Charles Adelbert Canfield (May 15, 1848 – August 15, 1913) was an American oilman and real estate developer. He pioneered oil drilling in California and Mexico. He also co-founded Beverly Hills, California, Beverly Hills and Del Mar, California.

Early life

Charles Adelbert Canfield was born on May 15, 1848 in Springfield, Otsego County, New York.FindAGrave
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Career

In 1869, he moved to Colorado and struggled to find silver in the American Southwest for seventeen years. In 1886, he found silver in Kingston, New Mexico, Kingston, New Mexico Territory. In 1887, he moved to Los Angeles, California and founded the Chanslor-Canfield Midway Oil Co.Cecilia Rasmussen
Tale of Wealth, Murder and a Family's Decline
''Los Angeles Times'', August 20, 2000 In 1892, he partnered with Edward L. Doheny (1856–1935) to develop the first Blowout (well drilling), gusher in Los Angeles at the intersection of Patton and Colton streets on Crown Hill, just northwest of today's Downtown Los Angeles. In 1900, he and 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) purchased Rancho Rodeo de las Aguas from Henry Hammel and Andrew H. Denker.Marc Wanamaker, ''Early Beverly Hills'', Arcadia Publishing, 2005, p.

/ref> After drilling for oil and only finding water, they reorganized their business into the Rodeo Land and Water Company to develop a residential town later known as Beverly Hills, California. 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.

Personal life and death

He was married to Chloe Canfield. She was murdered in 1906 by a disgruntled employee called Morris Buck who had been fired five years earlier for leaving the Canfields' horses unattended and beating them. They had a daughter, Daisy, who was married to J.M. Danziger, but she divorced him in 1921, citing cruelty. In 1923, she remarried to Antonio Moreno (1887–1967), and they lived in the Canfield-Moreno Estate. They also had a son, Charles O. Canfield. He was married to Pearl, who divorced him in 1930. The couple served as witnesses to the marriage of silent film stars Marie Prevost and Kenneth Harlan in October 1924. In 1910, he moved into the newly built Canfield-Wright House in Del Mar, California. He died at his home in Los Angeles on August 15, 1913, and was buried in the Evergreen Cemetery (Los Angeles), Evergreen Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Bibliography

Secondary sources

*Nicholas A Curry, ''The Charles A. Canfield family history: Fellow mining prospector, oilman and business associate of Edward L. Doheny'', 1994.Google Books
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canfield, Charles A. 1848 births 1913 deaths People from Springfield, New York People from Del Mar, California People from Beverly Hills, California Businesspeople from Los Angeles American businesspeople in the oil industry Burials at Evergreen Cemetery, Los Angeles 19th-century American businesspeople