Los Angeles County, CA, Biographies

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


JAMES LONEY, 
 
horticulturist, near Pomona, was born in Bangor, Maine, in 1847. His parents 
were Patrick and Catherine (Hurley) Loney. Early in life he commenced to earn 
his own living. At the age of eleven years he was employed in a butcher's shop, 
and then at such occupations as he was able to perform until 1862, when he came 
to California and joined his father, who had come to the State in 1854. Upon his 
arrival he spent the next two years with his father at Grass Valley, where he 
attended school. He then went to the Warren Diggings, on Meadow Creek, in Idaho, 
and was engaged in mining until 1866. While there he also attended the night 
schools. From that time until 1872 Mr. Loney was engaged in prospecting in 
Montana and other sections, and also followed other occupations. He then entered 
the employ of the Central Pacific Railroad, first as a laborer upon a 
construction train. Active and quick to learn, he soon secured a position as a 
brakeman upon freight trains, and from that was promoted as a freight conductor, 
and a conductor on passenger trains. During the first seven years of his 
railroad work he made his home in Rocklin, and then in 1874 came to Los Angeles 
County and resided in Anaheim, where in 1875 he married Miss Frances Dolchy, the 
daughter of John A. and Henrietta Dolchy, natives of Germany. Mrs. Loney was 
born in Brooklyn, New York. Soon after his marriage Mr. Loney purchased nineteen 
acres of land in the San Jose Valley, with the view of making a home for his 
family. He continued his work for the railroad company until 1880, his wife 
meanwhile living upon this land and directing its improvement and cultivation. 
Since the last-named year Mr. Loney has devoted himself to agricultural 
pursuits. His well-known orchard is in one of the representative places of 
Pomona, being located on Ellen street, south of Orange Grove avenue. He has six 
acres in oranges, and four or five acres in French prunes, and about three acres 
in Mission grapes. Two and a half acres of his French prunes are in full 
bearing, and he has made a specialty of the production and care of that fruit. 
The intelligent care he has taken has produced wonderful results, and his fruit 
when dried and boxed has yielded him an average of about $500 per acre for the 
past three years. He is one of the pioneers of the fruit industry in Pomona, and 
the condition and products of his orchard attest the success that may be 
achieved in horticultural occupations in his section. Much of his success is due 
to his energetic wife, upon whom for the first five years�from 1875 to 1880�the 
planting and cultivation of his orchards depended. Mr. Loney is an enthusiastic 
supporter of any enterprise tending to develop the horticultural resources of 
the San Jose Valley. From 1883 to 1886 he was a county and State fruit-pest 
inspector, and also a member of the Pomona board of health. In political matters 
he is a Republican and a strong advocate for the protection of our home 
industries. He is a member of Pomona Lodge, No. 246, F. & A. M. Mr. and Mrs. 
Loney have four children: Frances Theodora, Florence Catherine, James Arnold and 
Frank Walter.
 
An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California �  Chicago, The Lewis 
Publishing Company, 1889   Page 773
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler