San
Bernardino County
Biographies
FREDERICK ALBERT CHARLES DREW
The career of Frederick A. Charles
Drew, though comparatively brief, was a brilliant and successful one, for he
gained a place of prominence in business circles of Southern California and as
a citizen of Ontario was loved and admired by a host of friends. He was born October 28, 1878, in Exeter,
Ontario, Canada, to which place his father, Edred Drew, had been brought from
England as a child. Edred Drew married
Lydia Johns and in 1884 crossed to Canadian border going to Hanford and later
taking up his permanent abode in Ontario, San Bernardino County,
California. Here he engaged in the
undertaking business throughout the remainder of his active career. He died in Santa Barbara, California, in 1898
during the Spanish-American War. His
widow, who enjoyed excellent health to an advanced age, died in Ontario,
California, in July, 1925.
Frederick A. C. Drew was a lad of
six years when brought by his parents to this state in 1884. He acquired his early education in Ontario,
California, and in Los Angeles, attending the old adobe school, and
subsequently entered to Chaffee Agricultural College. He was a young man of twenty years at the
time of the death of his father, of whose undertaking business he then took
charge, continuing its management until 1903.
In that year he established the Drew Carriage Company, which became one
of the largest firms dealing in farm implements and machinery in this part of
the state. He was regarded as the
keenest and most able salesman in this line on the Pacific coast, and his
success with his business caused him to be chosen as Pacific coast
representative of the International Harvester Company. This relationship brought him in touch will
all the implement houses on the western seacoast. In 1918 and 1919 he held the record for
retail tractor sales in the United States.
In the spring of 1919 Mr. Drew went to Chicago in company with his wife,
partly on a business trip to the home offices of the International Harvester
Company, but while en route was stricken with influenza, which caused his
untimely death at St. Luke’s Hospital of Chicago on the 21st of
April, 1919. He was then in his
forty-first year. Mrs. Drew was offered
two hundred thousand dollars for her late husband’s business, but she chose to
retain it and exemplified remarkable business qualifications in carrying it
forward successfully until such time as her sons reached their majority and
relieved her of the burden of management.
Claude D. and his sister, Constance Minter, were managers and trustees
of the business for some eleven years until the youngest son, Charles, reached
the age of twenty-five, when the business was taken over by the family.
In June, 1898, at Santa Barbara, Mr.
Drew was united in marriage to Miss Florence Higgins, who was born in Picton, Ontario, Canada, November 1, 1878, was there
educated and in 1895 came to California with her parents, W. W. and Marion
Elizabeth (Barry) Higgins. Mr. and Mrs.
Drew became the parents of three children:
Dorothea, born in 1899; Edred, born in 1902; and Frederick A. C. Drew
II, whose natal year was 1904. Dorothea,
who resides at 125 East G Street in Ontario, is the wife of Hubert F. Lucas and
the mother of a son, Edwin James, who is the third generation to attend the
Central School. Edred
married Blanche Mollard and they have a daughter,
Judith, born February 3, 1933. They also
make their home in Ontario. The youngest
son, named for his father, lives with his widowed mother in the old home at 417
West A Street, Ontario. The two sons are
young men of splendid executive ability, untiring industry and unquestioned
integrity and have proved worthy successors of their father in the capable
conduct of the business of the Drew Carriage Company.
The late Mr. Drew’s many friends
were derived from his extensive business and social relationships. He was an independent Republican in politics,
held membership in the Chamber of Commerce and served as president of the
Business Men’s Club for one year.
Fraternally he was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows,
while his religious faith was indicated by his membership in the Episcopal
Church. He also belonged to the Pomona
Gun Club and he was a good judge of horses.
Mrs. Drew, who survives her husband, is much loved and respected
throughout the community in which she makes her home, the circle of her friends
being almost coextensive with the circle of her acquaintances.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. IV, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 123-125, Clarke Publ.,
Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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NUGGET'S SAN BERNARDINO
BIOGRAPHIES