San Bernardino County CA

Biography of Professor David B. Sturges

Professor David B. Sturges is a classical scholar, educated in Michigan University, in which State he was born in 1839. In 1862, he went to Montana and there spent fourteen years, a portion of the time in teaching. He came to California in 1876, and has been engaged in educational work in the southern part of the state ever since. The courses of study in his academy and business college are being enlarged and improved each successive year, and a higher and broader standard of excellence in scholastic results is attained. Associated with him as instructors is an able corps … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Samuel W. Garretson

Samuel W. Garretson, mechanical engineer and superintendent of gas and electric-light works for the Pacific Lighting Company of California, was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1844. He served his apprenticeship to the machinist trade during the years 1861 to 1864. Like many patriotic young men who lived during the dark days of the Rebellion he shouldered his musket and volunteered his services to our Government, and served in the Twenty-first Regiment New Jersey Volunteers, in the Army of the Potomac. After completing his trade he went to sea and spent about ten years on the ocean as an … Read more

Biographical Sketch of David Brush

David Brush a farmer of Orange County, was born in Fulton County, Illinois, October 12, 1848, a son of John and Martha (Faucet) Brush, both natives of Pennsylvania. His father was one of the pioneers of San Bernardino County in 1855, where he lived for over twenty years. He crossed the plains to California in 1854, with an ox team, being on the road six months. He stopped at Salt Lake eight months, to recruit stock and obtain supplies. David, our subject, came to what is now Orange County, fifteen years ago, and bought forty acres of land at Newport, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of H. L. Drew

Fourteen years previous to his association with the Farmers’ Exchange Bank, Mr. Drew had been engaged in the mercantile business in San Bernardino, and had also been extensively connected with mining interests. He was born in Michigan forty-nine years ago, where his early business life was devoted to lumbering and merchandising. On the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion he entered the Union army as a private in the Third Michigan Cavalry, served three years and a half, and rose by successive promotions to the rank of Captain before resigning. Suffering from broken health, partly caused by exposure … Read more

Biography of Peter J. Filano

Peter J. Filano, residing three miles south of San Bernardino, is one of the oldest and most prosperous pioneers in the valley. He was born in the southern part of France, November 4, 1820, the oldest of a family of three children. When a young man he went to Africa, and for nine years engaged in the slave trade on the east and west coasts. In 1845 he sailed from Maca to China and took slaves, then from China to Salem, Massachusetts. He followed the sea for fifteen years. In 1848 he sailed from New York to New Orleans, and … 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

Biography of Joseph Thorn

Joseph Thorn, deceased, was a pioneer of 1854. He was born in New York State, December 22, 1811. His parents were Richard and Mary Ann (Armstrong) Thorn, the former a native of New York, the latter of England. Mr. Thorn was a blacksmith by trade. He was married at Niles, New York, June 19, 1836, to Lorana Camp, daughter of Jonah and Barbara (Keith) Camp, from near New Haven, Connecticut. About seven years after his marriage he moved with his wife and four children to Hancock County, Illinois, where he lived five years. He then moved to Council Bluffs and … Read more

City Officials of Riverside, San Bernardino, California

The following are the present officers of the city: Board of Trustees E. W. Holmes, president M. Hoover, W. P. Russell, W. A. Hayt, H. E. Allatt Library Trustees Rev. Dr. George H. Deere, Prof. N. C. Twining, E. W. Holmes, A. S. White, C. J. Gill. Board of Health E. W. Holmes, president C. C. Sherman, secretary W. J. McIntyre, Bradford Morse, J. W. Johnson City Clerk and Assessor, Ad. S. Alkire Marshal, Bradford Morse Treasurer, J. M. Drake Recorder, W. W. Noland City Attorney, W. J. McIntyre Superintendent of Streets, C. W. Finch City Engineer, J. W. Johnson … Read more

Biography of Hon. James Alexander Gibson

Hon. James Alexander Gibson, a member of the Supreme Court Commission of the State of California, was born August 21, 1852, in the city of Boston, and is a worthy representative of the best mental product of the Athens of America, and an honor to the bar of Southern California. His father, Thomas Gibson, was of Scotch-Irish descent, and a machinist by trade. He left his native land when a youth to accept a clerkship with his uncle at St. John, New Brunswick, then a prominent merchant there, where he remained for some time before coming to the United States. … Read more

Biography of Frank W. Richardson

Frank W. Richardson, the genial manager of the Hotel Glenwood of Riverside, is a man who knows how to keep a hotel, and any mention of Riverside purporting to note her deserving and representative institutions and citizens, would be very incomplete without mention of the Glenwood and its manager. Mr. Richardson is a native of the old Bay State, and a descendant of New England parents. He dates his birth in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, in 1852. His father, Henry W. Richardson, is a native of that State; his mother, Susan (Mason) Richardson, was born in Vermont. The subject of this … Read more

Biography of Joseph Benjamin Henderson

Joseph Benjamin Henderson is a native son, born in San Bernardino County, in 1856, and is the son of David Henderson, who emigrated with his family from Scotland and settled in San Bernardino County, in 1853, where he and his wife, also a native of Scotland, still reside. He learned the trade of stonemason in early life, and has divided his time between that and mining and farming as his chief occupations. Joseph served three years apprenticeship at the tinner’s trade, and worked at it as a journeyman in San Bernardino, San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco over thirteen … Read more

Biography of Isaac W. Hazelett, M. D.

Isaac W. Hazelett, M. D., one of the longest in practice in San Bernardino, and a leading member of the medical profession in this county, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, October 6, 1855; was reared from infancy till seventeen years of age at Zanesville, Ohio, and received his early education in the public schools of that city and in the Ohio Wesleyan University. He prosecuted his medical studies in Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, graduating therefrom in March 1879, having been resident house physician in the hospital for a year previous. After graduation he spent two years in the hospital, … Read more

Biography of John Andreson

John Andreson, prominent among the men whose business sagacity and enterprise have made San Bernardino an important railroad center, and one of the prettiest and most flourishing interior cities of California, was born in Schleswig-Holstein, near the border of Denmark, in 1834. He came to America, sailing around Cape Horn to the Peruvian Guano Islands, in 1850, and returned with the loaded vessel to London, England. While there he taw the grand pageant on the anniversary of the Queen’s birthday, and saw the Queen near Buckingham Palace. In 1852 he returned around Cape Horn to the Pacific coast, and, after … Read more

Biography of Emil Rosenthal

Emil Rosenthal, a well-known citizen of Riverside, is a pioneer of that colony, and since 1872 has been one of the leading businessmen of the city. Mr. Rosenthal is a native of Germany, born in 1845. At the age of twenty years he started in life, casting his fortunes with the New World. In 1865 he came to the United States, and located in New York; was employed in business pursuits for the next four years. He then crossed the continent, and established himself in San Francisco, but later came to Los Angeles, and thence, in 1872, to Riverside, where … Read more

Biography of Richard H. Stetson

Richard H. Stetson, Tax Collector of San Bernardino County, was born in the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts, in 1856. His father, James H. Stetson, was a direct descendant of Cornet Stetson, who settled on the place where he was born in 1634. His mother was Miss Phebe C. Nickerson, great-granddaughter of Sir Thomas Nickerson, and was born and reared at Chatham, on Cape Cod. Richard enjoyed the educational advantages of the schools of Boston. On reaching manhood he came direct to California, locating in San Bernardino in March 1877. He was employed as clerk in the office of a lumber … Read more

Biographical Sketch of E. P. Clarke

E. P. Clarke is the senior member of the firm of Clarke Brothers, publishers of the Ontario Record, and is also the editor of the paper. He is a native of the State of Maine and reared and educated in that State, closing his educational career in Kent’s Hill (Maine) Seminary and the Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, graduating at the latter institution with high honors in 1885. He then was engaged for some months on the United States geological survey in Maine and New Hampshire. In October 1885, he came to California and located at Ontario, and in December of … Read more

Biography of Rev. B. L. Baldridge

Rev. B. L. Baldridge was born in Adams County, Ohio, February 9, 1821. His father, Rev. William Baldridge, was born in Pennsylvania, in 1760. He served in the Revolutionary war at the age of sixteen years, and for many years after its close was an active minister in the United Presbyterian Church. He graduated from college in 1790, was licensed to preach in 1792, was ordained in 1793, and died October 31, 1830. The subject of this biographical sketch was educated at Miami University and subsequently studied theology at Oxford. He was ordained January 10, 1851, at Centerville, Michigan, by … Read more

Biography of Kelita Davis Shugart, M. D.

Kelita Davis Shugart, M. D. No history of Riverside can be considered complete without a more than passing mention of the pioneer of Riverside colony whose name heads this sketch. In 1869 Dr. Shugart was a resident of Belle Plain, Iowa, and at that time was desirous of establishing his residence in some portion of Southern California. Early the next year he associated himself with Judge North, Dr. Greves, Sanford Eastman, C. N. Felton, of San Francisco, and Captain Broadhurst and others, and formed the Southern California Colony Association. The object of the association was to purchase some desirable tract … Read more

Biography of James M. Drake

James M. Drake is one of Riverside’s representative and well-known businessmen, and has for years been the treasurer of the city, which responsible and important office he fills with honor and credit to himself and the municipality whose interests he so ably guards. Although not a pioneer of Riverside, her history would be incomplete without a fitting mention of Mr. Drake’s eight or ten years’ association with her interests. He is a native of Louisville, Kentucky, and dates his birth April 12, 1837. His parents were Charles and Mahala J. (Jeter) Drake. His father was a native of Virginia, a … Read more

Biography of Walter Fremont Grow

Walter Fremont Grow, one of the young and enterprising horticulturists of San Bernardino County, living on Base Line, six miles east of the city, was born in Maine, July 19, 1856, the son of Lorenzo and Harriet (Currier) Grow. His father was born in Hartland, Windsor County, Vermont, March 11, 1806. His parents were Samuel and Jerusha (Stowell) Grow; the former was a native of Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, and the latter of Pomfret, Connecticut. Their ancestors were owners of large tracts of land and were of English origin. Lorenzo Grow was the third of a family of seven children. He … Read more