USA > California > Contra Costa County > The history of Contra Costa County, California > Part 59
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BIOGRAPHICAL
FRANK R. GREEN, one of the most prominent and progressive citizens of eastern Contra Costa County, and one whose labors have been effective forces in the development of the county, was born near Minneapolis, Minne- sota, December 18, 1858, son of George W. (a native of New York State) and Mary E. (Roberts) Green, who was born in Massachusetts. The parents of Mr. Green were married in the early '50s. His father was one of the prominent attorneys in his locality and served as district judge in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, for twelve years. He served as State Representative in 1857. The subject of this sketch received a common-school education, after which he attended the University in Minneapolis. In June, 1881, he came to California and located in Fresno County. Here he found employment at ranching, and for two years he milked a string of thirty cows. He taught school at Hills Valley for a period of six years and at River Dale for three years. He then taught in various other localities for a number of years. He ranched in Fresno County, having had three ranches of forty acres each. He disposed of his land holdings and removed to Merced County, where he was made principal of the Los Banos city school for a period of seven years, and served as president of the board of education during this time. He also served as head of the Menlo Park schools in 1903. Mr. Green engaged in fruit-rais- ing, and owned two orchards in Monterey County which he traded for Oak- land property. In 1910 he removed to eastern Contra Costa County and pur- chased the Heck place of forty acres, which is all in almonds and walnuts. He is also engaged in the hog business to quite an extent, and makes a specialty of registered Berkshire stock. Mr. Green has brought his place up to a high state of cultivation, and has one of the most modern homes in the eastern part of the county. He is also engaged in the real-estate business, and at all times manifests a public-spirited devotion to the general good of his community. He was united in marriage to Miss Amy I. Malsbary on Jan- uary 30, 1887. To this union have been born four children-Ivy (who died in childhood), Watros Earl, Henrietta Mae, and Grace Genevieve. In politics Mr. Green is an ardent supporter of the Republican party. He is a member of the Fraternal Brotherhood. His father died in 1897 at the age of seventy- seven years; his mother resides in Los Banos. Mr. Green concentrates his energies upon his business interests, which are of growing importance. He has met with success in the real-estate line, and the efforts of his wife along this line are of untold value. Mr. Green has an individual way in his adver- tising. He has erected a large sign in front of his handsome place which causes much laughter to the passing automobiles. It reads, "Slow down if you read this, Real Estate in all its branches."
IRA E. CARPER, a successful business man of Pittsburg, California, was born in Cass County, Nebraska, March 18, 1869. He is a son of Harvey and Agnes Carper, both honored citizens of Virginia. The parents of Mr. Carper had thirteen children-seven sons and six daughters-two of whom died
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HISTORY OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY
when young. In all his relations of life the father has proved himself a val- ued and useful citizen, ever ready to give his support to those measures that were right. The subject of this review was raised on a farm and received a common-school education. Leaving the farm, he learned the barber trade. He followed this trade with success and worked in many of the large cities in the West. In 1897 he came to California and drove cattle from Billings, Montana, to Idaho. He worked four years at Fort Bidwell in the cattle busi- ness. He then located in Sonora, Tuolumne County, California, and became identified with the Sierra Railway in the capacity of freight agent for one year, which was in 1901. He then removed to Watsonville and worked on a farm for two years. He also followed his trade for two years in Watsonville. He came to San Francisco and later to Oakland. In 1905 he removed to Black Diamond, now Pittsburg, following his trade from 1905 to 1908, and in September he removed to Antioch, where he operated a barber-shop. On September 27, 1911, he returned to Pittsburg and engaged in business. Politi- cally, Mr. Carper is affiliated with the Democratic party. He was elected town trustee in the spring of 1908. He served until he removed to Antioch. On May 10, 1916, he was elected town trustee for the four-year term. Fra- ternally, Mr. Carper is a member of I. O. O. F. of Fort Bidwell, the Eagles, the Ancient Order of Foresters, and the I. D. E. S. of Pittsburg. Mr. Carper was united in marriage to Katherine Ole, a native of Indiana, May I, 19II. Mr. Carper is a supporter of public movements for the betterment of his locality, and his success in life has been well deserved.
FRANK X. SMITH .- Prominent among the representative men of eastern Contra Costa County is Frank X. Smith. He was born in San Francisco on December 3, 1868, son of Andrew and Catherine (Kelly) Smith. Mr. Smith's father was a native of County Cavan, Ireland, where he was reared, and at the age of seventeen he came to America, and located in Illinois. Later he went to Utah and then to California. He found employment in Los Angeles at different vocations for a time, and later worked in the mines at Knoxville. He remained here for a time and then decided to engage in ranching. In 1868, he bought a settler's right to one hundred and sixty acres of land, which he improved and put out an orchard and vineyard. Ten years later he bought another quarter-section of land; a little later he purchased another quarter-section, and again one hundred and seventy acres, until he owned at the time of his death, which occurred in 1906, about eight hundred acres. For twenty years he rented and farmed five hundred acres of land on the Marsh ranch. The parents of Frank X. Smith were united in marriage in San Fran- cisco, and to this union were born three children-Frank X., the subject of this review; Andrew J., identified with the home ranch; and John W., phy- sician and surgeon, who died in 1908. Dr. John W. Smith was a graduate of the Cooper Medical College of San Francisco, and was one of the prominent physicians of San Francisco. He assisted and did much professional work
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BIOGRAPHICAL
during the big fire in San Francisco. Andrew J., was born in 1870, educated in the public schools of Contra Costa County, and later attended the Stock- ton Business College. He has always been identified with agricultural pur- suits. Frank X. acquired his education in the public schools after which he took a business course. Frank X. Smith was united in marriage to Mary A. Lynch, a native of San Francisco, daughter of Philip and Ellen Lynch, May 22, 1900. Their two children are Mary Alberta, attending high school in Brentwood, and Clarence F., attending school. Fraternally, Mr. Smith is a member of the Eagles lodge of Antioch and the Young Men's Institute. The family are members of the Catholic church of Antioch.
LORENZO GRANT PLUMLEY .- Among the citizens of Byron and east- ern Contra Costa County none is more highly esteemed or remembered with greater affection than Alonzo Plumley, the father of the subject of this biography. Alonzo Plumley was an early pioneer of Contra Costa County. He was born in St. Lawrence County, New York, August 12, 1830, and died May 29, 1916. When but a small boy his father died and his mother married again, the family moving to Canada. At the age of seventeen Alonzo left home and went to Cook County, Illinois, where he remained until March 21, 1853. On that date, with his young wife, they started across the plains with horse-teams. They came direct to Contra Costa County, and settled in the Ygnacio Valley, and in the fall of 1864 he purchased the present farm of one hundred and sixty acres near Byron, where he successfully engaged in stock-raising and farming. Alonzo Plumley married Miss Julia E. Chilson, March 1, 1853. Of this union twelve children were born-Levina Elizabeth, Sarah Eleanor, Charles Eugene, Olive A., Ida E. (wife of A. F. Byer, of Byron, died December 20, 1897), Alonzo Monroe, Lorenzo Grant, Willard Olney, Emma Lydia, Edith Orela, Lillie Julia, and Lulu Maud. Alonzo Plum- ley was active in laying out and grading roads in the Byron section, and did much towards beautifying the town. Lorenzo Grant was born January 7, 1866. He was educated in the public school in the Point of Timber district. He moved to Mendocino County, and took up one hundred and sixty acres of redwood timber, and after spending one year in that country he returned and ranched on the Marsh grant. Here he remained for five years. In 1899 he engaged in the mercantile business in Byron, which he has since con- tinued. In politics he is a Republican, but has never aspired to office. Fra- ternally, he is a member of the I. O. O. F. of Byron. Lorenzo Plumley was united in marriage to Mary Jane Gann of Brentwood, born December I, 1879. To this union there have been three children-Rodney S., born Octo- ber I, 1902; Blanche Marietta, born May 16, 1908; Lorenzo Grant, Jr., born July 30, 1911. His wife is a member of Donner Parlor, N. D. G. W., of Byron. Alonzo Monroe Plumley was born December 19, 1863. He was educated in the public school in Excelsior District, after which he returned to the home place and purchased twenty acres, later buying eighty acres more. In 1914,
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HISTORY OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY
he sold the eighty acres, and is now identified with the fruit business and general farming. He was married to Elizabeth H. Livingstone on December 6, 1894. Their one son, Henry Alonzo, is in the automobile business in Berke- ley. Charles Eugene Plumley was born January 9, 1859. After his schooling, he remained on the home place, with the exception of a few years he spent in Mendocino and Santa Clara counties. In the latter place he followed con- tracting and building. Willard O. Plumley was born April 20, 1868, and was educated in Santa Clara and Mendocino counties, where he followed mill- work. Twenty years ago he returned to the home ranch, with which he has since been identified. He takes an active part in the prohibition movement, and is a member of the Methodist church.
HENRY C. McCABE, one of the progressive and representative ranchers of eastern Contra Costa County, was born on October 5, 1844, in Illinois. He is a son of Thomas McCabe, who was numbered among the pioneers of this section, his activities being a force in progress and his citizenship a valuable asset to the eastern section. Thomas McCabe was born in Guernsey County, Ohio, May 28, 1810. He acquired his early education in the local schools of his locality. At the age of eighteen he engaged in boating on the Ohio River, and later on the Wabash River in Indiana, which was in 1830. Later he removed to Illinois, where he followed farming for four years. The bal- ance of the time until 1850 he farmed in various counties in Illinois. On May 8, 1850, he with a company of others crossed the plains to the new mining camps. Mr. McCabe was chosen captain of the party. They arrived in Pla- cerville, August 3, 1850. Mr. McCabe engaged in mining at once, and followed this vocation for two years, when he returned to his home in Illinois. In the spring of 1853 he returned with his family to this coast and located at Snow Point, Nevada County, where he again engaged in mining pursuits until 1857. He then took up farming in Solano County for three years. The next five years he spent on a ranch in Napa County. In the fall of 1867 Mr. Mc- Cabe moved to Contra Costa County and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of railroad land, and his son, Henry C., purchased one hundred and sixty acres adjoining. Thomas McCabe was united in marriage to Miss Maria Peacock, a native of Ohio, January 12, 1831. To this union have been born nine children. The subject of this review, Henry McCabe, became iden- tified with ranching. This vocation he followed until he disposed of his holdings and retired three years ago. Henry C. purchased the one hundred and sixty acres belonging to his father after the latter's death, which oc- curred on December 3, 1888, and continued to operate both places until he re- tired. He disposed of fifteen acres to the Standard Oil Company, where they now have a pumping station named McCabe. The remainder of the ranch, consisting of three hundred acres, was sold to Doctor Fredericks, of San Francisco. Henry C. was united in marriage to Sarah A. Powell on March 23, 1870. To this union there have been four children. Henry Herbert was
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BIOGRAPHICAL
born January 3, 1891, and died December 1, 1916. Clara E. and Thomas Clif- ford (twins) were born on June 13, 1880. Clara E. died at the age of twelve. Clifford has resided for the past three years in Fresno County, where he has managed his father's ranch. He married Miss Lena Grennenger, of Contra Costa County, and their three daughters are Genevieve, Helen, and Grace. Pearl E. McCabe was born April 3, 1872, and was united in marriage to George E. Martin, of Watsonville, California. To this union have been born Henry A., Kenneth, and Maria N. Thomas McCabe was a broad-minded man, liberal in thought and honorable in purpose, and his life was fruitful of good results. His son, Henry C., whose name heads this review, is an intensely loyal and public-spirited citizen of Contra Costa County.
JOHN HENRY ADAMS, M. D., who is successfully engaged in the prac- tice of medicine in Crockett, California, is well known as a representative of that class of progressive professional men who utilize the most advanced methods of medical science, his broad reading and earnest study keeping him in touch with the advancement that is being continually made by the profession. Doctor Adams is a native son, and was born in Lodi, San Joa- quin County, March 7, 1888. He acquired his education in the public schools, after which he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons of San Fran- cisco, graduating with the class of 1911. He served as house physician in the Trinity Hospital one year. He was appointed to the chair of Visceral An- atomy in the College of Physicians and Surgeons. Doctor Adams practiced in San Francisco from September, 1912, to December, 1913, when he removed to Crockett. Fraternally, he is a member of the Native Sons, B. P. O. E., I. O. O. F., Red Men, Eagles, Moose, W.O.W.,I.D. E.S., and the Y. M. C.A. Doctor Adams was united in marriage to Miss Pauline Burgess on April 27, 1912. To this union there is one son, John Henry, Jr., born January 22, 1916. Doctor Adams is a member of the Alpha Kappa Kappa, a medical fraternity. He is a member of the American Medical Association and the Contra Costa Medical Society. He is the physician for the California Sugar Refinery. Doc- tor Adams' father was a representative rancher and citizen of Lodi. He died on May 27, 1909, and his mother passed away September 7, 1893. Doctor Adams is regarded as a reliable, far-sighted, and progressive professional man. He has secured a large and representative patronage. .
WILLIAM W. MORGANS, who enjoys recognition as one of the leading and enterprising business men of Brentwood, has won merited success. He is engaged in the general mercantile business and was born in Nortonville, Contra Costa County, January 3, 1869. His father, Watkin P. Morgans, is a native of Wales, and was born in 1842. He came to America with his parents when a mere child, and they located in Pennsylvania. Watkin P. came to the Coast in January, 1864, via the Panama route. He followed mining for some years, and married in Sutter Creek to Elizabeth Davis, and her death occurred
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HISTORY OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY
in 1892. In 1868 he removed to Nortonville, where he was identified with the mines for a number of years as assistant superintendent. William W. Mor- gans, the only son, received his education in the public schools of Norton- ville, after which he attended a military college in Sonoma County. He then took a business course, and at the age of seventeen years he entered the gen- eral store of W. A. Davis, of Brentwood. He was soon made manager of the store. This position he filled in a capable manner, and under his management the business expanded. Later the business was made a stock company. In 1906 Mr. Morgans bought out the other stockholders, and has since run the business in such a manner as to cause its growth and expansion until today it is one of the largest and best mercantile stores in eastern Contra Costa County. Mr. Morgans gives his political support to the Republican party. He served as school trustee for many years and during his office he was instru- mental in freeing the school debt. Fraternally, he is a member of the Ma- sonic lodge of Brentwood, and the chapter of Antioch. In November, 1890, Mr. Morgans was united in marriage to Ida L. Wills, daughter of Thomas N. Wills, one of the old and respected citizens who came to this county in the early days and bought much land where Antioch is now located. There were two children born to Mr. and Mrs. Morgans. One child died in infancy, and William J., born in 1891, is assisting in the store. Mr. Morgans is re- garded as a reliable and progressive business man, and takes a keen interest in matters pertaining to the development and upbuilding of Brentwood and surrounding country.
EDWARD M. DOWNER .- The name of Edward M. Downer has come to be regarded as synonymous with banking and business interests in Contra Costa County. He has been guided and controlled by a spirit of enterprise and progress. He is a man of varied interests, and for many years the influ- ence of his ability and personality has been a constructive element in the ad- vancement of the county. He was born in Yuba County, California, April 28, 1869, the son of James Edward Downer. His father was a native of New York State. Mr. Downer's father crossed the plains during the pioneer days and engaged in mining until his death, which occurred at the age of seventy- five. The subject of this review acquired his education in the public schools of Nevada City, after which he studied telegraphy and filled various posi- tions of importance and trust with the Southern Pacific Company. On Feb- ruary I, 1891, he was made station agent and operator at Pinole. He served as postmaster at this place for several years. In 1894 he established the Pinole Times, the first and only paper ever published in that town. Mr. Dow- ner has been active in banking and real-estate matters in this county. He is president of the Bank of Pinole, of the Bank of Crockett, and of the Me- chanics Bank of Richmond. Under his wise and able management all three banks have grown to their present proportions and importance. More ex- tended mention of the history of these banks will be found in the banking
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BIOGRAPHICAL
chapter. It is largely due to Mr. Downer and to his progressive policies that the banks in Richmond, Pinole, and Crockett have become what they are today in the commercial and financial life of the three places. Mr. Downer was united in marriage to Miss Lizzie Bouquet, a native of Contra Costa County, and a daughter of the late Frederick Bouquet. To this union have been born two children-Hazel I., born April 15, 1898, attending Mills Col- lege, and Edward M., Jr., born August 13, 1905, now attending school. Mr. Downer is a Royal Arch Mason, and has filled the various chairs in his chap- ter. He is regarded as one of the substantial and reliable upbuilders of Con- tra Costa County.
CHARLES AXEL SMITH .- High in the list of those who by their great- ness of achievement in industry and commerce have added luster to the bril- liant star of American enterprise is Charles Axel Smith, of the C. A. Smith Lumber Company, of the C. A. Smith Lumber & Manufacturing Company of Marshfield, Oregon, of the C. A. Smith Timber Company, and of the Coos Bay Lumber Company, holding probably twenty billion feet of standing tim- ber in Oregon and California. He was born in the province of Ostergotland, Sweden, December II, 1852. At the age of fourteen, with his father and sister, he came from his native land to the United States and settled, as has been largely the case with immigrants from his native country, in Minnesota. He attended the public schools of Minneapolis from 1869 to 1871, and from 1872 to 1873 he was a student of the University of Minnesota. While attending school he lived with John S. Pillsbury, who had served several years as Gov- ernor of Minnesota, working during his spare time in the winter and being employed in the Governor's hardware store in Minneapolis during his sum- mer vacations. Because of his ill-health, he reluctantly abandoned his ambi- tion for a complete university education, and became a regular employee in Governor Pillsbury's hardware store until 1878. At that time, with the help of Governor Pillsbury, he went to Herman, Minnesota, then a new town on the line of the Great Northern Railway. He here built an elevator and opened an implement store and lumber business, conducting the enterprise for six years under the name of C. A. Smith & Co., with Governor Pillsbury as an equal partner. In addition to this enterprise, retail lumber yards were opened by Mr. Smith at Evansville, Bandon, and Ashby, Minnesota. During these six years, Mr. Smith was successful, clearing in the Herman business for his firm $50,000, and in his other ventures $40,000, an equal half of this sum being his individual profits. In 1884 Governor Pillsbury, who had loaned a considerable sum of money to loggers who were unable to pay their debts, asked Mr. Smith to buy their logs and manufacture them into lumber. To this Mr. Smith agreed, and organized the lumber manufacturing firm of C. A. Smith & Co. The first purchases of logs, as well as all handled by the firm until 1891, were sawed at custom mills at Minneapolis. Then they bought a mill, which, however, burned down six weeks later. Another mill was shortly
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HISTORY OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY
thereafter purchased. In 1893, when the business was incorporated as the C. A. Smith Lumber Company (Minnesota), it began its corporate career by building the largest, most expensive and complete mill up to that time erected in the Northwest, a mill which, in a few years later, broke all records in turning out in eleven hours with three band-saws and a gang approxi- mately six hundred thousand feet of lumber, seventy-one and one-half thou- sand feet of lath, and one hundred thirty thousand shingles. It also made a weekly average of one million ten thousand feet a day of twenty hours. With his business in Minneapolis firmly established, Mr. Smith was not blind to the fact that the future must be looked after if lumbermen would survive the day when the now almost depleted forests in Minnesota would be shorn of their standing timber. He then began investment on the Pacific Coast, first by the purchase of a redwood tract in Humboldt County, California, later by the accumulation of a huge acreage in southwestern Oregon and then by the buying of a large stand of sugar and Western yellow pine in El Dorado County, California. While the California properties have been al- lowed to stand for future needs, Mr. Smith early in 1907 began the erection of a model lumber-manufacturing plant at Marshfield, on Coos Bay, Ore- gon. As Mr. Smith's timber was all tributary to tidewater, and as he well ap- preciated the economy of ocean freights, he looked about for the estab- lishing of a distributing plant that could handle the product of his timber holdings as the manufacturing plants were gradually installed. After inves- tigating thoroughly, in the spring of 1908 he purchased a tract of land on Suisun Bay, forty miles from San Francisco, and established what is known as the Bay Point plant and the prosperous village of Bay Point at that place. At Bay Point Mr. Smith has probably one of the most complete and model lumber, milling, and warehousing plants in the United States. The Marsh- field sawmill and the Bay Point planing-mill plants are equipped with every modern device known to the industry. Mr. Smith has been a forerunner amongst the lumbermen for labor-saving devices in the manufacturing and handling of his product. Naturally the question of transporting the manu- factured material from Marshfield to Bay Point necessitated the building of steamers. Of such, Mr. Smith has two in his service, the "Nann Smith" and the "Adeline Smith," named for his daughters. These vessels were construct- ed on Mr. Smith's own plans, and every stick of lumber is handled by elec- tric cranes at the Marshfield end in packages, each package averaging fifteen hundred to two thousand feet, such packages being stowed on shipboard in- tact, and at Bay Point being removed by electric cranes in the same manner. By this device, which has brought Mr. Smith much renown, he is able to load, transport, and discharge a vessel's cargo of a million and three-quarter to two million feet of lumber every five days, the distance traversed in that time being about eight hundred and fifty miles. As a lumberman, Mr. Smith has always been prominent, and has been signally honored in the highest councils of the industry, having served as vice-president of the National
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