Los Angeles County

Biographies

 

 

 

JAMES E. O’DONNELL

 

 

     O’DONNELL, JAMES E., Petroleum Lands and General Real Estate, Los Angeles, California, was born in the land of the origin of oil as an article of commerce – Pennsylvania – December 26, 1874.  His father was T. A. O’Donnell, a pioneer in the Pennsylvania oil fields, and his mother Myra (Parsons) O’Donnell.

     He received his education in the public schools of Pennsylvania.

     Mr. O’Donnell appears to have entered and succeeded in the oil business by force of heredity and environment, as well as by a development of natural business talents of a remarkably high order, for he began his notable career at the age of 15 years.

     As his father was a pioneer in the business and development ventures in the Pennsylvania fields, Mr. O’Donnell naturally absorbed the details and practical knowledge which surrounded his daily life as a boy, and as soon as he was able to be of value to put to practical application the knowledge that he seemed to have intuitively acquired.

     After seeking with more or less degree of success places where he could turn his natural bent to work in oil lands, he adventured as far as Colorado, where his attention was called to the discoveries made in Southern California and the indications that here was to be established a producing region second to no other in the world.

     So in 1891 he left Colorado and came to California, finally selecting Santa Paula as his first place of operating.  That the step was well taken is shown by what will be said of his record.

     Officially he is president of the Nacirema Oil Company, field manager and stockholder of the American Petroleum Company and a director of the Bungalow Apartments Company.

     But the official designations and personal prominence of Mr. O’Donnell by no means indicate what he has achieved, nor the importance his activities and talents have been to the tremendous oil industry of the State.

     Ever since his arrival in 1891 he has been exhaustless in his efforts and remarkably perceptive in his conclusions regarding opportunities and possibilities in his chosen field of industry.

     His knowledge was gained by actual experience and to this practical equipment of his mental faculties he applied a strong mentality and analytical power of mind that has placed him in the very lead of men known as reliable and scientific experts.

     As an instance showing this recognition of his particular talent, Mr. O’Donnell was from its inception until recently field manager of the American Oilfields Company, a company of a capital of twenty-five million dollars, and which is headed by Mr. E. L. Doheny, the celebrated oil operator both of California and of Mexico.  The success of this company is a familiar fact to all those interested in oil matters, and is ascribed in no small degree to Mr. O’Donnell’s qualities.

     This is but one of the numerous undertakings in which Mr. O’Donnell has been engaged; in the past seven years he has been superintendent and consulting superintendent for the following notable companies; The Cousins Oil Company, of McKittrick district; the Casmalia Oil Company, of Santa Maria district; the Whittier Oil Company, of McKittrick district; the San Souci Oil Company, the McKittrick Oil Company, the Grasse Casa Oil Company, Santa Maria district, and the McKittrick Oil Company, McKittrick district.

     Mr. O’Donnell is a very extensive oil land owner; he has enviable properties in the Midway district, and the Elk Hills and McKittrick districts in Kern County, beside a large body of oil land in the Salt Creek district in Wyoming; and beyond this owns large blocks of stock and bonds of the American Oilfields Company and the American Petroleum and the Mexican Petroleum Companies.

     Both the Union and the American Oilfields Companies have been purchasers of extensive oil tracts from him.  Despite his business activities Mr. O’Donnell takes a keen personal interest in the affairs of Los Angeles and is a ready helper in all movements which tend to improve it as a city and a port.  His energy and progressiveness make him a valued factor in the civic enterprises and he has figured largely in successful campaigns for the betterment of the Southern California metropolis.

     When not concerned in business affairs Mr. O’Donnell occupies himself for amusement with automobiles as an agreeable fad.

 

 

Transcribed by Bill Simpkins.

Source: Press Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I,  Page 882, International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta.  1913.

© 2011 Bill Simpkins.

 

 

 

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