Los Angeles County
Biographies
JACOB
BEAN
BEAN, JACOB, Retired Lumberman, Alhambra,
California, was born in Upper Stillwater, Maine, January 19, 1837, the son of
Jacob W. Bean and Jane (Danforth) Bean. He
married Cynthia A. McPheters at Orono,
Maine, October 14, 1860, and to them were born eight
children, Charles, Robie, Daisy (deceased), Roscoe F.
(deceased), William H., Florence Estelle (deceased), Anne E., Eugene E. and
Mary Ella Bean. Of the five surviving children all are married and Mr.
Bean has eleven grandchildren. Mr. Bean’s family is of Scotch origin, the
earliest members of record having been seafarers. The family was
transplanted to New Hampshire the latter part of the seventeenth century and
remained there for many generations, later scattering to other parts of New
England, and Mr. Bean and his older brother were the first to move Westward. His father was in the transportation
business in Maine and served many years as a County official.
Mr. Bean received his education in the common
schools of Orono, Maine, but at an early age went to
work in a general store. He then entered the employ of his father as a
freighter, but after a short time when he was of an age when boys usually
devote themselves to play, he went into the woods of
Maine and entered into the arduous life of the logging camp. Although a
boy in years, he was possessed of extraordinary strength and endurance, and
early took his place among the men of the camp. He worked in various
branches of the logging industry and by the time he attained his majority was a
proficient lumberman.
In the early part of 1858, Mr. Bean abandoned the
lumber industry to join the gold seekers of California, making the trip to San
Francisco by way of the Isthmus of Panama. He joined the prospectors in
the Sacramento district, but was unsuccessful in his quest and before the end
of the year gave up the effort and returned to Maine.
For the next five years he worked in the forests
and mills of Maine and in 1863, he and an older brother, Charles Bean, went to
Stillwater, Minnesota. They were immediately employed by General S. F. Hersey, one of the pioneer lumberman
of Minnesota, as “timber cruisers,” and within a short time were admitted as
members of the firm of Hersey & Staples, which
thereupon became Hersey, Staples & Bean.
Mr. Bean was placed in charge of all the logging operations of the firm and
spent the greater part of each year in the woods.
About 1872 the firm became Hersey,
Bean & Brown and some years later, upon the withdrawal of E. S. Brown, it
became known as Hersey & Bean, continuing as such
until 1900, when the firm practically retired from the lumber business.
During the days of its activity this firm was one of the largest lumber and
mercantile establishments in the Northwest. Its timber holdings in
Minnesota and Wisconsin covered 160,000 acres and during forty years of
operation its mills, among the largest and best equipped in that section, cut
billions of feet of lumber. Its standing pine covered a vast area in the
territory near the St. Croix River and its principal mill, located at
Stillwater, was valued at $300,000. About 1900 the company wound up its
cutting and ceased operations, but its mils were leased for some years to other
lumbering concerns, being finally dismantled. The firm of Hersey & Bean still owns about 70,000 acres of land in
Wisconsin and Minnesota, and of recent years has dealt largely in farm lands.
Although his original company quit lumbering Mr.
Bean did not, he having been one of the organizers in 1895, of the Foley-Bean
Lumber Company. The company had large interests in what had been the
Mills Lacs Indian Reservation in Minnesota, and its
plant at Milaca, one of the most modern in the country, cut 32,000,000 feet
annually. In addition to mills, the company owned stores, yards, shops,
steamboats and other equipment and employed more than three hundred men.
Mr. Bean was a factor in its management until 1906.
As a lumberman Mr. Bean ranked with the leaders and
was interested with such men as Frederick Weyerhauser,
greatest of all lumber magnates and James J. Hill, the empire builder of the
Northwest. He enjoyed the confidence of business men in all parts of the
Northwest and during his career of more than sixty years never was questioned
on any contract or agreement into which he entered.
About 1901 he suffered a severe paralytic stroke
and was compelled to relinquish the active management of his properties, but he
had trained his sons in the business and turned the management of his affairs
over to them.
Mr. Bean is a heavy individual landowner and has
various other interests. One tract in Winconsin
(sic) held under the name of the Jacob Bean Land Company, contains 27,000
acres. He is President of the Company, but its actual
direction is in the hands of his son, W. H. Bean. Several other interests
of Mr. Bean are incorporated under the name of the Jacob Bean Investment
Company, a family corporation, of which he is President.
Mining has proved an unfortunate field for Mr. Bean
from the time of his first venture I California. Later in life, when he
had amassed a large fortune he bought a property in Montana, but had to give it
up after losing $300,000. He accepted this great loss
philosophically, never complaining.
From the time he was able to vote he has supported
the Republican party and was prominent in its affairs
in Minnesota. Governor Merriam of Minnesota, appointed him Surveyor
General of the Stillwater District in 1888, and he was re-appointed in 1890 by
Governor Knute Nelson (later U. S. Senator), serving
until 1892. At that time he returned to his private business and
consistently declined to accept any public office afterwards.
Since the year 1893 Mr. Bean has had his home at
Alhambra, California, his estate being one of the most beautiful in Southern
California. When he purchased the place, which covers 120 acres, it was a
barley patch, but since that time Mr. Bean has built a magnificent home and
spent thousands of dollars in beautifying the grounds. A large part of
the estate is devoted to oranges and forms one of the finest ranches in Los
Angeles County.
In his later years Mr. Bean has spent all of his
time at his home and has his recreation in reading and motoring. Although
he is seventy-six years of age and endured great suffering at the time he was
stricken by paralysis, he stills (sic) retains a remarkable amount of physical
endurance and takes an active interest in the management of his estate.
A marked characteristic of Mr. Bean, whose fortune
was builded (sic) by hard work, is his generosity,
and for many years he has maintained private philanthropies, known only to his
family.
At seventy-six he is happy in the companionship of
his children and grand-children, but up to a short time ago had that of his
wife, who shared with him in his success and cheered him in times of
stress. They celebrated their golden wedding anniversary October 14,
1910, but within a year she passed away, her death occurring July 1,
1911.
Transcribed 2-20-09
Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: Press
Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 201,
International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles,
Boston, Atlanta. 1913.
© 2009 Marilyn R. Pankey.
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