Los Angeles County, CA, Biographies

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GEORGE E. GARD
 
        Among the prominent and well-known citizens of Los Angeles County is the 
subject of this sketch, who is now a resident of Gladstone. Mr. Gard has been a 
resident of the county for more than twenty years, and has been prominently 
identified with its civic and political history. He is a native of Warren 
County, Ohio, dating his birth in 1843. His father, Dr. William V. H. Gard, was 
a native of Ohio, and prominent in the medical circles of that State. Dr. Gard 
was the younger brother of Dr. I. N. Gard, of Greenville, Darke County, Ohio, 
who served several terms in the Senate of that State; was first cousin to the 
Hon. Tom Corwin, of Ohio. In 1840 he took up his residence in Lebanon, Warren 
County. His death occurred there in the year 1849. Mr. Gard's mother was 
Lucretia Williamson, a native of Ohio; was highly educated, and for a time 
taught private school at Middletown, Ohio. She died when the subject of this 
sketch was but three years old. After the death of his father, Mr. Gard became a 
member of his grandfather's family (Garret Williamson, then located at Hamilton, 
Butler County, Ohio), where he was reared and schooled, receiving his education 
in the public schools and graduating at the Hamilton High School. In 1859 he 
came overland to California, accompanying his uncle, Henry Williamson, who 
brought with him a band of thoroughbred horses and cattle. He remained with his 
uncle until the next year; resided in San Jose two years and then located in 
Mariposa County; there engaged in mining, and was soon afterward the 
superintendent of Lovejoy & Gard's saw-mills, and later assistant superintendent 
of the Mariposa Mining Company's Mills. In 1864 Mr. Gard entered the United 
States military service as First Sergeant of Company H, Seventh California 
Volunteer Infantry, and was with that command in Arizona and New Mexico until 
March, 1866, at which time his company was mustered out of service. After his 
discharge from the service Mr. Gard took up his residence at Wilmington, and 
there engaged in business until 1868. He then located in Los Angeles and 
established the Los Angeles Ice Company, and was the first to enter into that 
business in Southern California. This business was conducted by him until 1871, 
when he was appointed deputy county clerk, holding that position one year. He 
then spent three years as a member of the detective police force of the city, 
after which he accepted the position of deputy county recorder, and from 1875 to 
1879 was the chief deputy recorder of the county. In 1881 he was appointed chief 
of police of the city; in 1883 he was appointed deputy sheriff. In 1884 he was 
elected on the Republican ticket. as the sheriff of the county and served as 
such during the years of 1885 and 1886. In 1886 Mr. Gard purchased forty acres 
of land at Gladstone and the next year a tract of land at Alosta. Soon after his 
purchase he commenced active operations in subdividing his lands and inviting 
the settlement of that section. Early in 1887, in connection with F. M. 
Underwood and S. Washburne, he incorporated the Alosta Land and Water Company. 
Mr. Gard was the president and general manager of the company, and he developed 
water in the Little Dalton Ca�on and piped the same to that tract at an expense 
of about $25,000. The lands of the company found ready sale. He also sold a 
portion of his property at Gladstone, and was one of the prominent leaders in 
opening up the section in which he resided. In addition to his real-estate 
operations he devoted himself to horticultural pursuits. His present home is 
located about one-half mile east of Gladstone, where he is establishing one of 
the representative fruit industries of his section, having now (1889) fifteen 
acres of Washington Navel oranges and a large variety of deciduous fruits on his 
eighty-acre tract at that point. In addition to his home place he has a tract of 
107 acres of hill and valley land, one-fourth of a mile south of Alosta, upon 
which there is a five-acre orange grove and a two-acre orchard of deciduous 
fruits. He also has lands on Citrus and Broadway avenues in the Gladstone tract, 
which is well improved and producing deciduous and citrus fruits, besides 
business and residence property in Alosta, including wood and coal yard, 
cottages, etc. Mr. Gard is an energetic and go-ahead citizen, taking a leading 
part in developing the resources of his section and placing them before the 
public. He is sanguine as to the future prosperity of the section in which he 
resides, knowing it to be one of the most desirable of the East San Gabriel 
Valley. In political matters Mr. Gard is a stanch Republican, and has for years 
taken a prominent part as a worker in the ranks of that party, representing his 
district as a delegate in the State and county conventions, serving in 1880 as 
the secretary of the county central committee, and in the campaign of 1888 as 
chairman of the Sixth Congressional District Republican Committee. He is also 
one of the most prominent men in G. A. R. circles in Southern California He is a 
charter member of Bartlett Post, No. 6, G. A. R., of Los Angeles, and has filled 
the various offices of that post and of the department. In 1888 he was elected a 
member of the national council of administration, and in 1889 was chosen as the 
Department Commander of the G. A. R., Department of California, which places him 
at the head of the organization on the Pacific Coast. He is a member of Olive 
Lodge, No. 26, K. of P., of Los Angeles, and also of Los Angeles Lodge, No. 55, 
A. O. U. W. In 1869 Mr. Gard married Miss Kate A. Hammel, the daughter of Dr. 
William Hammel, formerly a prominent physician of Washington, District of 
Columbia, where Mrs. Gard was born. The Doctor was well known in Los Angeles 
County, having taken up his residence there in 1856. Mrs. Gard's mother was nee 
Barbara Von Deleaur. Both her parents were born in Germany. From the marriage of 
Mr. and Mrs. Gard there are two children living: William Brant and Georgetta 
Miles.
 
An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California �  Chicago, The Lewis 
Publishing Company, 1889   Page 487
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler