Los Angeles County
Biographies
GODFREY HOLTERHOFF
HOLTERHOFF, GODFREY, JR.,
Assistant Treasurer of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company, Los
Angeles, Cal., was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, November 4, 1860. He is the
son of Godfrey Holterhoff and Helena C. (Guysi) Holterhoff. He married
Louise Schaeffer, Sept. 5, 1889, at Los Angeles, Cal., and has one
daughter, Leila S. Holterhoff.
Mr. Holterhoff attended the
public schools of Cincinnati and was graduated from the Woodward High School,
that city, in the year 1877.
Upon leaving school he went to work with his father, and
stayed with him for the better part of a year, when he left to become
bookkeeper for a large tobacco house in Cincinnati. He held this position for
about a year also, but in October, 1879, his health became impaired and he
decided to go to California. He located that same month at Los Angeles,
subsequently going to San Diego, and for more than a year was recuperating his
health.
In the fall of 1880, his strength having returned to him,
he entered the railroad business as secretary to the managing agent of a
syndicate which organized and built the California Southern Railroad. From this
position he became one of the most active men in the development of the new
company and its successor, the Southern California Ry. Co. At various times he
was in the office and local agent of the company at San Diego, in the
engineering department, and in the accounting and financial departments.
Latterly he was cashier and paymaster of the company, until 1893, when he was
made secretary and treasurer.
Ten years later the road was acquired by the Santa Fe
Railroad, and Mr. Holterhoff was made Asst.
Treas. and Asst. Secy. of the Santa Fe Coast lines, comprising all that
territory west of Albuquerque, N. M. This put him in charge of the
financial department of the company in its far western territory. Although the
So. Cal. Ry. Co. was only formally taken over by the Santa Fe in 1903, the
latter corporation had virtually owned it from its inception, and so, in
reality, Mr. Holterhoff has been with the parent
company since he first entered the railroad business, more than thirty years
ago. In addition to his railroad duties, Mr. Holterhoff
is interested in orange groves, oil and land properties, and numerous other
enterprises, both commercial and manufacturing.
He is an officer or director in over thirty corporations,
twenty of which are controlled by the Santa Fe, and include railroad, land and
other organizations. His personal interests include the Brea Canyon Oil
Company, Los. (sic) Angeles Cherokee Oil
Company, Kings County Development Company, East Highland Improvement Company,
California Portland Cement Company, Hawthorne Furniture Mfg. Company and
southern Trust and Savings Bank of San Diego. All of these corporations are
going concerns and in each of them Mr. Holterhoff is
an active factor, holding office either as director,
or as secretary and treasurer. His ability as a financier has made him a
conspicuous figure in the development of Southern California, and in most of
the corporations of which he is a member the financial work is in his hands.
Mr. Holterhoff is a Republican
in politics, but has never been active in the political field, nor has he ever
sought for public office.
He is a member of the California Club, the Sunset Club,
the Los Angeles Country Club, the Crags Country Club, the Cerritos Gun Club and
the Landmarks Club, all of Los Angeles.
He also holds memberships in the Southwestern Society of
the Archaeological Institute of America and the Los Angeles Chamber of
Commerce.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
13 October 2011.
Source: Press Reference
Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 718, International News Service,
New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta. 1913.
© 2011 Marie Hassard.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPIES