San Bernardino California

Biography of Colonel William R. Tolles

Colonel William R. Tolles, President of the San Bernardino Board of Trade and one of the most enterprising and public-spirited citizens of the county, was born in Litchfield County, Connecticut, in 1823. His father was one of the original settlers of the famous “Western Reserve” in northern Ohio, having moved there and settled in Geauga County in 1837; there William passed his youth, excepting five or six winters which he spent in the South for the benefit of his health. He was in Arkansas when the Legislature of that State declared its secession from the Union, and he was a … Read more

Biography of Harrison H. Guthrie, M. D.

Harrison H. Guthrie, M. D., has been in the active practice of his profession in San Bernardino since November, 1881. He came to California from St. Charles, Minnesota, where eighteen years of arduous labor and exposure in that rigorous climate had seriously impaired his naturally delicate constitution. He was born in Preston County, West Virginia, in April 1832, and is the son of a house carpenter, who was also a Virginian. The Doctor was left motherless when nine days old, and was taken and reared by his maternal grandparents in Maryland. Being of an active mental temperament, he advanced rapidly … Read more

Biography of John P. Clum

John P. Clum, of San Bernardino, was born in Claverack, Columbia County, New York, in 1851, and his childhood and youth were passed on the banks of the historic Hudson. At the age of nineteen he graduated at the Hudson River Institute, and entered the freshman class of Rutger’s College, New Brunswick, New Jersey. After completing the first year and creditably passing all the examinations, adverse fortune compelled him to leave college, and in 1871 he entered the meteorological service of the United States Government. Having taken a course in meteorology and signaling, he was ordered to Santa Fe, New … Read more

Biography of Joseph C. Rich

Judge Joseph C. Rich, eldest son of Hon. Charles C. Rich, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this history, was born in Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, January 16, 1841. His mother’s maiden name was Sarah D. Pea, good stock all around, his ancestors being of that hardy pioneer school who have subdued the wilds of the middle and western states and made possible the grandeur of those noble commonwealths. When but a boy of five years he, in connection with his parents and several thousand others, was driven from the city of his birth by mobocratic persecution, and commenced … Read more

Biography of Colonel John Feudge

Colonel John Feudge was born in Waterford, Ireland, November 3, 1824. His parents came to the United States immediately after the inauguration of President John Quincy Adams. The subject of this sketch was first engaged assisting his father, who kept a market garden in the suburbs of New York City. When about sixteen years of age he was apprenticed and learned printing and stereotyping. He had worked some time, before becoming an apprentice, at type casting, by the old hand-mold method, and also as composing room devil, fly-boy, and wrapper-writer in the offices of the two great commercial papers of … Read more

Spriet, Frank Julian – Obituary

Frank Julian Spriet, 95, of San Bernardino, Calif., a former Baker City resident, died Aug. 26, 2007, at the home of his daughter, Darlene. His funeral will be at 2:30 p.m. Friday at Montecito Memorial Park at Colton, Calif. Frank was born on Dec. 30, 1911, at Baker City. He worked as a carpenter and building contractor for 36 years. He was skilled in every phase of building. He had an inventive mind and always had projects in the making. Frank’s favorite sports were hunting and boxing. He was a faithful Catholic until he was “born again” in 1974, his … Read more

Biography of Mrs. Ellen Woods Crafts Meacham

Mrs. Ellen Woods Crafts Meacham. This lady, who, with her husband and family, occupies as a residence one of the old landmarks of the county (the well known Crafton Retreat), is a native of Jackson, Michigan, and daughter of Myron Harwood and Miranda (Capen) Crafts. Her father, who was born in Whately, the family seat, was a man of great force of character. He came to San Bernardino County when the country was new, locating at the place which took his name, and left the impress of his character indelibly upon the community. His unusual business ability, while securing for … Read more

Hartless, Evelynne Lee Sharp Mrs. – Obituary

Richland, Oregon Evelynne Lee Hartless, 66, of Richland, died May 18, 2002, at St. Luke’s Hospital in Boise. There will be a celebration of Evelynne’s life at 2 p.m. Saturday at the New Bridge Grange in New Bridge. There will be a reception afterward. The family has asked that this be a happy occasion and in honor of Evelynne’s request that those attending wear red, her favorite color. Evelynne was born on Oct. 21, 1935, to Randolph and Leora Martin Sharp in Baker City. She was raised in Eagle Valley and graduated from high school at Nampa, Idaho. She then … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Lyman Nelson Bedford, D. D. S.

Lyman Nelson Bedford, D. D. S., a leading dentist of Southern California, is a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1851. He began the study of dentistry with his eldest brother, Dr. E. Bedford, in Sioux City, Iowa, in 1876, was graduated at the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery in 1885. He practiced in Sioux City until 1886, when at the request of his brother, Dr. A. D. Bedford, he came to California and located in San Bernardino, since which time he has carried on an active and lucrative professional business. Dr. Bedford’s specialty is in fine operative dentistry, and the … Read more

Biography of John Henry Stewart

John Henry Stewart, one of the most prominent citizens of San Bernardino, was born of Scotch parents in Williamstown, Massachusetts, April 28, 1823. His father, Samuel Stewart, removed his family to Oswego County, New York, when John Henry was but two years old, and his childhood and youth were passed there. At an early age he learned the trade of house carpentering and joining, which he followed for many years. Being the oldest in a family of eight children and his father not enjoying good health, a large share of the support of the family fell on his shoulders,-a burden … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Hon. John M. James

Hon. John M. James, a native of Cannon County, Tennessee, born in 1816. His father, William James, was a native of North Carolina, and died May 20, 1840. His mother, Clara (Smith) James, was born in Suffolk, Virginia. His great-grandfather was one of Lord Baltimore’s colonists in Maryland, and his grandfather emigrated to North Carolina. Our subject is the next to the youngest of a family of seven children. He was married March 14, 1837, to Elizabeth LeMay, of North Carolina. She was of French origin. Two years after his marriage he moved to Arkansas, where in 1842 his wife … Read more

Welch, Roy – Obituary

Roy Welch Was A Barber At Haines Graveside services were held September 24 for a former Haines resident. Roy Jackson Welch who passed away September 20, 1973 in San Bernardino, California. Burial was in the family plot at Hemet, California where he had lived for several years. Mr. Welch was a retired barber. He owned and operated barber shops in Haines, Oregon and California and had followed the barber trade for fifty years. He was born in Haines, Baker County, Oregon September 22, 1904, the son of G.W. and Ida Long Jackson, foster son of W.I. and Clara Long Welch. … Read more

Biography of Charles C. Rich

Pioneer of Utah, California and Idaho, Charles C. Rich figured prominently in the early development of these states, and took an active part in furthering the welfare and promoting the progress of the commonwealths. He was also a most able exponent of the faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and with a colony of believers he founded the beautiful and thriving little city of Paris, the County of Bear Lake, Idaho, and the Mormon colonies of southeastern Idaho. A native of Kentucky, Mr. Rich was born in Campbell County, in 1809, and was of English … Read more

Biography of John J. Whitney

John J. Whitney, proprietor of the City Planning Mill and lumberyard, and one of the principal manufacturers in San Bernardino County, was a native of Elmira, New York, and was born in 1843. He inherited a talent for mechanics from his father, and being a contractor and practical builder and the owner and operator of a large planning mill in Elmira, afforded him ample means of exercising and developing his innate tendencies. In 1862, in his nineteenth year, he enlisted in the army as a member of the Fifth New York Heavy Artillery; served till the close of the war, … Read more

Biography of F. Garner

F. Garner, residing on Mount Vernon Avenue, San Bernardino, was born near Quincy, Illinois, March 5, 1835. His parents were George and Elizabeth Garner. His father moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, at an early day, and remained there one year when he crossed the plains to Utah, where he spent one winter. Frank was fifteen years of age when they left the Missouri river, and he drove an ox team all the way to California. While crossing the Missouri river on a ferry-boat, the team which he afterward drove became frightened and jumped off the boat into the water, and swam … Read more

Biography of David H. Wixom

David H. Wixom, the tenth of a family of twelve children of Nathan J. and Betsy (Hadlock) Wixom, was born in 1848 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. In 1850 his parents started with their family, consisting then of ten children, to cross the plains to California. They loaded three ox teams and one horse team with their effects, and brought fifty cows, ten head of horses and a small flock of sheep over as far as Salt Lake, where they spent the winter, and there their eleventh child, Charles W. Wixom, was born. In the spring of 1852 they resumed their … Read more

Biographical Sketch of David Meacham

David Meacham was born in Genesee County, New York, May 3, 1835, and was reared at Geneseo, learning the carpenter’s trade. In 1858 he came to California, crossing the plains with General Harney, shortly after the Mountain Meadow Massacre. He helped to gather up the bones of the murdered emigrants, and assisted in building the monument erected by the Government on the scene. Arriving in California, he located at Bloomfield, Sonoma County, where he followed his trade five years. In 1863 he came to San Bernardino, and here followed the building trade. He rode to Riverside on the first load … Read more

Biography of Albert E. Phelan, M. D.

Albert E. Phelan, M. D., one of the leading physicians of San Bernardino County, and a representative of the progressive school of medicine, was born in Montreal thirty-two years ago; he was graduated at the University of Bishop’s College in that city in 1886, and the following year was graduated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Quebec, having had charge during the years 1886-’87 of the Western Hospital as house surgeon. He came to San Bernardino in September 1887, and immediately settled in practice, forming a partnership with Dr. C. G. Campbell, a prominent old physician of the … Read more

Biography of Malcom Macdonald

Malcom Macdonald was born in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, May 9, 1833. He left home and became self-supporting at sixteen years of age. He married in July 1859, and he and his estimable wife have a family of four children, three daughters and one son: John Monroe Macdonald, aged twenty-one years, who is studying for the medical profession. San Bernardino Artificial Stone and Improvement Company was organized in March 1887, with a capital stock of $250,000, divided into 2,500 shares. John C. King was elected president; A. M. Murphy, vice-president; M. Davenport, secretary, and Malcom Macdonald, manager. The purpose of … Read more

Biography of Charles J. Perkins

Charles J. Perkins, attorney-at-law and an active member of the Southern California bar, came to the State in 1883, and the following year located in practice in San Bernardino. He was born in the Empire State in 1856, but his father, F. J. Perkins, moved with his family from New York to Illinois in the fall of that year, and purchased a farm, on which they settled. In 1877 young Perkins started out in railroad business as an employee in the operating department of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. At that time train robberies on the western frontier were … Read more