Los Angeles County
Biographies
HENRY WELLS PETTEBONE
PETTEBONE, HENRY WELLS, Manufacturing, Los angeles (sic), Cal., was born at Dorancetown, Pa., September 4, 1860. He is the son of Jacob Sharpes Pettebone and Sarah (Williamson) Pettebone. He married Bertha R. Webber, since deceased, at Los Angeles, Cal., March 15, 1899.
He is a direct descendant of John Pettebone, a French Huguenot, who fled the massacre of St. Bartholomew in the Seventeenth century; first settled in England, and later, in 1660, crossed the Atlantic and made his home at Windsor, Conn. There, four years later, he married Sarah Eggleston. Subsequently he moved to Simsburg, Conn., where he reared a large family. One of his sons, Noah, went to Pennsylvania in 1769, settling in the Wyoming Valley; two other sons were killed in Indian massacres.
He was educated in the public schools of Pennsylvania. He also studied in the Wyoming Commercial College until the spring of 1878, when he graduated.
Shortly after leaving the college he was compelled to move to Colorado for his health. He obtained employment with the firm of R. Douglas and Company as traveling salesman, and remained with them, with his headquarters in Denver, until the year 1889.
In that year he resigned to become traveling salesman for the St. Louis Glass and Queensware Company. He was assigned to the Southwestern territory. In this position he continued to work until June 17, 1897, when he took up his permanent residence at Los Angeles, California.
In that city he was first employed by the W. G. Hutchison Company, manufacturers of gas and electric fixtures. In their employment he worked until November, 1901, when he became one of the organizers of the Forve-Pettebone Company, gas and electric fixture retailers.
This partnership prospered in the ensuring years. To the retail trade was added manufacturing, and warehouses were soon necessary to house the stocks. At the present time the firm is one of the leaders in its line in the southwest, with a manufacturing and wholesale trade of a large volume, in addition to its retail trade stores in the city of Los Angeles.
Mr. Pettebone was president of the company from its organization until August 1, 1910, when poor health forced him to resign. He is still, however, holding the position of secretary, an office where his duties are not very arduous. He is considered in Los Angeles one of its most successful business men, and one of the men who, in a manufacturing sense, have placed that city on the map of the world.
He joined the United Commercial Travelers in 1895, at Fort Worth, Tex., and he has maintained his membership to the present time.
His firm holds membership in the Merchants and Manufacturers’ Association, a powerful organization of the business men of Los Angeles, who sway public opinion and legislation.
He is also a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and is always in line with the progressives in that enterprising public body. The Municipal League, which is deeply interested in clean politics and in the general welfare of Los Angeles, is another outlet for his public spirit.
He is an owner of property in Los Angeles and has invested his spare capital in local enterprises. He is a firm believer in the future greatness of his city.
He has a summer home at Venice, the nearest beach to Los Angeles, and spends the greater part of the year at that residential resort. He is a great enthusiast on the subject of surf bathing, and in his fight for health has become a great devotee of swimming and outdoor sports in general.
He is a member of the Jonathan Club, life member of the Los Angeles Athletic Club, a Mason, a Knight Templar and a Shriner.
Transcribed 10-13-09
Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: Press
Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 337, International News Service, New York, Chicago, San
Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta.
1913.
© 2009 Marilyn R. Pankey.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPIES