Los Angeles County CA Archives Biographies.....Metcalf, John 1842 - 
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Author: Luther A. Ingersoll (1908)

    JOHN METCALF, capitalist and retired citizen of Venice, has been an
important factor in the upbuilding and commercial development of the Canal City.
He is a native of Yorkshire, England and was born February 9th, 1842. His
father, Thomas Metcalf, was a lead miner by occupation and was reared to his
calling in the mining regions of Yorkshire. He came to America in 1849, bringing
his family with him, and located at Dubuque, Iowa, his destination. He soon,
however, located almost opposite Dubuque across the Mississippi River in
Southwestern Wisconsin in the town of Benton, La Fayette County, where he
purchased a farm upon which he lived until his death in 1855. He was about
forty-three years of age.

    Young Metcalf grew up at Benton and commenced the battle of life at the
tender age of thirteen years. He first worked in the lead mines of the Galena
district near his home, for fifty cents per day, and by studied industry and
frugal habits coupled with intelligent economy he gradually improved his
financial condition. In 1864 he joined the Union Army and went to Texas. He was
in the service one year when the war came to a close and, returning home, he
turned his "sword into a plough share" and went to farming. He raised and bought
cattle and engaged in the butchering business. In order to better his field for
operation he sold his property in La Fayette County and removed to Hardin
County, Iowa, and later to Sioux City, buying and selling real estate. He
finally became interest in property in Obrien County, northeast of Sioux City
and located at Paullina, then a small town in a new but promising country. He
engaged in the real estate business and also became heavily interested in grain
and stock farms. In 1883, he established the present Bank of Paullina of which
he has since been the owner. Later, in 1902, he purchased the Bank of Merrill in
Plymouth County, Iowa, of which he is still the owner. Mr. Metcalf has always
pursued a liberal yet intelligently conservative business policy and he makes
and values money for the good it can be made to accomplish for mankind at large.
By judicious investment in worthy enterprises he makes it the force that opens
up new industries and developes the country.

    Mr. Metcalf first came to California in the winter of 1893-4 and visited
various sections of the State. He finally purchased fifty-four acres of land of
Antonio Machado, it being a portion of the La Bullona Grant. He bought it for
its value for alfalfa land, as an investment. The building of the Los Angeles
Pacific Short Line R. R., and the development of the beautiful city of Venice
brought this land into demand for other purposes and in 1905 it was platted as
the Venice Gateway Tract into three hundred and fifty residence lots of the
usual size. The major portion of the tract has been sold to home builders and to
others as investments. The streets are sixty feet wide beside twenty feet on
each side is devoted to sidewalk and parking purposes. The Ocean Park City Hall
is located at Venice Gateway, the land for which was donated to the city.
    Mr. Metcalf is one of the incorporators and a stock holder in the Venice
Shoe Manufacturing Company, Inc., and a director of the corporation. He erected
at an expense of about $12,000, the beautiful and substantial factory building
which he leases to the new industry at a nominal rental price.

    In 1869 Mr. Metcalf married Miss Mary A. Simpson, of Dubuque, Iowa. She died
at Paullina, Iowa, in 1892. In 1894 he married Mrs. Bell R. Carpenter. They
maintain their old home at Paullina, Iowa, and have a beautiful modern
California home at Venice Gateway.


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)




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