Los Angeles County CA Archives Biographies.....Gird, Edward C. 1863 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com December 20, 2005, 1:30 pm Author: Luther A. Ingersoll (1908) EDWARD C. GIRD, a California pioneer and well known citizen of Los Angeles and Sawtelle, is a native of Illinois, born in the town of Trenton, Clinton County, March 12th, 1863. His father was Edward Kinsley Gird, a native of Louisiana, whose father was a military instructor at the United States Military School at West Point. Later in life he went south and established a military academy in Louisiana. Edward K. Gird, with a brother, Henry H. Gird, made the trip overland to California with ox teams, from Illinois in 1853 and remained here about five years. In 1858 they returned home. In 1868 Mr. Gird located in Bates County, Missouri, where he lived until he came to Los Angeles in 1883, bringing his family, which included Edward C., the subject of this sketch, then twenty years of age. They purchased eighty acres of land near the city of Los Angeles for which they paid $85.00 an acre, and embarked in the dairy business, which they conducted for about eight years. Los Angeles was then a city of about 20,000 people and their farm was considered quite in the country. With the marvelous growth of Los Angeles, this property was taken into the Wilshire Boulevard Tract and a portion into the Norwood Terrace Tract and now sells at the rate of about $15,000 an acre. Here the father died in 1900 at sixty-six years of age. Mrs. Gird, the mother of our subject, still occupies a portion of the old homestead and enjoys good health at seventy-one years of age. In 1896 Mr. Gird organized a newspaper route for the Los Angeles Daily Times, taking in the Soldiers' Home and contiguous country. Upon the founding of the town of Sawtelle, he opened there a news stand in which he carried a stock of books and stationery. This was the first store of its line in the town and he operated it about two years. Mr. Gird also became interested in real estate and bought and sold town property with a reasonable degree of profit. In 1907 he subdivided what was known as the Gird Tract of one hundred and ten residence lots, lying to the southeast and adjoining the city of Sawtelle, which is so favorably situated as to promise a substantial addition thereto. Mr. Gird owns and conducts a souvenir store at the Soldiers' Home, which he established about 1895, and has built up a good business. He has published a number of valuable souvenir books relating to the home life of the old veterans. His kindly spirit and uniform courtesy has made him exceedingly popular with the "old soldiers" of the Home, as with all others who know him. Mr. Gird married, in 1888, Miss Frances C. Walbridge, of Appleton City, Mo. She is a daughter of W. D. and Anna Van Meter Walbridge. Mr. and Mrs. Gird have two children—Mabel A., and Anna Lucile. Mr. Gird was a charter member of Immanuel Presbyterian Church, of Los Angeles. The family are now members of the M. E. Church of Hollywood. The family home is at South Hollywood where the Girds own valuable property. Additional Comments: Extracted from: Ingersoll's century history, Santa Monica Bay cities: prefaced with a brief history of the state of California, a condensed history of Los Angeles County, 1542 to 1908: supplemented with an encyclopedia of local biography and embellished with views of historic landmarks and portraits of representative people. Los Angeles: Luther A. Ingersoll (1908) File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/losangeles/bios/gird188bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/cafiles/ File size: 3.9 Kb