Los Angeles
County
Biographies
FRANK
SABICHI
Noteworthy
were the achievements of Frank Sabichi, who by birth and family connections
belonged to an old order of southern California. Educated abroad, he had the finest advantages
of English and European institutions, and as petty officer on an English war
vessel had visited nearly every port of the civilized world before he attained
years of manhood. He became able to
read, write or converse in several languages, even mastering the finger
language of the deaf and dumb. When he
returned to Los Angeles, he was fitted by talents and training for a big and
important place in the destiny which awaited the city. For a third of a century he remained one of
the eminently constructive forces in the progress and development of Los
Angeles and the surrounding territory.
By profession he was a lawyer, but is best remembered as a businessman
and an administrator of great and important trusts.
Mr.
Sabichi was born in the Mexican town of Los Angeles, October 4, 1842. His earliest memories were of the old pueblo
community, and as a child he associated with many of the great-hearted and
hospitable people who comprised the early population of the town. His father, who was Matthias Sabichi, a
native of Austria, lived in Vienna until he crossed the Atlantic and settled in
southern California in 1838. The mother
was a member of an old family of Mexico City.
Desiring to give his sons, Frank and Matthias, Jr., the advantages of a
liberal education, Matthias Sabichi, Sr., started with them for England in
1850, but was stricken with yellow fever while crossing the Isthmus of Panama
and died before reaching his destination.
The American Counsel, Joseph Rodney Crosky,
took charge of the boys, whom he received into his own family as their
foster-father, and generously provided for their education. Afterward Frank Sabichi spent several years
in the Royal Naval Academy at Gosport, near
Portsmouth, mastering the liberal and technical courses then in vogue. He was commissioned a petty officer in the
English Navy and for several years cruised the waters
of Europe and many seas, gaining a large and varied knowledge of the people
throughout the world and their languages, arts and institutions. He participated in the Sepoy
Indian Rebellion and while on the Pacific made several visits to the
Philippines.
At
length Mr. Sabichi tired of an adventurous life and in the summer of 1860
returned to his old home in Los Angeles.
He began the study of law in the office of Glassell,
Smith & Patton, who were then numbered among the leading attorneys in
southern California. Mr. Sabichi was
admitted to the bar and, because of his varied education and experience, his
analytical powers and sound judgment, rose rapidly in his profession. Eventually his extensive business interests
demanded the abandonment of his law practice.
He acquired much real estate in and about Los Angeles; was interested in
land syndicates, and projected railroads.
He was a director of the San Jose Land Company, which controlled much of
the property now in the heart of the orange belt. Mr. Sabichi was one of the promoters of the
Los Angeles and Bellona Railroad and for a time its vice president. He developed the old family homestead of
twenty acres on East Seventh Street and was largely instrumental in making than
an important thoroughfare of Los Angeles.
In
many ways Mr. Sabichi evinced his civic spirit and his unselfish devotion to
the general good. He did not desire
public office but from a sense of duty consented to become a member of the city
council in 1871, making a record that resulted in his reelection in 1874, and
during his second term, was president of the council. In 1884 he was again elected to the council
so that his ability and judgment might be drawn upon in the negotiations for
water rights upon the Los Feliz Rancho and extending
the water system adequate to the needs of that time. He also rendered important service to the
municipality as a member of the board of park and police commissioners of Los
Angeles. Not only in his home city but
throughout the state Mr. Sabichi was esteemed and honored. In 1893 a petition and memorial sign by
thirty-nine senators and twenty-six assemblymen of California, the justices of
the state supreme court, many members of the bench and bar of San Francisco at
Los Angeles, besides a number of businessmen and other influential citizens,
presented his many qualifications to President Cleveland and urged his
appointment as Minister to Guatemala, a post which he filled with
distinction. He had membership in Los
Angeles Parlor of the Native Sons of the Golden West and was a Roman Catholic
in religious belief. His upright, active
and conspicuously useful career was brought to a close, April 12, 1900, when he
was fifty-seven years of age in the full flush of his powers. He was a citizen of the highest type, and as
a husband and father he lived an exemplary life, offering to his children a
worthy ideal.
Mr.
Sabichi was married May 4, 1865, to Miss Magdalena Wolfskill in the old Plaza
Mission, by Rev. Mora, who later became bishop of the diocese. Mrs. Sabichi was a native of Los Angeles and
a daughter of William and Magdalena (Lugo) Wolfskill. The father was an early settler of Los
Angeles and a large landowner who had the first commercial orange grove in
southern California outside of those maintained by the ancient missions. The Wolfskill ranch was between Third and
Fourth streets and extended from Alameda Street to Central Avenue. The last named thoroughfare was formerly
called Wolfskill Avenue, which bisected the Wolfskill property, embracing one
hundred acres. The birthplace of Mrs.
Sabichi was on the site now occupied by the Los Angeles Ice Company. At one time William Wolfskill owned the Santa
Anita Rancho, which was afterward purchased by M. H. Newmark, who sold it to
“Lucky” Baldwin, and part of the property is now owned by Anita Baldwin. Mr. Wolfskill was a native of Kentucky and
crossed the plains on foot to California through New Mexico. He was the father of two sons and four
daughters, who studied at home under a private tutor. Their only recreation in the early days was
the annual fiesta or bazaar held by the Sisters of Charity, lasting three days
and ending with a dance. Mrs. Frank
Sabichi died at the venerable age of eighty-four years. Her mother was baptized at the old Santa
Barbara Mission, and under one of the pillars of the San Gabriel Mission repose
the remains of Mr. Sabichi’s mother.
For
twenty years after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Sabichi resided on the
twenty-acre tracts at Seventh and San Pedro streets. They were the parents of thirteen children. Those living today are: Agatha, the widow of J. J. Fay, Jr.; Joseph
Rodney; George Carlos, physician and surgeon, who is represented elsewhere in
this work; William; Louis; and Beatrice, now Mrs. Claude L. Mitchell, of South
Pasadena. Francis Winfield, Mary, Johanna, Leopold and Rose, who married Dr. H.
A. Putnam; all grew to maturity and are now deceased. Two children died in infancy. Mrs. Mitchell was born at 2437 South Figueroa
Street, in the old Sabichi residence, a beautiful mansion which was built by
her father in 1888 and is still one of the picturesque homes of Los
Angeles. Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell have two
children: Marjorie, who was born
September 13, 1919; and Lawrence C., born June 25, 1923, in the same house in
which his mother was born.
Transcribed
by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. V, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 349-352,
Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V.
Gerald Iaquinta.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES
BIOGRAPHIES