The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. Frank K. Kirker was born in Kentuky in 1868, the son of James  M. Kirker, captain of a steamboat on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. As a child, he worked with his father on the …

The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. Fred Strauss was a German/Jewish immigrant who moved to Fullerton in 1909. For many years, he worked for the Stern and Goodman’s store, the first general store in Fullerton. During the 1930s, when Hitler came…

The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. Charles Clark came to Fullerton in 1908. He began work with the Post Office in 1911 and served as Fullerton’s Postmaster from 1952 until his retirement in 1957. In 1971, Anne Riley interviewed him for…

The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. Victoria Consuelo Celestina (nicknamed “Jessie”) Corona de Montoya was interviewed in 1975 by Esther Katz for the CSUF Oral History Program. A Yorba Descendant Jessie (born around 1906) was a descendant of the pioneer Yorba…

The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. Paul John Lotze was born in Germany in 1884, the fourth of seven children born to William M. and Augusta Lotze.  In 1899, he emigrated to the United States, settling first in Kansas, where he worked…

The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. E.C. Miles was born in Keokuk County, Iowa in 1867, the son of Daniel Miles, a farmer who fought in the Civil War for the Union Army. The oldest of 11 children, Miles was educated at…

The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. Hubert C. Ferry worked for the Union Oil Company from 1918-1956, first in Los Angeles, and then in Fullerton. Although his degree was in law, he was something of a renaissance man for the company.…

The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. John Henry Lang was born in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri in 1882. His father and mother were farmers. He was the seventh of nine children.  He graduated from St. Louis University Medical Department in 1906.…

The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. Elvin Ames, along with numerous local residents, was interviewed for the Cal State Fullerton Center for Oral and Public History. Here are a few things I learned from Ames’ interview. Elvin A. Ames was a…

The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. In 1999, Albert “Pete” Hetebrink was interviewed for the CSUF Center for Oral and Public History. Here’s what I learned from the interview, and a few other sources. Some of this was previously published in…