Los Angeles County
Biographies
CHRIS ANDERSON,
contractor, North Griffin avenue, East Los Angeles, is a native of Denmark, born June 18, 1844. He attended school during boyhood and acquired the rudiments of his trade in his native country. In 1861 he emigrated to the United States, went to Wisconsin, and was employed in a sash, door and blind factory, where he completed his trade, and afterward went to Chicago. During the war he went South and was in the employ of the Government. He returned to Chicago, followed his trade there and in Wisconsin, and from there went to Terre Haute, Indiana, remaining at the latter place two years. In 1869 he made a visit to his native land, and while there married, May 21, 1869, Miss Mary Knutsen, a native of Denmark. After his return to this country they spent a few months in Wisconsin, after which they settled in Terre Haute, Indiana, and remained there ten years. In 1880 they came to the Pacific Coast and located at Los Angeles. The following year Mr. Anderson engaged in contracting and building, and since then, for the past eight years, has been prominently identified with building interests of this city and county. Among the many buildings erected by him are the Hammond Block, Spring street; Hayden Block, East Los Angeles; Muhally Block, Buena Vista and College streets; Edgar Block, Cram residence, Judge Taney's residence, and the residences of White, Zech and Norton, and also many others. Mr. Anderson has had a large experience and has earned an enviable reputation for his ability as a contractor and also for his integrity and fair dealing. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson have eight children: William A., Albert H., Mary C., Fannie B., Flora C., Rosa A., Christina T. and Waldemar. One daughter, Laura B., is deceased. They have an attractive home on North Griffin avenue, comprising four or five acres of ground. Their large and beautiful residence has just been completed. Mr. Anderson also owns other property in the city and country.
An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California – Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1889 Page 700
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
MARTIN G. AGUIRRE
was born in San Diego, September 6, 1858. His father was Don Jose Antonio Aguirre, a native of Madrid, Spain, and his mother was Dona Rosario Estudillo, daughter of Jose A. Estudillo and nee Yictorio Dominguez. Mr. Aguirre cause to California in 1840. He married Doña Rosario Estudillo. He died in 1860, leaving a widow, who still resides at San Diego, and four children, namely: Miguel; Dolores, who married Francisco Pico, of San Diego; José Antonio, who married Leonor Cardwell and is a resident of Los Angeles; and Martin G., the present sheriff of Los Angeles County. The latter came to Los Angeles County when nine years of age. He received his education at Prof. Lawler's Institute, in Los Angeles, and at the Santa Clara College. He was a deputy under Sheriff George E. Gard two years; and in 1886 he was elected constable by 421 majority over his opponent, on the Republican ticket when almost the entire ticket was defeated; and in November, 1888, he was elected sheriff on the Republican ticket by a majority of 3,987 votes over his Democratic competitor, Mr. Thomas E. Rowan, who was considered to be the strongest man in the Democratic party. Mr. Aguirre, although still a young man, is a brave and most efficient officer. While yet a subordinate under Sheriff Gard, he displayed those qualities of character which have since marked him as a man eminently qualified, by his bravery and skill, to win success in the pursuit and capture of criminals. His daring and activity, shown in saving lives and property in the flood of 1886, won him the plaudits of the entire community, as well as the lasting gratitude of those whose lives he saved and of their families and immediate friends. Mr. Aguirre, who is the youngest sheriff this county ever had, takes a chivalrous pride in faithfully performing the onerous duties of his important office; and the people of Los Angeles County are proud of their young sheriff, as was manifested by the overwhelming majority by which he was elected.
An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California – Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1889 Page 701
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
COLONEL R. S. BAKER,
one of the most prominent, and perhaps the best known, citizens of Los Angeles, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1825, and is the son of Rev. Luther Baker, a Baptist clergyman, who officiated for years as pastor of the First Baptist Church in that city, the oldest and leading Church of that denomination in the State. Colonel Baker's ancestors were among the earliest settlers in Rhode Island. The Baker homestead was one of the first houses built in Warren, that State, many years before time Revolution; and the Baker wharf, at the foot of Baker street, in that town, includes the Massasoit Spring and the site of the former residence of that celebrated Indian chief. Colonel Baker's brother, William L., was United States Consul at Guaymas, Mexico, under the administration of President Lincoln. In the winter of 1862, while returning from a mining expedition in the interior of the State of Sonora, he was ambushed and killed by the Apache Indians. Colonel Baker was among the pioneers of California. Leaving New York on the steamer Oregon, he arrived in San Diego, March 20, 1849, and proceeded at once to San Francisco, where he engaged in business in company with Joseph and George Lewis Cooke, of Providence, Rhode Island, the firm being known as Cooke, Baker & Co. In February, 1850, he severed his connection with that concern, and bought three vessels for the purpose of shipping his goods to Marysville, where he had started in business. This venture, however, not proving as successful as he desired, he sold out and engaged in mining on Poor Man's Creek, in Sierra County. His health not permitting him to continue his mining pursuits, he started for Fort Tejon in company with General E. F. Beale, afterward Minister to Austria, and in 1861 engaged in the cattle and sheep business. This enterprise proved a great success, and was the starting point toward amassing his present handsome fortune. In 1874 he married the opulent and accomplished widow of Don Abel Stearns. This gentleman, a native of Boston, Massachusetts, but for many years a resident of Los Angeles, was a land and cattle king, and at his death all his vast possessions passed under his will into the hands of his widow, now Mrs. Baker. She is the daughter of Don Juan Bandini, deceased, who for a long time prior to his death resided at San Diego, though he was formerly a resident of Los Angeles. It is said that at one time Bandini and Stearns together owned nearly the whole of Southern California. When Colonel Baker first arrived in San Francisco he erected a building there, which he bought in the East at a cost of $2,500 and had sent out on a sailing vessel, from which he realized a rental of $36,000 a year. The Baker Block on Main street, Los Angeles, was erected by him in 1878, at a cost of $25,000, and this, too, at a time when the city was perfectly dead in a business point of view, and when there were scarcely anything but adobe structures in the place. It required rare courage and perseverance to rear such an edifice at such a time. It is to-day one of the finest and most substantially built blocks in Los Angeles. The construction of this elegant block inspired confidence in the future of the city, and was undoubtedly one of the main factors in laying the foundation for the marvelous growth and prosperity of the metropolis of Southern California. In this action it is impossible to deny to Colonel Baker the merit of extraordinary foresight. Among the other properties acquired by him is the San Vicente Ranch, of 36,000 acres, bordering on the Pacific Ocean, and on which is located the town of Santa Monica. He originally owned the whole of this princely domain, but sold the major part of it to Senator Jones, of Nevada. They jointly donated 300 acres of this territory, valued at not less than $100,000, to the United States Government for a soldiers' home; and they have provided an ample supply of pure water for the use of this institution. The Hotel Arcadia at Santa Monica Beach was named in honor of Mrs. Baker. In addition to his, city property, Colonel Baker owns the upper portion of Puente Ranch, 5,000 acres; the Laguna Ranch, 11,000 acres, a portion of which is in the city of Los Angeles; and the Camulo Ranch at Newhall, of 6,000 acres, on which are oil wells that he works at a profit. In the development of the mining interests of the country he has great concern, and owns and has interests in the mines all over the coast. In politics the Colonel is and has always been an ardent Republican, though he has never sought or wished for public office. He is probably as well known throughout the State of California as any man in it, notwithstanding the fact that he has made no effort to figure in public life.
An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California – Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1889 Page 701
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler