San Bernardino County CA

Biography of John Cooley

John Cooley was born in Utah, in March 1857, while his parents were on their way to California. His father, George Cooley, is widely and favorably known throughout this county. He arrived in this valley May 11, 1857, and kept a night school for a long time. The subject of this sketch is an entirely self-made man, his education being such as he could pick up, as it were, on the way; but by personal observation and extensive reading he has surpassed many who have had the best educational advantages. As a businessman he has been eminently successful. He was … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Charles Cammillus Cooley

Charles Cammillus Cooley is a Southern Californian by birth, a son of George and Ellen Cooley, well-known pioneers in this county. He was born March 5, 1861. His first real-estate purchase was thirty acres in Washington district, which he improved and lives on at present. He is a young and enterprising farmer and bids fair to honor himself and his calling. October 31, 1886, he was married to Miss Nettie Crandel, of Warm Creek district, a daughter of Milen Crandel, one of the first settlers in this county.

Biography of Duff G. Maynard

Duff G. Maynard, of the firm of Trowbridge & Maynard, is a native of California, dating his birth in San Francisco in 1865. His parents were Lafayette and Mary E. (Green) Maynard, natives of Virginia and representatives of some of the oldest families of that State. His father was an officer in the United States Navy, and participated in the Mexican War, after which he resigned from the service and located in San Francisco as a capitalist and real-estate dealer. He died in that city in 1874. The subject of this sketch was reared in San Francisco and educated in, … 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

Biographical Sketch of Lewis Deck

Lewis Deck, of Redlands, is a native of the “Keystone” State. His father, Henry Deck, was one of the pioneers of Waukeha County, Wisconsin, and had a family of nine children, of whom our subject is the oldest. He left home at the age of fifteen, and went to New York, and from there by the Panama route to California, in 1857. He had the measles while on board the vessel, and when he got on land had not money enough to buy his dinner. He first worked in the vegetable gardens at Marysville, for $20 a month. After this … Read more

Biography of Alonzo D. Haight

Alonzo D. Haight, who is one of the earlier settlers of Riverside, has been identified with the growth of the colony since April, 1876. At that time he purchased a Government claim for forty acres of land located on Palm avenue, about two and a half miles south of Riverside, and commenced its improvement. Later he was compelled to purchase the same land from the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, it being claimed under their land grants from the Government. At first Mr. Haight planted largely of deciduous fruits and vines, but as experience showed the value of citrus fruits he … Read more

Biography of John Hall, M. D.

John Hall, M. D., was born near Leeds, Yorkshire County, England, in 1819. He was reared and schooled in his native place, and early in life learned the printer’s trade. In 1845 he came to the United States and located in La Fayette County, Wisconsin, and, after a visit to New Orleans, was there engaged in the lead mines as a smelter. In 1848 he went to Canada, where he engaged in work at his trade as a printer in Toronto. He also entered upon the study of medicine in the Toronto School of Medicine. In 1857 he returned to … Read more

Parker, George “Brownie” – Obituary

Pine Creek, Oregon George “Brownie Parker Sr., 83, a resident of the Pine Creek area near Halfway, died May 3, 2002, at his home. His graveside service will be at 1 p.m. Wednesday at the Pine Haven Cemetery in Halfway. George Perry Parker was born at Marietta, Okla., on March 31, 1919, to Sally and James Parker. Their family migrated to Roswell, N.M. around 1930. “Brownie” moved to Redlands, Calif., in 1933 working as a meat cutter there until 1936. At this time, he started a career of climbing trees that spanned seven decades. He moved to Bakersfield, Calif. in … Read more

Biography of Isaac V. Gilbert

Isaac V. Gilbert located in Riverside in 1881, seeking a desirable place of residence and safe investment of his capital. He purchased seven acres of land on Jurupa Avenue, in Brockton Square, from E. W. Holmes. Upon this tract he erected a substantial cottage residence, suitable outbuildings, etc., and also added beauty and comfort to his home by laying out roads, walks and lawns, and planting ornamental trees and floral plants. He has produced a beautiful and worthy specimen of a California home. His orange grove, of three and one-half acres, is composed mostly of seedling trees, about seven-teen years … Read more

Biography of J. B. Glover

J. B. Glover, of Redlands, was born in Benton County, Missouri, June 29, 1842. His father, Rev. M. W. Glover, was born near Louisville, Kentucky, and was for many years a traveling preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church South. He married Miss Elizabeth Osborn, also born near Louisville, and they subsequently moved to Benton County, Missouri. In 1850 he came to California and worked in the quartz mines in Amador County. In 1855 he went back to Missouri, and in the autumn of the same year brought his family, via the Isthmus, to California. In this same year he joined … Read more

Biography of Charles C. Wainwright, M. D.

Charles C. Wainwright, M D., Coroner of San Bernardino County and City Health Officer, was born in Ohio, in 1851, and educated in Cincinnati. He came to California first in 1870, and spent about three years in teaching school, after which he went back East and completed his course in medicine, graduating at Cincinnati Medical College, May 9, 1876. He returned to California the same year and has practiced his profession in the State ever since. He settled in San Bernardino in 1882, and in 1884 was elected coroner on the Republican ticket; was re-elected in 1886, and again in … Read more

Biography of John C. Ralphs

John C. Ralphs, of San Bernardino, was born in Utah in 1852, while his parents were on their way to California. His father, Richard Ralphs, and his mother, Mary (Newal) Ralphs, were both born in England. His father was a potter and also a bricklayer by trade, and made the brick for the Los Angeles jail, also that in the old Workman property, after coming to California. He wintered once in Salt Lake City, and in 1852 he crossed the plains by ox team to California and bought seven acres of land, on which he built a cabin; this was … Read more

Biography of John Calvin Dixon

John Calvin Dixon, proprietor of the C. O. D. Grocery, San Bernardino, was born in 1840, in Reynoldsburg, Franklin County, Ohio, and there spent the first eighteen years of his life. In 1858 he moved with his father’s family to Jasper County, Iowa, and there his father, who was a brick-mason by trade, and had also been a farmer, engaged in the grocery business, with John as assistant in the store. Upon the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion he promptly responded to his country’s call for volunteers and enlisted as a member of the Fifth Iowa Infantry … Read more

Marvin, Rebecca Louise “Becky” Ladwig Mrs. – Obituary

Rebecca Louise “Becky” Ladwig Marvin, 56, of Apple Valley, Calif., a former Baker City resident, died of cancer on Aug. 6, 2005, at her daughter’s home in Victorville, Calif. Her funeral will be at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Dudley Apple Valley Mortuary in Apple Valley, Calif. Pastor Steve Arsenault will officiate. Private inurnment will be at Sunset Hills Memorial Park in Apple Valley. She was born at Spokane, Wash., lived at Baker City for a time and had spent the past 26 years at Apple Valley where she worked as a medical records statistics clerk at the Victor Valley … Read more

Biography of George A. Wilbur

George A. Wilbur, an enterprising citizen of Chino, is the founder and sole proprietor of the Chino Store, opened to the public in February, 1888, since which time he has conducted one of the most prosperous enterprises in that section. His large and commodious store is well appointed in all respects, and is well stocked with a choice selection of goods. He deals in provisions, groceries, dry goods and everything in the general merchandise line, furnishing goods, boots and shoes, crockery, tin-ware, hardware, cigars, tobacco, etc. He is thoroughly competent in his business, and justly merits the liberal patronage bestowed … Read more

Biography of Isaac Newton Hoag

Isaac Newton Hoag, a prominent citizen of Redlands, was born in Macedon, Wayne County, New York, March 3, 1822. His paternal ancestors belonged to the Society of Friends for generations back, and had uniformly been farmers. He lived and worked on a farm until he was eighteen years of age and had the advantages of a very primitive common school education. His father died when he was eighteen years of age, and one year later the Macedon Academy was organized, and Isaac was one of the first students at this institution. From this time until 1849 he taught school winters … Read more

Biography of Edwin Hart

Among the leading horticulturists of Riverside colony none are more deserving of mention than the subject of this sketch. Mr. Hart is a native of Cortland County, New York, born in 1835, and reared and received his education in his native place. At the age of eighteen years he started for the great West, and located in Beloit, Wisconsin. His boyhood days, when not attending school, were spent in his father’s store, and was somewhat schooled in mercantile life, but upon his advent in Wisconsin he engaged in farming. He spent eight years in that State, and in 1862 moved … 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 George Cooley

George Cooley, President of the Board of Supervisors of San Bernardino County, is one of the pioneers in this valley. As a farmer he has been eminently successful. An Englishman by birth, and a sailor by occupation, he brought with him to America the push and determination characteristic of his country-men, and a practical knowledge of human nature gained by his experiences as a sailor on the “high seas.” He was born in Kent, England, in 1831, and served four years’ apprenticeship as a sailor. May 11, 1853, when eleven miles north of Monte Christo, in the West India Islands, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Hon. Frederic W. Gregg

Hon. Frederic W. Gregg, of the law firm of Harris & Gregg, is a Green Mountain boy, born in Vermont, thirty-two years ago; was educated in Dartmouth College, celebrated as the alma mater of eminent men of action, men who have led in the fields of law and politics and commerce, where a combination of mental and physical vigor are the motive power of success. Graduating from Dartmouth in the class of 1878, Mr. Gregg studied law in the office of Hon. Frank Plumley, United States District Attorney for Vermont, and at the Columbia Law School. In June 1881, he … Read more