Joseph W. Wolfskill (born 1844) and Louis Wolfskill (died 1884) were brothers who were members of the Los Angeles, California, Common Council, the legislative arm of that city's government, between 1874 and 1884. They were landowner successors to their pioneer Southern California father, William Wolfskill.

Personal

The brothers were the sons of

William Wolfskill William Wolfskill (1798–1866) was an American-Mexican pioneer, cowboy, and agronomist in Los Angeles, California beginning in the 1830s. He had earned money for land in a decade as a fur trapper near Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he had become a ...

of Richmond, Kentucky, and Magadalena Lugo or Rafaela Romero Lugo of Santa Barbara, California, Joseph being born on September 14, 1844, in Los Angeles. They were educated in the family home at Fourth and Alameda streets under the tutelage of H.B. Barrows. Their sisters were Mrs. Charles J. Shepherd, Mrs. Frank Sabichi, Alice (Mrs. H.D. Barrows, died 1863) and Rafaelita, who died as a child in 1855.
Los Angeles Public Library reference file.John Steven McGroarty, "Joseph W. Wolfskill," ''California of the South,'' volume v, pages 188–192, Chicago: Clarke Publications (1933)
Los Angeles County Biographies, RootsWeb''An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California,'' Chicago:Lewis Publishing (1889), page 528
/ref> Joseph was married in San Francisco, California, to Ellen or Elena de Pedrorena of

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

, and they had ten or eleven children, including Joseph W. Jr. (died June 1944), William F., David and John, who were educated at home. An infant son, Christian Reid, died on October 29, 1892, and a grown daughter, Francisco M., died in Redondo on January 8, 1894. The couple had houses and property in

Riverside Riverside may refer to: Places Australia * Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania Canada * Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon * Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta * Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural m ...

, Redondo and Los Angeles. Mrs. Wolfskill died four years before Joseph. Louis was married in 1873 to Louisa Anna Dalton of

Azusa, California Azusa (Tongva language, Tongva: ''Asuksa-nga'') is a city in the San Gabriel Valley, at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located 20 miles east of Downtown Los Angeles, downtown Los Angeles. ...

, or of Los Angeles. He died on February 26, 1884, at Pasadena Highlands, Los Angeles County, California; his wife died at her residence in the City of Los Angeles on May 29, 1887; two daughters and four sons were left behind.

Vocations

Joseph Wolfskill

Joseph Wolfskill was associated with his father in stock raising and citriculture, and on the death of his father in 1866, he took over the businesses. He "introduced scientific methods into the culture of oranges and extended the original Wolfskill grove until it was made to yield . . . the largest commercial crops in the Southland." The Wolfskill property in Los Angeles proper occupied the land later given over to the

Arcade Depot The Arcade Depot was the main Southern Pacific Railroad passenger railway station, from 1888 until 1914. It was located on Alameda Street, between 5th and 6th Streets, in Los Angeles, California. History The land for the station was furnished t ...

. He had a nursery at the corner of Wabash and Zonal streets in

Brooklyn Heights, Los Angeles Boyle Heights, historically known as Paredón Blanco, is a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, located east of the Los Angeles River. It is one of the city's most notable and historic Chicano/Mexican-American communities and is known as a ba ...

, along with a retail store at 218 West Fourth Street in

downtown L.A. Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) contains the central business district of Los Angeles. In addition, it contains a diverse residential area of some 85,000 people, and covers . A 2013 study found that the district is home to over 500,000 jobs. It is ...

California Genealogy and History Archives An influx of Scale insect, white-scale insects from Australia devastated the orchards, and so Joseph Wolfskill divided the acreage and sold it piecemeal, in the meantime establishing an experimental station to devise a method of fighting the disease, including the use of "washes, sprays, gases, and latterly the

parasites Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted structurally to this way of lif ...

of the white scale which have been brought from Australia."

Louis Wolfskill

When his father died in 1866, Louis Wolfskill took over the management of William Wolfskill's

San Gabriel Valley The San Gabriel Valley ( es, Valle de San Gabriel) is one of the principal valleys of Southern California, lying immediately to the east of the eastern city limits of the city of Los Angeles, and occupying the vast majority of the eastern part ...

properties, including Rancho San Antonio. Louis became a landowner whose estate at one time included property that later became the Los Angeles Arboretum. One subdivision became Chapman Woods, Pasadena, and Louis also owned

Rancho San Francisquito Rancho San Francisquito was a Mexican land grant in present-day Santa Clara County, California given in 1839 by Governor Juan Alvarado to Antonio Buelna. The grant was located on the southwest side of San Francisquito Creek and encompasses pre ...

, previously the property of his father-in-law, Henry Dalton.

Public service

Louis Wolfskill was elected to represent the 3rd

Ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

on the

Los Angeles Common Council The Los Angeles Common Council was the predecessor of the Los Angeles, California, City Council. It was formed in 1850 under state law, when the city had only 1,610 residents, and it existed until 1889, when the city had about 50,400 residents and ...

on December 7, 1874, serving two one-year terms until December 6, 1876. Joseph, a Republican, was elected December 4, 1882, to represent the 4th Ward; he served until December 8, 1884. Joseph was foreman of the 1894 federal

grand jury A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...

Legacy

Joseph W. Wolfskill sold a lot between Central Avenue and Alameda street, on Fourth Street, where a refrigeration plant was to be built by the Ice and Cold Storage Company, of which J.G. McKinney was the president."Five-Story Cold Storage," ''Los Angeles Times,'' March 28, 1902, page A-3
/ref>

References

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External links

Early Los Angeles Historical Buildings (1800s), photo of the Wolfskill residence {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfskill, Joseph W. Businesspeople from Los Angeles Land owners from California Los Angeles Common Council (1850–1889) members 19th-century American politicians 1840s births 1870s deaths 1884 deaths California Republicans 19th-century American businesspeople