Los
Angeles County
Biographies
THE DAGUERRE FAMILY
Jean Pierre Daguerre, deceased, was
born at Hasparren, Basses-Pyrenees, France, in May,
1856, and came to the United States in 1874 when a youth of eighteen
years. On the 7th of October,
1886, in Los Angeles, he married Marie Eugenia Duguet,
daughter of Baptista and Elizabeth (Urisburu) Duguet, who were
farmers for many years at St. Pierre de Yrube, near
the famous old fortified city of Bayonne, a corner in sunny France not far from
the border of Spain. Here Marie Eugenia Duguet was born, being one of a family of six
children. She was educated in a convent
at St. Pierre de Yrube. In 1874 she sailed from Havre with the Amestoy family, landing in New York and continuing on to San
Francisco, thence going to San Pedro by boat and reaching Los Angeles on the 24th
of June. The Amestoy’s
located on a ranch at Rosecranz, now Gardena, Los
Angeles County, California, and Miss Duguet made her
home with them until her marriage at the Amestoy
residence in October, 1886, to Jean Pierre Daguerre. The latter had come to America on the same
boat with his future wife and with the Amestoy
family, who employed him in the care of their stock for eight years. On the expiration of that period he resigned
his position to begin stockraising on his own account, for he had become
thoroughly experienced in the work. He made his way to San Juan Capistrano,
Orange County, where he formed a partnership with Don Marco Forster and Mr. Duharte in the sheep raising business. Following his marriage Mr. Daguerre went with
his wife to El Toro, where he continued actively in sheepraising for several
years. After severing his business
association with Don Marco Forster and Mr. Duharte,
Mr. Daguerre formed a partnership with Lewis F. Moulton in the operation of an
extensive ranch of twenty-two thousand acres, their interests being conducted
under the name of L. F. Moulton & Company, which firm met with a gratifying
degree of success at sheepraising, Mr. Daguerre directing the business. After the death of Jean Pierre Daguerre,
which occurred May 5, 1911, Mrs. Daguerre continued as a member of the firm of
L. F. Moulton & Company, owning a third interest in the Moulton ranch. While far from her native France, she never
had cause to regret her choice in establishing a home in this beautiful
southland, whose resources rival those of any country on the face of the globe. She was a woman of very generous and
charitable disposition and her loss was deeply deplored when she passed away on
the 18th of March, 1931, at the age of seventy-nine years.
Mr. and Mrs. Daguerre were the
parents of six children, but the two younger members of the family died in
infancy. A son, Domingo Joseph Daguerre,
took an active part in the business of L. F. Moulton & Company following
the death of his father and was a young man of marked ability whose many
splendid traits of character won him deserved popularity. He died of influenza on the 11th
of January, 1919, when thirty-two years of age.
The three surviving daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Jean Pierre Daguerre are
as follows: Juanita, who is Mrs. Frank Seidel
and resides at 1308 North Broadway in Santa Ana, California; and Grace and
Josephine, who reside on the home ranch at El Toro. The three daughters still own a third
interest in the Moulton ranch of twenty-two thousand acres and are extensively
engaged in the raising of cattle. The
acreage not required for pasturage is devoted to the raising of barley, wheat,
beans and hay, the company leasing it to tenants for this purpose. Every department of the business is
systematically organized and conducted.
A well appointed office is maintained on the ranch, which also boasts
two comfortable and commodious residences, the Daguerre and Moulton homes. Well kept lawns and drives add to the
attractiveness of the ranch, which is always kept up to the highest state of
cultivation. The Misses Daguerre take an active part in civic affairs and has a circle of
friends almost coextensive with the circle of their acquaintance.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. IV, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 409-411, Clarke Publ.,
Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S
LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPHIES