Orange County CA

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

Biographical Sketch of R. Q. Wickham

R. Q. Wickham, the first County Clerk of the new county of Orange, was born in a Hancock County, Ohio, January 31, 1855. He is by trade a printer, and by profession a teacher, and followed said avocations alternately in Iowa, Dakota and Nebraska, from 1872 to 1887, when he came to California and engaged in the real-estate business at Santa Ana, and resided at Garden Grove. When the movement was revived for the organization of a new county, he joined in with zeal and pushed the matter along. He was appointed by Governor Waterman one of the commissioners on … 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

Biography of Elcome Folwer

Elcome Fowler proprietor of the Palmyra Hotel, Orange, is one of the pioneers of 1849, and a history of his life since that time is full of interesting Vincidents. He was born in Jackson County, Tennessee, in 1818. His father, John Fowler, was born in July, 1767, in Virginia, and died in December, 1867, being therefore in his 101st year. He had married Lucinda Usury and had ten children. May 25, 1849, the subject of this sketch left Atchison County, Missouri, with an ox team for California and arrived in Sacramento October 25. He immediately took a load of goods … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Ander Mills

Ander Mills deceased, was born May 6, 1814, in Massachusetts. At the age of sixteen years he left home, and traveled extensively in different States. In Missouri, in 1852, he married Miss Ruth A. Ripper, and immediately started across the plains to California, with an ox team. In this State he first took up about 3,000 acres of Government land, on which he herded cattle for twenty years with considerable profit. In 1874, his health failing, he came to Southern California and bought 320 acres in the Westminster colony. His children were: Julia, wife of George McCormac; Maria, deceased; Amanda, … Read more

Biography of Leonard Parker

Leonard Parker of Anaheim, was born in the town of Boston, New York, March 1, 1818. His parents, Joel and Annie (Woodcock) Parker, were natives of Massachusetts. The senior Parker, by trade a carpenter, was employed as a builder and contractor in the city of Buffalo, New York, for many years, and the subject of this sketch had very little opportunity for getting an education. At the age of twenty-one years he started out as a farmer, and afterward learned the blacksmith trade, his early life being a rugged one. He walked five miles to work and then cradled wheat … Read more

Biography of Henry Sterling Pankey

Henry Sterling Pankey a farmer of the Los Bolsa tract in Orange County, was born in Tippah County, Mississippi, in 1852, and reared principally in Tennessee. His parents, Henry and Zilpah (Daniels) Pankey, were natives of South Carolina The father died when his son Henry was only a year old, and the mother married Marion Clark four years later. Being ill-treated by his stepfather, Henry left him to live with William Burns, of Texas. Six months’ schooling was all that Mr. Pankey ever received. During the war he suffered many privations and undertook many disagreeable risks. He had to go … 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

Biographical Sketch of W. W. Halesworth

W. W. Halesworth, has been a resident of Santa Ana since March, 1872, enjoying signal success in business affairs. At first he was employed in Los Angeles city, and in the fall of 1873 purchased twenty acres of land where the city of Santa Ana now stands, which he devoted to grapevines and fruit-trees, until in 1884 he began to cut it up into city lots. ” Halesworth’s Addition” is bounded on the north by Washington avenue, east by West street, south by Hales-worth street, and west by Ross Street. The second addition which bears his name is bounded on … Read more

Biography of Judge Nathan Baker

Judge Nathan Baker, of Santa Ana, was born in Muskingum County, Ohio, March 10, 1817. His parents, Nathan and Mary (Blizzard) Baker, both natives of Virginia, had three sons and two daughters. The subject of this sketch, the youngest and only one living, started west at the age of eighteen years, stopping first in Washington County, Iowa, and then in Lee County, same State, where he followed farming until 1849. In 1850 he was elected to the State Senate by that county, and at the close of his first term he resigned in order to come to California. He came … Read more

Biography of George Ridgeley Broadbere

George Ridgeley Broadbere editor of the Santa Ana Free Press, was born in New York city and educated at Cambridge University, England. He began the newspaper business as war correspondent while serving in the naval brigade in the Zulu war in Africa, and while there he was severely wounded. In China he did war correspondence for the London Daily News. Returning to America, he was employed on the New Orleans Picayune as reporter and traveling correspondent in Louisiana and Texas; next he was a traveling agent and correspondent for the States of the great southwest for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat; … Read more

Biographical Sketch of P. T. Adams

P. T. Adams of Tustin, was born in Shelby County, Tennessee, November, 1834. His father, Peter Adams, was a native of North Carolina, and moved to Texas in 1833, back to Tennessee again, and in 1839 to Texas the second time, where his children were brought up. The subject of this sketch passed his youth herding cattle, much of the time on horseback. He served during the war in the Confederate army, two years in James M. McCord’s regiment, and then until the close of the war, in General Bankhead’s brigade. Politically Mr. Adams is a Democrat, well informed upon … Read more