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Contributing Institution:
Palos Verdes Library District, Peninsula Center Library. Local History Center.
Title: W.H. Kindig Collection
Identifier/Call Number: 050
Physical Description:
.5 Linear Feet
1 legal document box
Date (inclusive): 1925-1936; bulk 1931-1933
Abstract: Materials mostly document homesteading claims and literature from the 1920s on the validity of Mexican land grant patents,
and subsequent investigation by the Subcommittee of the Committee on Public Lands and Surveys by the U.S. Senate. Also includes
publications by Silver Shirts of America and a case file on gas and oil rights.
Language of Material:
English
.
Container: 1
Open for research. Advance notice required for access. Contact the Local History Center for access information.
The collection is open for research use.
[Name of item], W.H. Kindig Collection (Collection 050). Local History Center, Peninsula Center Library, Palos Verdes Library
District, Rolling Hills Estates, CA.
William Harvey (W.H.) Kindig (1869-1946) was a real estate salesman and a broker. He was associated with the Palos Verdes
Project as early as 1922, where he worked in the General Sales Office underwriting subscriptions for E.G. Lewis. Kindig was
also an early lot owner in the Palos Verdes Project. The Palos Verdes Homes Association permit files from 1928 show Kindig
listed as the owner of 4021 Via Nivel (#148), 4177 Via Solano (#149), 400 Via Colorin (#150, #304), and 216 Via Colorin (#151).
From 1935-1937, Kindig was a City Councilmember in Los Angeles representing the 7th District. In 1938, he become the Sales
Manager for the real estate firm, Willett & Crane, the exclusive agents for the Palos Verdes Trust. He was also the manager
of the Alpha Syndicate Corporation, the first independent real estate office in Malaga Cove Plaza.
Just prior to lots in Palos Verdes being sold in earnest from 1923, homesteading claims on former Spanish land grant areas,
including Palos Verdes, were being filed with the General Land Office in Los Angeles on the claim that patents to these lands
were fraudulent and therefore open to entry. By 1925, a reported 300 claims had been made on land in Palos Verdes.
By the late 1920s, the Citizens Land Association led by Harry Newkirk (H.N.) Wheeler, a self described "crusading California
Homesteader, in a patriotic campaign to arouse the Nation to the "The Peril of the Gangster and Communist," was distributing
pamphlets and other writings on the supposed fraudulent titles. For filing and retainer fees, Wheeler worked on behalf of
homesteaders to file applications.
In 1929, the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands and Surveys led by Senator Sam Bratton and Senator Gerald Nye convened to
investigate the merits of the homesteaders' claims. Kindig testified in the hearings, and later through correspondence urged
the Subcommittee to issue a report as land sales in Palos Verdes were being affected by the claims of questionable titles.
The December 1930 issue of the Palos Verdes Bulletin noted a lot purchaser filed a lawsuit against the Palos Verdes Trust
to cancel the purchase because a homesteading claim had been filed on the lot.
The Senate Subcommittee issued Report 426 on March 14, 1932, finding the charges of fraudulent patents were without merit.
In September of the same year, Wheeler and three of his Citizens Land Association associates were indicted on 21 counts of
conspiracy to use the mail to defraud in connection with the filing of homestead applications. Wheeler was convicted on one
charge of mail fraud and sentenced to five years in prison. He died at McNeil Island Penitentiary in 1935 waiting for his
case to be appealed to the Supreme Court.
Arranged alphabetically into four series: Clippings, Correspondence, Government and Judicial Documents, and Publications;
thereunder chronologically.
Collection includes W.H. Kindig's correspondence file, clippings, and collection of Citizens Land Association publications,
judicial hearings and reports, court cases, U.S. House bills, and publications by the Silver Shirts.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated to the Palos Verdes Library District Local History Center.
Initial housing and stabilization of materials by library volunteers into ephemera box labelled California Land Fraud. Final
arrangement and description by Michele McKinnon Fricke and Monique Sugimoto October 2022.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Land grants--California
Land titles
Land tenure--Law and legislation
Correspondence
Homestead law--California.
Citizens Land Association
Legislative hearings
Clippings (Books, newspapers, etc.)