing, also a native of Somerset county, Maine. Mrs. Stevens' mother was a second cousin of Edgar Wilson Nye, the noted humorist.
Mr. Stevens gives his allegiance to the republican party and has served as postmaster of Bonsall since he was appointed by President Cleveland. Much credit is due him for the success he has attained, for he started out in life in a
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con:paratively humble way and by constant exertion associated with good judg- ment has gained a place among the substantial merchants and valued citizens of Bonsall, commanding the respect and confidence of all with whom he has busi- ness or private relations.
MAJOR EDWIN W. HALLIDAY.
Major Edwin W. Halliday, deceased, spent the evening of his days in the sunny clime of southern California in a well earned rest that followed active military service and long business experience. He was born in Meigs county, Ohio, May 11, 1836, his parents being Samuel and Eliza (Parker) Halliday. The father was born in Scotland and was graduated from the University of Edinburgh at the age of nineteen years. He came to the United States in 1818, and two years later was followed to this country by his mother and six brothers, his father, Alexander Halliday, having previously died in Scotland. Upon reaching the United States, Samuel Halliday at once proceeded to that part of Gallia county, Ohio, that is now Meigs county, and while there residing he wedded Eliza Parker, a native of that county. He held the office of county auditor for twenty-five years after Meigs county was created-a record which for length of service has never been equalled in that county. In 1856 he removed with his family to Wayne county, Illinois, and there his wife passed away on the 18th of February, 1861, when in her fifty-sixth year. To them had been born a large family. Their eldest child, William P., born July 21, 1827, died September 22, 1899. Jane, born January 29, 1830, became the wife of Rufus P. Robbins, and died April 28, 1885. Samuel B., born July 19, 1832, passed away December 1, 1868. Edwin W. was the next of the family. Eliza, born August 2, 1839, was married December 25, 1862, to Charles T. Hinde of the Spreckels Brothers Commercial Companies of San Diego, and died April 24, 1899. Henry L., the founder of the H. L. Halliday Milling Company of Cairo, Illinois, was born March 7, 1842, and died September 2, 1895. Thomas Wyatt, the youngest son, born June 10, 1844, died at Cairo, September 18, 1892. Mary C., the youngest daughter, was born April 2, 1847. Samuel Halliday died in Ohio, August 25, 1880.
Major Edwin Warner Halliday, whose name introduces this record, left home in 1852, when sixteen years of age, and from that time until 1862 served as clerk or master on Ohio and Mississippi river steamboats. In the latter year he joined the Confederate army at Memphis, Tennessee, becoming a private in the cavalry regiment commanded by General N. B. Forrest. He served under Gen- eral Forrest until the latter's promotion to the rank of brigadier general, when he was detailed to staff duty under General Lloyd Tilghman, with the rank of major. He remained with General Tilghman until his death and then took the general's remains to Vicksburg. He remained in Vicksburg during the siege and until after the capitulation of that city, at which time he was taken prisoner, but later was paroled. After his release from parole until the close of the war. he served in the commissary department of the Confederate States of America.
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In 1865 he joined his brothers in Cairo and became a member of the firm of Halliday Brothers, in which connection he and his partners accumulated com- fortable fortunes. There were five of them, a somewhat unusual number, Wil- liam P., Samuel B., Edwin W., Henry L. and Thomas W. While they differed from each other they all exhibited features of character and conduct that would have given them prominence anywhere in the business world. Speaking of them and their families it can be said they have always stood for the better things, not with assumption or pharisaically, but openly and firmly. It will not detract from them nor from old Scotland to say they were Scotch people, although native Americans. Possibly this may account somewhat for the solidity of char- acter so uniformly exhibited by them. Major Halliday was the last surviving mem- ber of that firm of five brothers, who occupied a conspicuous, prominent and hon- orable position in the business circles of southern Illinois and of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys for many years. He retired from active business in 1903 and in 1907 came to San Diego.
On the 28th of June, 1864, Major Halliday was married to Miss Emma Witherspoon, of Memphis, Tennessee, and they were the parents of nine chil- dren: Mrs. W. H. Wood, Edwin and Samuel, all of Cairo, Illinois; Mrs. J. J. Jennelle, of Seattle; Mrs. E. L. Gilbert, of Cairo; Miss Alice W. Halliday, of San Diego; Mrs. Norman Rushton, of San Francisco; and Fred D. and Mrs. Eugene L. Kendall, of San Diego.
Major Halliday died March 14, 1913, leaving behind him a large circle of friends whose warm regard he won while a resident here. His last years were pleasantly spent in a comfortable home in San Diego, surrounded by all those conveniences which make life worth living and free from the responsibilities and cares of earlier years. The city numbered him among her worthy and highly esteemed residents, for he had become widely and favorably known.
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