Person:John Von Keith (1)

About John H. Von Keith

John H. Von Keith was born in Cambridge, MA in 1835 into a wealthy family. Orphaned at age six, Von Keith was adopted by Senator Clark of California. Having studied at Harvard University and the Boston School of Design, he then led an itinerant existence. He visited 44 cities in the U.S. He was in Denver, CO in 1880 and by 1884 was a resident of Los Angeles. John H. Von Keith was a landscape painter and writer who, after leading an itinerant existence, traveled to California in the late 19th century and made his home in Los Angeles. His book 'Westward or 1000 Items on the Wonders and Curiosities of Southern California' is an enthusiastic recitation of the delights to be found in California in 1887. Among these wonders are many "pretty canyons [with] beautiful, musical, roaring waterfalls. After a painting trip to the tropics in 1889, he had a studio-home in Oakland in 1892 and in that year made a trip to Oregon to paint. His daughter, Walllula 'Lulu' married George A. Ralphs, the co-founder of Ralphs Grocery Company, the oldest supermarket chain west of the Misissippi River.