San Bernardino County
Biographies
JOHN E. CUTTER,
of the firm of Twogood & Cutter, nurserymen, Riverside, was born in Webster, Androscoggin County, Maine, in 1844. His parents were Dr. Benoni Cutter, born in New Hampshire, and Olive S. (Drinkwater) Cutter, a native of Maine. The death of his mother occurred in 184'7, and of his father in 1851; and he was then reared under the care of his grandfather and step-mother. His boyhood and youth were spent upon the farm and in the schools. In 1862 he entered the military service of his country as a private of the Twenty-third Regiment of Maine Volunteers, and served for nine months in the defense of Washington. He was honorably discharged at the expiration of his term of enlistment, re-enlisted in the Twenty-ninth Volunteer Infantry, and shared in all its campaigns and battles. After hard service he was promoted to be Corporal, and then Sergeant. His regiment was assigned to duty in the Nineteenth Army Corps in the Department of the Gulf, and took part in the Red river campaign, and, with the Twenty-ninth Wisconsin, built the dam at Alexandria that saved Admiral Porter's fleet. The regiment (with most of the corps) was then ordered north and joined General Phil. Sheridan's army in the Shenandoah valley and participated in the battles of Opequan, Fisher's Hill and Cedar creek. Mr. Cutter remained in the service until the close of the war, and after his discharge returned to Maine. He then entered the Wesleyan Seminary and Female College at Kent's Hill, and spent two years in study in that institution. After graduating be engaged as a teacher in the public schools until 1870. In that year he emigrated west and located in Murray County, Minnesota. There he homesteaded land and occupied himself as a teacher for over two years, and then returned to Maine, and was engaged as a teacher and principal of academies until 1878. He then decided to establish himself on the Pacific coast, and in March of that year came to California and located in Riverside. He continued his calling as a teacher and was principal of the Riverside Grammar School for a year, and later elsewhere. He also engaged in horticultural pursuits, having in 1879 purchased an eight-acre tract on Cypress avenue formerly owned by Dr. Emory. The improvement of this place had been commenced with orange trees, to which he added vineyard and other planting. Mr. Cutter soon became an expert in horticultural industries, and writer on the same, contributing papers to the societies of his own State and also to the American Horticultural Society. In 1885 he associated himself with Messrs. John Edwards and Twogood Brothers, under the firm name of Twogood, Edwards & Cutter, and entered largely into the nursery business. They established nurseries east of Riverside, and also imported trees from Florida. In 1888 Mr. Cutter sold his orange grove on Cypress avenue and purchased unimproved lands, some of which he has planted. Among these is a ten-acre tract in orange trees, about one mile east of Riverside railroad station, under the Gage canal system; he has also properties in Palm valley and at Long Beach, and an interest in a ten-acre lot one-half mile south of the city. His residence is on Prospect avenue, where he has a half-acre tract.
Mr. Cutter is well known in Riverside as an energetic and progressive man, taking a deep interest in the growth and prosperity of the colony. His interest in schools and churches is well attested by his support of the same. He is a member of the Methodist Church, and of the board of education in the city of Riverside. He is a member of Riverside Post, No. 118, G. A. R. In political matters lie is an independent, of Republican antecedents. In 1877 Mr. Cutter was united in wedlock with Miss Annie L. Dinsmore, a native of Maine. She is well known as a teacher in Riverside and elsewhere in the county. They have one child : Charlotte M.
No apology need be offered for giving here an excellent specimen of Mr. Cutter's poetic ability and good humor:
POEM OF WELCOME.
BY J. E. CUTTER.
Delivered before the American Horticultural Society at its session in Riverside in February, 1888.
What strange invasion pours down the glen,
And whence such troops of frozen-bearded men?
Say, watchman, ho!—way up in the Cajon!
Who may they be, and whither are they bo'ne?
"Seven days and nights they've fled the blizzard's wrath,
And west-sou'-west have kept the hopeful path:
So far they came it seemed too like a sin
To bar the pass; and so I let them in."
Right, worthy watchman. These our luck shall share;
But keep old Zero t'other side with care.
So, friends, you're welcome each to what may suit.
Now doff your furs and have a little fruit.
Old Bacchus, wiser than our modern day,
Hand-squeezed his grapes and sucked their juice away;
Nor still nor saccharometer had he,
And never got his wine by chemistry.
But Bacchus' bowl and chemists' fizzing tun
Have here no place. Beneath the kindly sun
In sweet profusion down the laced lines
We dry the fruitage of our sheeny vines.
The orange? Yes, it rules the vale no doubt.
Just cut transverse and turn it inside out.
The cost you'd know? You've nothing, gents, to pay.
Put in your bills and taste. There, that's the way!
SOURCE: An Illustrated History of Southern California: Embracing the Counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower California… Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890. p.- 723-724
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler