Orange County CA

Warhol, Martha Ackerman Mrs. – Obituary

Halfway, Oregon Martha Ackerman Warhol, 102, died Feb. 13, 2002, at her home in Halfway. Her funeral will at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 2, at the Pine Valley Presbyterian Church in Halfway. Born in South Dakota in 1899, Martha was the oldest of nine children. She grew up in the small German community of Herried, S. D., where her father was a farmer, owned the local bank, and ran a general store. She didn’t learn to speak English until she was in the first grade. The whole family worked part time in the bank and in the store, and Martha … Read more

Biographical Sketch of R. H. Gilman

R. H. Gilman superintendent of the Semi-tropic Fruit Company at Anaheim, was born in New Hampshire, left home in 1862, to follow the sea, and in the next year he ran away from the ship Wild Rover and for some time traveled. He afterward worked seven years at the tanner’s trade, and then followed ranching in Lake, Napa, and Sacramento counties. In 1872 the Semi-tropic Fruit Company was organized by L. M. Hoult, R. H. Gilman, I. N. Chapman and. others. They have 106 acres, most beautifully located and in a high state of cultivation. There are twenty-five acres in … Read more

Biography of Illiam Lamson

Illiam Lamson a capitalist of Garden Grove, was born at Mt. Vernon, New Hampshire, October 1, 1810, the eldest of six children of John L. and Nancy (Bradford) Lamson. At the age of twenty-one years, after having been an industrious worker for his father, he started out in life for himself, his father taking him as far as he could in one day, giving him $2 and telling him not to drink or to gamble, and to do the best he could for himself. With the $2 Mr. Lamson went about half way to Boston and hired out for one … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Captain H. Hall

Captain H. Hall one of the prosper?ous orange-growers of Santa Ana Valley, has been a citizen of the Golden State for eighteen years. Born at Tiffin, Ohio, in 1838, he was educated there and read law for several years, which study was interrupted by his enlistment in the army in Company H, Thirty-second Iowa Volunteer Infantry. During his service of three years he was commissioned Second Lieutenant and First Lieutenant. At the close of the war, being broken in health, he for a number of years traveled as a commercial agent. In 1876 he came to California and bought and … Read more

Hofmann, Sandra L. – Obituary

Sandra Louise (Fagan) Hofmann died Feb. 15, 1988 in Huntington Beach, Calif. of cancer. She was born May 28, 1942 in La Grande, to Arletta (Jackson) and Gifford Fagan. She is survived by three children, Dean, and Richard Hofmann, and Kari Kessler all of Garden Grove, Calif.; a twin brother, Steve Guy Fagan, Lodi, Calif.; her mother, Arletta Neumann, and step-father Ray Neumann of Seattle, Wash.; grandmother Letty Jackson, Wallowa County Nursing Home; aunts, Mary Kennison, Baker, Betty King, West Sacramento, Calif., Mary May and Dorothy Confer of The Dallas, and one uncle Neal Fagan of Renton, Wash. Her father, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Alfred Beckett

Alfred Beckett a prominent citizen of Westminster, Orange County, was born in Ontario, Canada, June 7, 1830, a son of Stephen and Anna (Taylor) Beckett, and the sixth child in a family of nine. He received a good common-school education, worked at the mill and lumber business for several years and also did some farming, and in 1877 came to California and bought forty acres of laud in Westminster, which he has put under a high state of cultivation. Politically he is an intelligent supporter of the Republican party. Both himself and wife are highly respected members of social circles. … Read more

Biographical Sketch of R. T. Harris

R. T. Harris, the first Sheriff of Orange County, was born in Richmond, Virginia. His father, John Harris, a native of Cornwall, England, moved from Virginia to California in 1860, settling first in Mariposa County, and then in Santa Clara County, where the subject of this sketch clerked in a store and received a good education. In 1876 he located in Westminster, in the Santa Ana valley. For six years he engaged in mercantile business there, and also was assistant Postmaster. At the first election of officers ever held in the county of Orange, Mr. Harris was chosen Sheriff by … Read more

Biography of Judge C. W. Humphreys

Judge C. W. Humphreys of Santa Ana, was born in Mason County, Kentucky, and is a son of Robert Humphreys. Following is a history of the family as furnished to the subject of this sketch by his father at the age of eighty-eight years: “Shortly after the close of the Revolutionary War, four brothers, by the name of Humphreys, with their families emigrated from Tyrone County, Ireland, to Virginia, to either Greenbriar or Monroe County. Their names were Richard, John, Robert and Samuel. My grandfather was Robert. His sons were James, John, Robert; daughters, Mollie, Nancy and Jane. John Humphreys … Read more

Biography of Theodore Reiser

Theodore Reiser President of the City Council of Anaheim, was born in the city of Lahr, Baden, Germany, September 7, 1829, and after receiving a good education he began at the age of fourteen years to learn the art of wine-making on the Rhine, and served three years. He traveled and worked at his trade in Switzerland, and at the age of nineteen years he came to New York and worked at the cooper’s trade four years. In the spring of 1854 he came to San Francisco by steamer, and was employed in a brewery three years. Next he went … Read more

Biographical Sketch of John Warner

John Warner dentist at Garden Grove, was born in Otsego County, New York, in 1820. His parents, Zachariah and Laura (Hale) Warner, were natives of Connecticut and of English ancestry. John, the fifth in a family of eight children, learned dentistry at Cincinnati, first started in business in Kentucky in 1840, and from 1865 to 1877 he was at Leavenworth, Kansas, engaged in wholesale queensware and plated-ware. In 1877 he came to Oakland, this State, where he practiced dentistry for seven years. Since coming to Garden Grove he has practiced his profession to some extent, but most of his attention … Read more

Courtney, Pinkney L. – Obituary

Mrs. B.T. Long received word Thursday evening of the death of her father, P. L. Courtney at Payette, Idaho and left for that place Friday. M. O. Courtney of Lostine accompanied her. P. L. Courtney was one of the earliest settlers of the valley and lived here until recent years when he was compelled to try a different climate to relieve asthma from which he was a sufferer. He spent the past year in California from there going to Payette only two weeks ago and on the trip contracted the influenza to which he succumbed. Pinkney L. Courtney was born … Read more

Biography of Sheldon Littlefield

Sheldon Littlefield Supervisor from the third district of Orange County, was born in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in 1834, and was brought up on a farm. At the age of seventeen years he went to Charlestown same State, and clerked in a grocery for a year. He then took what money he had saved and went to Appleton Academy so long as his money lasted. Then he taught school at Brookline, New Hampshire, and next returned to Massachusetts and for a time was engaged in the manufacture of boots and shoes, and then obtained a position for three years in a … Read more

Biography of John Harris

John Harris of Westminster, was born in Cornwall, England, in May, 1832, and came to the United Sates in 1852. After spending three and a half years in Pennsylvania and Virginia, and one year in Missouri, he came in 1859 to San Franciso, and was in the mines for several years. Afterward he served as Superintendent of the Pine Tree mines for John C. Fremont. In 1874, his health failing, he came to Westminster and purchased 160 acres of land. For several years, in company with his son, Richard T., now the sheriff of Orange County,-he was in the general … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Josiah McCoy

Josiah McCoy Justice of the Peace at Westminster, was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, May 20, 1826. His father was Colonel John McCoy, of Scotch ancestry; and his mother, whose maiden name was Jane Brice, was a daughter of Rev. John Brice, of West Virginia. They were among the early settlers of Washington County, Pennsylvania. In 1850 Josiah McCoy went to Marshall County, Illinois, followed farming for a number of years, and subsequently mercantile business some five years at Henry, that county. In December, 1873, he became a citizen of California and a resident of the town of Westminster, where … Read more

Biography of Prof. C. N. Andrews

Prof. C. N. Andrews, of Redlands, was born in Guernsey County, Ohio, in 1852. His father, Robert Andrews, crossed the plains to California with an ox team in 1857. They were on the plains at the time of the Mountain Meadow massacre, and were five months and ten days from Boonville to Sacramento. He purchased a farm in Sonoma County, in 1859, and is still living on it. He had a family of four sons and one daughter. The subject of this sketch received his early training in the common schools of Sonoma County, is a graduate of several prominent … Read more

Biography of Sylvester Lyman

Sylvester Lyman deceased. American biography has always been considered to be of the greatest interest, far outranking in this regard the same study in any other country. The cause of this is the large proportion of self-made men in our population, men who have plucked the flowers of success from the thorns of difficulty. Mr. Lyman, the subject of this memoir, illustrates this fact. He was born at Westhampton, Blandford County, Massachusetts, February 26, 1826. At the age of fourteen years his father moved his family to Shiawassee County, Michigan, where Mr. Lyman assisted in the farm work for some … Read more

Biography of G. G. Greeley

G. G. Greeley horticulturist, near Anaheim, was born in Belfast, Maine, in 1817. His parents, John and Mary (Black) Greeley, natives respectively of New Hampshire and Maine, and of English descent, had seven children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the second. At the age of twenty-one he started out in life for himself, learning the trade of carpenter at Searsport, Maine, being employed in that business four years. He subsequently took up land at Aroostook, and followed timbering for about a year. Next he worked at his trade for a time, building a hotel at No. 11; … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Thomas Spencer, M. D.

Thomas Spencer, M. D. of Anaheim, was born in Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, in 1835, a son of Edward Spencer, who was a dry-goods merchant. He came to the United States in 1849, received a common school education at Burlington, Iowa, and in 1854 came overland to California and attended the Toland Medical College, where he graduatedin 1861. He practiced his profession at Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, until 1872, when he bought land in Santa Barbara County. After making his home there two years he returned to Lucas County, Iowa, and bought a large stock farm, which he still owns. He came … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Tim Carroll

Tim Carroll proprietor of the Anaheim 4, Evergreen Nursery, was born in County Cork, Ireland, March 25, 1840, the second in a family of nine children, of Patrick and Mary (Scandlan) Carroll, who moved to Australia in 1855. He came to Santa Cruz, California, in 1866, and worked at shipping lumber two years. In 1868 he came to Anaheim and bought fifty acres of land, his purchase being the first outside of the town limits. He then started the nursery business on a small scale, and today he has the largest nursery in Southern California if not in the State. … Read more

Biography of Jacob Ross

Jacob Ross a prominent business man of Orange County, was born in Clinton County, Indiana, August 7, 1846. His parents, Jacob and Elizabeth Ross, moved to Illinois in 1851, where the father engaged in the milling business and in farming until 1865, when they with their family came overland to California, being six months on the road. They unloaded at Watsonville, November 25, 1865. Mr. Ross, the father, prospected for a home in Salinas valley till 1868, when he moved to Southern California. He purchased the undivided interest in the Spanish grant of 1,860 acres, which, however, was afterward cut … Read more