Ingersoll's Century History Santa Monica Bay Cities (Being Book Number Two of Ingersoll's Century Series of California Local History Annals) Prefaced with A Brief History of the State of California A Condensed History of Los Angeles County 1542 to 1908 Supplemented with An Encyclopedia of Local Biography and Embellished with Views of Historic Landmarks and Portraits of Representative People. Luther A. Ingersoll Los Angeles 1908, 512 pp., 1908a
To the memory of the late Williamson D. Vawter, Foremost pioneer citizen in promoting the civic, industrial and moral welfare of Santa Monica, and whose life was an inspiration to noble deeds, this volume of local history is dedicated by The Author.
Ingersoll's Century History Santa Monica Bay Cities (Being Book Number Two of Ingersoll's Century Series of California Local History Annals), 1908, 1908a, Preface
[page ii] Preface
The publication of this book is in no degree an accident, but rather the partial fulfullment of a long-cherished plan to sometimes put in permanent and fitting form the annals of some of the more historic and romantic cities and towns of Southern California. This ambition dates back to the winter season of 1888-9, when the writer arrived in the "Golden State," became impressed with the transcendent richness of its past history and its abundant promise of future growth and history making. What might have been regarded, at the time, a fancy, or inspiration, has, with the rapid passing of two decades, developed into a vivid reality. Obscure hamlets have become prosperous cities; where then were open stock ranges and broad fields of grain, have sprung up marts of trade and commerce, environed by progressive and prosperous communities. Enough time has elapsed for these cities and communities to have acquired a history, still not enough for any considerable portion of that history to be lost. A few years hence, conditions in this latter respect will have entirely changed.
The region of country of which this story treats lies within the original confines of four Spanish-Mexican land grants bordering the bay of Santa Monica and has hitherto received scant attention form historical writers. When the good works of Hubert Howe Bancroft and Judge Theodore H. Hittell were written the wonderful developments of the past twenty years had not transpired and the work of more recent writers has been of so superficial a nature as not to be of special historical value.
The writing of history is not the thought or work of a day, but rather the diligent pursuance of a fixed and determined purpose. The writer of fiction may work from an inspiration based upon a fertile imagination; the newspaper writer is the chronicler of current events; the descriptive writer of travel pictures that which he then and there observes; but the historian makes a truthful record of the past, stating only that which has actually transpired. He indulges in no ideals, must be keen in discrimination, never self-opinionated or self-assertive, must be untiring in research, a faithful, patient, plodding gleaner of facts and an inherent lover of the truth. Lacking these virtues he is without his calling .
The brief history of California and Los Angeles county is herewith given as a preface to the local history in order that the reader may have a connected story from the date of the discovery of the country. The state chapters are, with the exception of some changes and additions, reprinted from my "Century Annals of San Bernardino County, California (1904.)" The sketches of each of the twenty-one Franciscan missions of Alta California are adapted from [p. iii] "Missions and Landmarks," a meritorious booklet written and in 1903 published by Mrs. Armitage S.C. Forbes, a zealous student and authoritative writer upon California missions and kindred subjects.
The information utilized in the production of the history of Los Angeles county and the Santa Monica Bay Cities has been gleaned from numerous sources, prolific of what have been the works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Theodore H. Hittell, History of Los Angeles County, Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, 1890, Resources of California by the lamented Charles Nordhoff; Reminiscences of A Ranger, by Major Horace Bell; California Blue Books, old maps and numerous old legal documents. Acknowledgments are due Editor D.G. Holt for the loan of the complete files of his Santa Monica Outlook. Old files of the Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles Herald and the Evening Express have all reflected light upon scenes and events of ealier days. Archives of the city of Santa Monica, of the city and the county of Los Angeles, have been freely drawn upon. Files of old legal documents and old court records have been a great aid in shaping and verifying the histories of the land grants.
Uniform courtesy and kindness have been accorded me by many people in my quest for historical data, for which I am under special and lasting obligations to Judge J.J. Carrillo, E.J. Vawter, Hon. John P. Jones, W.S. Vawter, R.R. Tanner, Esq., Judge Geo. H. Hutton, Abbot Kinney, Robert F. Jones, L.T. Fisher, Miss Jennie C. Vawter, Miss Emma Vawter, Dr. John A. Stanwood, Miss Elfie Mosse, Col, G. Wiley Wells, Mrs. E.K. Chapin, Rev. J.D.H. Browne, Mrs. Laura E. Hubbell, W.I. Hull, Mrs. May K. Rindge, J.B. Proctor, S,W. Odell, Rev. Stephen H. Taft, Mrs. Sarah L. Shively and W.B.B. Taylor. It affords me pleasure to here make due acknowledgment of the valuable literary service rendered me almost from the inception of this work by Miss Rose L. Ellerbe. Her mental training and already wide experience in the field of letters have eminently qualified her for historical labors and I deem it fortunate that, in this work, I have been able to command her splendid abilities.
The biographical matter with which the general historical chapters are supplemented will prove a valuable feature of this work. It permanently records so much of the personal experience of those who haver contributed to the development of this country and have borne an honorable part in the direction of its public affairs as to constitute a fairly comprehensive encyclopedia of local biographical references. Much careful labor has been bestowed upon the compiling of these sketches. The information has been gathered from published books, magazines, and newspapers, by personal interviews with the subjects thereof, and relatives of those who have passed away.
A somewhat rigid system of submitting these articles to persons from whom original information was obtained, has been pursued, for the purpose of assuring accuracy. In doing this, use was made of the U.S. mail. In some instances these sketches have not been returned to me corrected and in such cases errors may appear, for which I must disclaim responsibility. The printing of these [page iv] sketches had not in any instance been made contingent upon the payment of money or in any form, the support of my enterprise. Neither have they been written for the purpose of gratifying a desire of any person to appear conspicuously in print. I have studiously refrained from writing eulogies upon the lives of living people. Such forms of alleged biography invades the field of commercialism to such an extent as to render it worthless as history. The histories of churches and fraternal organizations is by no means as complete as I desire, because the necessary data was not obtainable. It would have been impossible to illustrate this volume so liberally only for the public spirit of people who have in many instances shared with me the burden of expense. The labor and money expended in the production of this book has been a secondary consideration, and to place in the hands of a reading public a reliable and dignified historical story has been paramount in the author's mind.
Luther A. Ingersoll, Santa Monica, California, Dec. 1st, 1908
Ingersoll was from Michigan, raised near the Grand River . . .