California Biographies
San Bernardino County and Riverside County

History of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties 
By: John Brown, Jr., Editor for San Bernardino County 
And James Boyd, Editor for Riverside County 
With selected biography of actors and witnesses of the period 
of growth and achievement.
Volume III, the Western Historical Association, 1922, 
The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, ILL

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LEVI VREDENBURGH 
 
              Levi Vredenburgh, whose home for many years was at Chino, where
Mrs. Vredenburgh resides, was a pioneer oil man, getting his experience in
the early days of oil production in Western Pennsylvania, was known in the 
East as an expert on the technical phases of oil production and refining, and 
his interests finally brought him to the West, and it is generally acknowledged 
that he laid the secure foundation for the for the prosperous management of 
the Puente Oil Refinery. Mr. Vredenburgh was born at Croton Falls, New
York, December 1,1842, and was seventy-six years of age when death
came to him at Chino on December 18, 1918. He was of Holland Dutch 
ancestry, a son of Harry and Elizabeth (Bevans) Vredenburgh, the former 
born June 20, 1811, and the latter May 20, 1815. A brief record of the
children of his parents ; is as follows: Fannie, born June 25, 1834; Harriet,
born July 13, 1836; Amanda J., born April 19, 1838; Charles, born June 13,
1840, died while a Union soldier in the service of the Federal Government
in New York State, April 27, 1863; Levi; Julia, born September 23, 1845;
George, born April 23, 1848; Edgar, born October 28, 1853, died September
16, 1853; and Helen, born September 28, 1856 and died March 20, 1857.
Levi Vredenburgh grew up and acquired his early education in New York
state. At the age of seventeen he enlisted in the Federal Army, served and
fought as a private, was wounded in one battle, and for three years carried
a bullet in his knee. After the war he earned his money as a worker in the
timber woods of Pennsylvania, and was soon attracted to the great oil
fields of the Oil Creek District of Pennsylvania. His varied experiences in 
the study of the oil business made him an expert on the refining processes,
and he had some very responsible positions while in the East. On August
25,1869, Mr. Vredenburgh married Miss Anna M. Terwilliger, who was 
born at Leeds, Greene County, New York, in February 1846. To this
union were born two children: Elizabeth Jane, born at Sherman Well in 
Venango County, Pennsylvania, November 4, 1870, died February 10,
1895; Ezra Irving Vredenburgh, who was born at Meredith, Cherokee Town-
ship, Venango County, April 20, 1872, was liberally educated and had a 
very successful career as a physician and surgeon. He died June 5, 1909,
and is survived by his widow and one son Irving, born July 20, 1906, and now
living at Oakland, California. After the death of his first wife Mr. Vredenburgh
married in 1880 Miss Violet Elizabeth Heckathorn. She was born June 17,
1835, in the vicinity of Pittsburgh, daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (Shaffer)
Heckathorn, also natives of Pennsylvania. In the Heckathorn family were the
following children: David, Catherine, Violet, Jacob, James Harper, Mary
and William Boyd Heckathorn. William Boyd Heckathorn was born March 9,
1845, died July 17, 1907. He married Martha Jane Heckathorn, and their
five children were Florence L., Myra J., Delvinasia E., Halgerdia G., and
Merrill E. The mother of these children died in June, 1884 and William Boyd
Heckathorn subsequently married Sarah Jane Powell, and by this union had
two children: Charity P. and Chloe. After his second marriage Levi Vreden-
burgh lived for several years in Buffalo, New York, then returned to Oil City,
Pennsylvania, and subsequently had charge of a refinery in Cleveland. 
While in Cleveland he was selected by some capitalists to take charge of a
placer mining proposition on the Colorado River in Arizona. He personally
invested of his means in this venture, and when it failed to produce he lost
both of his investment and salary. In the meantime the Puente Oil Refinery
of California had been built and was operating at a loss. Some of the inter-
ested stockholders learned of Mr. Vredenburgh's presence in the south-
west, sent for him and in 1897 he took charge as general superintendent of
the plant. He remained as superintendent and manager for twenty-one 
years, and in that time brought the business out of chaos and made it one 
of the best managed oil refineries in California. Failing health finally
compelled him to give up his post of duty, but he continued to draw his 
salary from the management until his death. Mr. Vredenburgh was for a 
number of years the largest stockholder and president of the First National
Bank of Chino. He had bought ten acres of the townsite, subdivided and
sold that to great advantage, known as the Vredenburgh tract, and about 
1910 he built one of the most attractive homes, at the northwest corner of
Seventh and B Streets, the place now occupied by Mrs. Vredenburgh. Mr.
Vredenburgh was a staunch republican, was a leader n the Baptist Church
and for many years interested in the Sunday School and the superinten-
dent of the school. He was public spirited in everything he did, and his 
memory is cherished in this community.
 
 
Pages 1511  to 1512.
 
Transcribed and submitted by Sally Kaleta, March 2010.