Charles A. Canfield

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Charles A. Canfield
Born May 15, 1848
Springfield, New York
Died August 15, 1913
Resting place
 Evergreen Cemetery, Los Angeles
Residence Canfield-Wright House
Del Mar
California
Nationality American
Occupation Oilman
Real estate developer
Spouse(s) Chloe Canfield
Children Daisy (Canfield) Moreno
Relatives Antonio Moreno (son-in-law)

Charles A. Canfield (1848-1913) was an American oilman and real estate developer. He pioneered oil drilling in California and Mexico. He also co-founded Beverly Hills, California.

Biography

Early life

Charles Adelbert Canfield was born on May 15, 1848 in Springfield, New York.[1]

Career

In 1869, he moved to Colorado and struggled to find oil in the American Southwest for seventeen years.[1] In 1886, he found silver in Kingston, New Mexico Territory.[1] In 1887, he moved to Los Angeles, California and founded the Chanslor-Canfield Midway Oil Co..[1][2]

In 1892, he partnered with Edward L. Doheny (1856-1935) to develop the first gusher in Los Angeles, at the intersection of Patton and Colton streets on Crown Hill, just northwest of today's Downtown Los Angeles.[2][3][4][5][6]

In 1900, together with Burton E. Green (1868-1965), Max Whittier (1867–1928), Frank H. Buck (1887-1942), Henry E. Huntington (1850-1927), William F. Herrin (1854-1927) and William G. Kerckhoff (1856–1929), they purchased Rancho Rodeo de las Aguas from Henry Hammel and Andrew H. Denker.[7] After drilling for oil and only finding water, they reorganized their business into the Rodeo Land and Water Company to develop a new residential town later known as Beverly Hills, California.[7]

In 1902, they founded the Mexican Eagle Petroleum Company (later known as the Pan American Petroleum and now Pemex), which made Mexico the world's second-largest oil-producing country.[1]

Personal life

He was married to Chloe Canfield.[2] She was murdered in 1906 by a disgruntled employee called Morris Buck who had been fired five days earlier for leaving the Canfields' horses unattended and beating them.[2] They had a daughter, Daisy, who was married to J.M. Danziger, though she divorced him in 1921, citing cruelty.[2][8] In 1923, she remarried to Antonio Moreno (1887-1967), and they lived in the Canfield-Moreno Estate.

In 1910, he moved into the newly built Canfield-Wright House in Del Mar, California.

He died on August 15, 1913, and was buried in the Evergreen Cemetery in Los Angeles.[1]

Bibliography

Secondary sources

  • Nicholas A Curry, The Charles A. Canfield family history: Fellow mining prospector, oilman and business associate of Edward L. Doheny, 1994.[9]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 FindAGrave
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Cecilia Rasmussen, Tale of Wealth, Murder and a Family's Decline, The Los Angeles Times, August 20, 2000
  3. ↑ Paleontological Research Institute: The Story of Oil in California
  4. ↑ Charles Lockwood, In the Los Angeles Oil Boom, derricks sprouted like trees, Smithsonian, October 1980, p. 188
  5. ↑ History of Greystone
  6. ↑ Ruth Wallach, Linda McCann, Dace Taube, Claude Zachary, Curtis C. Roseman, Historic Hotels of Los Angeles and Hollywood, (CA), Arcadia Publishing, 2008, p. 30
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Marc Wanamaker, Early Beverly Hills, Arcadia Publishing, 2005, p. 9
  8. ↑ HEIRESS SEEKS DIVORCE.; Daughter of Charles A. Canfield Accuses J.M. Danziger of Crueity., The New York Times, December 25, 1921
  9. ↑ Google Books
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