Biography of Ebenezer Griffin Brown

Ebenezer Griffin Brown (“Judge Brown,” as he is familiarly known) is one of Riverside’s well-known pioneers. He was one of the original members of the Southern California Colony Association, and with the late Dr. Greves visited the lands now occupied by the city June, 1870, the first members of the association on the grounds. From the very first he was the strongest advocate in demanding the purchase by the association of these lands. His persistency was of little avail at first, but he was in earnest, and when Judge North, the president of the company, refused to act in accordance … Read more

Biography of James B. Summons, Jr.

James B. Summons, Jr., is one of the early pioneers of Riverside, having located in the colony in 1870. He is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, born in 1845. His grandfather, Captain John B. Summons, was a prominent and well-known citizen of Cincinnati, an owner of river steamers carrying the mail, and commander of same. He was a member of the city council of that city for more than twenty-five years. He was a Kentuckian by birth, who in his early manhood settled in Cincinnati. Mr. Summons was reared and educated in Cincinnati until 1861, receiving his education in the … Read more

Biography of Joseph Camp Thorn

Joseph Camp Thorn, residing four miles east of San Bernardino on the Base Line, is one of the pioneers of this county. He was born in New York, January 2, 1839, the son of Joseph and Lorana (Camp) Thorn. When the subject of this sketch was three years of age his father moved to Nauvoo, Illinois. The next year he removed to Council Bluffs, Iowa, and the following year he moved to Salt Lake. Our subject was then eight years old and he drove an ox team all the way from Council Bluffs to Salt Lake. Mr. Thorn lived at … Read more

Biography of Joshua S. Beam

Joshua S. Beam, a native of North Carolina, was born in 1826, the seventh of a family of twelve children. His parents, Peter and Ann (Long) Beam, were both born, reared, lived and died in North Carolina. John T. Beam, a weaver by trade, one of the ancestors, came from Germany and worked seven years for a man who paid his passage to America. The subject of this sketch went to Arkansas in the spring of 1850 with his brother-in-law. In April 1852, he started to cross the plains with an ox team, and arrived in California in September of … 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

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

Biography of Albert S. White

Albert S. White, a Riverside horticulturist, was born in Belfast, Maine, in 1840, and was schooled and reared in his native place. At the close of his school days he located in New York, and his first entry into business life was in mercantile pursuits. He became associated with Captain George W. Gilchrist in the ship-chandlery business. His keen business tact and energetic management rendered him valuable, and under the firm name of Gilchrist, White & Co. their house became one of the best known in the city and stood at the head of establishments in their line of business. … Read more

Biography of Adoniram Judson Twogood

Adoniram Judson Twogood is one of the original founders and members of the Southern California Colony Association, and among the pioneer settlers in Riverside. Mr. Twogood is a native of Onondaga County, New York, dating his birth in 1831. He was reared to farm labor and educated in the public schools. In 1855 he emigrated to the great West and located in Benton County, Iowa. He was among the pioneers of that county, and was prominent in developing its agricultural and other resources. He engaged in farming until the war of the Rebellion roused his patriotism and he abandoned his … Read more

Biographical Sketch of George L. Hisom

George L. Hisom, County Clerk of San Bernardino County, came into the office in January. 1883, as a deputy under W. F. Holcomb, and in the fall of 1886 was elected on the Republican ticket, as Mr. Holcomb’s successor, and assumed the duties of office in January 1887. His obliging and affable nature and his previous training made Mr. Hisom a very popular and efficient officer, and in the fall of 1888 he was re-elected as his own successor by 600 votes majority; consequently he is serving his second term, since January 1889. Mr. Hisom is a Pennsylvanian by birth, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Miss Anna L. Fuller

Miss Anna L. Fuller, of Azusa, is the daughter of Harrison Fuller, of Azusa, Los Angeles County. She is a native of Maryland, from whence her parents moved to Iowa, and from thence to California in 1883. Miss Fuller took an interest in music from earliest childhood, and studied it whilst yet in her teens, under excellent teachers in Philadelphia and New York. She was first soprano at St. Stephen’s church in Philadelphia, three years, which position she resigned in 1886, to go abroad to study music. In Florence, Italy, she studied under Vannucini; in London, under Randegger (oratorio), and … 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 Colonel Henry W. Robinson

Colonel Henry W. Robinson, for nearly a quarter of a century, has been identified with Southern California, and for the past seventeen years has been a resident of Riverside, and associated with its growth and progress. He was born in Chelsea, England, in 1840. In 1850 his parents immigrated to the United States and located in Brooklyn, New York, where he attended the public schools until thirteen years of age and then engaged as clerk in a drag store in New York City. He was attentive to his duties and acquired a practical knowledge of the business, but his naturally … Read more

Biography of Joseph Jarvis, M. D.

Joseph Jarvis, M. D., a well-known citizen of Riverside, is a native of England, born in Oxford, in 1842. His parents, Jonathan and Eliza (Allen) Jarvis, were also natives of that country. The subject of this sketch was reared in his native place until eighteen months of age. His parents then immigrated to Canada, locating in Oxford County. There he graduated at the Ingersoll High School, and in 1862 entered upon his medical studies. In 1864 he went to New York City and spent the next two years in medical study in the Bellevue Hospital Medical College and in the … Read more

Maher, Kimberly Ann Maynard Mrs. – Obituary

Kimberly Ann Maher, 42, of Wheatland, Wyo., a former Baker City resident, died Jan. 1, 2004, at the Wyoming Medical Center. Her memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church. The Rev. Michael Carr will officiate. Kimberly was born on May 24, 1961, at Canandagua, N.Y., to Kenneth and Nancy Lawless Maynard. She was raised and attended school at Lander, Wyo. She moved to Casper, Wyo., on Oct. 7, 1992. She married Douglas Doc Burton Maher at Natural Bridge. She worked as a licensed social worker for the Platte County Sheriff’s Department. She also was … 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 Hon. John Lloyd Campbell

Hon. John Lloyd Campbell, Judge of the Superior Court in and for San Bernardino County, was born in Equality, Gallatin County, Illinois, in 1855. His father, Hon. John Lewis Campbell, was connected with the banking business in Shawnee town, and with iron and salt manufacture in Southern Illinois for many years. In 1857 he moved to Sioux City, Iowa, and was there elected County Judge. When the war of the Rebellion broke out, he moved back to Illinois and enlisted in the Third Illinois Cavalry, of which he was made Major. In 1863, while placing his pickets near Jackson, Mississippi, … Read more

Biography of Frank Hinckley

Frank Hinckley, one of the most successful horticulturists in San Bernardino Valley, is a native of Rhode Island. His father, E. B. Hinckley, was an architect and builder. He early came to California, where he died in 1880. The subject of this sketch was graduated at the Polytechnic Institute at Troy, New York, in civil engineering, and almost immediately after came to California, his first work as a civil engineer was on the fortifications in San Francisco. He next worked on the Northern Pacific Railroad. He followed engineering for a period of ten years, and has since given his attention … Read more

Biographical Sketch of R. J. A. Mack

R. J. A. Mack, of Redlands, is a native of Syracuse, New York, born June 24, 1842. He received his education in the schools of Syracuse and Fulton, New York, and commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Townsend, of Syracuse; he also attended and graduated at the college at Geneva. He began practice at Syracuse, afterward continuing at Rochester, and later at Lyons, New York. Thence he removed to Chicago, where he attended Bennett Medical College (Eclectic), graduating in 1876. He practiced in Chicago until 1886, when he removed to California, and on the 9th of November of that … 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

Biography of George Jordan

George Jordan, proprietor of the largest jewelry house in San Bernardino County, has been in the business in California twenty-three years. Born in Germany forty-eight years ago, he immigrated to the United States when a youth of fifteen, and after stopping for a time in New York, went south into Georgia, where he remained during the late civil war. After the close of the conflict he returned to his native land and spent two years in business in Europe. Re-crossing the Atlantic, he came directly to the Pacific coast and opened a jewelry store in San Francisco, where he carried … Read more