San Bernardino County CA

Biography of Perry D. Cover

Perry D. Cover is one of Riverside’s early settlers, and has been associated with her various industries for the past fifteen years. He is a native of Richland County, Ohio, dating his birth in 1843. His parents were Daniel Cover, a native of Frederick County, Maryland, and Lydia Cover, nee Stevenson. Mr. Cover was reared to agricultural pursuits on his father’s farm until 1862. He then volunteered in the service of his country and enlisted as a private soldier in Company D, Eighty-seventh Ohio Volunteers. His regiment was sent East, and after some time in camp at Baltimore, was placed … Read more

Biographical Sketch of John Hosking

John Hosking, the son of James and Jane Hosking, is a native of Cornwall, England, born February 22, 1839, and there reared a miner. He immigrated to California in August 1867, coming by the way of the Isthmus of Panama. He first worked in the mines in Tuolumne County, then in Amador County mines. In 1870 he was appointed foreman of the original Amador mines. In 1873 the Sierra Buttes Gold Mining Company appointed him foreman of the Plumas Eureka Mines. In 1883 he was appointed superintendent of the said mines, which position he now holds. He was married to … Read more

Biographical Sketch of William J. Guthrie

William J. Guthrie, one of San Bernardino’s brightest and most successful business men, was born in Detroit, Michigan, and was there brought up and educated, and started out in life as an employee in a mercantile agency, where he obtained a thorough knowledge of business customs and methods. His connection with that branch of business continued for years, during which time he rose from a reporter to joint partner in the McKillop Mercantile Agency. In 1878 he came to California and spent a year in the Ohio valley, Ventura County, when he was made superintendent of the Dunn Mercantile Agency … Read more

Biography of John Hartley Smith

John Hartley Smith, the founder and president of the First National Bank of San Bernardino, and one of the most thorough business men and experienced bankers in Southern California, was born in Jackson County, Virginia, in 1835. He came to Ohio at the age of fifteen, and in 1853 he came to California and spent two years in the gold mines, chiefly in Mariposa County. He was quite successful, and in 1855 returned to Ohio with considerable money and a fund of experience which has proved of great value to him in his subsequent business career, as well as fraught … 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 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 Charles P. Hayt

Charles P. Hayt is the senior partner of the firm of Hayt & Klinefelter, proprietors of the well-known Fashion Stables of Riverside. These stables are located on the corner of Main and Seventh streets. Their stock of horses, carriages, etc., are not excelled by any in Riverside, or even by any in the county. Of the seventy-five horses owned by the firm, thirty-five or forty are used in their livery business. They are the proprietors of the City Cab and Hack Service in Riverside. Mr. Hayt is among the well-known businessmen of the city. He came to Riverside in October … Read more

Biography of Hon. Elmer Wallace Holmes

Hon. Elmer Wallace Holmes is the accomplished editor of the Riverside Daily Press and Weekly Press and Horticulturist. He has been identified with the growth and prosperity of Riverside since 1875, and it is safe to say that there are few men in the community who have done more to advance the horticultural and other industries of that city, and show to the world its possible resources and productions of its prolific lands than Mr. Holmes. The subject of this sketch came to Riverside, broken in health and seeking a desirable home and quiet pursuits. He early saw the possibilities … Read more

Biography of D. P. Chapman

Among the well-known and representative orange groves in the Riverside colony tract is the five acres owned by the above-named gentleman. This grove is located on the west side of Cypress Avenue, north of Bandini Avenue, about one mile south of the business center of Riverside. About four acres of his land is in oranges, seedling and Washington Navel trees twelve years of age, and other budded trees of Washington Navel, Mediterranean Sweet and St. Michael varieties, varying in age from one to six years. He has one acre in vineyard, which produced in 1888 over $200 worth of fruit. … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Calvin Logan Thomas

Calvin Logan Thomas, a rancher, two and a half miles southeast of San Bernardino, was born in Bledsoe County, Tennessee, January 5, 1837. His father, E. H. Thomas, was a native of Kentucky, and his mother, Edna (Zinn) Thomas, was born in South Carolina. His parents moved to Jackson County, Missouri, when the subject of this sketch was but four years old. From there the removed to McDonald County, where they remained until 1852, when they crossed the plains by ox team to Oregon. When they got to Utah, however, they found it was too late in the season, so … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Andrew B. Paris

Andrew B. Paris, attorney, San Bernardino, was born in Virginia, in 1839, and was educated in the Virginia Military Institute, at which he was graduated in 1860. Upon the breaking out of the war he enlisted in the Confederate army, served four years, rose to the rank of Colonel, and at the close of hostilities was chief of artillery of General Hoke’s division of General Joseph E. Johnston’s army. After the war closed he studied law in the University of Virginia, and was admitted to the bar in 1866. Locating in Charlotte County, Virginia, he practiced his profession till 1873. … Read more

Biographical Sketch of E. K. Henderson

E. K. Henderson, a young and enterprising horticulturist on Base Line, five miles east of San Bernardino, was born in Benton County, Iowa, August 18, 1858. His father, Robert H. Henderson, of Indiana, was for fourteen years successfully engaged in farming in Iowa. In 1875 he came to California and first bought ten acres of land in Riverside and put it out in fruit. It cost him $100 per acre, and after eight years be sold it for $9,600. He had one of the best vineyards in the State, which at three years from planting netted him $341 per acre. … Read more

Biographical Sketch of J. H. Pierson, M. D.

J. H. Pierson, M. D., residing at Mission San Bernardino, is a native of New England, and came from a Puritan family on his father’s side, and an English Quaker family on his mother’s side. He is a son of Henry Pierson, a direct descendent of Abram Pierson, first president of Yale College, whose ancestors landed on Long Island in 1632. The subject of this sketch resided several years in Europe engaged in the study of medicine, and in 1861 he came back to America, and in 1866 went to Lake Superior as physician and surgeon for the Anglo-American Copper … Read more

Turner, Zeek – Obituary

Richland, Oregon Zeek Turner, 91, of Richland died April 23, 2002, at the Boise Veterans Hospital. A Celebration of Life memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Richland Christian Church. Pastor Gordon Bond of the church will officiate. Disposition was by cremation at Gray’s West & Co. Pioneer Crematory. Zeek was born on Dec. 8, 1910, at Homer, La., to Zeban and Rosalee Turner. He was raised by his grandfather at Marshall, Texas. He was married to Margaret Clark around 1960. He served in the U.S. Army from 1942 to 1946. After his discharge he and Margaret … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Edward M. Cooley

Edward M. Cooley was born in San Bernardino County, California, November 23, 1859. His father, George Cooley, president of the board of supervisors, taught night school for some two or three years. Our subject’s educational advantages were limited. He received his principal schooling at a log schoolhouse about six miles from his home. He now owns a fine ranch of sixty acres, and has been very successful as a general farmer and stock-raiser. He was married March 4, 1882, to Miss Mary McCrary, daughter of Abner McCrary, a sketch of whose life appears elsewhere in this work. They have two … Read more

County School Superintendents, San Bernardino County, California

1867 – W. L. Ragsdale 1868 – W. S. Clark 1869 – W. S. Clark 1870 – H. C. Brooke 1871 – H. C. Brooke 1872 – John Brown, Jr 1S73 – John Brown, Jr 1874 – Henry Goodcell, Jr 1875 – Henry Goodcell, Jr 1876 – No Incumbent 1877 – Chas. R. Paine 1878 – Dr. J. A. Rousseau 1879 – Dr. J. A. Rousseau 1889 – Dr. J. A. Rousseau 1881 – Dr. J. A. Rousseau 1882 – Dr. Rousseau and D. B. Sturges 1883 – H. C. Brooke 1884 – H. C. Brooke 1885 – H. C. … Read more

Biography of R. T. Roberds

[The following sketch is in Mr. Roberds’ own language:] I was born in Monroe County, state of Mississippi, April 9, 1837. My father, John Roberds, was born in Franklin County, Georgia, in August, 1800. My mother, Martha T. Roberds, was born in Madison County, Alabama, May 16, 1817. My father died in San Bernardino, October 15, 1878, being seventy-eight years of age. He was in the Black Hawk war, and learned to speak the Choctaw and Chickasaw languages. My mother still lives in San Bernardino. “Early in the spring of 1846, when a boy nine years of age, I left … Read more

Biography of George W. Prescott

George W. Prescott, of San Bernardino, Master Mechanic of the Southern California Railroad, and one of the most expert mechanical engineers in this country, was born in New Hampshire fifty-one years ago. At the early age of seven years he was left without father or mother, and at thirteen he left his native State and started out to fight the battle of life alone and unaided. Going west as far as Ohio, he spent the next-five years in the old city of Chillicothe, where, following the natural bent of his mind, he studied the business of machinist, and when just … Read more

Biography of Otis T. Dyer

No historical work claiming to he a true record of the growth and prosperity of Riverside for the decade of years preceding 1890, and claiming to record the establishment of many enterprises, industries and incorporations that have been the leading factor in placing her in the ranks of the leading cities and colonies of Southern California, could be considered as anything but glaringly incomplete without a more than passing mention of the gentleman whose name heads this sketch. His association and connection with Riverside’s leading enterprises form an interesting chapter in the annals of the city and county. Mr. Dyer’s … 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