California Genealogy

Martin Stucker Freer was a native Californian, born in Barryessa, Santa Clara County, October 1, 1854, his father being William H. Freer, the pioneer, whose history is given at length elsewhere in this volume. Reared on the home farm for the first twenty-one years of his life, Martin S. was educated in the public schools […]

Inheriting the qualities of character which have made the Freer name respected and esteemed throughout El Monte district and indeed, all Los Angeles County, Lee Freer held rank as one of the representative citizens of El Monte. He was a native son of the State, and a twin of Jackson Freer, whose sketch is included

John H. Freer, well known among El Monte’s early settlers, was the son of William H. Freer, who settled in El Monte in the seventies, a separate review of whom is given in this work. John Freer was born in San Jose, California in 1852, and in 1874, came to El Monte and located on

James Bascom Freer, the second son of William H. Freer, whose name is known and honored throughout Southern California as that of a pioneer, was born in Trenton, Grundy County, Missouri, April 15, 1843, remaining a resident of his native state unit 1849, when he was brought across the plains to California. Although a child

Jackson Freer, son of William H. Freer, who is represented elsewhere in this work, was born April 6, 1870, in San Jose, Santa Clara County, California. He was a twin brother of Lee Freer, a review of whom is to be found elsewhere in this volume. In 1875 he was brought to Southern California by

Born in Alsace Lorraine, February 3, 1842, Frank A. Forst, El Monte’s first undertaker, emigrated to America in 1863, and a short time later came to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama. Mr. Forst was the son of Joseph and Saloma Forst, who were also natives of France, and who died in that

California is justly proud of her educational advantages and facilities, which compare favorably with those of any other state of the Union. Prominent among the well-known instructors and educators, of Los Angeles County and El Monte in particular, is Professor E.A. Farrington. Mr. Farrington was born January 5, 1860, in Franklinville, New York. His father,

One of El Monte’s early settlers, a successful rancher and walnut grower, was Lewis Farmer, born in Harlan County, Kentucky, May 15, 1848. His parents were William C. and Catherine (Bronson) Farmer, natives of Kentucky; Lewis was the first-born of a family of ten children. Remaining at home until he was twenty-two years of age,

About a mile and a half southeast of El Monte may be seen one of the finest walnut groves of Southern California, the pride of its owner, William Elliott, until his death in 1913. When he purchased this property, consisting of seventy acres of wild, barren land, it gave little indication of its present beauty

Alexander Elliott, a brother of William Elliott, a sketch of whom is found elsewhere in these pages, was born in 1862, in Paisley, Scotland, coming in 1867 to Ontario, Canada, with his parents, where he lived until 1884, when, with his brother William, he came to California and settled near El Monte. Mr. Elliott engaged