Los Angeles
County
Biographies
JAMES
ORLANDO COLWELL
A
pioneer in California in the year 1885, James Orlando Colwell was active in
several lines of business until his death on August 13, 1929. A native of Ohio, he was born in Cincinnati
on December22, 1862, a son of Samuel Colwell, who was a large farmer and stock
raiser in the vicinity of Cincinnati for many years. In the early days he often drove large herds
of cattle to the New York markets. James
O. Colwell grew up in Ohio and had as his private tutor David Starr Jordan, who
was a professor in the University of Indiana.
Later Mr. Colwell took up the study of manufacturing chemist and
followed it for several years. The call
came to travel and he took a trip to South America, and he was also connected
with the Smithsonian Institution for a time.
In 1885 he arrived in San Francisco and there took up newspaper work on
the San Francisco Call. From that city
he went to Fresno and became associated with his brother Edwin Colwell, owner
of the Fresno Democrat and there remained for several years. He eventually returned to the manufacturing
business and became well known as a manufacturer of perfumes and extracts and
prospered exceedingly.
On
May 26, 1890, Mr. Colwell was united in marriage with Marie Lyon, a daughter of
Aaron Woodruff and Cara (Hutchins) Lyon, the former born in New Jersey and the
latter in North Carolina. Her
grandfather participated in the Revolutionary War. Her father was a soldier in the War of 1812,
and he rode horseback from Philadelphia to Little
Rock, Arkansas. He was one of the
passengers on the trial trip of the first steamboat that ran up the Hudson
River. He established his home in Batesville,
Arkansas, and engaged in teaching school at Little Rock, and also had a drug
store at Batesville. In 1888 he came to
California and located in Fresno County, owning and operating a ranch
there. He shipped the first raisins to
the eastern market. He was active in the
Presbyterian Church. He reached the advanced
age of ninety-six, dying in Fresno. His
wife died in 1903 in Los Angeles.
Of
the union of Mr. and Mrs. James Orlando Colwell three children were born: Elsie Tonge, who is
the mother of four children, Jeannette, Evaline M.,
Gilbert C., and Kenneth. Edwin O., who
married Guinevere Hampton and they have three children, Patricia, Jacqueline
and Edwin O., Jr.; Jeannette, who is the wife of Charles I. Houghton, and the
mother of two children, Patricia Jean and Charles I., Jr. Mrs. Houghton is noted for her musical talent
and for years was soloist at the First Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, and
she sang with the Lawrence Tibbitts Quartet
Choir. She was well known in San
Francisco church choirs before her marriage and is in much demand by various organizations
on the coast. She has also composed
several noteworthy songs, some of them having been sung in European
theatres. She is a member of the San
Pedro Woman’s Club Chorus. Mrs. J. O.
Colwell was appointed by Mayor George E. Cryer a member of the first pension
board under the city charter; she served as president of the Exposition Park
Civic Association, was vice president of Santa Barbara Exposition Improvement
Association, and for three years was on the Los Angeles County Farm Bureau; is
a past president of the Wilshire Woman’s Club, past treasurer of Robert E. Lee
Chapter United Daughters of the Confederacy, is a member of the Municipal
League of Los Angeles and takes an abiding interest in all matters that are for
the general welfare of the state. She is
a patron of art, music and educational endeavors and is a member of the
executive committee of the Women’s Conference Committee of University of
Southern California, and a charter founder member of the Women of the Golden
West. She is also a
member of the Los Angeles District of Federated Clubs. During the World War she was an active member
of the Foreign Bureau Board. Thus it
will be noted that Mrs. Colwell has had an active and busy career that has
endeared her to her many friends for her whole-hearted activities.
Transcribed
by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. V, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 429-430,
Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V.
Gerald Iaquinta.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES
BIOGRAPHIES