"Throughout his life in this section, Dr. Head was deeply interested in public affairs. He was long a recognized leader in the Democratic party, first in Los Angeles County and later in Orange County. In 1883 he was elected as assemblyman for a district that at that time comprised the eastern part of Los Angeles County, including what is now Orange County and the Pomona \'alley. When residents of what is now Orange County made a fight in 1887 at Sacramento for a bill for the creation of Orange County, Dr. Head was one of those selected to go to Sacramento and work for the passage of the bill. Throughout the active period of his life in this section. Dr. Head was a power in various public activities. He was a man of genial personality and forceful character. While unable to take part in public affairs in recent years, he never lost his keen interest in them. He was a man of wide acquaintance, one who had hosts of friends all over the county."

E. C. MARTIN — Born shortly before the outbreak of the Civil War. and left fatherless during the terrible days of that great conflict, the early life of E. C. Martin was one of extreme hardship. Undismayed by the obstacles confronting him, however, he has steadily risen through his own untiring efforts and now occupies a gratifying position as one of the substantial and influential men of his community.

Alabama was Mr. Martin's native state and here he was born on January 20, 1860 near Guntersville, in Marshall County. His parents were Asbury and Martha (Pogue) Martin, and shortly after their marriage, which took place in Georgia, they removed to northern Alabama. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Martin, all of whom are living: Sophrona is the widow of George King and resides in Tulare County; James H. is raising cotton in Arizona: William Theodore resides at Santa Ana. where he is in the employ of the city; E. C, the subject of this biography, and Josephine, the wife of William H. Barker, a fruit grower of Tulare County. Mrs. Martin removed to Colorado. remaining there for some time, then came to California, where she resided until her death in June, 1915, near Visalia.

Directly after the beginning of the Civil War, Asbury Martin enlisted in the Confederate Army and was soon engaged in active service. During the desperate fighting in the battle of Chickamauga in 1863 he was wounded three times, and died on the way to the hospital; like many others who perished in this fierce conflict, he lies in an unknown grave. His wife was a noble woman and although her family had been financially ruined by the war, she succeeded in keeping her little family together, but only at the cost of the hardest struggle for a livelihood. When E. C. was five years old the mother took her children to Bedford County, Tenn.. and here she rented land and farmed. Here he attended school for a few years, but his educational advantages were meager, for as soon as he was old enough he had to render what assistance he could toward the support of the family. He began working out on neighboring farms, remaining in Tennessee until he was twenty-one years of age, and being ambitious for a better education he attended Palmetto Academy, Palmetto. Tenn. He then went to Navarro County. Texas, where he obtained a teacher's certificate, his education having been attained almost entirely through his own individual efforts, and here he taught school for several terms.

He then engaged in farming in Texas and through his tireless industry he became the owner of a farm of 220 acres near Corsicana. This he devoted largely to growing grain and cotton and to stock raising and in this he was very successful, becoming one of the prosperous farmers of that vicinity. After a residence of twenty years in Texas, during which time he had brought his place up to a high state of cultivation, he disposed of it at a good profit in the fall of 1901, and came to California with his family in January, 1902. They settled at Santa Ana and within a month after his arrival here he bought the eight-acre farm at 1176 East Chestnut Avenue, and here he still makes his home m the beautiful mansion erected by the late Mr. Crookshank for his own residence. From time to time Mr. Martin increased his holdings until he had twenty-eight acres, and this he steadily improved, continually increasing its value. Recently Mr. Martin disposed of half of his acreage, retaining fourteen acres, which is planted to walnuts, now in full bearing and bringing in a handsome income. He is active in the Santa Ana Walnut Growers Association, and served as a director of that organization for three years. .About the year 1908 he bought a 428-acre ranch near Tulare, on which he raised alfalfa for four years, selling the ranch at a profit; he now owns a sixty-acre alfalfa ranch eight miles west of Tulare.

Mr. Martin's marriage, which occurred at Bazette, Texas, October 25, 1885, united him with Miss Roxie Moon, a native of that state. Mrs. Martin was orphaned in her early childhood and she was reared by Mr. and Mrs. John W. Pope, who accompanied Mr. and Mrs. Martin when they came to California and spent their last years with them. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Martin: Martha Agnes is the wife of J. Roy Adams of Imperial, who is in the real estate business there and a member of the board of supervisors of Imperial County: John A. married Miss Rosalie Lyon and is a rancher at Tulare; Charles E. is a graduate of the University of California and also of Columbia University, New York, where he received his Ph.D. degree; he is now assistant professor of international law at the University of California; Eva is a graduate of the University of California, class of '18. and she has just recently taken her master's degree; Edith Grace is a student at the Santa Ana high school.

Mr. and Mrs. Martin are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and Mr. Martin has been a local preacher in that denomination for thirty-six years, having been licensed to preach when twenty-four years of age. They are very active in the work of the church and for eight years Mr. Martin was superintendent of the Sunday school and is now the teacher of the men's Bible class. A consistent Christian, his noble Christian manhood has been a source of strength to the community. A Democrat in national politics, he always puts principle above party in local measures.

JAMES F. CONLEY  — How much a young man may accomplish of what is worth while if only he directs his energies and expends his time in the proper way, is admirably illustrated in the case of James F. Conley, the rancher of Yorba Linda. He was born in Clay County, Ill., on January 8, 1871, and attended the common schools of Hoosier Prairie. His father was a pioneer farmer in Clay County, and as the eldest of a family of three sons, James hired out for farm work, at the early age of thirteen years, at only eight dollars per month wages. Then, for some years, he worked equally hard as a farm hand at thirteen dollars a month, and he labored in the broom-corn fields at one dollar a day, to earn money to come to California.

While a mere youth, James Conley had looked toward the Far West with eager interest, and in 1887. the boom period, two years before Orange County was formed, Mr. Conley .came out to Orange with W. H. Isom and was employed with Mr. Hargrave in planting out vineyards around Orange and Santa Ana. He also worked around as a ranch hand for Mr. Craig, and later he was employed by Owen Handy, the pioneer rancher of Villa Park. The following year, on January 5, 1891, Mr. Conley was married to Miss Nettie Handy, the only daughter of Owen Handy, now the mother of their one child, Mary Gladys, who has become the wife of E. A. Taylor, the rancher and expert mechanic of Yorba Linda.

In 1911, Mr. Conley came to Yorba Linda, the pioneer of the valley and the first to erect a fine residence at Yorba Linda. He purchased ten acres of the best soil that he could locate, and today he has a profitable grove of ten acres of Valencia oranges. He is a member of both the .Anaheim Union and the Yorba Linda Water companies, and is well supplied with water for irrigation. The recent oil boom has induced many of the ranchers to lease to oil companies, but thus far Mr. Conley has held aloof and refused such offers. Prior to his advent at Yorba Linda. Mr. Conley farmed for six years in the Irvine district, and during that time he was located close to the Orange County Park, and before that, he enlarged his experience in agriculture by leasing land from the George B. Bixby estate. A member of the Chamber of Commerce of Yorba Linda, Mr. Conley lends a hand in every way possible for the advancement of the best interests of the community in which he lives and prospers.

Mr. Conley was instrumental in securing the right-of-way and deeds to the property required for the Yorba Linda Boulevard, to be held by Orange County, and for a number of years served as overseer of road work in the third Fullerton district. He had charge of grading roads and developing new thoroughfares in the section around Yorba Linda, and no road work in Orange County shows to greater advantage than that vouched for by Mr. Conley. This ability to execute what is regarded as among the most important of public works is recognized in such recent engagements as that for Mr. Conley from the La Habra Heights Developing Company, where he acted as foreman and completed grading and reservoir work laid out by the chief engineer. He has also completed three miles of road work for the National Exploration Company, in the Olinda district. Mr. Conley has participated in practically every important movement for the betterment of Yorba Linda and vicinity, and it is not surprising that he is among the most esteemed residents of the district.

BERNARD ARROUES — Among the well-known families of Orange County is noted that of Bernard Arroues, of the Brea district, where he has lived with his interesting family since 1912, and where he is welcomed as a progressive citizen and a prosperous citrus grower and general rancher.

France was Mr. Arroues' native land, and his birthplace was in Basses-Pyrenees, where he first saw the light of day October 10, 1873. His parents were Jean and Marie Arroues, farmer folk of that section of France, and here Bernard Arroues spent his boyhood days, attending school and assisting his father on the farm, sheep raising being the main industry in that locality. Coming to America at the age of eighteen, Mr. Arroues located in Orange County in 1892, going into the sheep business. His first three years here were spent on the Irvine ranch, and he then grazed sheep on the old Bolsa Chico and Bolsa Grande ranches, the present site of Huntington Beach, for seven years. Subsequent to this he formed a partnership with the Toussau Brothers, and together they ran from 6,000 to 8,000 head of sheep. As this land was gradually sold of and divided into small ranches, sheep raising was no longer so profitable, so Mr. Arroues disposed of his herds, and in 1904 purchased a tract of 100 acres southwest of Brea. Here he engaged in general farming, raising hay, beans and corn on land that had never before been under cultivation. In 1907 Mr. Arroues erected his comfortable home on the ranch, and two years later he set out twenty- five acres of it to lemons and Valencia oranges, now in full bearing and bringing him a handsome income. Recently he has added seven acres more to his orchard, this tract being set to walnuts, oranges and lemons. He has installed a splendid pumping plant of hi§ own which has a capacity of fifteen inches, so that he is thoroughly prepared to take care of his crops, no matter how dry the season may be.

At Fullerton, on August 20, 1903, Mr. Arroues was united in marriage with Bliss Marcelina Yturi, who was born in Spain, in the district just south of the Pyrenees. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Arroues: Jean Jose, is a student at (he Fullerton high school, and Katherine, Josephine and Marcelina attend the public school at Brea. The family are members of the Roman Catholic Church at Fullerton. Mr. Arroues became a naturalized citizen of the .United States in 1900, and ever since that time has been loyal to all movements that have helped to build up the place he selected for his home. One of the early settlers of this part of Orange County, Mr. Arroues can indeed feel that his success is due entirely to his steady hard work and the thrift and industry that are characteristic of his French forebears, as coming here with practically no means he has accumulated a generous portion of this world's goods.

PALO ALTO FISHER  — A conservative, but very successful contractor active in hard work for nearly forty years is P. A. Fisher, of Laguna Beach, popularly known by all who are acquainted with and esteem him as "OT Dad Fisher," who was able, some years ago, to retire to his equally well-known and appropriately named ranch, "Sweet Home." He was born in the Shenandoah Valley, Va., on May 19, 1848, the son of Abraham Fisher, also a Virginian, and an expert mechanic and blacksmith. His ancestors on the Fisher side came from the British Isles, while his maternal ancestors migrated from Holland. Abraham Fisher had married Miss Lucy Shepard, and she was a native of Pennsylvania. They both attended the Methodist Church, and Abraham Fisher stood so well in the community that he was the justice of the peace.

Our subject attended the log cabin school, but only for about fourteen months, and most of the education he acquired was after the .Abraham Lincoln fashion — reached after and seized by himself. An older brother, Benjamin, enlisted as a lad of only sixteen years in the Confederate Army and served for four years during the Civil War; and after that awful conflict, the family found itself wrecked, with everything lost save the resolution to work and retrieve.

P. A. Fisher remained in Virginia until 1872, and for a number of years worked on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. Then he set out for Illinois, and on October 27, 1872, located in Woodford County, where he helped to survey and lay out the town of Roanoke. He himself bought town property, and being on the high road to prosperity, decided to take the ne.\t great step and set up his own domestic establishment. Establishing himself as a contractor in painting, he also became police magistrate in Roanoke, an office he held for twelve years; during the coal strike in 1873, he was appointed deputy sheriff, and rendered valuable service. He was also for several years a member of the Democratic County Central Committee.

In 1909, Mr. Fisher came out to California and Laguna Beach, where he continued to take contracts for work. Two years later, he purchased a ranch, in partnership with his son-in-law, Frank B. Champion, located in the canyon three miles north of Laguna, and containing thirty-one acres. In 1914, he built a fine residence there, and named the farm, the "Sweet Home Ranch." In various ways he improved the property, and brought it to such a high state of cultivation that he has been al)le to grow successfully walnuts, pears, berries, apples and some melons and vegetables. At the present time, Mr. Fisher is the sole owner of this very productive ranch, for in 1918 he purchased his son-in-law's share. On his ranch he has developed a valuable source of water, known by the appreciative neighbors as the Joseph Spring.

In September, 1873, Mr. Fisher was married to Clara S. Robinson of Roanoke, Ill., of Virginian parents, and two children blessed this fortunate union. Virginia is now the wife of Frank B. Champion, of Laguna Beach, and the mother of one son, Frank B., Jr. And Orpha has become Mrs. Raymond L. Jones, of Oakland, and the mother of three children, Dorothy Estella, Orpha Clara and Raymond L., Jr. Mrs. Jones is a university graduate of Normal, Ill., In 1884 Mrs. Fisher died, and on April 18. 1886, at Roanoke, Ill., Mr. Fisher was married again, this time to Miss Anna Elizabeth Coverly, of Apple River, Ill., who proved a kind and devoted stepmother to the half-orphaned children; besides these children Mr. and Mrs. Fisher have reared two girls, Mattie, Mrs. \V. T. Summers of Long Beach and the mother of four children, Frances, William, Beatrice and Martha; and Nellie M. who died at the age of eighteen. Mr. Fisher is a Mason, and in politics he seeks to act with a liberal mind.

R. CLARKSON COLMAN — Prominent among the successful young artists of California may be mentioned R. Clarkson Colman of Laguna Beach, who has made that place in Orange County his permanent abode, regardless of future tours of the world in search of life and local color. He was born in Elgin, Ill., on January 27, 1884, the younger of two sons of Sumner M. Colman, a descendant from the well-known family of Colman, that have lived for generations at Colman Station, named for them, on the Illinois Central Railroad. His mother was Miss Charlotte Clarkson, also a native of Illinois, the daughter of George Clarkson, who was a pioneer mining engineer of Leadville, and a member of a family hailing originally from England where they had been seafaring men for generations.

From his earliest memory of things, R. Clarkson Colman had a strong desire to draw and paint. When very young he was influenced by the paintings of Henry A. Elkins and A. W. Kenney who were artist friends of his family, and well-known landscapists of a decade ago. At the age of sixteen he studied with L. H. Yarwood, of Chicago, and sketched independently through Illinois, and Southern Wisconsin, along the Fox River being his most favored sketching grounds. Mr. Colman in 1903 joined his parents, who had moved to Dallas, Tex., and established a studio there, making numerous sketching trips to the Gulf of Mexico. He received a commission to paint the old Indian forts of West Texas; commencing with Fort Concho at San Angelo, at the extreme spur of the Santa Fe Railroad, continuing to Fort Pecos on the Pecos River. This arduous but delightful task kept him busy for two years. He spent some time in San Antonio, later moving to Waco. He exhibited at the principal exhibitions in the state; taking first prize at the Texas Cotton Exposition, in 1920.

On the fourteenth of July, 1909, Mr. Colman was married to Miss Frances M. Fannin, a graduate of the Mulholland School at San Antonio, Tex. Mrs. Colman is a member of a prominent Texas family, closely connected with the making of the early history of Texas — the heroes. Colonel Fannin and James Bowie, being of the same family. She was the only child of Dr. and Mrs. Frank Fannin of San Antonio.

In 1911, accompanied by his wife. R. Clarkson Colman went to Europe, touring Germany, and Belgium, and settled at Paris; where he studied under Jean Paul Laurens, Academic Julien, and later at the Grande Chaumerie. He studied, sketched, and painted in Italy and southern France; and visited Switzerland and England, in each advancing his own technique and demonstrating to foreigners the native genius of a son of the New World. Mr. and Mrs. Colman returned to America in 1913. After spending several months in New York and Chicago, they came to California, spending the first winter in Pasadena, later having a studio in Los Angeles. The year 1916 was spent at La Jolla where he painted and taught. In 1917 he was director of the Santa Ana Art Academy.

Laguna Beach, having been a favorite sketching grounds for some time, he decided he had found there the "soul of his dreams," so, bought several fine ocean front lots on which he has his studio and home. This cosmopolitan artist is a great addition to the growing colony at Laguna. He is a member of the San Diego Art Guild, the California Art Club, and the Laguna Beach Art Association of which he is a charter member. The Popular Prize at the 1920 Annual August Exhibition of the Laguna Beach Art Association was awarded Mr. Colman's canvas, "Summer Radiance." Mr. Colman is one of our most successful and best-known marine painters, exhibiting annually at Riverside, Pasadena, and Los Angeles, and in cities in other states. His pictures have been shown in many women's clubs. The Santa Monica Bay Women's Club recently purchased one of his paintings for their collection. He is represented in the public library of Waco, Tex., and Ajo, Ariz., and many private collections.

Mr. Colman is an enthusiastic motorist, and the automobile is now the magic carpet of the artist carrying him quickly to his desired sketching grounds. Since coming to California he has painted the Coast from San Diego to San Francisco; and declares the scenic beauty equal to the Riviera.

Good fortune seems to have attended this artist all his life, for he luckily escaped death twice. When a boy. he was accidentally shot by a playmate, who sent bullets flying wildly into his knee joint, and through his right arm; later he fell eighty- four feet from a cliff, and escaped without injury. He is a Republican in national political affairs, and an enthusiastic American. Both he and his wife have many admirers in a large circle of friends.

EDWARD SPENCER JONES — Another illustration of the lure of California for those who have once lived here and wandered away is afforded in the experience of Edward Spencer Jones, a worthy rancher, who by hard work and the application of the best that he had to offer, has done his share and liberally, too. toward making Orange County what it is today. He first settled in this country in 1874, but from 1880 to 1885 he was absent from the state and only returned in the middle eighties to remain here "for good." He is a native of Illinois and was born in Huey, Clinton County, in the Prairie State on July 7, 1857. There he received his education and early training in the great task of earning a living and in 1874 he came directly from Illinois to what is now Orange County. His father was John M. Jones, who married Miss Mary J. Phillips, born in Kentucky and Indiana, respectively. The father was a farmer and died when thirty-two years of age, his wife having preceded him several years. Three uncles of Edward Jones served in the Civil War, Michael. Charles and James Jones, the former and latter holding commissions as officers. Three children were born of the union of John M. and Mary (Phillips) Jones, but the subject of this sketch is the only one of them now living.

Left an orphan when fourteen years old, Edward S. Jones since then has paddled his own canoe, working on farms in Illinois for a livelihood for a time. In 1874 he arrived in Santa Ana, Cal., and found employment on the O'Neill ranch, where he rode the range for two years; next he drove the stage between Santa Ana and San Diego, being engaged in this hazardous work for a period of two years; then we find him riding the range in Oregon and later in Washington and British Columbia. After spending four years in the northern country he returned to Santa Ana, which by comparison he decided was the best region he had ever seen and here he settled down to make his home and improve his ranch.

In 1885 occurred Mr. Jones' marriage to Maud Turner, the ceremony being performed at Santa Ana, and their union has been blessed with four children: Edward M., Annie L., Jane and Frances, and all make their home under the parental roof. Mrs. Jones is a native of Purdy, Tenn., where she was born on June 7, 1870, and presents in a charming and unpretentious manner the culture of the South. All in all Mr. Jones has had a valuable, if at times a discouraging experience along agricultural lines. When he purchased his ranch he set it out to grapes, and these having proven a failure, he set out walnuts. When he found that the soil was not adapted to their growth, he put in apricots, and after testing the foregoing fruits, he planted oranges, succeeding at last with his latest venture. Mr. Jones has been a member of the Santiago Orange Growers Association since its organization. He has always enjoyed popularity and nowhere more so than in the circles of the Odd Fellows, to which famous order he belongs.

JOSEPH W. SKIDMORE, GEORGE E. SKIDMORE — A native son of the Golden State, Joseph W. Skidmore of Laguna Beach, was born in Los Angeles on September 9, 1891, a son of George E. and Catherine A. (Brenizer) Skidmore. George E. Skidmore was born in Lamar County, Texas, on November 10, 1846, was a prospector and an explorer and was one of the first to blaze a trail through Death Valley and, like others bent on scientifically studying the unknown parts of the earth and in time paying a fearful price for their intrusion upon untamed Nature, Mr. Skidmore's life was shortened through exposure. He was married in 1882 and the family lived in Newhall, then Riverside, and finally moved to Santa Fe Springs in the hope of benefiting his health, but he died there on March 26, 1899. Mr. and Mrs. Skidmore had four children: Lee Ethel, the wife of Oscar Farman, of Los Angeles; Joseph W., of this review; Guy, who was born on the same day and month five years later than our subject and on Admission Day at that; and Anita Maria, Mrs. Maurice D. McElree, of Orange. After the death of Mr. Skidmore his widow married the well known pioneer, "Nate" Brooks, of Laguna Beach.

"Joe" Skidmore, as he is known by his friends, attended the schools of Laguna Canyon, and in 1908 was graduated from the Orange County Business College. His first employment was by W. P. Fuller and Company of Los Angeles, and on Saturdays and Sundays he worked as a life guard at Redondo, being an expert swimmer and water-polo player. In the declining days of his stepfather, "Nate" Brooks, he assisted in the management of his business interests and upon his death he assumed heavy liabilities and became manager of his mother's estate; also for the C. A. Brooks estate.

Mr. Skidmore has made numberless improvements for the interests of the citizens of the beach city, including the water system for Laguna Heights, which serves a six- mile frontage. He bought water-producing land at high prices to insure against a water shortage, and now there is a large reservoir in the canyon and three four-and- one-half inch pipe lines leading into Laguna — one line being 25,000 feet long. There are three reservoirs with capacities of 250,000, 40,000 and 100,000 gallons respectively, the system costing about $100,000. Grading, leveling and subdividing is continually being done, all to please those who live at or visit Laguna and Arch Beaches. There is abundant evidence that the labor and money thus spent in bettering conditions, and in advertising, have not been spent in vain.

Mr. Skidmore helped organize the Laguna Beach Chamber of Commerce, of which he is serving as treasurer; is a member and the secretary of the Laguna Beach Sanitary District board; has served as clerk of the school board and cast his influence in favor of the most modern equipment for the school rooms; and also as one of three members of the board of control of the Laguna Art Association. In fact there has been no movement for the bettering of conditions at the beach city that has not had his support and encouragement. With his brother, Guy Skidmore, he is owner of the Coast Royal and Tract No. 99, and other lots and business property there; and he and his wife own the famous Laguna Terrace and numerous lots in the district.

On September 18, 1912, Mr. Skidmore was united in marriage at Los Angeles with Flora Bel Geier, a native of California and a daughter of Samuel C. and Nancy Geier of Los Angeles, now residing in Laguna Beach, and they have two promising sons Donald and Orville. Mr. and Mrs. Skidmore and their family enjoy a deserved popularity in Orange County, where he is known as a loyal "booster."

A. THORMAN — An esteemed citizen of Tustin who has found here the comforts and pleasures of home life, so that he has very naturally become a "booster" for Orange County, wishing others to know the truth and to come here to reside, is A. Thorman, the well known rancher of East Sixth Street. He was born in Fayette County, Iowa, on December 10, 1863, the son of two sturdy pioneers, William and Augusta (Schmidt) Thorman who came out from Germany to Fayette County, Iowa, in about 1840, so early that they were sixteen weeks on their journey from Bremen. There his father located on sixty acres and raised grain and stock. Of this union, our subject is the only son and survivor.

He attended the school in the district in which he was born, while he worked on the farm of his father, and remained at home until he was twenty-three years of age. Then, for five years, he rented his father's farm, and after that he purchased land and settled down to farming.

In 1899 Mr. Thorman's first wife died and having always had a desire to see California with its balmy climate and tropical fruit, in comparison to the bleak cold winters of Iowa he concluded to come hither, so he brought his children to Southern California in 1900 locating at Pomona and there purchased a nine-acre orange grove.

While living at Pomona Mr. Thorman was married to Miss Maude Freeman of Pomona, who was a native of Chicago, III. In 1906 he sold his Pomona holding and removed to Tustin where he immediately purchased his present orchard of eleven acres, set to Valencia oranges and walnuts. He also owned 115 acres known as the Rogers property, near Santa Ana, which he farmed for several years, when he disposed of it and purchased thirty-eight acres at El Modena, which he has set to oranges and lemons. He is a member of the Tustin Hill Citrus Association and the Santa Ana Walnut Growers Association. The four older children of his family are; Clara, who is training at the Angeles Hospital, Los Angeles; Otto has the distinction of having served as a soldier overseas; and is now a rancher at El Modena; Emma, a graduate in pharmacy of the University of Southern California, is now practicing at the City Hospital in San Francisco; Albert F. attends the California Institute of Technology at Pasadena; the youngest are named Ida and Charles and are attending school at Tustin. Mr. Thorman is a Republican, and he and his family are members of the Presbyterian Church of Tustin.

WILLIAM J. HANSLER  — Few if any, of the present generation of citizens of Orange County fully appreciate the debt of gratitude they owe to the early pioneers, those fearless and courageous men and women who experienced great hardships in blazing the path for future civilization and laying the foundation for the present prosperous conditions of the wonderful "big-little" county of Orange. Great honor is due to these men and women and their names should be perpetuated in the history of the county. Numbered among such are the names of Henry and Mary A. (Phillips) Hansler, parents of the subject of this review. They were born in the Dominion of Canada and New York, respectively, and migrated to California in 1876, locating near Westminister, in November of the Centennial Year, where they purchased the ranch now owned and occupied by their son, William J.

Whether the early pioneers came to the Golden State by ox teams, across the plains, sailed around the Horn, or were among the more fortunate ones who later came by rail, they were all greeted by an uninviting, sandy desert in the section now known as Orange County, formerly a part of Los Angeles County. It has taken many years of arduous endeavor, great patience and endurance on the part of these hardy pioneers, to make the desert waste blossom as the rose.

The Hansler family are descendants of an old Pennsylvania Dutch family that moved from the Keystone State to the Province of Ontario, Canada, locating at Pelham. William Hansler's grandfather, Andrew Hansler, lived for many years in Pelham Township, where he followed farming and it was in this same township that he married and continued to reside until he passed away. He could read and write the Dutch language fluently. Great-grandfather Hansler was one of the first settlers in Pelham Township.

William J. Hansler's mother, before her marriage to Henry Hansler was Mary Ann Phillips, a native of Cattaraugus County, N. Y. Their family consisted of ten children: Asa, a farmer in Pelham Township, Canada; Sarah Ann, who died in childhood; John Andrew, passed away when two and a half years old; Truman resides in Fresno County; Elizabeth Esther is now Mrs. Edwin Wiggin of Colusa County; Margaret Ellen married J. E. Miller, a rancher in Orange County; William J., the subject of this review; Rosanna is the wife of Luther R. Newsom, a rancher of Stanton; Julia Ann is the wife of Ernest Carner, who resides at Winkleman, Ariz.; Robert Oscar, the youngest member of the family, is a rancher at Seeley, Imperial Valley, Cal. The Hansler family is a very large and influential one and every year a family reunion is held. A newspaper of Welland, Canada, in speaking of the family says: "The Pelham Hanslers have a record rarely exceeded. The homestead of Andrew Hansler has been that of the family for the past four generations, 120 years. During that time the property has never been mortgaged." The great-grandfather, as well as the grandfather of William J. Hansler, were ministers of the Dunkard Church.

William J. Hansler was born in Pelham, Canada, on November 13, 1869. His father having died before becoming a naturalized citizen, William J. was obliged to take out his naturalization papers, which he gladly did and is a most loyal and patriotic citizen. Mr. Hansler became a member of the Friends Church, known as the Quaker faith, uniting with the Alamitos Friends Church. His first wife, Miss Mary E. Hirst, who passed away in 1899, was a member of that church. The second marriage of Mr. Hansler occurred in 1915, when he was united with Miss Cora Alice Stith, daughter of William Fletcher and Hettie (Hubbard) Stith, her father being a blacksmith at Long Beach, employed by the Long Beach Water Company. Mr. and Mrs. Stith are the parents of three boys and four girls; the boys have all passed away, two dying in infancy, and the third being accidentally electrocuted while engaged as an electrician at Stockton, Cal. The daughters are: Cora Alice, Mrs. Hansler; Nellie. Mrs. Simmons of Richer, Okla.; Ita, Mrs. Riddick of Long Beach; and Bertha, Mrs. Mitchell also of Long Beach.

Mrs. William J. Hansler's grandfather, Rev. Jeremiah Hubbard, a minister of the Friends Church, was sent by the missionary board as a missionary, with the sanction of the President of the United States, to Indian Territory, to seek to pacify, civilize and Christianize the fierce Indians of the Territory and of the Southwest. He labored with telling effect for over forty years. He wrote several books telling of his experiences there, among them, "A Teacher's Ups and Downs from 1858 to 1879," and "Forty Years Among the Indians." He also wrote several books on the histories of the various Indian tribes. He was greatly beloved by the entire community, and when he died the business houses of Miami, Okla., closed their stores during his funeral.

SAMUEL T. MILLER — A highly esteemed citizen of Santa Ana who never tires of sounding the praises of Orange County, is Samuel T. Miller, the retired apiarist, who is also well-known as a wide traveler who has experienced no end of profitable adventure. He was born in North Carolina on December 1, 1837, the son of Nicholas Miller, a descendant of an early and prominent Carolina family, who came to be extensive planters. His wife, the mother of our subject, was Nancy Smith before her marriage, and she also descended from a fine, old-time family.

When Samuel was six years of age, his father removed with the rest of the family to Rockport, Ark., and there took up a tract of raw land, commencing new chapters in an arduous existence terminated only when, in Arkansas, he died at the ripe age of eighty. Having attained the age of seventeen, the young man pushed out into the world to support himself. At first he went to El Paso, then of importance as a station on the way to Mexico, and as the headquarters of stage companies having routes throughout the Southwest, and for a couple of years he was employed as a stage driver. The route through the wild country constantly exposed him to great perils. He was also exposed to both sun and storm, so that he was glad to say goodbye to such savagery and engage in merchandising in Juarez, Mex., in which line he did very well until the outbreak of the Civil War.

Then he furnished horses to the Confederate Army, and also other war supplies, and when the Confederates had to retreat, he went with them, hoping to get money due him which was never paid. Another six months of hard work as a storekeeper led to his venturing into Mexico and starting a stage line from Monterey south to San Luis Potosi. He kept at his hazardous task for eighteen months, when everything was taken from him by the Mexican Army. Thereupon he returned to the United States and ran a stage route from San Antonio to EI Paso, Texas, but this was soon cleaned out by the Indians. Then he was engaged as a guide by General Wesley Merritt who was building up the old forts on the Mexican border, destroyed during the war, for which services he received five dollars a day and his board.

Bidding San Antonio farewell, Mr. Miller took the New Orleans steamer to Omaha, about 1867, and from there crossed the great plains into California and the Sacramento Valley. He had really sailed up both the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, and had tarried at Omaha for a while to work at the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad. After arriving in California, he spent several years in farm work. Deciding to return east to New York, Mr. Miller sailed for Buenos Aires, traveling on a sailing vessel that took sixty-two days to make the voyage; and having seen something of the country, he set sail again for Southampton and Liverpool. Then he steamed across the Atlantic again to Philadelphia, and in 1870 once more arrived in California at Sacramento.

In 1873 he came south to Santa Ana to which place his attention had been directed through an acquaintance formed with, a teacher at San Diego. He located on 160 acres in Belle Canyon, built himself a log cabin, still to be seen, and lived there for fifteen years before he got his title. He went in for bee culture and the gathering of honey, and made a record as an apiarist with a harvest of forty tons of honey in a single year, and had twenty tons left from the year before, so had sixty tons on hand at one time. One of the results of these later years of hard, successful work is Mr. Miller's ownership today of considerable choice residence property in Santa Ana.

Mr. Miller was married in Los Angeles by Reverend Bovard, in 1878, to Mrs. Amy (Taylor) Inman, and they are the parents of one son, Cyrus G. Miller, a rancher at Imperial. Mrs. Miller was born near Quincy, Adams County, Ill., a daughter of Thomas and Hester Ann (Rundell) Taylor, born in Tennessee and New York, respectively, who were farmers in Illinois. Her father served in an Illinois regiment in the Civil War. Afterwards he removed to Oregon where he resided until he died. He was a prominent G. A. R. man. His widow spent her last days with Mr. and Mrs. Miller, and died at the age of eighty-nine years. Mrs. Miller was educated in the public schools of Illinois She was first married in Illinois in 1869, when sixteen years old, to Mr. Jno. W. Inman. who followed farming there until he removed to Nevada and later came overland to California, locating at San Juan Capistrano about 1877. Her husband passed away at that place. Later she made the acquaintance of Mr. Miller and they were married. By her first marriage she had two daughters: Emma Viola, now the wife of W. A. Webster, resides in Sacramento; Lorena is the wife of W. D. Anderson of Santa Ana. Mrs. Miller is a member of the Congregational Church of Santa Ana. In national politics a Democrat, Mr. Miller is second to none as an American citizen.

ARTHUR WEST.—An early settler of Orange, who for years has given freely of both his time and means to advance the growth and prosperity of both city and county, is Arthur West, whose pleasing personality has naturally drawn around him a large circle of devoted friends. He was born in Wiltshire, England, in 1852, the son of Stephen and Eliza (McCluen) West, the seventh in a family of nine children; and while being reared on a farm, received the best educational advantages afforded by the excellent country schools. When he had put aside his books, at the age of sixteen, he was apprenticed to learn the carpenter’s trade in Bristol, and having become a master carpenter at the age of twenty, he worked for three months in London and then came out to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama, landing from the steamer Mohongo in 1873 at San Francisco. There he worked at his trade until 1875, when he came south to Orange.

At McPherson he bought ten acres of land; but as it was a very dry year, he had no crop, and it became necessary for him to return to San Francisco to make sufficient money to meet the periodical payments and interest on his ranch. On returning to Orange he assisted his brother Henry in contracting and building, erecting, among other structures, the first two schoolhouses put up in town. Success followed all of their subsequent efforts, and for the next twenty-five years they completed many of the finest homes in Orange.

During this time Mr. West improved his ten acres, on which he also made his home, and set out Navel oranges which grew into a splendid orchard, so that he was able to ship thirty boxes of the citrus fruit to the World’s Fair in Chicago, one box of which was selected .for presentation to Carter Harrison, at that time mayor of Chicago. Just as he was hailed with the prospect of success, however, the red scale appeared to alarm the citrus world; and as there was then no means known by which to destroy the pest, the orchard was ruined, and he had to grub out the trees, and burn them up. He then set out walnuts and cultivated them until they were ten years old.

By that time science had found a means to combat the scale, and the section in which Mr. West lived was found to be favorable to Valencia oranges, so he took out the walnut trees and set out Valencias, and in time sold his land for $2,000 an acre, a splendid price for those days; in fact, one of the highest anywhere recorded, and that, too, for land for which he had paid only forty-five dollars an acre. This sale helped to give a decided impetus to the local citrus industry, and Orange moved to the front as a Valencia orange-growing section.

With Paul Kogler, Mr. West then purchased ten acres near Placentia Avenue, not far from Anaheim, a tract with two-year-old Valencia and Navel orange trees, for which they paid $650 an acre. This orchard he is now caring for, and as it is already in bearing, it is very valuable property and a source of much satisfaction.  About 1882, also, he purchased a block of five acres on what is now on Palm, between Lemon and Glassell streets, where for some years he raised apricots and walnuts.  When, however, the town had grown and the time was ripe, Mr. West laid the tract out in city lots as the Arthur West Addition to Orange, and he has already sold oflf all but two lots, on which he resides. This investment has also proven very profitable, as he paid only $500 for the five acres. Naturally, Mr. West is a member of the Santiago Orange Growers Association, and gives that wide-awake organization his best support.

As a lover of out-door sports—so natural to one born an Englishman—Mr. West has been particularly fond of hunting and shooting. In the latter he has long excelled, and his record at the contests of the California Inanimate Target Association, at Stockton on May 30, 1896, won for him the diamond medal. He has also won many honors in live-bird and clay pigeon shooting, and this has made him so well known among the hunters of the state that nothing pleases him so much as when he can have the time to spend in the wilds. He has also very naturally for years been a member of the Los Angeles Gun Club. In national political affairs a Democrat, Mr. West is a broad-minded, nonpartisan supporter of the best obtainable for local welfare, both in respect to measures and men.

COL. S. H. FINLEY.—It is not given to many men, as in the distinguished career of Col. Solomon Henderson Finley, the civil engineer and county supervisor, to serve their fellowmen in such a varied manner, and to serve them so acceptably, for he has been a member of the Santa Ana Board of Education for two years, county surveyor for twelve years, city engineer of Santa Ana for six years, chief engineer of Orange County Highway Commission for two years, and for four years a member of the board of trustees of Santa Ana, half of which time he was chairman of the board. In 1916.  also, he was elected supervisor for a four-year term. At various times he has served as city engineer of Newport Beach, Huntington Beach and Seal Beach.  The Finley family in the United States harks back to good old Colonial days and the generations that lived and died especially in Virginia. New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. Among them were Senator Jesse Johnson Finley. John Finley, the poet, Robert, Robert Smith, Robert W., and James Bradley Finley, clergymen, John P., the educator, Samuel, the soldier, Clement Alexander, the surgeon, and Martha, the author so well known for her prolific output under the nom de plume, Martha Farquharson. the Gaelic translation of her surname. James Finley was born and reared within the confines of old Virginia so .dear to his ancestors, but as the years went by.  he threw aside old traditions and removed to newer Kentucky, and finally as far as Lincoln County, Mo., where he engaged in farming. He also did considerable surveying in both Virginia and Kentucky—thus carrying on some of the good work begun by no less a personage than George Washington.

While in Kentucky, a son was born, named .Andrew R. Finley, who inherited his ability as a surveyor, and for several terms served as county surveyor of Lincoln County, Mo., including the period when he was judge there for a term. He was indeed a versatile man, for he also maintained a woolen manufactory and superintended the farm that he owned near Auburn, Mo. The year 1870 found him in California, first in Salinas. Monterey County, and after a year on a ranch near Antelope, in Sacramento County. In 1878 he came to Orange County and bought 200 acres of land near Santa .\na. The land was so arid at first as to be of little or no value for crops; but two huge artesian wells were bored, and thereafter irrigation made of the area a blossoming garden. In 1887 he sold the land to a subdividing company, which laid out the town of Fairview; and then he removed to Santa Ana. lived here retired, and died in 1897. in his seventy-ninth year. He was a stanch member of the United Presbyterian Church, which repeatedly honored him as their ruling elder. Mrs. Finley was Miss Caroline Gibson before her marriage, and she was born in Lincoln County, Mo. Her father, George Gibson, was a farmer of Scotch-Irish descent. She died in Santa Ana on April 5, 1901, aged seventy-one, the mother of a large and devoted family. 

While the family home was in Lincoln County, Mo.. Solomon Henderson Finley was born on October 10, 1863. so that he was about seven years old when the Finleys removed to California. Besides the typical public schools of his locality and period, he attended Monmouth (ILL.) College, from which he was graduated with the class of ‘86. Three years later, he was honored by receiving the degree of A. M. from the same institution.  Returning to California at the close of his college days, Mr. Finley located in Santa Ana and went into his profession, that of surveying and civil engineering. His ability was soon recognized in his election, in 1891, as surveyor of Orange County, and in 1899 he was reelected. During these years he laid out many additions to Santa Ana and other cities, and was chief engineer in constructing the reservoir on the Modjeska ranch, which has a concrete dam with a capacity of three million cubic feet. 

As might be inferred from his enviable title. Colonel Finley has had a military career important as a chapter in the annals of California. On January 6, 1890. he entered the ranks as a private, enlisting in Company F, Ninth Infantry, National Guard of California, and gradually rose until, in January, 1895, he was commissioned as captain. At the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, his company was mustered in on May 5. 1898. being accepted as Company L. Seventh California U. S. Volunteers, and Governor Budd tendered Mr. Finley his commission as captain. The regiment was stationed at San Francisco, and was mustered out of service in Los Angeles on Decmber 2 of the same year. Subsequently he continued as captain of Company L of the National Guard, and in April, 1902, he received promotion to the rank of major of the Seventh Regiment. In 1904 he was commissioned colonel, and in 1908, at the expiration of his term of service, he was retired with the rank of colonel.  Not less interesting nor important has been Colonel Finley’s part in the development of railroading in Orange County. Natural bent as well as first class technical preparation eminently fitted him to become chief engineer and superintendent of construction of the Santa .Ana and Newport Railway, which was later extended to Smeltzer.  In 1891 he was made chief engineer for the Bolsa drainage district, and constructed its system of drain ditches. He likewise had charge of the planning and construction of the ditches for the Talbert drainage district, a work that extended from 1904 to 1909, and the Delhi district in 1910, and several other drainage districts of the county at other times. He built, as has been said, the concrete dam for Madam Modjeska at her ranch in the Santiago Canyon in 1900; and the following year, he purchased with the Hon. P. A. Stanton of Los Angeles and the Hon. J. N. Anderson of Santa Ana, the site of what is now Huntington Beach, and incorporated the West Coast Land and Water Company, serving as one of the company’s directors. They laid out Huntington Beach, which was at first called Pacific City, and as engineer, Colonel Finley had the responsibility of laying out the site.

On January 8, 1890, in Santa Ana, Colonel Finley was united in marriage with Miss Ida Hedges, a native of New York, and the daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth (Telford) Hedges; they have had five children—Gailene, Malcolm H., Knox H., Wendell W.  and Rhodes A. Finley. The family attend the United Presbyterian Church, and the Colonel belongs to both the Sunset Club and Radio Club of Santa Ana and the Democratic party. Upon the organization of the city of Santa Ana in 1888, he was made a member of the first board of education, and it was when he was secretary that the Central school house was constructed. He was one of the charter members of the Chamber of Commerce and served as one of its’ directors. 

ELMER L. CRAWFORD.—An Orange County banker whose conservative aggressiveness typifies the twentieth century spirit animating and directing the financial interests of the Golden State is Elmer L. Crawford, the popular cashier of the California National Bank. He was born at Danville, Iowa, on September 17, 1881. the son of Franklin P. Crawford, and his good wife, Mary J. Six children blessed this union, and Elmer was the third in the order of birth. Both parents are still living, and they make their home at Tustin.

Having finished the usual courses at the excellent grammar and high schools of Iowa, Elmer continued his studies at Howes Academy, at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, taking a two-year teacher’s training course, after which one year was spent as a teacher in the public schools of Iowa. Not contented with this life, however, Elmer next enrolled as a student with the Gem City Business College of Quincy, 111., from which he was graduated with a master of accounts degree. When twenty-two years of age, he left home and the Hawkeye State and came west to California. He found much to enlist his attention and to appeal to his imagination for the future; but Santa Ana looked best of all, and in Santa Ana he pitched his tent.

In Santa Ana, also, he first engaged in banking, taking service for a year with the old Commercial Bank. Then, for four years, he was assistant postmaster, and in 1910, at the time of the organization of the California National Bank, he joined its staff. In the beginning, he acted as teller and bookkeeper, later becoming assistant cashier and for the past two years has occupied the cashier’s desk. He is also a director in the bank.

At Tustin, in May, 1907, Mr. Crawford was married to Miss Maud Leek, a charming lady with a wide circle of friends. He is fond of out-of-door life, especially mountain climbing, hunting, fishing and camping in the open, and together Mr. and Mrs.  Crawford enjoy pleasures unknown to those devoting so much of their time to the less profitable attractions of society. In matters of national politics Mr. Crawford is a Republican, but he is one of the first to volunteer for work in any local movement eschewing partisanship and having for its goal the development of the community on broad and permanent grounds, and the uplift of social conditions. 

C. L. NORTON.—A successful, popular man of affairs, who always finds some time to “lend a hand,” and generally a very helpful one, to advance every worthy movement in local affairs, is C. L. Norton, who was born on December 7, 1878, the son of H. J. and Clara (Turner) Norton, pioneers who helped to settle the great plains of Republic County, Kans. His mother died when he. the oldest child, was only three years old, and so he was reared by his aunt, Rebecca Woodard. He attended the little red schoolhouse of the district, and there got that fine general training which has proven so useful to thousands and thousands of American young men.  In 1894, Mr. Norton’s stepmother came west to California and Tustin, and at the station of Aliso, on the line of the Santa Fe just to the south, was made agent. The following year, the sad death by accident of his only brother occurred, and Mr. Norton came to California from Republic County to attend the funeral. What he saw of California industries and California prospects interested and encouraged him so much that he remained here. A stepbrother, E. B. Collier, also in time established himself in California, and is the secretary and manager of the Central Lemon Growers Association.  Mr. Norton became especially interested in the handling of Navel oranges, and soon became an expert packer. He worked in the packing houses at La ‘Verne, River side, Fontana and Rialto, and learned all that they could teach him. For a couple of years he was connected with the E. E. Wilson Fruit Company, packers and shippers, and is now with the Golden West Citrus Association as field man.  On May 26, 1909, Mr. Norton was married to Miss Lela Holford, the daughter of J. D. Holford. a rancher of Tustin, who passed away in 1918. She was born at Tustin, and attended the Tustin schools. She has grown up a talented artist, and still studies with Miss Minnie C. Childs, of Chicago, who has established her well-known studio at Tustin. Two children, Helen L. and Claude James, have blessed this marriage. Mr.  Norton is a Republican in national political movements, but nonpartisan when it seems best to support local affairs without regard to party lines and for the real and lasting good of the community.

HENRY DIERKER.—A progressive, broad-minded and liberal-hearted American citizen who is such a distinguished resident of Orange that he has been pronounced “the finest old gentleman that ever lived,” is Henry Dierker, a native of Hanover, Germany, and just eighteen months old when his parents concluded to remove to the United States. His birth occurred on April 5, 1840, and his father and mother were Victor and Clara (Koenig) Dierker. They pushed on west into St. Charles County, Mo., and at St. Charles became farmers. They cleared a farm of timber and later sold it, and in 1858, moved to Wentsville, in the same county, and there died. They had seven children—three boys and four girls, and of these Henry and his younger brother George are the only ones now living, George residing at Wentsville.

Henry, next to the youngest in age. was reared on a farm, while he received only a private school education, there being then no public school there. His oldest as well as his youngest brother went through the Civil War, and during the raids of the notorious Bill Anderson, Henry served in the Missouri State Militia for three months. On Washington’s Birthday, 1866, he was married to Miss Marie Gruer, a native of that state, who died in Orange on November 7, 1913. They had ten children.  Annie is Mrs. Henry Benne, of Stanton, Nebr., and she is the mother of six children. Ella is Mrs. Holstein, of Dodge, Nebr., and she has four children. George is married and is a rancher here, and the father of four children. Tillie presides gracefully over her father’s home. Fred is a rancher in Orange, is married and has one child. Ed is married, and lives at Orange with his wife and three children. Ben also is married, lives here, and is the father of four children. Albert is a horticulturist in Yakima, Wash. Harry is married and ranches at Anaheim, and Mamie is Mrs. Will Kogler of Orange. There are twenty-two grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

Henry Dierker and his brother built a hotel at Wentsville, which he conducted as the Wentsville Hotel until 1870. when he sold out his interest to his brother and then removed to West Point. Cuming County, Nebr. The previous year he had bought 400 acres of land at $3.75 per acre, and he now began to improve it. He raised corn and stock, and fed cattle, hogs and sheep, driving them to market; and he met with such success that he bought more land until he had 1,140 acres, paying for this highest priced ten dollars an acre. In 1891 he sold 700 acres at thirty-five dollars- an acre, and

three years later he disposed of the balance at fifty-five dollars an acre.  In 1891 Mr. Dierker brought his family to Orange County and from T. J. Lockhart he bought a forty-acre ranch near the town. It was set out to walnuts, but he improved it with oranges and bought first one. and then another ranch, until he had 115 acres in all. When his children came of age. he divided the property up and gave each his share. Then, about 1902, he bought his residence on South Glassell Street. He has belonged to the Lutheran Church all his life, and has done yeoman civic service as a Republican. Mr. Dierker has always been public-spirited, and while in Nebraska he had the local school for two years in his house, and he also acted as school trustee, and gave the two acres on which the school eventually was built. 

ARTHUR E. KOEPSEL.—Prominent among the leading attorneys, who have steadfastly sought to maintain a high standard of ethics for the Orange County Bar.  Arthur E. Koepsel. of the well-known firm of Eden and Koepsel, enjoys that esteem, both indicative of the confidence of his fellow-citizens in the past and desirable and enviable as a guarantee of profitable patronage for the future. .\ native of the splendid commonwealth of Kansas, he was born at Yates Center on July 30, 1883. the son of Herman Koepsel. a faithful and highly-honored clergyman of the Methodist Church, who had married Miss Augustine Burchardt. After retiring from a rather strenuous life, the Reverend Koepsel came to Santa Ana, Cal.. in 1907 and in 1913 he passed away, his devoted wife surviving him until November 20. 1919. Besides serving his congregation with the true conscientiousness of a shepherd caring for the sheep.  Mr. Koepsel served his country, when the Civil War broke out and the Federal Govern ment had need, enlisting and fighting in Company C of the Seventeenth Wisconsin Infantry Regiment.

Educated in the public schools of Kansas, Mr. Koepsel was graduated from the Kansas City high school and for some seven years was engaged in railroad work.  During this time he studied law privately and on coming to California in 1907, he entered the law department of the University of Southern California, and on July 22, 1908, he was admitted to the bar and until January, 1911, he practiced in Los Angeles. Then he joined the staff of the district attorney of Orange County and remained there until the beginning of 1919. On January 1 of that year he associated himself with Walter Eden, in the partnership already referred to, in the general practice of law.

A Republican in matters of national politics, Mr. Koepsel has shown his willingness to do civic service by acting as a member of the board of health. He has been an active member and is chairman of the Republican County Central Committee, and is president of the local Republican club. He had previously belonged to the State Militia, Company B, Third Missouri Infantry, from 1901 to 1903, and since August, 1917, has been captain of Company F, Infantry, California National Guards.  At Santa Ana on September 1, 1914, Mr. Koepsel was married to Miss Alfreda Holzgrafe of that city, a lady proud of her status as a native daughter and a member of the family of Ferdinand and Helen Holzgrafe. One child, Vernon, has blessed the union. The family attend the Evangelical Church and Mr. Koepsel is a Knights Templar Mason and Shriner, being a member of Al Malaikah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., Los Angeles, and also a member of the Santa Ana Lodge of Elks as well as the Orange County Bar Association. As captain of the local company of National Guards during the recent war Mr. Koepsel gave much time and was active in recruiting men in his company, where he gave them preliminary training, and of the 150 or more enlistments in the army from his company all but three were made noncommissioned officers.

JOHN WILLIAM FREEMAN.—An energetic, successful rancher interesting as not only one of the first to grow alfalfa in the vicinity of Santa Ana, but the first to cut and cure it in the green state, is J. W. Freeman, who has the distinction of having had four sons in the service of his country in the great war. He had a very valuable mercantile experience in Alabama in early years, and later conducted arduous and costly experiments with garden products. Being a man of high principles, industry, varied experience and definite accomplishment, he is everywhere esteemed by those who know him.

Mr. Freeman was born near Montgomery, Ala., in September, 1860, the son of J. Wesley and Carrie (Sistrunk) Freeman, of English and Holland descent and were planters who owned 500 acres of good land there and raised cotton of a superior quality. During the Civil War the devoted father died, and later J. W. Freeman left home to go to Waco, Texas. He attended Burleson College, now Baylor University, in 1878, and for nine years made his home near Waco,, raising, with his brother, corn, cotton and stock. While living in Texas, Mr. Freeman was married in Caddo, Indian Territory, in 1886, to Miss Laura W. White, born in Missouri, also of an old Southern family, who was reared and educated in Missouri and Texas.  During the height of the great agitation about realty here, known as the “boom,” on September 14, 1887, Mr. Freeman came to California and settled in San Diego, where he was employed in helping to build the old Coronado Hotel. At the end of six months, he went to San Bernardino and was employed in the material department of the Santa Fe Railroad, and only after a year and a half there, was he able to reach Santa Ana and Orange County. He farmed on leased land, and then moved near Norman, Okla., where he purchased 160 acres which he devoted to general farming for about two years.

On his return to California, Mr. Freeman commenced farming again and went in for the raising of alfalfa. He cut and cured it in the green state, and soon had the largest trade, both in the city and the county, for the commodity. He also purchased and sold various groves, at one time having two of ten, and then one of twenty acres.  He has recently disposed of all the land that he had in Orange County, and has invested in land near Hemet, Riverside County. He has forty-two and a half acres, interset, of walnuts and apricots at Hemet, and has a private electric pumping plant and well with a capacity of ninety inches—one of the finest plants in Riverside County. He is a member of the California Prune and Apricot Corporation. He is a stockholder in the Cooperative Cannery of Hemet, and also owns stock in the Federal Grocery Company, which has a chain of stores having headquarters in Los Angeles.  Fourteen children make up a very remarkable family bearing and honoring Mr.  Freeman’s name: Henry A., of Los Angeles, is an expert interior marble decorator.  whose skill is known at Santa Ana on account of his work in the Orange County Bank; Claude W. is in the financial department of the Los Angeles Y. M. C. A., a position he has filled for seven years; James is farming in Fresno County with his brother; Charles L. was formerly cashier for the Southern Pacific Railroad at Oxnard and is now farming on his father’s ranch at Hemet; Frank is also at home working on the ranch; Carrie, having graduated from the commercial course of the Santa Ana high school, is also at home; Minnie K. took the same course and was duly graduated with honors; John W., Jr., is working at home on the farm; Clarence B. is on the farm in Hemet with his brother; Ruth M. is a grammar school student; Laura A. is in the intermediate school; Willie B. died when he was two years old; Mabel E. is in the grammar school at Santa Ana; and Luella. the baby, is at home. The family attend the First Baptist Church.

Mr. Freeman is especially proud of the record of his four boys for service during the great World War struggle. Claude W. trained in Camp Lewis, then served in the Ninety-first Division of the Three Hundred Sixty-fourth Infantry, where he was personnel sergeant. He was in the Argonne offensive, and also in Belgium, and was discharged in May, 1919, at Camp Kearny, Cal. James A. entered the service in September.  1917, and trained at Camp Lewis. He served in the postal service in the Three Hundred Sixty-second Infantry, was wounded in Belgium, and was then returned to America and held in the hospital in the Presidio, to regain his strength and health. In February.  1919. he was discharged. Frank served in the Navy. He was fireman on the S. S.  San Diego, which cruised the Pacific and the Atlantic Coasts. He was discharged from the navy on account of impaired health, but reenlisted in the army, and served in the infantry at Camp Lewis until November, 1918, when he was discharged. . John W. served in the One Hundred Fortieth Regiment, Thirty-fifth Division of U. S. Army, went overseas to France, was in the St. Mihiel offensive and .Argonne drive; then transferred to the Two Hundred Forty-second Military Police Company, having charge of troops sent from France to England for trial.. He received his honorable discharge from service at the Presidio, at San Francisco, September, 1919. 

JOSEPH HELMSEN.—A self-made man whose many sterling friends were, from the start, among his most valuable assets, and who. despite the handicap of physical disability, amassed a snug fortune accumulated from small and unpretentious beginnings, was the late Joseph Helmsen, who died on September 11, 1917. He was born at Leavenworth. Kans., on January 23, 1861, the son of Jeseph Helmsen, who had married Miss Elizabeth Hesse, parents who were well-to-do and disposed to favor him in every way; but when a child of tender years, he became afiflicted with hip disease, and specialists were called from distant cities to minister to and cure him, if they could. Among the incidents of those troubled days to which he later referred was the gift from his father and mother of a profusion of toys, procured from far and near, when he was a bed-ridden sufferer, and then children came to play with him. stimulated by his unwonted cheerfulness, all his life a characteristic of him. When his ailment was finally found to be such that no medical aid could come to his rescue, he was nursed into such convalescence as was possible, and after years of painful illness, he was able to get about on crutches.  In the days following the Civil War, the fortunes of his parents failed, and tc add to his miseries, his father, after whom he was named, fell dead of sunstroke as the lad was succeeding in making his way about the old home. This was a great blow to the prosperity and hopes of the family; and after enduring the privations of a scanty income for years, he and his mother set out in 1874 for California. Their farm at Leavenworth had already been practically abandoned; for years it had yielded no revenue, and in 1873 a plague of grasshoppers took from them what little there remained of a once ample fortune. They reached San Francisco in 1874, and young Helmsen assisted his mother by gathering kindling from the Palace Hotel, which was then in course of erection. He filled a gunny sack with this material, and many were the encounters he experienced with city boys before reaching his humble abode with the fuel.

In April. 1875. young Helmsen and his mother took passage on the steamship Ventura bound for Anaheim, and on the eighteenth of the month, off the coast of Monterey, the vessel was wrecked and the passengers had to make for the shore in lifeboats.  Being a cripple,  Helmsen was put aboard one of the first boats that got away from the ill-fated ship; and. seeing that his mother was still aboard the sinking vessel, he sought to leap into the sea and return to her. In this he was prevented; but, as the boat neared the beach, he sprang into the waters and tried to get back to the ship. He was picked up by John Bush, of Olive, uncle of the gentleman of that name now of Anaheim, who was also on the boat, and who thus saved him from drown ing. He spent the night on the shore with other passengers who had been rescued, and not until the next morning did he find his mother—after hours of indescribable strain and mental agony. All of their scant belongings, together with their savings, which were in a trunk, went down with the ship; but they were able to continue south to Anaheim, where they arrived some days after the disaster.  Here his mother found employment, and young Helmsen was not slow in obtaining odd jobs about town to assist in keeping the wolf from the door. He soon secured a position in the Gazette office and learned to set type, at which he became an adept, and after, some years of close application he and his mother saved enough money to establish a fruit and candy store in West Center Street, near where the post office now stands. Here they remained for years, saving their money and practicing the most rigid economy. During this time the wonderful climate of the Southland restored his health, and he discarded his crutches and gained flesh; he was six feet in stature and weighed about 215 pounds, and was a man of pleasing personality.  In 188S, the farm in Kansas having appreciated in value, under an honest administrator, Mr. Helmsen returned to Leavenworth and sold his holding for $10,000, a sum which he brought back to California and invested advantageously. He purchased forty acres of land at Placentia, when land on Placentia avenue was selling for fifty dollars an acre, paying for the same just $2,000, which he improved, and later sold the tract for $17,000. He made other investments here, and established himself in business in the building now owned by John Cassou on West Center Street, and later purchased the property adjoining this building on the east, and up to his retirement from business in 1913 conducted his stationery and notion establishment at that place.  For this property he paid about $6,000, and it is now worth at least $50,000. He also purchased property on East Center, South Claudina and Olive streets, and was one of the organizers of the German-American Bank, becoming one of the heaviest stockholders and its vice-president, which office he held until his death.  Mr. Helmsen was also interested in land in the Imperial ^’alley, where he acquired 640 acres of school land; he sold a quarter section of it, and the balance is still owned by Mrs. Helmsen.

In 1911 Mr. Helmsen was married to Mrs. Jane D. (Cross) Green, born at Chaumont, Jefferson County, N. Y., the daughter of Geo. W. and Harriet Canfield (McPherson) Cross. The father died at Cape Vincent, and his widow, with her four children, came to Orange County in 1885, where her two brothers, Stephen and Robt.  McPherson, were large ranchers. She now makes her home with Mrs. Helmsen, at the age of seventy-six years. Mrs. Helmsen came to Anaheim about twenty-seven years ago as manager for the Western Union Telegraph Company, and later for eight years was assistant postmaster of Anaheim. She still owns the Helmsen Block on West Center Street. Mr. Helmsen gave to the town half of the lot on which the City Hall now stands, and he was a trustee of Anaheim for eight years, half of that time serving as mayor or chairman of the board. He was a prominent Mason, belonging to the Anaheim Lodge, of which he was secretary for nineteen years. He was also known as “the boys’ friend,” and started many of them on the road to success and fortune. He taught them to save, to keep out of pool rooms and loafing places, and to lead clean and honest lives; and it is impossible, therefore, to state how far-reaching was his example and influence for good, and his life is certainly worthy of emulation.  EMIL R. TURCK.—To learn one thing thoroughly, and then to spend the active years of life in the industry for which both study and natural inclination have fitted one, is to carry on the world’s work to the best of any man’s ability, and it is such work that is building up our civilization of today. Such a man is Emil R. Turck, one of the prominent citizens of Orange County. Born .August 6, 1857, in Brandenburg, Germany, he received his education in the public schools of that country, and in the engineering school, later taking a course in sugar chemistry in a German college. He has followed the sugar industry all his life since finishing his studies, and in Germany was chemist in the leading sugar factories.

Coming to the United States, in 1890, Mr. Turck was chief chemist for the sugar beet company at Grand Island, Nebr. When the American Sugar Factory was being built, at Chino, Cal., in 1891-92, he came there and was chief chemist at that factory for fourteen years, up to 1906, when he located at .Anaheim, and for a time gave up his life work to engage in horticulture. He bought seven acres of land on South Lemon Street, and planted an orange grove, which he brought to a high state of cultivation.  In 1913, Mr. Turck became chief chemist for the Anaheim Sugar Company, and continued in that position until 1917, when he retired and spends his time looking after a twenty-acre orange grove, the property of his wife and her sister, situated on North Lemon Street. An expert in sugar refining, Mr. Turck has taken a large part in the development of the comparatively new industry in the state, and as such takes rank with other able men who have helped, each individual to the best of his ability in his chosen line, in making California the richest state in the union. It is to such that the praise of posterity is due.

The marriage of Mr. Turck united him with Clementine E. Schmidt, daughter of Theodore Schmidt, one of the original fifteen settlers of Anaheim, who came from Germany in 1857 and bought 1,200 acres at the purchase price of two dollars per acre, and founded the town of Anaheim; Mr. Schmidt himself selected the name of the town. Water was brought from the river, vineyards planted and the town started.  A more extensive biography of Mr. Schmidt will be found elsewhere in the work, and of the body of men who made this garden spot of the state possible.  One son has blessed the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Turck; Arthur W., a graduate of the University of California with the class of 1919, and who served as ensign in the U. S. Navy during the World War, doing his share to preserve the rights of his country, though he did not see foreign service. He is now with a bond and banking house in Oakland. Fraternally, Mr. Turck is a member of the Mother Colony Club of Anaheim, and of the Odd Fellows. All movements that mean the upbuilding and development of the county have received his substantial assistance, and his unqualified approval for the advancement of his community.

JACOB MUELLER.—A very successful citrus grower who, with the aid of his good wife and excellent family, has amassed, after the hard work and residence of a third of a century in Orange, a comfortable competency, is Jacob Mueller, a native of Schawallingen, Saxe-Meiningen, in the heart of Germany, where he was born in 1860.  There he attended school, and early received such a substantial grounding in the things worth while knowing, that later, in more leisure hours, he has been able by self-culture to add materially to his knowledge and capability. He was also so well drilled in the practical affairs of life that when he pushed out and was far away from home in the New World, he was better able than many other pioneers to grapple with raw and difficult conditions.

When just twenty years of age, Mr. Mueller crossed the Atlantic to the United States at a time when the tide of emigration from Germany was still at its height, and tarrying but a short time in the great metropolis of New York, he made his way west to Allen County, Kans., and at Humboldt he followed for seven years his trade, which was that of a stonemason. While in Humboldt he was married to Miss Johanna Hoffman, a native of Wallbach, Saxe-Meiningen, Germany, and the daughter of Valentine and Caroline (Goldschmidt) Hogman. Her father was also a stonemason, and brought her out to .\llen County, Kans., when she was fourteen years old. and in that state both he and his wife passed to their eternal reward. A sister of Mrs. Mueller remained in Germany and died there. A brother came to Kansas, and during the Spanish-American War enlisted in the United States Navy. He served on the “Mariette” and accompanied the “Oregon” around Cape Horn. It is thought that he went to South Africa during the Boer W’ar, but he has not been heard from for many years, and is probably dead. Mrs. Mueller, therefore, is probably the only member of the Hoffman family now living.

From Humboldt, Kans.. on June 25, 1887—the year of the great “boom” in California— Mr. Mueller and his bride came to Orange County and settled at Orange, and for about a year he worked out by the day. The next year, he leased the Gallagher place, now the Fairhaven Cemetery. He bought his first place, consisting of eleven acres, at the corner of Fairhaven and Grand avenues, on October 30, 1895. It was set out to walnuts at that time, and he and his devoted wife had to work very hard to care for it and make it pay. Since then he has replanted the acreage, so that it is now in anricots, Valencia oranges and lemons, and has built a substantial and ornate cementblock dwelling house, and made many other improvements.

His next purchase was the plot of land now his home-place on Fairhaven Avenue.  at the south end of Glassell Street, consisting of 11.59 acres, which he bought on July 12, 1897. He made his third and last purchase on January 7, 1901, when he bought 7.17 acres on Grand Avenue, adjoining the eleven acres he first acquired. All three of these places are situated in the southern part of the city of Orange, in a section giving every promise of a bright future. Besides that, Mr. Mueller owns some residence property in Anaheim, and also some residence property at Huntington Beach . He is a member of the Santiago Orange Growers Association, the Villa Park Lemon Growers .Association and the Orange Walnut Growers Association.

During these years of strenuous activity, Mr. and Mrs. Mueller have reared an attractive family of six children. The eldest, Gustav Herman, studied at St. John’s College, at Concordia. Mo., from 1904 until 1909. when he married Huldah Stuerke in Sweet Springs, Mo. He became a rancher at Orange, and died on March 1, 1920, lamented by a wide circle of friends, and leaving a widow and one child, Alvira. Emil Carl, the second in the order of birth, was in the United States Army, serving overseas in France and after the armistice was with the Army of Occupation stationed at Coblenz, Germany, until he returned to the United States, when he was mustered out in August, 1920, and is now at home. Ernest F. Mueller is a graduate of Oakland College and afterwards from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and ordained a minister in the Lutheran Church, is now pastor at San Luis Obispo. He married Miss Emily F.  Thommen of Oakland. LilHe Marie and Lydia Louise Mueller, twins, are graduates of the German Lutheran School at Orange, of which the youngest child, Annie R.  Mueller, is also a graduate. The family are members of St. John’s Lutheran Church at Orange. Mr. Mueller is a naturalized American citizen, and no one is more patriotic or public-spirited. In 1905, he erected his substantial two-story house of twelve rooms, up-to-date in all its appointments, and having a beautiful porch facing the southern end of Glassell Avenue and commanding a clear view of the American flag on the liberty pole at the Plaza in Orange. Of a sunny, philosophical, optimistic, common-sense temperament.  Mr. Mueller is a good neighbor and a good friend, and is always appreciated by those who know his character and his conversational powers as “good company.”

HARVEY B. ROYER.—An expert machinist .who has proven himself to be a successful rancher is Harvey B. Royer, one of the dependable employes of the Santa Fe Railroad since 1909 and now also farming along the Romneya Drive, to the southwest of Fullerton. He was born at Lockhaven, Clinton County, Pa., on August 23, 1871, a member of a family dating back to the early days of the Keystone State. His father was Franklin \’. Royer. a lumber man who purchased whole groves of forest, cut them down and ran the timber through his own mills; and so extensive was his business that it developed in several counties, including Center, Clinton. Union, Lycoming and Cambria. He died in Pennsylvania in 1900. His widow was Susan (Brungard) Royer, born, in Pennsylvania and now makes her home with her son Harvey.  Harvey B. Royer attended the public schools of Clinton County. Pa., and remained with his father until he was twenty-five years old. at which time his father’s mills burned down. Then he began to rebuild them, and took complete charge of the business.  In 1900, he sold out and went to Johnstown, Pa.; and there he worked as a machinist in the employ of the Cambria Steel Company. Whatever he did. he so thoroughly carried out as to insure those for whom he was working of his intelligent, honest and expert service. In 1909 Mr. Royer came to California and settled in Los Angeles, and from 1909 to the present time has been a machinist with the Santa Fe Railroad Company, working on locomotives and giving genuine satisfaction to that well-equipped organization for diiificult problems and delicate work. In 1912, he bought twelve acres in Orangethorpe on Romneya Drive, and in 1913 he moved his family to the ranch. Then he bought the land, it was a barley field, and he himself set out the ten acres to Valencia oranges. He has his own private pumping plant and so supplies what water he needs for irrigation. His products in fruit he markets through the Stewart Fruit Company of Anaheim.

Mr. Royer’s mother. Miss Susan Brungard before her marriage, was a woman of such superiority that it is not surprising that when our subject married, on June 25.  1895, he should choose, in Miss Rosie Schwenk, a helpmate worthy in every respect and promising from the first to be just the companion that he needed. She was born in the locality of his birthplace, and educated in the grade schools of Clinton County. Her father, Benjamin Schwenk, was a lumberman who engaged in business in the same way that the Royers had followed. He passed away in 1912, while his wife, Emma (Barges) Schwenk. died in 1916. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Royer; and the two sons have both distinguished themselves in the service of their country.  Miss Ruth is the daughter, and her brothers are Merril C. and Le Roy H. Royer. Mrs.  Royer belongs to the Presbyterian Church of Anaheim, and Mr. Royer is a member of the Knights of Pythias and also the Odd Fellows of the same city.  Merrill C. Royer enlisted on August 31. 1918. as a military engineer and was sent to the Berkeley Training School; and on October 30, he left for Fort Myers, Va., and later he was sent to Camp Leach. Washington. D. C. He was serving in Company K of the Twenty-ninth Engineering Corps when he was shot during target practice, the bullet penetrating his spine; and it is said to have been miraculous that he recovered from such a wound. This delayed his progress so that he was not ready to sail for France until the armistice had been signed. On December 21. 1919. he was discharged at Camp Kearny, after which he returned to civilian life. He married Miss Rose Livingston and is with the Santa Fe at San Bernardino.

LeRoy H. Royer enlisted on March 27, 1918, in the quartermaster’s corps, and spent three weeks at Fort McDowell, after which he was sent to Camp Johnson at Jacksonville, Fla. He sailed from Hoboken, N. J., for France, after spending a few days at Camp Upton, N. Y., and bade good-bye to America on September 13, in a convoy of fifteen ships, landing at Glasgow, Scotland. He stayed in Camp Romsey near Liverpool, and then went through Southhampton to Havre, France. He served in the motor transport service, and was stationed at such places as Tours, La Rouchelle, Nantes and St. Nazaire. On May 26, 1919, Mr. Royer returned to the United States, and on June S at Camp Mills, N. J., he was honorably discharged. Four days later he returned to California and is now attending Fullerton high and also assisting his father in caring for the ranch.

HENRY GROTE.—One of the earliest settlers and prominent residents of Orange was the late Henry Grote, who was privileged to contribute much toward the building up of both the city and nearby country districts. In his good work he was ably assisted by his wife, an excellent woman of business ability, so that both Mr. and Mrs. Grote enjoyed a wide circle of worth-while friends, Mr. Grote was born in Rehburg, Hanover, Germany, on August 23, 1842, the son of Henry and Mary (Meyer) Grote, both of whom came to America and spent their last days in comfort at Bremen, Kans. They had four children—two boys and two girls—and among these, Henry was the oldest.

He was brought up at the old homestead, and educated in the public schools and in time he learned the trade of a harness maker and saddler. In 1866 he came to the United States and located in Chicago: and for a while he was employed at farm labor. In 1868 or ‘69 he removed to Bremen, Marshall County, Kans.; and having undertaken to homestead 160 acres of raw land, he turned the first furrows in the soil.  He planted corn and wheat, and raised stock; and for nine years continued as one of the progressive and successful farmers of that region.

In 1882, however, stirred by the reports of better things in California to be had for the coming, Mr. Grote sold out his Kansas property and moved to the Pacific Coast, and in the town of Orange he bought fifteen acres lying between North Shaffer and Pine streets, and running from Chapman to Maple. The land had been set out as a vineyard, but the vines died, and then he set out walnuts and apricots. Later, when the town grew, he laid out the Henry Grote addition to Orange, in 1888, and sold lots at fancy prices, and now it is nearly built up as a residence district.  In time, Mr. Grote joined P. W. Ehlen under the firm name of Ehlen and Grote.  and conducted a general mercantile business, and such was their success in expanding their trade that they incorporated the concern as the Ehlen and Grote Company, and they built the Ehlen and Grote block, which they still own. Mr. Grote has also owned and improved and several ranches, and with Mr. Ehlen he was interested in the National Bank of Orange and the Orange Savings Bank. Both Mr. and Mrs. Grote were heavily interested in the Ehlen and Grote Investment Company, in which they were directors;

Mr. Grote was vice-president, and Mrs. Grote is secretary of the organization.  At Bremen, Kans., on October 16. 1873, Mr. Grote was married to Miss Wilhelmine Dusin, a native of Pomerania, Germany, and the daughter of Henry and Louisa (Kartt) Dusin. With her brother, August, the only other child, she came to Bremen, Kans., in the spring of 1873, and there met Mr. Grote. Six children have blessed their fortunate union: Emma has become Mrs. Heim of Olive; Sophia is the wife of Alfred Huhn, the manager of the Ehlen and Grote Company of Orange; Mary died at the age of thirty five;

Fred A. is assistant manager of the Ehlen and Grote Company; Lena assists her mother to preside over their home, although she is a graduate of the Orange County Business College at Santa Ana, and was bookkeeper until lately for the Ehlen and Grote Company; and Minnie, who is also a graduate of the Orange Business College, was also for a time with the Ehlen and Grote Company, in which Mr. Grote maintained his financial interest until his death, which occurred May 10, 1920, when Orange lost one of her best men and upbuilders and his passing was mourned by his farnily and friends.  Mr. and Mrs. Grote identified themselves with the Lutheran Church here from its start; he was a trustee and treasurer, and was chairman of the committee having charge of the building of the old church and the school. He also presided over the responsible undertaking of a new church, erected at a cost of $50,000. Besides belonging to the church. Mr. Grote was also a member of the Lutheran Men’s Club, while Mrs. Grote was always active in and an ex-president of the Ladies’ .Aid Society. Since her husband’s death. Mrs. Grote continues to reside at the old home surrounded by her children, who shower on her their loving affection and devotion and assist her in looking after the large interests left by her husband, thus relieving her as much as possible from all unnecessary worry and care.

HERMAN A. DICKEL.—The enviable career of a worthy citizen of Anaheim is recalled in the family history of Mr, and Mrs. Herman A. Dickel, long honored residents’ of this place. A native of Germany, Herman A. Dickel was born on April 21, 1860, the son of George Dickel, also a native of that country. He had married Charlotte Zumwinkel, and they had eleven children. Among these, Herman was the youngest, on which account, perhaps, he enjoyed even more and better school advantages than ordinarily, attending the grade schools of his home district. Both parents, industrious and esteemed by those who knew them, are now dead.  As early as 1882 Mr. Dickel came to the United States, and having clerked for three years in Germany, and finished his apprenticeship in the proper manner, he had no trouble in securing employment in New York, where he also spent three years, and rapidly acquired a knowledge of American ways. In 1885, however, just when California was beginning to feel the impetus of the “boom,” Mr. Dickel left the Atlantic metropolis and came to the Pacific Coast. Not only that, but he came straight to Anaheim, where for ten years he worked in Mr. Langenberger’s store. In 1895 he leased the establishment, and for twenty-two years conducted it for himself as a general merchandise center.

On June 8, 1887, Mr. Dickel married Miss Rosie Schmidt, a native of Anaheim and a member of a family rather distinguished as Californians of the pioneer sort.  Traveling most of the way wearily and at great danger on foot, her father crossed the great plains and settled in this vicinity about 1851; so that when, in 1857, a group of optimists founded Anaheim, he was here and ready to join in the movement.  Three sons blessed this union: Theodore E., a mining and civil engineer, now in Tejamen, Durango, Mexico; Arnold C, of the same profession, in Pittsburg, Ca!., and Percival A. Dickel, an artist, is at home. Arnold saw service in the great war. Three grandchildren have been born to attest the sturdiness of the stock.  Mrs. Dickel was a cultured and refined woman, with a love for the beautiful, and was an artist of ability, having spent four years in the art centers of Germany, studying painting. The Dickel home is replete with paintings on china and canvas of her own production. Kind, generous and charitable, she was a woman of beautiful character, and her passing, December 8, 1919, was indeed a severe blow to her husband and children, as well as her host of friends, for she was endeared to all who knew her.  A Republican in national politics, Mr. Dickel has served as city trustee of Anaheim for four years, and has been treasurer of the Anaheim Building and Loan Association for thirty-two years. He is an Odd Fellow, and also an Elk, and belongs to the Mother Colony Club. In many ways, Mr. Dickel has proven his value as a wholehearted citizen, always having the future of Anaheim and Orange County before him, and ever ready to hasten the hour when the Golden State, among the late-comers into the Union, shall “come into its own.”

FRANK WILLIAM CUPRIEN.—An American artist who has attained distinction in foreign lands as well as in his own is Frank William Cuprien, of the Viking Studio, at Laguna Beach, the Mecca of many, frequently those favored in foreign travel, who have discovered his whereabouts and his art, and who appreciate him at his true worth. He was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., on August 23, 1871, and attended the excellent schools of that home city. He grew up so near to the ocean that it is only natural he should have loved the sea while yet a mere youth; and he early became a marine painter. In the beginning, however, he received but scant encouragement when he most needed sympathetic help, his first efforts dating back to school days and his coloring picture books with the aid of a Murillo paint box given him—a keepsake he prizes today. His father was Charles Cuprien, a native of Brooklyn, the son of a fapestry and cloth merchant of that city who emigrated from Lyons. Charles Cuprien had married Miss Phillipin Millar, a native of Brooklyn, and the descendant of a well-known and long-established family originally from Manchester, England.  Frank William Cuprien pushed into New York City as early as he could, and in the evenings attended the art and drawing classes of the Cooper Institute, one of the oldest and best established and conducted schools of its kind in America; and when he had the leisure, he spent his free time profitably in the galleries. Up to his eighteenth year he had really been interested more in drawing than in painting, and his first course in painting at the Art League in New York was taken under the direction of the renowned artist. William T. Richards, of Brooklyn. When he was a mere boy, his ambition was to study under this master; and this dream was realized, on the attaining of his eighteenth year.

Soon afterwards, he left America to study in Europe; and in Paris he gave his attention to the voice and the piano, becoming proficient as a singer and a pianist, and earning a reputation for his own compositions. He attended the royal conservatories at Munich and Leipsic for three years, and in 1905 was graduated from the Royal Conservatory. Then he toured Italy, and spent much time in Florence.  About that time, he began to study marine art, and to perfect himself, he traveled up and down the Mediterranean, even to Athens, and spent eleven years in Europe studying and painting. During this time, in order to familiarize himself with the local color of the North Sea, he spent six months on fishing smacks out from Hamburg serving as a common seaman, just as Dana and others have done, but taking along his sketch-book in order to profit by moments of leisure; and liking the experience so well, he put in four months on a steam trawler, as a friend of the captain, through which association he had the best of opportunities to study from nature and sketch.  He visited Helgoland before the fortifications were erected and the great guns mounted, and that was an experience in itself.

Upon returning to America, Mr. Cuprien concluded that California must ofifer much to the artist, and in 1912 he came to Los Angeles, intending to settle at Catalina.  and since then he has spent weeks at a time roaming over and and sketching the scenery of the island. In 1913, however, Mr. Cuprien began his association with Laguna; and in 1914, he erected there his studio to which, on account of his adventures in the North Sea of Europe, he has given the name of “The Viking.” It is one mile south of the Laguna Beach Hotel, and overlooks the peaceful, beautiful Pacific; and i’.s his own original creation, it attracts the attention of passersby, Mr. Cuprien’s style of painting as seen in his marines is intensely individualistic, and one may get some idea of his ideals by his definition of the true artist: “What a man paints is what is in his mind—the expression of the inner man put upon canvas liy himself.” Mr. Cuprien received the gold medal at the Berliner Ausstellung; first prize at the Cotton Carnival, Galveston, Tex., 1913; silver medals at San Diego in lioth 1915 and 1916; honorable mention at the State Fair at Phoenix, 1916; and a bronze medal at the State Fair at Sacramento, in 1919. He is a Republican in matters of national political import, and humanitarian and philanthropic in his attitude toward society and the problems of the day.

Mr. Cuprien is a member of the American Federation of Arts, the Leipsic Art Association, the Fort Worth Art Association, the California Art Club, and the Laguna Beach Art Association, being a charter member there, and one of the board of trustees.

KARL JENS.—A noted American painter who has contributed his efficient influence for the advancement of art in California and for the building up of an artistic atmosphere at Laguna Beach, is Mr. Jens, better known as Karl Yens, who was born in Altona, on the Elbe, in nothern Germany, not far from Hamburg, on January 11.  1868, and grew up in a beautiful environment of gardens and villas, and with all the educational advantages that the Old World could offer. He pursued high school and college studies there, and took up and followed art in Hamburg, Berlin and Munich, and later in England and Scotland. When nineteen years of age, he studied at the Museum of Arts and Crafts at Berlin, under Professors Koch and Ewald, the latter the director of the institute, and these studies he continued at the Academic Julien in Paris, where he was under the guidance of the renowned Benjamin Constant and E.  Paul Laurens. There he entered into sharp competition for honors, and was one of tlie few declared to have made much progress and been successful in 1900.  When Mr. Yens first came to America he traveled through the country as an artist, desirous of seeing the best there was and for six years made his headquarters in Cambridge, Mass. He exhibited in Boston and in Philadelphia, then moved temporarily to Washington, D. C, where he made a specialty of mural decoration; in New York, he later executed some mural work in theaters and private residences.  Mr. Yens had married in Germany, before coming to America, Miss Helene Grote of Cambridge, Mass., who was on her first trip to that country. Mrs. Yens died at their home in Cambridge while her husband was in Germany on a visit to his mother and left three children, Anna, Otto and Elizabeth, all of whom are in the East completing their educations. In 1909. in New York, Mr. Yens was married a second time, taking for his wife Miss Katherine Petry, a trained nurse who had been reared and educated there, and with him she enjoys a wide popularity.  In 1910, Mr. Yens removed from the East to California and settled at Pasadena, and soon after he had established a studio at South Pasadena, he became, in 1911, a professor in the University of Southern California, and for nearly three years had charge of their College of Fine Arts. From 1916 to 1918 Mr. Yens was an art instructor at the Los Angeles Polytechnic school.

While in the East, Mr. Yens made a specialty of portraiture, and is an expert in all mediums; bein.g an etcher he owns his own etching press. He is particularly fond of out-door painting—landscapes and studies from nature. He called his workshop at South Pasadena, just beyond the Mineral Park, the Arroyo Verde Studio, and the name and the design and furnishing of the studio well bespeaks the man. Fond of roaming here and there, Mr. Yens has often limned the beauties of Southern California, depicting every feature with rare fidelity, and giving to all his work spontaneity and vitality.  Mr. Yens’ aim to do the big and important things has been richly rewarded, for he has exhibited at all the leading exhibitions in Los Angeles and his paintings are a source of delight to the local art world. His larger works are shown in the leading exhibits in the East—The National Academy of Design and the Architectural League Club in New York; the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia; the Architectural League in Washington, D. C, and other places, for he keeps up a live connection with the East. He took the silver and bronze medals at both the State Fairs in California in 1915-1916; was also awarded the Clarence A. Black prize for excellence in landscape painting as a result of his participation in the exhibits at Exposition Park, Los Angeles. He is a member of the California Art Club and of the Laguna Beach Art Association, and was secretary of the Los Angeles Modern Art Society.  Despite his pleasant associations with other art communities, Mr. Yens removed to Laguna Beach on November 19, 1919; and here he has been an especially distinguished citizen ever since. An enthusiastic American, with rare confidence in our institutions for the future, Mr. Yens has been able, as few others are privileged to do, to contribute much to advance the appreciation for art among a folk heretofore too busy with founding a great commonwealth always to give time and attention to the finer attractions in life. When, therefore, Laguna Beach will come to its own in the matter of high art, the influence of this progressive exponent will be sure to be recognized and acknowledged.

CHARLES A. KNUTH.—A conservative, yet decidedly enterprising leader in business affairs, who has sought to lead a Christian life through the application of the Golden Rule, is Charles A. Knuth, of the Villa Park section of Orange County. He was born in Germany on January 11, 1873, and came to America with his mother. His foster father is William Knuth. who adopted the lad and he was reared as his son.  The family moved to Milwaukee, and it was there Charles A. Knuth attended school for eight years, during which time he worked at his trades, continuing until 1887, when he decided the Pacific Coast country held better inducements.  On March 17, 1887, the “boom” year, William Knuth brought his family to California, and at Villa Park, in Orange County, he bought ten acres of land, gradually increasing his holdings, with the aid of his children, until he owned sixty-eight acres.  Charles helped set out the trees and otherwise improve their holdings and in time the.  father gave to each of his children ten acres, retaining five acres upon which he and his good wife now live. While Charles was working on the ranch he found time to attend the Orange Business College, where he took a general commercial course.  From 1908 to 1915 he traveled over part of the state representing, at various times, some of the best-known commission houses of Los Angeles and San Francisco.  Since its organization in 1913. excepting one year, Mr. Knuth has been foreman of the field work for the Villa Park Orchards Association, which serves over 150 growers and handles the product of more than 2,000 acres. This position has brought him in close touch with the citrus industry of the state and occupies his time so that he hires the work done on his ten-acre ranch.

On Tune 7, 1905. Charles A. Knuth and Marie Steffens were united in marriage and they have two daughters. Norma Marie and Marie Charlotte, both now attending school. The family belongs to the Lutheran Church at Orange. Mr. Knuth is a Republican, has served on the election boards and is a member of the Farm Center.  During the war he served as a committeeman on the loan drives. He is one of the best-known and well-liked men of his section of country.

MARTIN V. ALLEN.—A well-read, reflecting, self-made man. whose hard work and honest methods have made him a sharer in all the good things of life, is Martin V. Allen, a native of Bloomington, McLean County, ILL., where he was born on November 10, 1874. His father was Patrick Allen, a stonemason employed for most of his life by the Santa Fe, who died in 1918, at the ripe age of seventy-four. He had married Miss Margaret Allen, and she passed to her eternal reward when our subject was a mere youth. A sister of Martin died when he was twenty-four, and he is now the only survivor of his once happy family.

Having always had to work hard for a living. Martin Allen enjoyed but a few years of schooling, and so came to acquire that wide knowledge of agriculture for which he is locally famed, when he was a boy. The rudiments of the three R’s. were obtained at the Church Street school in Galesburg, 111., and so thorough was that elementary training that when he came west to California in 1897 and cast his lot in with others who were rapidly developing Orange County, he was better equipped than many to wrestle with work-a-day problems. He started to grow barley, potatoes and corn on a ranch in Santiago Canyon, and securing his first crop of “spuds” in 1897, when prices were very low, he sold them to wholesale houses in Los Angeles and realized all that the market would allow. For eight years he followed cement contracting in Orange County and since 1908 he has been the able superintendent of the thirty-eight acres belonging to the Adolphus Busch estate in the Villa Park precinct. At one time he knew nearly every family in Orange County, but now so many settlers have come in he scarcely knows his nearest neighbors.

On July 31, 1901, Mr. Allen was married to Miss Anita Martin, a native daughter of Orange County, whose parents came to California from Texas in an ox-team train.  Mrs. Martin, the mother, is still living at Villa Park, aged eighty-four. Two children have blessed their union: Ernest L. and Carl L., both attending school in Villa Park.  Mr. .’Mien belongs to the Odd Fellows of Orange and served one term as noble grand. Both Mr. and Mrs. Allen are members of the Rebekahs. He is a Democrat in national politics, but holds himself free to vote for whom he chooses. And in business, desiring to see California go forward by leaps and bounds, and to stabilize all her development, he is an independent shipper of produce and fruit. Mr. Allen was a member of Company L, Seventh Regiment U. S. Volunteers for service in the Spanish-American War.

History of Orange County, California: Samuel Armor

Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA 1921

Transcribed by: Marianne Swan - Pages 747 - 800

                                                                                         Site Created: 15 June 2009
                                                                                          Martha A Crosley Graham
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