San Bernardino County
Biographies
WILLIAM STUDABECKER
was born in Allen County, Indiana, in 1851; he is the son
of David and Elizabeth (Wilt) Studabecker. His father was a native of
Pennsylvania and his mother of Maine. When Mr. Studabecker was two years of age
his father moved the family to Van Wert County, Ohio, and there engaged in
farming until his death in 1858. The subject of this sketch
was reared to the labor attending a life upon a farm, and after the age of ten
years was deprived of any schooling facilities; at twenty years of age he
learned the shoemaker's trade and followed that calling until 1873. In that year
he came to California and located at Galt, Sacramento County. Here Mr.
Studabecker worked at his trade and other occupations until 1876, and then came
to San Luis Obispo, where he remained until 1881, and then located at Santa
Barbara, where he was employed by Emerson & Co., in their boot and shoe store
until 1883, when he came to San Bernardino County. Shortly after his arrival in
the county he settled in Riverside, and in partnership with his brother, John A.
Studabecker, commenced the publication of the Valley Echo.
They sold out this journal in April,
1884, and Mr. Studabecker then went to Los Angeles and established the
Commercial Printing House, which he conducted until sickness compelled him to
suspend his business labors. In May, 1885 he sold out his business and returned
to Riverside, and after a partial recovery of his
health again entered the newspaper business, in connection with his old paper,
the Valley Echo, with which he was associated until its sale in January,
1886. October 13, 1886, Mr.
Studabecker took charge of the publication of the Daily Enterprise, and
conducted the same until January, 1887, when he purchased the paper and printing
office and has since conducted its publication as the sole proprietor.
Mr. Studabecker is a self-educated and self-made man; one who has acquired a practical knowledge that has enabled him to engage in pursuits of life above that of his trade. He belongs to the Democratic party, but is conservative and liberal in his views. He is a member of Chorro Lodge, No. 168, I. O. O. F., of San Luis Obispo. February, 1888, he married Miss Claudina L. Wood, daughter of Thomas J. Wood (a sketch of whom appears in this volume). They have but one child, Hale A.
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.- 701
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
JAMES FLEMING,
a prominent lumber manufacturer and dealer at San Bernardino, came from Canada to San Bernardino County, California, in June, 1880, with the intention of spending a year on the Pacific coast and then returning to the British Dominions; but, being highly pleased with the country and climate and favorably impressed with the prospective future of Southern California, he has passed ten pleasant and prosperous years in the county for which he has formed such an attachment, and has acquired such extensive business and property interests that his permanent residence is assured. For several years after his arrival he was engaged in various vocations, a portion of the time as salesman in a store. In 1886 he started in the milling and lumber business with his uncle, W. S. Lapraix, and upon the accidental death of the latter in May, 1887, by injury received at the mill in the mountains, Mr. Fleming assumed entire control of the business as executor and principal legatee of his uncle's estate, and has carried it on ever since. This estate owns 1,700 acres of timber on the mountains north of the city, where their saw-mill is located, which Mr. Fleming estimates will require ten to twelve years to exhaust at the present rate of consumption: 600,000 to 1,000,000 feet per annum. Mr. Fleming's lumber yard is situated on the corner of E and Fourth streets in San Bernardino, where the product of the mill is kept in stock and sold, the chief market being San Bernardino County, though some of it is shipped to San Diego and Los Angeles counties. The timber, which consists of mountain and sugar pine and cedar, is cut into all classes of building lumber, of which about 500,000 feet is kept in stock in the yard. The cost of the lumber cut at the mill is $5 to $6 per 1,000 feet; and the cost of freighting down from the mountains to the city, a distance of some fourteen miles, is $6.50 to $8 per 1,000 feet. This hauling is done by large six-horse (or mule) teams, on immense lumber wagons, which carry from 3,000 to 4,000 feet at a load. Mr. Fleming's uncle, Mr. Lapraix, was one of the pioneers in developing the mountain-lumber business, and was one of the builders of the mountain toll-road, and a stockholder in it at the time of his death. Mr. Fleming was born in Canada in 1857, and resided there until he came to California. He is recognized as one of the representative and successful business men of the county. Besides his extensive milling and lumber interests, he owns a fine tract of very choice citrus fruit land in Highlands of great value.
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.- 701-702
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler