Santa Ana California

Biographical Sketch of George W. Ford

George W. Ford, proprietor of the Santa Ana Nursery, is one of the first settlers of the valley, arriving here in 1876, with only $10. The previous year he had been working by the day in Santa Cruz County. Two years later he purchased five acres of land within the city limits, for $400, and to this he has since added twenty-five acres more, most of which he has cut up into city lots and sold at good prices. In his nursery may be seen all kinds of deciduous and semi-tropical fruits and ornamental trees and shrubs. He has recently … Read more

Walker, Harriet Hortense Ward Mrs. – Obituary

Harriet Walker, 98, died on April 11, 2006, at Arcadia, Calif. With the help of Tami’s Pine Valley Funeral Home, Harriet is now resting next to her parents at Cloverdale Cemetery in Boise. Harriet Hortense Walker, or “Aunt Horty” as she was affectionately known, was born at home in Nampa, Idaho, on Aug. 8, 1908, to Kate Share Ward and Henry B. Ward. She lost her hearing at the age of 9 months, the result of scarlet fever and whooping cough. At age 7, Harriet and her mother boarded a train at Nampa on their way to the Idaho State … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Dorr B. Chaffee

Dorr B. Chaffee a resident of Garden Grove, was born in Kane County, Illinois, in 1841, a son of Eber and Anna (Davis)Chaffee, natives of Vermont, and of English and Scotch origin. His father was born in 1799, and died in 1877, and his mother, born in 1803, died in 1876. The subject of this sketch, the first in their family of twelve children, born in Illinois, was educated at Elgin Academy. Afterward he taught school in Kane County, and then engaged in the dairy business a number of years at Elgin. He came to California in 1881; has made … 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

Biography of John Shirley

John Shirley, one of Santa Ana’s most respected citizens, is a native of Hancock County, Ohio, born in 1835, and his parents were Daniel and Annie (Crow) Shirley, natives of Virginia. His father, a farmer and blacksmith, moved to Jackson County, Iowa, in 1850, and died there in 1872. When a lad the subject of this sketch drove an ox team across the plains to this State, and for the first several years here he followed mining at Placerville and other places till 1864, when he came with the soldiers to Southern California and Arizona. He enlisted in Company K, … Read more

Biography of William Dresser

William Dresser the proprietor of extensive farms and a resident of Santa Ana, was born in East Smithfield, London, England, August 20, 1813. His parents, Christopher and Mary Dresser, came to America in 1824, landing at Montreal. Subsequently they settled in northern New York, in 1833 in Ohio, and in 1836 in Boone County, Illinois, They had four children. His father was born January 1, 1769, and died June 13, 1841; and his mother, born June 25, 1772, died November 9, 1845. By trade his father was a “linen draper,” which in England corresponds with a dry-goods merchant in the … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Dr. Moses Spencer Jones

Dr. Moses Spencer Jones, the oldest resident physician in Orange County, was born in Clinton County, Illinois, in 1842, a son of Charles Lee and Elizabeth Leek (Spencer) Jones. His father, a native of Buckingham County, Virginia, moved to Christian County, Kentucky, in 1824, and thence in 1830 to Illinois, where he died August 2, 1860. Dr. Jones was educated at McKendree College, at Lebanon, St. Clair County, Illinois, and completed his education under private instruction in St. Louis. He took a special course under the celebrated Dr. William Niehaus, in ophthalmology and aural surgery, and subsequently a special course … Read more

Biographical Sketch of H. A. McKee

H. A. McKee of Santa Ana, was born in Friendship, Allegany County, New York. At the age of seventeen years he entered the army, enlisting in the Twenty-third New York Volunteer Infantry, and served two years; then for several years he was engaged in the live-stock business in Kansas, and for a few years in merchandising at Wichita; married in Junction City, Kansas, in 1869, to Miss Jennie Paxton, a native of the Buckeye State. She has been a school-teacher; taught her first term in her native State and subsequently in West Virginia, Illinois, Kansas and Texas. Mr. McKee moved … Read more

Biography of Prof. C. N. Andrews

Prof. C. N. Andrews, of Redlands, was born in Guernsey County, Ohio, in 1852. His father, Robert Andrews, crossed the plains to California with an ox team in 1857. They were on the plains at the time of the Mountain Meadow massacre, and were five months and ten days from Boonville to Sacramento. He purchased a farm in Sonoma County, in 1859, and is still living on it. He had a family of four sons and one daughter. The subject of this sketch received his early training in the common schools of Sonoma County, is a graduate of several prominent … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Judge George E. Freeman

Judge George E. Freeman, Recorder for the city of Santa Ana, was born in Hallowell, Maine, in 1829, and at the age of twenty-one years left his home for California, coming by steamer and landing in San Francisco November 16, 1851. For seventeen years he engaged in mining and lumbering in El Dorado County. In 1869 he moved to Alameda County, where he worked at contracting and building for a number of years, and in 1877 he moved into the Santa Ana valley and followed his trade there until about four years ago, since which time he has been a … Read more

Biographical Sketch of J. E. Sharp

J. E. Sharp a retired capitalist of Santa Ana, was born in East Tennessee, November 17, 1809, a son of Joseph and Sarah (Lamb) Sharp, who had but two children: the subject of this sketch and a boy named Prophet, who died in 1850. The parents died in 1828, the father one day and the mother the next. In 1830 Mr. Sharp went to Illinois, where for several years he followed farming in Madison County; after this he went into the mercantile business at Bunker Hill, Illinois, and subsequently he moved to Litchfield, that State. In 1864 he came to … 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

Coffee, Alice Wiles – Obituary

Enterprise, Wallowa County, Oregon Alice Wiles Coffee, mother of Bob Coffee of Enterprise, died Aug. 30, 1989, at Wallowa Memorial Hospital. She was born Dec. 9.1915, at Santa Ana, Calif., the daughter of Scott and Mary Wiles. On Dec.22, 1945, she married George L. Coffee at Long Beach, Calif. He preceded her in death on March 3, 1989. She worked as a parachute rigger in Long Beach, Calif., during World War II where she met her husband. She was a homemaker. After the death of her husband, she moved to Enterprise. Survivors include her son, Bob Coffee, Enterprise, daughter, Kathy … Read more

Fagenstrom, Ottilie Brummer Mrs. – Obituary

Ottilie Fagenstrom, 85, a former Baker City resident, died March 31, 2006, at Life Care Center of the Treasure Valley in Boise. Her memorial service will be at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Seventh-day Adventist Church, 17th Street and Pocahontas Road. Ottilie Fagenstrom was born on Sept. 21, 1920, at Oslo, Norway, to Walter and Catherine Pattenhausen-Brummer. Ottilie moved with her parents to the United States in 1924. Her father, Walter, continued his import-export business. When Ottilie was 14, her mother, Catherine, died. Ottilie moved with her father to California. She was a 1939 graduate of Santa Ana High School. … Read more