Alameda County
Biographies
JOSEPH LORAN PEASE, D. D. S.
Prominent among the representatives of the dental profession in Oakland is Dr. Joseph Loran Pease, who is, moreover, a representative citizen in various other connections. He wag born at Bozeman, Montana, May 22, 1873. His father, Joseph Alonzo Pease, was a pioneer of that state and was closely identified with its upbuilding and progress. He possessed a broad acquaintance and enjoyed the high regard of all who knew him, for he was a man of unusually upright character and nobility. He married Orvilla Kimpton and to them were born nine children, all of whom reached manhood or womanhood before she passed away. She was a most devoted wife and mother and she was well known for her activity in church circles.
After attending the grammar schools of his native city Dr. Pease of this review prepared at the Wisconsin Academy in Madison, Wisconsin, to enter the State University, in which he continued his studies. His preparation for the profession of dentistry was made in the Chicago College of Dental Surgery, from which he was graduated in April, 1897. He was a student for a time in Rush Medical College of Chicago and in 1901 took the degree of M. D. at the Pacific Coast College of Medicine. His educational training was not continuous, however, for in early manhood he had followed stock-raising in Montana and in Chicago he had engaged in clerking in a hardware store. Since entering upon the active practice of his profession he has made continuous advancement and in 1898 was elected clinician in the College of Physicians and Surgeons in San Francisco, which position he filled until appointed a member of the California Board of Dental Examiners, serving as president one term and as treasurer for four terms. For two terms he was honored with the presidency of the Alameda County Dental Society and he was president of the Oakland Dental Club, while recently he has been made an associate of the California Study Club. In addition to his practice, which returns to him a substantial annual income, he is interested in real estate, holding property in Oakland, in Fresno county, California, and in Montana. In January, 1906, he was made a member of the Board of Dental Examiners of California and continued in that office until April, 1914. His high professional standing is indicated in the fact that he has been made a member of the committee of organization of the Panama Pacific Dental Congress and is a director of the Pacific Dental Congress Commission of 1915. He holds to the highest professional standards and his own efficiency and skill have constituted a stimulating example for others.
In his political views Dr. Pease is a republican but has never aspired to local office, thinking that he can best serve the people of his state and the dental profession by close attention to his duties as a member of the board of dental examiners, with which he was connected during the administrations of Governors Pardee, Gillett and Johnson. He recently resigned to devote most of his time to the practice of his profession.
At Oakland, on the 3d of June, 1903, Dr. Pease was married to Miss Mable Thornton Gage, a daughter of Stephen T. Gage, who for many years was closely identified with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company as a director. He was prominent in the early development of California and Nevada and is the only living electoral messenger who supported President Lincoln, having been sent from Nevada when but twenty-two years of age. Dr. and Mrs. Pease have one son, Loran Thornton, nine years of age, who is a leader in his classes in school and also possesses rare musical talent. He is a pupil of Madame Von Hergott.
The parents hold membership in St. Paul's Episcopal church and Dr. Pease belongs to the Men's Club of the church. Fraternally he is a Mason, holding membership in Live Oak Lodge, No. 61, F. & A. M., and in the different branches of York and Scottish Rite Masonry. He is a past high priest of Aahmes Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He also has membership in Oakland Lodge, No. 171, B. P. O. E.; and belongs to Psi Omega, a Greek letter dental fraternity. In club circles he is well known as a member of the Commercial Club, serving as a member of the public health commission, and he also belongs to the Mount Diablo Park Club. Along strictly professional lines his associations are with the Alameda County District Dental Society and the California State Dental Association, having served as director and vice president of the same. Dr. Pease was much interested in bringing about the Alameda county free clinic for indigent and needy school children.
Past & Present of Alameda County, California – Vol II, S. J. Clarke Publ. Co., 1914
p. 334
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
GAVIN AITCHISON.
In 1905, after an eventful period of close identification with mining interests in Alaska, Gavin Aitchison came to Alameda, turning his attention to the contracting and building business, in which he has engaged continuously since that time. A spirit of enterprise and progress has actuated him in all he has done and success has steadily attended his well directed labors so that he stands today among the representative and substantial business men of the city. He was born in Nova Scotia, July 9, 1855, and is a representative of one of the pioneer families of that province, his maternal great-grandfather having been one of the first settlers there and his father, James Aitchison, having come from his native Dumfriesshire, Scotland, to the province in 1834. He there turned his attention to general farming and followed that occupation successfully until his death in 1912. The mother of our subject was in her maidenhood Miss Ann Bell, a daughter of Gavin and Mary (Irving) Bell, of Scotland.
Gavin Aitchison acquired his education in the public schools of his native province and at the early age of ten laid aside his books in order to learn the carpentering business, completing his apprenticeship in 1879. He then became identified with mill work, taking charge of the Balfour mills of Waugh's River, Nova Scotia, whence after six months he came to the United States, settling in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1885. There he took up the carpenter's trade but after six months went to Waterbury, Connecticut, returning in 1886 to Waugh's River. There he again became connected with saw-milling, which he followed for one year thereafter, going in 1887 to Spring Hill, Nova Scotia, and there entering the contracting business for himself, thus beginning his independent career. He left Nova Scotia for California on the 1st of January, 1888, and after his arrival in San Francisco obtained work as a carpenter for the Spring Valley Water Company. In 1889 he secured a position in the bridge department of the Southern Pacific Railroad and retained it for four years, proving capable, efficient and conscientious in the discharge of his duties. From 1889 to 1898 he engaged in the carpentering business in San Francisco and in the latter year went to St. Michaels, where he worked as a carpenter on the construction of the Northern Alaska Transportation Company's hotel. From St. Michaels he went with dog teams to Gollivan bay as a prospector and was with the party that discovered Ophir Creek, a valuable property now owned and operated by the Northern Lights Mining Company. In all Mr. Aitchison made six trips to Alaska but in 1905 returned to California with the intention of remaining permanently. He went to San Francisco and almost immediately afterward came to Alameda, where he established himself as a general contractor and builder. In this occupation he has engaged since that time and the excellent work he has accomplished is the best evidence of his ability and skill. He has erected many fine homes and other structures in this city and in the neighborhood, his buildings showing always excellent workmanship and artistic design. As a result his patronage has steadily increased and it has now reached extensive proportions, Mr. Aitchison being numbered among the leading contractors and builders in this section of the county.
Mr. Aitchison married Miss Mary Belle Matheson, a daughter of Angus and Margaret (Monroe) Matheson, of Pictou county, Nova Scotia. Mr. and Mrs. Aitchison are the parents of seven children: James Miller, aged thirty-three; Margaret Belle, thirty-one; John Walter, twenty-nine; Alexander Gordon, twenty-seven; Ethel Louise, twenty-five; and Mabel Irene and Gretta May, twins, aged eighteen.
Fraternally Mr. Aitchison is a member of Oak Grove Lodge, No. 115, F. & A. M., and he is president of the Alameda Improvement Club, a position in which he has accomplished a great deal of constructive and farsighted work. He is not a politician and the honors and emoluments of office have no attraction for him. He prefers rather to concentrate his attention upon his business affairs, in which he has been very successful, and much credit is due to him for the position he has attained among the substantial and representative business men of Alameda.
Past & Present of Alameda County, California – Vol II, S. J. Clarke Publ. Co., 1914
p. 338
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler