Los Angeles herald., 1910-09-04
nISS-DAMAN BRIDE
OF CHAS. A. ELDER.
President of Los Angeles Invest
ment Company Weds at
Santa Barbara
NOTABLE BUSINESS CAREER
Prominent Realty Dealer Rises
from Office Boy to Head
of Corporation
NOTABLE BUSINESS CAREER

Completely surprising the friends OF
both principals, the news of the mar
riage at Santa Barbara, August "a OF
Charles A. Elder, president of the
Los Angeles Investment company,
president of the Elder Building Mate
rial company and president of the
Globe Savings bank, to his former sec
retary, Miss Vesta Inez Daman, a
gifted musician and the daughter of
Mr.. and Mrs. A. o. Daman, reached
Los Angeles only yesterday.
They were principals in a noon we'd
ding in the Methodist parsonage at
Santa Barbara, only their immediate
relatives being present. The ceremony
was performed by the Rev. P. P. Car
roll. Then they started on their honey
moon, being accompanied as far as
San Francisco by the brides father
From the Bay city Mr.. and Mrs.
Elder started on a tour of the north
west that will include visits to Port
land, Seattle, Vancouver and Canada.
They plan to return to Los Angeles
October l. and will make their home
at one of the nearby beaches until
November, when they will take up
their residence in this city, planning
to build a beautiful home on the new
Hill tract of 1900 acres. This is owned
by the Los Angeles Investment COM
pany and is located north of Inglewood.
SUCCESS CROWNS CAREER
Mrs. Elder was born in California in
1885, and after obtaining an education
in the Los Angeles public schools, took
a special course In music. w. d.
Deeble, secretary of the Los Angeles
she Is
sessed of exceptional talent
Mr. Elder was born in Kinmundey,
Marion county, Illinois, in 1864. When
he was years old he led the errand
boy force of a cooperative building
company of Topeka, Kas of which
concern the one he now heads IS a
branch He received a salary of $1.5O
a week.
Sixteen years later he had risen to
the position of assistant manager, and
in 1889 he resigned to take a course in
architecture at the University of Illi-
nois. He attended that institution for
four years, and then, with Professor
James M. White, now supervising ar
chitect there, studied at the University
of France in Paris for a year. On
his return to America he resumed bus
mess relations with the old company
and worked on the plans for the state
capitol at Topeka, until his health
failed and he was compelled to come
west. He arrived In Los Angeles In
1895, and soon learned that instead of
his career being nearly ended it had
only Just commenced, the climate COM
pletely restoring his health.
ARCHITECTURE AND MUSIC
When he first came to this city he
pursued his chosen vocation with fair
success, supplementing his earnings as
an architect with those he acquired by
playing the clarinet in a theater or
chestra.
All the time he cherished an idea
which had come to him while he
worked for the syndicate which em-
ployed him as an errand boy With
two other members of the theater or
chestra he raised $25, and with that
capital began to push to materializa-
ton the elder" idea, which was to
bui.d homes and to sell them for
small payments like rent.
The idea grew. The original re-
sources Of the company of three formed
just under the footlfghts Of the thea
ter have been multiplied 10000 times,
now amounting to $4,236, 622, always
with Mr.. Elder as the moving spirit
How successful he has been is shown
by the fact that only recently he COM
pleted the 1700th home to be sold on
small payments. His firm, now known
pany, Is the largest OF the kind in the
world In fact, the man who at first
only drew plans for houses now does
all the work connected with their con-
struction, with the exception of making
hardware, and those familiar with his
executive ability half expect him to
begin that at any time. gc~
Mr.. Elder Is a quiet business man.
Although his salary, of course, has
greatly increased since he worked as
an office boy, he labors just as hard
and just as long now as when he car
ried the waste paper and was at the
beck and call of the syndicate for
which he worked as a child. He is at
the head Of three great institutions
but is never too busy to see and listen
to all callers. He is a clever manager,
skillful at organizing and in carrying
his plans to maturity. Behind his back
his employees speak of him as "the