Orange County Biographies

A. R. DRESSER

Transcribed by Carolyn Feroben

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

one of the pioneer of Santa Ana, and a successful business man, was born in De 
Kalb County,, Illinois, in 1839. For his parentage see sketch of William 
Dresser. He started out in life for himself at the age of twenty-one as a 
farmer. In 1861 he came to California, located first in Sutter county, where he 
:�Held down a squatter�s claim� until 1870, when he came to Southern California 
and located in Santa Ana, where he has since resided; and here he devotes his 
attention mostly to agricultural pursuits. His first purchase was that of 140 
acres in the northeast part of what is now Santa Ana , when there were but two 
or three houses in the place, and he has seen a lively city spring up around 
him, and has added his share toward its growth and development. Mr. Dresser is 
quiet and unassuming man and a true Christian gentleman. He is a Republican in 
his political sympathies and also an able advocate of the principles of 
temperance. 
January 3, 1862, in California, he married Mary E. Willock, by whom he had three 
children; Clarence, Frank and Willie. She died in April 12, 1873, and Mr. 
Dresser was married again February 9, 1875, in Illinois, to Frances Mabie, whose 
parents were Peter and Eliza (Chapel) Mabie. By this marriage there are Albert, 
Arthur, Louis, Perry, Harry and Ernest. 

SOURCE:  An Illustrated History of Southern California:  Embracing the Counties 
of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower 
California, from the Earliest Period of Occupancy to the Present Time.... - 
Chicago:  The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890.  Pages 846-847