by Paul R. Spitzzeri
Following his defeat for a seat in the House of Representatives, E.J.C. Kewen returned to his law practice in Los Angeles and his El Molino Viejo estate in the San Gabriel Valley. As noted before, that ranch with its picturesque residence comprising the old mill established for the Mission San Gabriel, was a common stop for visitors as tourists began coming more frequently to greater Los Angeles during its first boom (albeit modest compared to later ones) along with such notable neighbors as Benjamin D. Wilson and his Lake Vineyard, the San Marino Ranch of Wilson’s son-in-law James de Barth Shorb and L.J. Rose’s Sunny Slope.
Everett Chamberlain, a Chicago journalist whom we’ve cited in a recent post here, took the grand tour in May 1874 of the region and wrote of encountering “A Platoon of Colonels,” including Rose, Wilson, Shorb, William Winston, who was a Confederal officer of that level in the Civil War, and Luther H. Titus of the Dew Drop estate, with the notation that “they are no colonels and never were, but there are so many of that rank along this favored belt of aristocracy that I have concluded to promote all the privates, and leave the only general in the lot [George Stoneman, who commanded in battle for the Union Army during the war and was later a California governor] to enjoy the rank on which he was retired.”
Chamberlain wrote more about his visit to Shorb’s 200-acre place, about 60% of it comprising the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens is situated now, including its 200,000 grape vines (said to embrace the largest vineyard in the county, along with substantial numbers of orange and other tropical fruit trees generating a revenue supposed to be on the order of $60,000 annually.
He then briefly observed that, “the next neighbor to Col. Wilson is Col. Kewen, a genuine relic of the C.S.A. [Confederate States of America], and a gentleman noted for his hospitality.” As we’ve noted, Kewen was from Mississippi and earned his title in the notorious filibustering scheme of William Walker in Nicaragua, but was in this area during the Civil War, even as his rapid pro-Southern sentiments briefly landed him in the federal prison at Alcatraz.
The 19 July 1874 edition of the Herald provided a rare reference to field crops raised at El Molino Viejo as it reported that “Col. Kewen was in town yesterday, looking as hale as ever” and “brought in 100,000 pounds of barley, from his farm, and has 205 sacks more for shipment.” After observing that Kewen added that times were good, the paper concluded that “the Colonel proves himself one of California’s substantial men.”
That penchant for lavish hospitality often mentioned when it came to Kewen and El Molino was perhaps best epitomized by the 25th wedding anniversary bash for him and his wife, Fannie White, in December 1874. The Star of the 13th, three days after the date, reported, interestingly, that silver anniversaries were unusual (given shorter lifespans, frequent deaths of women in childbirth, and others, presumably). The paper recorded that the couple
threw open the doors of their elegant and hospitable mansion for the entertainment of their hosts of friends [including the paper’s proprietor, Benjamin C. Truman]. The beauty of the grounds surrounding the attractive homestead is too well known to need any description at our hands [we wish, however, he had done so!] Fountains and flowers and arbors and tropical plants make a miniature Paradise of “El Molino” homestead . . . The illuminated mansion and the adjacent grounds, ablaze with hundreds of lanterns, were reflected from the still and gleaming waters. A more lovely scene could hardly be imagined . . . The parlors had been cleared and canvased and an excellent string band furnished music for the dancing, which was entered into with zest by the elegantly dressed throng of ladies and gentlemen.
Among those cited as presenting gifts to the couple were Eulogio de Célis, Jr.; Judge Ygnacio Sepúlveda; merchant Adolph Portugal; James J. Mellus; Truman’s wife; attoney and future Angel City mayor Cameron E. Thom and his wife; lawyer Andrew Glassell and spouse; attorney and future judge Erskine M. Ross and wife; the Shorbs; ex-Governor John G. Downey and his spouse; the wife of San Fernando founder Charles Maclay; and Thomas W. Temple, cashier at the Temple and Workman bank and who soon acquired four-and-a-half acres of El Molino.
Someone only identified as “A.T.H.” penned a poem to the couple, noting that they’d been betrothed on the trip across the plains in 1849, married soon after arriving at Sacramento, noted the vagaries of life such as the loss of children and other loved ones, and then concluded, as read by Stoneman,
And to-night let gratulations,
Music from love’s silver bells—
Like the Angelus that daily
From yon Mission walls upswells—
Greet you with a benediction,
Heartfelt, earnest and sincere;
And another “Silver Wedding”
Bring you to the Golden Year.
A midnight supper brought guests to a “table [that] groaned under a burden of viands of every description” along with bountiful wine. Stoneman offered a toast that echoed the poet’s wish that the Kewens would celebrate their fiftieth anniversary as the century came to a close and his friend, in a rare observation of brevity, “spoke of the affection and domestic happiness” of his life with Fannie.
Another speaker was former Los Angeles Mayor John G. Nichols, who was said to have come over to California with the Kewens, but whose trip was the same year but with another group referenced the trials of such travel but added “they led us to our present beautiful homes and lovely surroundings.” An unidenfied speaker cited a 3rd Century A.D. statement that “the mills of the gods grind slow / But they grind exceedingly small” and observed that El Molino “is certainly beautiful and charming enough to be one of the gardens of the gods.”
Dinner and dessert were followed by more dancing before the evening ended late into the following morning. Among those who sent salutations in writing were Governor Newton Booth; Nevada Senator John P. Jones, soon to unveil his new coastal town of Santa Monica; and locals, while those listed as in attendance included the Shorbs; Roses; Stonemans; Workman and Temple bank cashier Henry S. Ledyard and his wife, as well as teller Arthur Bullock; Nichols and his daughters; Antonio Franco Coronel and his spouse; Kewen’s law partner James G. Howard; Sepúlveda; and Mellus.
1875 proved to be the peak of the boom and a late March list of some of the “solid men” in Los Angeles County, published in the Los Angeles Express, was topped by F.P.F. Temple ($1.5 million) and William Workman ($1 million, along with Downey and the estate of the late Abel Stearns.) Kewen was reckoned to be “solid” for $100,000, still a handsome sum and one matched by Stoneman, Thom and several others.
The 20 April edition of the Express included a travelogue of a sally through the San Gabriel Valley and, when it came to El Molino, the paper noted “we found Col. Kewen’s place very much improved as compared with our recollection of two years ago.” It was averred that it was an open question of whether the ranch or those of some neighbors “will have the prettiest place in America ten years from now.” The house was praised including for the “gracious floral vegetation [which] abounded in its old luxuriance.”
The account continued that “Col. Kewen, in his struggle for beauty, has not been unmindful of income” as it was asserted that “El Molino will yield a princely revenue in a few years” because “the orange, lemon and walnut trees that abound on every hand assure that.” Left out, notably, was the grape and a recent multi-part post here about Rose’s Sunny Slope observed that over-cultivation of vineyards caused a drop in prices that were harmful to growers.
The paper returned to another valley excursion in June and its issue of the 14th, after leaving Shorb’s place, the unnamed journalist reported that “we found Col. Kewen at home. His beautiful place is making steady progress. In addition to the semi-tropical fruits, Col. Kewen’s homestead has probably the finest variety of ornamental trees in the valley.” These included Lebanon cedar, guava, rubber and “other curious plants” which “reinforce the attractions of the flowers and orange trees.” Again, however, nothing was said about the vineyard.
The Express of 26 June briefly focused on one of the curiosities, wit which others, including Elijah H. Workman at his spread south of Los Angeles, experimented, this being the banana tree. The paper observed that “these are spread all over his place, but there is one pet plant, near the family mansion, which is the admiration of visitors.”
It towered nearly 20 feet “and gives promise of a fine crop,” with fruit up to four inches in length to date and bunches as long as an arm. The paper opined, incorrectly, that “they thrive perfectly in the Mission valley, and we suppose that, ultimately, they will become, like the orange, an article of commerce.”
A late October visit to El Molino by a correspondent of the Herald included the report that,
We found the old homestead as beautiful as ever, and the popular host and hostess in the most cheerful mood. The Colonel’s crop has been a very good one, in fact about the best in the valley. The vineyard yielded 132,000 pounds of grapes, against 180,000 last year, and the walnut grove is furnishing a full yield. His orange and lemon trees are also loaded with fruit, one of the former standing near the house . . . cannot have less than 4,000 oranges upon it.
Kewen also joined Wilson, Shorb, Ross, Los Angeles Mayor Prudent Beaudry and F.P.F. Temple in the establishment and operation of the Lake Vineyard Land and Water Company, formed to subdivide some of the Wilson and Shorb land at Rancho San Pasqual and other property, including Temple’s in what is now Alhambra and Monterey Park, into 5 to 20-acre farm plots—later it became part of Shorb’s original townsite of Alhambra. The San Pasqual section received water from the Arroyo Seco, while the rest was provided the precious fluid from the lake at Lake Vineyard, this being where Lacy Park is now, and from Kewen Canyon, at the base of which was El Molino Viejo.
Kewen occasionally gave public presentations, such as one at the end of 1875 as part of a series of talks given for improving the library of the Los Angeles public schools. The First Methodist Church on Spring Street made room available for the presentations, which included Angel City luminaries Downey, James G. Howard, Kewen’s near neighbor attorney and judge Volney E. Howard, Judge Harvey K.S. O’Melveny, and Sepúlveda on the roster.
The Kewen and Howard law partnership came to an end, apparently without any rancor, and, in October, a new one was established with Stephen M. White. Just 22 years old, the San Francisco native was raised in Santa Cruz County and was sent to a Catholic school in his hometown before attending Santa Clara College, where some of the Temples were educated just prior as well as in the 1920s.
After graduation from the high school, White “read” law in offices in Watsonville and Santa Cruz and was admitted to the state bar in April 1874. White then relocated to Los Angeles very shortly afterward and practiced on his own before joining Kewen. Like his partner, the young man quickly made a name for himself, not just for his legal acumen and ability, but for his remarkable facility as an orator.
Lastly, despite the debacle involving what could be called the “Wilmington Breakwater-gate” in 1872, Kewen did not give up on a return to politics. In spring 1875, he announced his interest in a seat in the California Assembly, though there were several other aspiring candidates, such as John R. McConnell, who, like Kewen, was a former state attorney general, serving from 1854-1856 (during the nativist, xenophobic Know Nothing period) and who lost a run for governor to Leland Stanford in the early Sixties; and Frederick Lambourn, long a tutor at the private school William Workman kept at the Homestead and then foreman for several years of Workman’s half of the Rancho La Puente.
When the Democratic Party County Convention met in early August, however, Lambourn prevailed over McConnell by four votes, while Kewen finished fourth quite a number of delegates behind. Yet, when the party sent out stump speakers throughout the county in the days before the 1 September vote, with Kewen the featured orator for a mass meeting in Los Angeles the night prior, as well as joining McConnell, Frank Ganahl and Alexander Forbes at one the prior evening.
Political novice Lambourn won his seat, as did F.P.F. Temple, the sole Republican to win high office when he took the county treasurer position—this despite his Temple and Workman bank having suspended for a month on election day after a financial panic burst forth in the state on 27 August. The downturn, which led to the failure of that institution in early January 1876, combined with a national depression in effect since 1873 and which lasted through the remainder of the decade and into the 1880s.
As for Kewen, the economic malaise was accompanied by worsening health problems, which will lead is into the final fifth part tomorrow, so check back with us then.