San Bernardino County
Biographies
J. H. PIERSON, M. D.,
residing at Mission San Bernardino, is a native of New En gland, and came from a Puritan family on his father's side, and an English Quaker family on his mother's side. He is a son of Henry Pierson, a direct descendent of Abram Pierson, first president of Yale College, whose ancestors landed on Long Island in 1632. The subject of this sketch resided several years in Europe engaged in the study of medicine, and in 1861 he came back to America, and in 1866 went to Lake Superior as physician and surgeon for the Anglo-American Copper & Lead Mining Company. In 1867 he went to Arizona as surgeon for the Vulture Gold Mining Company, and remained there until 1882. He was married in 1870. In 1882 his health having failed somewhat he determined to discontinue the practice of his profession and try rural life. Accordingly he purchased a fine tract of 265 acres of land in Mission San Bernardino, on which he has over 1,000 orange trees, ten acres of peach trees, five acres of pears and other deciduous fruits. Here, surrounded by his family, the Doctor is leading a quiet life, looking after the education of his children and the interests of his farm.
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.- 506-507
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
GEORGE JORDAN,
proprietor of the largest jewelry house in San Bernardino
County, has been in the business in California twenty-three years. Born in
Germany forty-eight years ago, he emigrated to the United States when a youth of
fifteen, and after stopping for a time in New York, went south into Georgia,
where he remained during the late
civil war. After the close of the conflict he returned to his native land and
spent two years in business in Europe. Recrossing the Atlantic, he came directly
to the Pacific coast and opened a jewelry store in San Francisco, where he
carried on business for twenty-one years. Having faith in the grand future of
Southern California and wishing to identify himself with its march of progress,
Mr. Jordan closed out his business in San Francisco, and in May, 1888, opened
his present store in the Ruffen block, San Bernardino, with an extensive and
elegant stock of goods, his purpose being to embrace in variety and quality
everything required or sought after in the line of jewelry, diamonds, watches,
clocks and optical goods, thus supplying purchasers with an assortment equal to
any to be found in the larger cities. Having a thoroughly practical knowledge of
the details of the different branches of his business, and giving the close
personal attention to every department, Mr. Jordan commands a large and
prosperous trade, which extends throughout San Bernardino and adjacent counties.
He designs and makes to order everything in the line of diamond work, society
emblems, jewels, medals. etc., and has a well earned reputation as one of the
most skillful and painstaking watchmakers in the State.
Notwithstanding the temporary business depression which has prevailed in this section of the State for the past year or two, as the reactionary result of the speculative boom, Mr. Jordan still has undiminished faith in the great future of Southern California, possessing as it does such a multitudinous number and unparalleled richness of resources. He is a gentleman of fine business qualifications, and an affability and sincerity of manner which wins and retains the esteem of his fellows.
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.- 507
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
LUCIAN D. CRANDALL,
senior partner of the firm of L. D. Crandall & Co., proprietors of one of the largest retail grocery houses in San Bernardino, is a native son, born in that city in 1857. As he grew to manhood he had a strong desire to visit other portions of the continent, and, wishing to combine business with travel, he joined his brother, W. N. Crandall, when about eighteen years old, in railroad contracting, and they were engaged in that business in Utah, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Idaho, Montana and the Dominion of Canada and the Northwest Territory about eight years. Two years of this time they were on the north shore of Lake Superior, where sleighs were in use as a mode of conveyance four months of the year. While there they were associated with M. D. Hammond, under the firm title of Hammond & Crandall, and employed a large force of men and teams. They wound up their contracting business in 1884, and Mr. Crandall spent nearly a year in and about Montreal, Canada. Returning to San Bernardino the latter part of 1885, he soon after embarked in the grocery trade as a partner with W. A. Boren as successor to H. J. Beggs. He subsequently purchased Mr. Boren's interest, and after conducting the business alone for about a year took in H. Williams, his present partner, the firm assuming its present style. They carry an excellent stock of fine staple and fancy goods, and their trade extends throughout San Bernardino County and as far east as Arizona. The business has steadily increased in volume since the house was first opened and now reaches about $50,000 a year.
In 1887 Mr. Crandall married Miss Chipman, a native of Utah. He was one of the organizers of and is a stockholder and director in the First National Bank of San Bernardino; he also owns several valuable pieces of property in the city.
His father, L. D. Crandall, Sr., died in. Sault Saint Marie, Canada, in 1884. His mother, formerly Mary Wixom, daughter of early California pioneers, still resides in this city.
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.- 507-508
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler