J. Nehemiah Blackstock -- 109 W. Avenue 54

Nehemiah ca. age 65

Born in Asheville, NC in 1846, Nehemiah Blackstock (1846-1928) served in the Confederate army for four years, before moving to Tennessee where he passed the bar in 1868. About the same time he married Abigail (Abbie) Smith (1848-1930) of Newport, Tennessee. After spending a few years in Missouri, they along with their three children Mary Belle, James, and John, moved to Los Angeles in 1875. They stayed a short time before moving to Ventura (then known as San Buenaventura, which can still be seen over the City Hall doors), shortly after the organization of the county.  Nehemiah practiced law there for about 30 years, fathering seven more children, including Charles (1876-1966), Lillian (b. 1879), Laura Mabel (1880-1968), and Edward (1892-1941). In 1897 Nehemiah was appointed to the State Railroad Commission, serving for four years. The Commission held the responsibility to set freight rates throughout the state.

In 1905 Nehemiah was appointed State Banking Commissioner, which involved a move to Los Angeles. He chose to live in the Highland Park area of Los Angeles. In 1910 living at the house on Avenue 54 were Abbie, now 62, son Edward, 18, and one servant. Daughter Lillian had lived there for awhile but was gone during the census. Son Edward was listed as being a newspaper reporter. Son Charles remained in Ventura County, first teaching school, then becoming the City Attorney in Oxnard. Older son James ran a grocery store in Ventura. Daughter Mabel had married Oliver Dunn in 1906, an early resident of the Oxnard area, and was living in Camarillo.

109 W. Ave. 54 in 1909

With Nehemiah's connection as State Banking Commissioner, he became associated with Merchants Bank & Trust Co. of Los Angeles as a Vice-President and Trust Officer. By 1911 he had left and formed a new company, the International Indemnity Company, located downtown.

In 1912 Mabel's husband Oliver Dunn contracted a blood disease and died two months after diagnosis, resulting in Mabel and her two children moving from Camarillo to a house in Los Angeles around the corner from Nehemiah and Abbie (then known as 5409 Pasadena Ave.).

Now when one went on international travel in the 1910's, one passport was usually enough. The only time more than one was made was when the owner had lost the original one. Mabel appeared in the passport records in both 1917 and 1919 for a different reason. As she stated for an affidavit in  applying for her new passport in 1919:

"...that while she was gone on the said trip the said passport was handled so often and so much by various officials of said countries, that when she returned the same was practically worn out and destroyed; and that not deeming it necessary to retain the same, she completed the destruction." 

...which of course required a new passport. (I liked the first photo better, I think. ;-)

Nehemiah continued on as president of his International Indemnity Company, which offered casualty insurance, from his office at 347 S. Hill St. Son Edward continued to live at home, noted as an artist in the 1927 street directory of Los Angeles. The next year Nehemiah died, and was buried at Forest Lawn, Glendale.

Abbie followed in 1930, after declaring the house being worth $50,000 in the federal census. In the house besides Abbie (listed as 82 years of age) were Mabel, her two sons Oliver and Gerald, Edward (now a commercial artist), and a housekeeper.

Mabel continued to live in the house until 1967. She died the next year, and was buried in Forest Lawn next to Nehemiah and Abbie. Sometime later the house came down. Today at the corner of Avenue 54 and Figueroa:

109 N. Ave 54 (today's address)
(courtesy of Bing maps)

Son Charles, the City Attorney of Oxnard, went on to become head of Ventura County schools, then a judge in Oxnard. In 1965 a new Charles Blackstock Junior High School was named for him.  He passed away the next year.

More info:
Bio of Nehemiah Blackstock
Grave at Forest Lawn

Rose La Monte Burcham -- 4900 Pasadena Avenue

It's been a small sadness that each time a vintage photo is posted, that residence is only a memory for the most part. So it was quite a delight to find that today's home is still in place.

Our story begins in 1895, when Dr. Rose Burcham (1857-1944), the first woman doctor in San Bernardino, decided to grubstake her husband Charles (1856-1913) for a search in the Mojave desert for gold. He met up with two other miners, John Singleton and Fred Mooers (1847-1900), and they hit big-time paydirt--we know it today as the Yellow Aster mine, which yielded over $12 million through its 30+ year life. Charles split his one third with Rose, who was elected by the group as secretary to run the business end of the mine, which included numerous lawsuits and counterclaims. Rose's impact on the business end was such that in Charles's biographies of the era, her capabilities were often quoted.  Here's an example from a 1904 biography of Charles:

"Mrs. Burcham, who is a native of New York, of Scotch and French ancestry, has the dual distinction of having been the first woman physician in San Bernardino, California, and of being a directing force in the practical operation of a great gold mine. She had attained a prominent position in the medical profession, as physician and surgeon, before she became identified with her husband's mining enterprises and in the latter field has become noted as one of the most capable business women in the United States."

By 1900 both Fred Mooers and John Singleton owned elegant Los Angeles homes. Singleton purchased the Longstreet mansion just off West Adams (only the palms are left today on the site of the Orthopedic hospital), where Charles and Rose were recorded as living in the 1900 census. By 1907 the Burchams had purchased a large house of their own on the edge of town and remained there through the 1910 census. A photo below of the house then:

4900 Pasadena Avenue in 1910

Their neighbors included William J. Washburn, a prominent local banker who lived nine blocks south.

Dr. Rose Burcham in 1910

With Charles's death in 1913, only Rose was left of the original owners to the mine. Squabbling with the other partners' heirs was an ongoing theme, but Rose kept the mine operation together until 1918. The mine was reactivated in the early 1930's. It ultimately shut down in late 1996.


Rose moved from the Pasadena Avenue house to the city of South Pasadena around 1915, and then later to an address in Alhambra, where she died in February, 1944.  Her husband Charles is buried in Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles.  Her burial site has not yet been confirmed.

Rose sold the house to another oilman, Nathan W. Hale. A former Congressman from Tennessee, he went west after losing re-election to the 1909 Congress. He formed Hale-McLeod Oil Company as well as engaging in local real estate. He left by 1930.

The house today is at 4900 Figueroa Street, as Pasadena Ave. was renamed. It is a building of Sycamore Grove School, a private, religious school associated with the Pillar of Fire Church. The exterior is relatively unmodified--the chimney is gone, and an enlargement of that section of the house can be seen in an aerial view of the property.

4900 N. Figueroa Recently
(courtesy of the author)

References:
Rose Burcham--Men of Achievement in the Great Southwest
The Yellow Aster Mine--mineral resource of Kern County (1914)
A 1905 aerial of the neighborhood (our house is lower right)

W. J. Washburn -- 4000 Pasadena Avenue

In 1910, 4000 Pasadena Avenue looked like a quiet country area. Just three miles north of downtown nestled in Arroyo Seco canyon, William J. Washburn (1852-1931) and his wife Helen had already lived here more than ten years.

4000 Pasadena Avenue in 1910

W J Washburn ca. 1910

William was a successful banker in Los Angeles, moving here in 1889 from St. Louis, where he'd met Helen while in business with his father. In fact, his parents moved also to L.A. in the 1890's, and after his father's death, his mother Jennie resided in this household. It was also in this past decade that William had served for eight years on the Board of Education, as well as serving with the Chamber of Commerce and the Los Angeles City Council.

But later that year the family moved to their new residence in a more fashionable new neighborhood, settling at 2200 S. Harvard Boulevard, in the West Adams district. They remained there until Helen's death in 1932, followed by William's in 1935. Both are buried with William's parents in the Washburn plot at Evergreen Cemetery, one of Los Angeles' oldest.

And what happened to the house on Pasadena Avenue?  By 1915 it became the Page Preparatory Academy, with Mrs. Minnie Bennett in charge. Later the street was renamed to Figueroa and the large property today has become a car wash.

4000 Figueroa today

(courtesy of Google Maps)

And below is a photo of the Los Angeles Board of Education taken ca. 1898. William Washburn, representing the 1st Ward, is at lower left.

left to right, top, William Chambers, H. L. Jones, Charles Udell, J. W. Hendrick, R. L. Horton, W. J. Washburn, Dr. William H. Stearns, William Wincup, Charles C. Davis.

(image courtesy of lapl.org)

Old Homes of Los Angeles

Short bio of Mr. Washburn (1915)