COLONEL THOMAS BAKER - It may be stated without fear of contradiction that no man has lived in Kern County who labored more diligently and devoted more years of unselfish energy and toil to the material development of Kern County in general and Bakersfield in particular than the late Colonel Thomas Baker. The history of the later years of his busy life might likewise be called an early history of the thriving little city which bears his revered name. The publishers of this work can pay no greater tribute to his memory than to reproduce a brief sketch of this man, which was written by an able biographer who knew him intimately during his busiest years, and which reads as follows:
Colonel Thomas Baker was born in Muskingum County, Ohio, November 5, 1810, his birthplace being in the beautiful valley extending from Newark to Dresden, through which the Ohio canal runs. A military bent was given to the youthful ambitions of Colonel Baker by the times in which he was educated and the circumstances in which he was placed. He was appointed a Colonel in the Ohio State militia before be attained his majority; but peace became so well assured that he turned his attention to civil pursuits.
Reared on a farm and familiar with surveying he studied law with the intention of making land law his specialty. Shortly after his admission to the bar he moved to Illinois, where, however, he remained but a short period. The rapid influx of population into the Territory of Iowa induced him to go there, and his ambitions as a lawyer were soon rewarded with success. He was appointed the first United States District Attorney of that Territory and retained the office until the adoption of the State constitution. He was then elected Senator, and on the organization of the Legislature was chosen President of the Senate, becoming under the now constitution ex officio Lieutenant Governor, the first in that office in Iowa. He was subsequently returned several times to the State Senate. No man had a larger share in the early legislation of that powerful State; and many of her important laws on her statute books were devised and drafted by him.
Influenced by the gold excitement and his bias for adventure, he finally determined to emigrate to the Pacific coast. In the autumn of 1850, after the usual tedious and dangerous overland made by most men of those days, he arrived at Benicia, where he remained a few months, when he removed to Stockton. In 1852 he removed to Tulare County, and was one of the founders of the town of Visalia. In 1855 he was chosen Representative of that district to the State Assembly. During the next fall he was appointed Receiver of the United States Land Office, which position he held during the administration of President Buchanan. In 1861 {Page 280} he was elected State Senator from Tulare and Fresno counties, and served in the sessions of 1861-'62.
September 20, 1863, he arrived on Kern Island with his family, preparatory to commencing his work of reclamation, remarking at the time, "Here at last I have found a resting place, and here I expect to lay my bones. "To him the country was neither new nor strange. He had visited and explored it, and carefully noted its capabilities years before. He was a man of keen perception, broad views, and comprehended fully the natural resources and peculiar advantages of a country, and systematically set about the prosecution of his work of reclaiming and developing his lands. He was liberal to a fault, and that was with him an almost entire abrogation of self. Often, when his ingenuity was taxed to supply his own wants, he was found willing to aid those who were worthily in dire need, and the stranger was always a welcomed guest at his home. His friends, like those of President Jefferson, delighted with his genial manners and hospitality, seemed never to suspect that his store could be exhausted. The leading trait of his character was his uniform good nature and his philosophical placidity and coolness of temper and disposition. Nothing seemed to disturb his equanimity and self-poise for a moment. One of his favorite mottoes was, "Time will justify a man who means to do right. "He thought it unworthy a rational being to indulge in vain regrets. Whatever ills he suffered he wasted no time in brooding over them, and it was this peculiarity of mind or mental training that often gave him the mastery over adverse circumstances and enabled him to extricate himself.
He knew better how to make a fortune than how to keep it. The result was that, though several times in his life he might have retired wealthy, fortunes were lost with seeming indifference. His ambition was not so much to acquire lands as it was to develop them, and in this he succeeded to a greater extent probably than any other man in the State of California. His absorbing desire was to see his lands improved and occupied by settlers as soon as possible; and in furtherance of this object be was invariably more liberal than the national Government itself.
He was the original owner of the town site of Bakersfield, and induced the erection of several of the public buildings there by his liberality. In fact he was the projector of nearly all the public works and improvements. His great experience, intuitive sagacity, indomitable perseverance and public spirit made him a useful man to his people.
September 12, 1857, Colonel Baker was married to Miss E. M. Alverson, daughter of Dr. L. Alverson, in Visalia. Dr. Alverson, on coming to Kern County in 1870 from Iowa, practiced medicine in Tulare and Kern counties, and died here in 1879. By this marriage there were four children, three of whom survive: May, now Mrs. H. A. Jastro; Thomas A., the present Treasurer of Kern County; and Lotus, still at home. An older daughter married 0. C. Cowgill of Bakersfield, and is deceased. Colonel Baker died November 24, 1872. Mrs. Baker, the widow of the Colonel, was married January 19, 1875, to F. A. Tracy, a leading pioneer of Kern County, of whom mention is made elsewhere in this work.
HON. ALVAH RUSSELL CONKLIN, of Bakersfield, was born, at Mehoopany, Wyoming County, Pennsylvania, March 12, 1835. He came of the Mohawk valley branch of the Conklin family, State of New York, upon his father's side. His mother was one of the Vermont Redfields. He was educated at Kingston, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, at the Wyoming Seminary. He was a practical printer and was such until he was twenty years old, having edited two different newspapers before he arrived at that age. His legal education was acquired under the tutelage of Hon. Lyman Hakes, in Wilkes Barre, and with Hon. George S. Tutton, in Tunkhannock, {Page 281} Pennsylvania. He emigrated to Missouri in 1858, and pursued his profession in Forest City, Holt County. From 1859 tip to the time of the breaking out of the civil war, he was publishing the Forest City Courier. Early in 1861 he was waylaid and shot down in the highway while recruiting a company for the Thirteenth Missouri Infantry, Colonel Peabody's Regiment of Volunteers, being the second person "bushwhacked" in the State of Missouri.
He served four years in the Federal army, filling various responsible positions, and was the first Federal Judge Advocate to determine the admissibility of negro testimony before a military court. After the war he settled in Warrensburg, Missouri, where he resided up to 1875. From 1868 to 1872, he was Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Johnson County.
In 1875 he emigrated to California, locating at Independence, Inyo County, where he actively engaged in the practice of his profession, in connection with Mon. Patrick Reddy, his brother-in-law. Under the new constitution, in 1879, he was the nominee of the Re publican party of that county for the position of Superior Judge, which he declined, though the county was largely Republican in politics. In 1882 he was the nominee of the Republican party as its candidate for Lieutenant-Governor, winning his nomination over several well-known and active politicians, entirely through a three minute magnetic speech before that body. Though the Republican ticket was defeated in the election, he received a vote of over 6,000 more than the head of the ticket. In 1884 he was nominated as one of the electors-at-large on the James G. Blaine ticket, and was elected. Upon the assembling of the Electoral College he was chosen as its president.
He was made a Mason in Forest City Lodge, No. 214, at Forest City, Missouri. He is now a member of Inyo Lodge, No. 221, Independence, California. He was made a Royal Arch Mason in Brodie Chapter, No. 35, and received the orders of Knighthood in Brodie Commandery, No. 15, they having been conferred upon him by California Commandery, No. 1, by special request of Bodie Commandery. He has been a member, and an active one, of the Grand Lodge of California, Free and Accepted Masons, since 1879. For several years he ably discharged the duties of chairman of the Committee on Grievances in that body. In 1886 he was elected Junior Grand Warden; in 1887, chosen as Senior Grand Warden; in 1888, he was elected as Deputy Grand Master; and in 1890 he was promoted to the supreme head of the order in this jurisdiction, having been chosen Grand Master of the Grand Lodge, which position he now holds.
His family consists of his wife, two sons and two daughters. He is a resident of Bakersfield, Kern County, California, and occupies the position of Judge of the Superior Court of that County, to which position he was appointed to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Hon. R. E. Arick.
JOHN COWAN RUSSELL is a Forty niner and a prominent horticulturist and rancher of Tulare County. He was born in middle Tennessee, September 2, 1822, the son of James and Mary (Cowan) Russell, the former being a native of North Carolina. His parents were married in East Tennessee, and to them were born seven children, he being the fifth. Ones of his brothers was a surgeon in the Mexican war and two of them served in the Confederate army, one a colonel, the other a quartermaster, all coming out alive. Only two of the family are now living. Mr. Russell was reared and educated in the counties of Williamson, Maury and Lincoln, Tennessee, and had the early training of a farmer's son. Then for two years he was engaged in clerking.
With the overland emigration he came to this coast in 1849, over the southern route. He at once engaged in mining in Tuolumne County, where he met with only moderate success, and {Page 282} never got more than $1,000 ahead, for two or three years. In 1854-'55-'56, at Douglas Flat, Calaveras County, he was interested with a company in tunneling, frequently taking out three or four pounds of gold a day, and in two years and a half mining, over $100,000. There were twelve shareholders in the company. Mr. Russell then went to Shaw's Flat, Tuolumne County, and bought an interest in the Reed claim, which they mined one summer arid winter; sank a shaft thirty feet and took out $32,000. They were the discoverers of the Sidewiper mine, developed it and took out $100,000. He also owned an interest in a quartz mine at Carson Hill, near the noted Union [Dine, Carson Hill, and expended on it about $5,000, receiving little in return. He then sold out, went to Contra Costa County and spent some time there and at San Francisco. He purchased and partly opened a cement mine at Benicia, spent $1,200 on it and lost about half of that amount. The mine was afterward worked and furnished the cement used in building the State capitol. In 1860, during the silver mining excitement, he went to Virginia City and mined a year, investing money but never realizing much from it. In 1861 he went to Empire City, Nevada, and built a sawmill and gave his attention to the lumber business. He had the logs cut in California and floated down the Carson river, and while there had a franchise to clear and control that river. He did a successful business there until 1868, meanwhile continuning his mining interests. From that place he went to Hamilton, White Pine County, Nevada, and conducted a lumber business from 1868 till 1875, then going to the Ward mining district, still, however, having an interest in the lumber business until 1880. We next find him at El Paso, engaged in the stone coal business. There he obtained a contract from the Mexican Central Railroad Company to furnish them lime for building their road from Paso del Norte to the city of Mexico, which he did for two years, burning kilns, shipping car loads and being financially successful.
In 1884 Mr. Russell came to Tulare County and purchased a half section of land, two miles northwest of. Traver, where he is farming and has gone into fruit and grape culture. He has fourteen acres in peaches, apricots, nectarines and French prunes, all bearing and doing well and thirty acres of young orchard of peaches and prunes, and sixty acres in raisin grapes, also in a flourishing condition, three years old. He has invested in other lands in Tulare County, a portion of which is near Visalia. While now giving his attention to agricultural pursuits, he is still interested in a mine in Lincoln County, Nevada. The company once sold it for $800,000, but, the purchasers not being able to pay for it, it came back to the original owners.
Mr. Russell was made a Master Mason in February, 1849, at Fayetteville, Tennessee, and is now a Knight Templar in that order. His political views are in harmony with Democratic principles. He is a man of high moral character and is a most worthy citizen.
Such is all epitome of the history of one who since 1849 has been very actively engaged in business in the great State of California - one who has had an opportunity to mark the wonderful growth of the State, who has had much to do in digging the golden treasures from her mines, who has been largely interested in the manufacture of her trees into lumber, and who is now devoting his attention to the development of her rich fruit interests.
JOHN W. SHORT, late editor of the Republican, at Fresno, was born near the village of Shelbyville, the county seat of Shelby County, Missouri, October 8, 1858. His father, J. H. Short, was a native of Delaware, and his mother, whose maiden name was Emily Wharton, was born in Ohio and now resides in Fresno County, together with several members of her family.
John W. Short was the oldest of a family of three children, two sons and one daughter. His {Page 283} earliest recollections are of the closing days of the war of the Rebellion, when fire and sword had desolated that section as they only did where a division of sentiment arrayed neighbor against neighbor and brother against brother. His father was a volunteer in defense of big country, enlisting as a private in the State service, was soon made corporal and served in that capacity till the close of the war. Hardship and exposure during that struggle destroyed his health, and a few months later he died, not yet having reached the age of thirty-five years. Three years later the mother was again married, and in 1872 removed to Nebraska. Leaving the remainder of the family at Nebraska City, the eldest son and step-father pushed on to the then wild and unsettled region in the central portion of the State, locating on Government land near where the city of Hastings now stands. For the first year the boy of twelve years was satisfied with the charm of frontier life, but soon began to feel the want of schools and opportunities for improvement. His mother's eldest brother, the late Hon. J. F. Wharton, was living at a town near Omaha Nebraska, and sent an invitation to his nephew to live with him and attend the school which he was teaching. The in vitalism was accepted, but at the close of the first term the young man became possessed by the idea that the printers' occupation is the ideal one, and made an engagement with the local paper to learn that trade. When fifteen years of age he had learned to set type and do other work about a rural printing office. His uncle deciding to remove to California, he returned to Hastings, near where his mother resided and secured work in the only newspaper office then established there. He remained in the same office nearly six years, the last two years doing editorial work instead of type-setting. During that time he attended the public school one term, which was his last effort to gather knowledge outside the hard school of experience. After this he spent nearly a year in northern Kansas, editing a paper there he then returned to Nebraska, but shortly afterward received a letter from his uncle, who had just located at Fresno, informing him that he had engaged a position for him on the Republican of that place, then a weekly paper published by S. A. Miller. The summons was promptly responded to, and in May, 1881, Mr. Short arrived at Fresno. The following autumn big younger brother, Frank H. Short, and his mother and stepfather-, also left Nebraska and came to Fresno. He worked continuously on the Republican for over four years, then. became a partner of J. W. Shanklin and bought a half interest in the paper. October 1, 1887, Short & Shanklin established the Daily Morning Republician The paper met with unprecedented success; in a year after its first issue its circulation was equal to the best interior dailies. in cities of like population. In May, 1890, the paper was sold to J. C. Judkins, who still suecessfully conducts it.
September 3, 1885, Mr. Short was married to Jessie G. Francis, at Calistoga, who is a native daughter of California, and is six years younger than her husband. They have one child, James Vernon Short, one year of age.
Since retiring from the Republican Mr. Short has spent several months in looking at various portions of the State, but has returned with a view to making his home in Fresno. For his residence he has built a handsome cottage on North J street.
The name of John W. Short is inseparably connected with the newspaper history of Fresno, alike creditably to himself and to that important factor in the growth and development of the community. His pen is always used in the cause of humanity and in the amelioration of civilized life.
ADDISON J. BUMP is a widely and favorably known early settler of California, having come to the State in the year of its birth. A sketch of his life will be found of interest to many, and is as follows: {Page 284}
Mr. Bump was born in Madison County, New York, July 6, 1825, son of Elihu Bump, also a native of the Empire State. Grandfather Gideon Bump was born in Vermont, was a farmer, and, it is believed, a Universalist, Addison J. was reared and educated in New York. In 1850 he crossed the plains to California, making the journey with ox teams, and after his arrival here engaged in mining, at first near Placerville and subsequently on the Cosumnes river in Sacramento County. He had moderate success, found as high as $50 in a day, made a deal of money and also lost it. Coining easy, it went the same way. After mining for some time, he turned his attention to the cattle business, buying in Los Angeles County and driving to Sacramento County, and in this was fairly successful.
After having remained in California five years, Mr. Bump returned to New York and was married to Miss Adelia C. Bunnell, a native of the town of Lima, Livingston County, New York, and a former schoolmate of his. She is a descendant of Connecticut ancestry. To them seven children have been born, all grew to maturity and are Still living. Their names are as follows: Ella, wife of Ross W. Miller, resides in Tulare County Elizabeth, wife of Richard Dally, Solaria County; Charles A. is a clerk in the United States Land Office at Visalia; Frank N., Hattie and Louie (twins), and Clara are members of the home circle.
Two years after his marriage, Mr. Bump came with his wife to this State and settled at Cook's Bar, on the Cosumnes river, Sacramento County, where they kept hotel two years. From there they removed to Freeport on the Sacramento river, where he built a store and was engaged in the general merchandise business for six years. Disposing of his interests at that place, he went to Forestville, Sonoma County, and built the first store in the town and also a nice home; opened a branch store on the Sacramento river and continued the business there about four years. He again sold out, and for the next three or four years we find him engaged in business at Walnut Grove on the Sacramento river, after which be disposed of his mercantile interests and retired from business. On Mokelumne river be then purchased 160 acres of land, built and made improvements on the property, and not long afterward sold it. A few years later, in connection with F. B. Huston, he engaged in a general merchandise store and hotelkeeping at Courtland, and was in business there until his health became impaired. He had, in the meantime, become the owner of 320 acres of land in Tulare valley; and to this, in October, 1886, he came and built his present home, and began wheat farming. He has since purchased 160 acres of land at Brost, forty acres of which he has planted to Muscat grapes and five acres to budded Washington navel oranges, both vines and trees being in a flourishing condition. This land is situated about six miles east of Dinuba, in a vicinity where the soil is unsurpassed by any in California; and Mr. Bump has the distinction of being the pioneer orange-grower in this section of the county.
In politics he is a Republican. Personally he is vivacious, courteous and obliging, and his many estimable qualities have surrounded him with a large circle of friends.
A. M. AYERS, of the mercantile firm of Agee & Ayers, Grangeville, is a Native son a of the golden West, born in Butte County, in 1860. His father, A. S. Ayers, a native of Ohio, crossed the plains to California in 1852, and for fourteen years followed mining. He then farmed for nine years on the Sacramento river, and in 1877 came to Grangeville, purchased lands, and now owns 260 acres, forty of which is in fruit trees and vines and the remainder in alfalfa and grain.
A. M. Ayers was educated in the public schools of Sacramento, and remained with his father until twenty-one years of age, when he purchased 160 acres of land and began farming. He continued that occupation until 1886, when {Page 285} he sold out, and for one year was superintendent of the Last Chance ditch. He next secured clerkship in the general merchandise store of D. Brownstone, and in February, 1889, in partnership with W. M. Agee, they bought out the entire business, including building and grounds. The store, 40 x 86 feet, is well stocked with a general assortment for the family and household. They also carry agricultural implements and farm machinery, and do an extensive business. Mr. Ayers also owns town property, upon which he built Ids residence in 1886.
He was married in Sonoma County, in 1883, to Miss Clara Farnsworth, a native of California, and they have four children, - Ralph, Clifford, Raymond and Bessie. Mr. Ayers is a member of Welcome Lodge, No. 255, F. &. A. M., at Lemoore. He was appointed Postmaster of Grangeville in September, 1889, by John Wanamaker, Postmaster General.
W. E. HOUGHTON, an influential citizen of Kern County and a resident and representative business man of Bakersfield, was born in Lincoln, Penobscot County, Maine, August 7, 1852. His father, George E. Houghton, a mechanic by trade, removed with his family from Maine to Lee, Massachusetts, afterward coming to California and locating at Stockton, where he died in 1878. Of his eight children, William E. is the youngest. The mother, a native of Maine, and a most estimable lady, now lives in San Jose. Of the other members of the family, a brother, R. E. Houghton, is an able attorney of San Francisco, and another is Master in Chancery in the same city. A third brother is engaged in the milling business in Seattle, Washington, and a fourth, who was for some years a prominent tutor in public and private schools of California, lost his life
by accident in Bakersfield, in February, 1888.
W. E. Houghton received his early schooling in the town of Lee, Massachusetts. After coining to California he took a commercial course of study in San Jose, and in 1873 came to Kern county as bookkeeper for John H. Reddington & Co. In 1876 he became cashier for the Kern Valley Bank, in which position he continued about two years and a half. From 1879 to 1888 he was in the employ of Miller & Lux as an accountant and searcher of records during the time of their extensive litigation, which involved grave questions of land titles and water rights in Central California. The firm of Houghton & Lightner was organized in 1887, and from year to year their business has developed until it is now recognized as one of the most extensive and systematically conducted of all on the coast. The firm, comprising the subject of this sketch and Abia T. Lightner, both men of established business reputation, have personally a wide experience in land matters in Califorinia They have developed a complete set of abstracts of titles of all the lands in Kern County, and are doing a large business in the abstract line.
Mr. Houghton was married, December 25. 1880, to Miss Ella Said of Bakersfield, and they are the parents of two children. Their residence is a model of its kind and is located at the corner of G street and Railroad avenue.
ORVILLE COY GOODIN was born in Missouri, in 1856, son of W. S. and Eliza (Blair) Goodin, natives of Tennessee and Missouri respectively. He is the oldest son in a family of seven children, only three of whom are now living. The year following his birth he was brought by his parents to California. In the fall of 1861 they came to Tulare County and settled on a ranch four miles northeast of Visalia, where his mother died when he was eleven years old. He remained at home until he was sixteen, when he started out to make his own way in the world, working for wages.
In 1878 Mr. Goodin purchased 320 acres of land, a portion of which, when Orosi was started, he sold for the town site, and on twenty {Page 286} acres he reserved he built the second house in the village. He has a nice home and is keeping pace with the rapid development that is taking place all around him; has thirteen acres of vineyard at Orosi, in a flourishing condition; and owns 160 acres of land three miles south of the town and 100 acres three-quarters of a mile northeast.
Mr. Goodin was united in marriage in 1884, with Miss Matinee liable, a native of Sonoma County, California. His political affiliations are with the Democratic party, and to him belongs the distinction of having been appointed the first Postmaster of Orosi.
D. W. MADDEN, President of the Tulare County Bank and a prominent citizen of Tulare, California, was born in Montour County, Pennsylvania, in 1825. His grandfather, Joseph Madden, at one time an aid-de-camp to General George Washington, settled in Montour County, which was afterward the home of many generations of the family.
Mr. Madden's father being a farmer, he was reared on the farm and received only limited educational advantages. In 1844, with his clothes strapped on his back and $18 in his pocket, he started out to make his own way in the world; joined an emigrant train and went to Michigan, settling at White Pigeon, which was named for the White Pigeon tribe of Indians. In 1846 he settled at Paw Paw, Illinois, where he followed farming and school- teaching, it being necessary for him to study of nights to keep in advance of his classes; still he met with great success.
Mr. Madden was married, at Paw Paw, in 1847, and there continued to reside until 1852. In that year, in company with his brother, brother-in-law and a man named Berry, he started for California. Each man furnished one horse, and with one wagon they set forth; but, before reaching St. Joe, his friends dropped out and be was left alone with his one horse. He then joined a French company and with them left St. Joe, April 9, 1852. That being the cholera year, deaths were of frequent occurrence, and although our subject was attacked by that dread disease his pure grit tided him safely over. After five months of travel he landed at Hangtown, with no money and very poor clothes. While recuperating he did some work in a hotel; afterward went to Sacramento, and was given a start in peddling by A. T. Barley, who furnished horses, wagon and a load of miners' supplies. With these Mr. Madden started for Volcano, a mining camp, with the agreement that he should have one-half the net profits; returned nine days later, as he expresses it, "with more money than I had ever seen. "Flour was then selling at $1 per pound and other supplies in proportion. After peddling about six months, he was employed by the California Stage Company, Sacramento, and remained with them seven years.
His wife having died in the East, Mr. Madden was married a second time, at Folsom City, December 31, 1859, to Miss Nancy E. Carnahan, with whom he grew up from childhood in Montour County, Pennsylvania. In the fall of 1860 they went to Toll House, Placer County, purchased a ranch of 640 acres and also bought the toll road and built fifteen miles additional. They also kept a wayside hotel and made a deal of money until their business was ruined by the completion of the Central Pacific railroad. In 1866 Mr. Madden sold out and moved to Cisco, Placer County, where he built a hotel with a dining-room capacity to seat 500 people. This was a center for stage lines and overland travel, and they did a large and lucrative business. In 1869 be moved to Rockwell, same county, and bought a large fruit ranch, and ran a dairy. A year later he sold out and moved to San Jose, and subsequently to Hollister, purchasing an interest in the stage line from Hollister to Gilroy; this venture, however, was a losing one, and he soon found himself financially' mined. He then moved to Santa Cruz and rented a saloon, {Page 287} but in a few days closed out the "institution" and returned to farming, which again placed him upon a financial footing. In 1874 Mr. Madden decided to engage in the sheep business, came to Visalia and rented 5,000 sheep on shares, but this was not the business his fancy had pictured, and a year later he found himself again reduced to penury. In the fall of 1875 he came to Tulare and secured a position with Sisson, Wallace & Co. at $65 per month, and remained in their employ for eighteen months. At that time Tulare had only about 200 inhabitants.
Mr. Madden's next business venture was to rent the Lake House. After operating the hotel for two years, with little profit, he gave it up. He then purchased the old Pacific Hotel on J street, giving his notes at one and one-half per cent interest per month, with the resolution to stay with the purchase if he could make a living. He bought old furniture, also on time, and thus started his hotel, prosperity attending his labors from that time forward. In two years he was enabled to pay off all indebtedness, and subsequently increased the size of his hotel and did a fine business.
In 1881 Mr. Madden bored an artesian well in his back yard for household purposes, but was induced to supply one and another, and thus was started the water system of the town, which was gradually extended beyond this capacity. In the destructive fire of 1886 his hotel and pump house were consumed, after which he moved out and located on 0 street, between Tulare and Kern streets. He then incorporated a water company and established a permanent plant; bored two wells 400 feet deep, and in 1888 two more at an equal depth, all eased with 10-inch pipe. They have two boilers, sixty-horse power, and two Buffalo Duplex pumps with a capacity of 75,000 gallons per hour, and have put in another pump in order to guard against accidents. The pipes are so arranged as to draw upon all the wells at one time, and no diminution has ever been known in the water supply. The water is piped into two large elevated tanks, with a capacity of 40,000 gallons each, from which distributing pipes supply the town.
In 1890 Mr. Madden was instrumental in organizing the Tulare County Bank, which opened its doors for business in July of that year, and he was elected president of the institution. Mr. Madden has been School Trustee for many years, and was instrumental in the building of their fine schoolhouse in 1884.
The public school system of California is unsurpassed in the United States, and the public schools of Tulare City have reached the highest degree of' perfection of all in the State. For fifteen years Mr. Madden has given the affairs of the schools his personal attention and to him, in a large measure, is due the excellent and progressive condition of Tulare schools. Churches, schools, and moral enterprises have found in him a generous supporter.
He and his wife have four children, viz.: Lelia E., now Mrs. E. D. Castle; Margaret E., wife of F. W. Gorham; Washington D.; and Mamie M., wife of 1. 0. Bachelder all settled in the vicinity of Tulare.
Mr. Madden is a member of Olive Branch Lodge, No. 269, F. & A. M.; of Tulare Chapter, No. 71, R. A. M.; and of Visalia Commandery, No. 26, K. T.
As a monument to his memory, Mr. Madden has just (1891) erected on the Plaza and presented to the city of Tulare a drinking fountain, which is in bronze, and represents "Rebecca at the Well."
To the stranger this signifies the disposition of the man, but no such symbol was necessary to his town's people, who will ever remember him for his kind words, genial disposition and disinterested public spirit. Mr. Madden is a typical Californian he belongs to the old school, that noble class who developed the great State of California. Only courageous men, men of nerve and progress, came to the golden West in the early '50s and remained; only men of personal courage, men of forceful characters, could pick up, cross the plains, and stay with {Page 288} the ups and downs of varied fortune on the Pacific coast. Many fell by the way or soon returned to the old home while only the determined, the progressive, the hopeful, the men of indomitable will remained and compelled final success.
The early Californians are a remarkable class of men. Their chief characteristics are large generosity, energy of will, intense activity, hope even in the midst of disaster; and with all large and progressive ideas, only such men could make a country like California.
Mr. Madden is one of these noble men.
WILEY HINDS, an early settler of Tulare County, California, was born in Arkansas, in 1836, son of Thomas and Rachel Hinds. He was the third of six children bad the misfortune to be born in slavery, and at an early age was bereft of his mother by death. Upon the death of their master his parents were set free. His father worked and saved his money, and when Wiley was ten years old paid $300 for his freedom. As be grew older the boy was sent to school and made the best of his educational advantages. In 1858 be came to California and to Visalia in company with E. Hinds, paying his own expenses, however.
Soon after his arrival here he obtained work at $30 per month, and worked for Mr. Pemberton fourteen months. He was then employed by Mr. Wallace, having charge of his hogs a year, for which he received $400. Next be worked for George E. Long five years, till he sold out. Mr. Hinds continued to work for wages until 1865, when be engaged in the stock business on his own account, in partnership, at first, with Mr. Harrington. After residing in California fourteen years and meeting with the success that his honest endeavors merited, he returned to the scenes of his childhood and visited both Kansas and Arkansas. While on this visit he made the acquaintance of Miss Lucy
McKinney, a native of' Kansas, who, in 1873, became his wife. If e brought her to his California home, and their union has been blessed with eight children. One of their little children lost its life by eating sugar-coated pills that were accidentally left within her reach. Their children were all born in Tulare County, and, with the exception above cited, are all living. Their names are: Joanna, Julietta, John Thomas, Polly Rachel, Wiley Douglass, Edith Bell and Earnest Logan.
Mr. Hinds has been a straightforward, hardworking man, and his efforts have met with success. He purchased hip first eighty acres of land, upon which be now resides, in 1868. Two years later he added eighty adjoining acres, and later 240 acres east of Farmersville. He owns 1,000 acres of land in the foothills, city lots in Visalia and a house and lot in Oakland. In his stock-raising and farming operations be has met with eminent success. Mr. Hinds is a member of the Methodist Church, and in politics is a Republican. By his own integrity, industry and economy he has won for himself a position of prominence in his county. By all who know him his word is regarded as good as his Dote.
The old slavery times have passed away, thank God. A man's soul is filled with disgust at the heinousness of the law in a great free country like the United States that made it possible to hold such a man in bondage.
ALPHA H. GLASSCOCK, an early settler of California, and now a resident of Visalia, Tulare County, was born in Illinois, August 28, 1835.
His father, Robert L. Glasscock, was born in Kentucky, in 1806, and was a descendant of Scotch ancestry who settled in America before the Revolution. He married Elizabeth Sulinger, of Irish ancestry and a native of Missouri, arid of their eight children Alpha H. was next to the oldest. He was educated in Madison County (now Iron County), Missouri. His {Page 289} father was a merchant and steamboat owner, and with him our subject was engaged in the mercantile business for six years.
In 1859 Mr. Glasscock made the journey to the far West, stopped one winter in Nevada, then came to California and settled in Tulare County. For seven years be was successfully engaged in the cattle business.
G. R. G. GLENN is a native of Georgia, born in 1837. He was engaged in various pursuits at his home until after the close of the Rebellion. From 1866 until 1868 he was in Mississippi, and in June of the latter year he came to California. Solano County was the scene of his first exploits in this State, but Fresno was destined to be his home. He landed in this county in the year 1869, with $75, and by wise investment and careful expenditure he is to-day independent and ranks among Fresno's well-to-do citizens. Early in his career here he entered into the sheep business, buying low and selling at a good profit, then investing his earnings in low-priced lands, from which on subsequent sales he realized handsome returns. He owns a fine vineyard in the Fresno colony, and has been very successful in grape culture. He is a stockholder in the Fresno Loan & Savings Bank and also in the Farmers' Bank.
Mr. Glenn was married, in 1876, to Miss Strother, and has a family of three children. He is a prominent member of the Baptist denomination, and at present is treasurer of the First Baptist Church of Fresno, of which society he was one of the organizers.
HUGO KUHL is one of the business men who have contributed to Tehachapi's prosperity. He came to this State with his parents in 1864, and has since been identified with its interests.
His father, Peter Kuhl, a farmer, and his mother, whose maiden name was Ann Moose, were both natives of Germany, the former having come from his native land to America in 1848. They were married at Davenport, Iowa, and of their five children the subject of this sketch was the third born. As already stated, the family came to California in 1864. Settling at Dixon, Solano County, the father engaged in farming and is yet a resident of that place, the mother having died in 1869. Hugo learned the trade of blacksmith at Dixon, worked at his trade four years in Sacramento, and afterward four years at Mojave. He located at Tehachapi in the fall of 1888 and opened a general blacksmithing and wagon-making establishment, which he is still successfully conducting.
He was married December 19, 1886, in Los Angeles, to Mrs. M. E. Macarter, a Dative of Boston, Massachusetts. By her former marriage she has three children: Rose M., William I. and Maud, and by her present husband, two: Mamie and Lillian.
As a business man and citizen, Mr. Kuhl bears a most honorable name. He is Chief Ranger of the Independent Order of Foresters, Tehachapi.
HARRY QUINN. - Among the men who are connected with the sheep interests of Tulare county, none have attained greater success or prominence than be whose name graces this biographical sketch.
Mr. Quinn was born in Ireland, December 25, 1843, son of Thomas and Margaret (Donaldson) Quinn. the latter of Scotch descent. His father was a farmer in Ireland. Harry lived at home until sixteen years of age, securing a common-school education and assisting in the farm work. At that early age he started out in life for himself and emigrated to Australia. On his arrival there he first went to the mines of the Melbourne colony and subsequently to the mining districts of Adelaide colony. There was, however little in mining for him, and he {Page 290} gave it up and turned his attention to the sheep industry. Securing a position on a large sheep ranch as a common laborer, he began zealously to learn the various details of the business, being thus engaged for eight years. He came to California in 1868, traveled through the northern part of the State and Nevada, and afterward came to the Tule river, in Tulare County. Being much pleased with the country, he decided to locate here. He hired out as manager of sheep ranches until 1872, when he purchased of A. Leitch, of Stockton, a one-half interest in his band of 7,000 sheep, grazing at that time being free throughout the valley. In 1879 Mr. Quinn bought 160 acres, where his residence is now located, and the firm of Leitch & Quinn own over 10,000 acres as a range for their sheep. This land lies on the border in Kern and Tulare counties, and in the mountains. Their flock averages 12,000 sheep and is divided into five bands, with no sheep older than five years. One band of 2,000 sheep consists wholly of pure blood French merinos, valuable stock for both wool and mutton. With the increase from these sheep they will eventually stock their ranch. Mr. Quinn is a wise and careful manager, and, to avoid the possibility of a famine from dry years and short feed, sows annually 400 acres of grain for hay, and has 300 acres in alfalfa, all of which is carefully stacked and stored, constantly keeping on hand a sufficient quantity of hay to carry his sheep through a possible dry year.
In 1886 Mr. Quinn took an extended tour through the East, passing through twenty-two States. On this trip he was married, in Robeson County, North Carolina, December 15 1 1886, to Miss Katie Robertson, a niece of Miss A. Leitch and a daughter of John Robertson, a native of the Isle of Skye, Scotland, and Mary (Leitch) Robertson. Their union has been blessed with two children, Margaret and John Robertson.
Mr. Quinn is a member of the I. 0. 0. F., and the A. 0. U. W., and also of the blue lodge, chapter and commandery, F. & A. M., Visalia. He built his present large and handsome residence in 1890, at a cost of $5,000, and with the highly improved grounds surrounding the house: his place is the most beautiful and attractive in his section of the valley.
CHARLES A. LEE - Postmaster at Tehachapi (Greenwich postoffice), has, during his brief residence here, thoroughly identified himself with the business and social interests of the town. He came to California from his native State, Indiana, in 1887.
Mr. Lee was born in Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, Indiana, February 1, 1866, and at the age of fifteen began railroading. He pursued that calling in various portions of the Middle States until he came to California. Here, after a few months of travel in the southern and central part of the State, he again engaged in railroading entering the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. He continued in their employ until he met with a serious almost fatal, accident, which resulted in the amputation of his right leg, and other in juries seriously crippling his left hand. Upon his recovery from this great physical shock, he engaged in the fruit and confectionery business in Teliachapi. He was soon afterward deputized postmaster by Hon. P. D. Green, and assumed the duties of his office on the first of January, 1890. In this capacity he has proven himself one of the most efficient, accommodating and popular postmasters the town has ever had. In one respect he is worthy of special commendation. The universal rules governing the conduct of the United States post offices do not require the distribution of mail before the hour of eight o'clock in the morning or after seven in the evening; but as the mails arrive at his office at unseasonable hours, he is seldom at his post of duty later than 6:30 A. M., and is invariably there as late as 9 P. m. The public should appreciate this effort on his part to give them a liberal service.
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Mr. Lee is active in the social circle of Tehachapi, and as popular is he is jovial and uniformally courteous. Although a single man he is domestic in his taste, owns a new residence and has it presided over by his sister, Miss Allies a young lady of culture, winning manners and womanly graces. He also has a sister Minnie and a brother Fred, residing with him.
A. B. CARPENTER is a native of New York State, born in Henderson, Jefferson County, June 12, 1827. His father was a substantial farmer and in favor of education, and thus our subject was privileged to attend the public schools of Henderson, the State Normal School at Albany (the second normal school established in the United States), and the Jefferson County Institute at Watertown. After completing his studies he returned home and followed an agricultural life. He was married at Rodman, in 1833, to Miss Euphrasia P. Redfield, and, after one year passed with Mr. Carpenter's parents, they moved to Poweshiek County, Iowa, and settled on a farm. In 1859 they returned home, and in February, 1862, located in Tioga County, Pennsylvania, where they continued general farming till 1875, the year in which they came to California.
After their arrival in the Golden State they came to Tulare County and settled at Porterville, where Mrs. Carpenter had a brother, L. J. Redfield. The following year Mr. Carpenter purchased railroad land where Poplar now is, and engaged in farming and stock-raising. He was among the first to plant a deciduous fruit orchard on the plains, beginning in 1878 in an experimental way. He also planted vines, but they were destroyed by rabbits and thus furnished an object lesson to his neighbors that vines could only be grown by fencing the land.
Mr. Carpenter was appointed Postmaster of Poplar, April 12, 1880, and filled the office continuously to November 18, 1890, his long service being proof of his faithful attendance to duty. For many years he has been secretary and treasurer of the South Side Tule River Ditch Company, and as School Trustee has advanced the interests of education. He is a member of Porterville Lodge, No. 359, 1. 0. 0. F., and of Rockford Lodge, No. 76, Farmers' Alliance.
Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter have four children: Fred H., Arthur D., Byron L. and Clara H. The sons are all landholders, and are settled conveniently near the home place.
C. H. MALTER one of the prominent and successful vineyardists of Fresno, was born in Silesia, Prussia, in 1852. He was educated in art and science in the Polytechnic school at Brieg, Prussia. In 1868 he emigrated to the United States, coming directly to San Francisco, where he found employment as draughtsman in a foundry, until 1872, when he organized the firm of Malter, Lind & Co., who, in later years, became very prominent as contractors and builders of heavy mills and mining machinery. They built many of the large reduction works in Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, etc.; among them they built a 120-stamp mill for the Homestake mine, which was at that time the largest stampmill in the world. They also built some of the heavy quartz mills of Mexico. In 1884-5, Mr. Malters was President of the AEtna Iron Works, and there manufactured much of their own machinery. They were for many years prominently known through all the mining sections of this continent.
In 1879, Mr. Matter first turned his attention to viticulture, purchasing 480 acres east of Fresno, and a little later he bought the Henrietta ranch of 1,640 acres. He planted 420 acres of this land in vines, mainly of the varieties suitable for wine purposes. In 1881 Mr. Lind bought an interest in the first purchase, which partnership continued until 1883, when a division was made. Mr. Matter subsequently {Page 292} sold most of the Henrietta ranch, retaining in all but 300 acres, 160 acres of which are planted in wine grapes, eighty acres in raisin grapes, and sixty in alfalfa and grain. Mr. Malter is also largely engaged in farming in Tulare County, where he owns 2,400 acres, and a one-third interest in the Mussel Slough Canal. Mr. Malter continued in engineering business until 1888, when he retired, that he might devote all his attention to his vineyard interests. He has given the cultivation of the vine and the manufacture of wine much thought and study, and now superintends every detail of his extensive business. His vineyard is in a high state of cultivation and is very productive. He has an extensive winery; his fermenting house contains eighty-four tanks, with a capacity of ten tons each. In this sherry house he can make 15,000 gallons at a time. He has one of the largest distilleries in the State. His wines have attained great distinction and much demand. They are often sold or contracted for in advance of the vintage. He makes about 300,000 gallons of sweet wines yearly, and sells only in car-load lots.
In satisfying his aesthetic tastes Mr. Malter has just finished the erection of a handsome three-story residence, complete in every detail for the requirements of bachelor life. The tipper floor of the building is used exclusively to store his carefully selected library, which comprises upwards of 4,000 volumes, mostly standard works of Greek, Latin, German, French and English literature, and among them many valuable works now out of print.
PEDRO YRIBARNE is one of a class of men who have become of late years an important and progressive element in the stock interests of Kern County.
He is a native of the south of France, and was born in the mouth of August, 1855. He was reared on a farm, and in 1877 came to America. Upon his arrival in California he went to Los Angeles, and worked for the Capital Mining Company. By frugal habits and industry he accumulated a small capital, and engaged in the sheep business on a moderate scale, having gained experience in this line of business at his old home. His small flocks of sheep have gradually increased in numbers, until now he has about 9,000 head, which he ranges largely on his own lands in Kern County. He has acquired ownership to 380 acres of land in Little Caliente valley, 320 acres in Tudie cannon, about six miles northeast of Tehachapi, and approximately 1,000 acres adjoining the famous Tejon ranch in Kern County.
Mr. Yribarne has two brothers, Michael and John, who came to America in 1887 and 1889 respectively, and are in his employ. His eminent success in his chosen industry is due to his great diligence in business matters, his acquired technical knowledge of sheep-raising and his sagacious business methods.
A. C. WILLIAMS, a tried and faithful servant in the government of Fresno County, is a native of the Golden State. He was born in Vacaville, Solano County, in 1857, his parents being among the pioneers who came to this State in 1852. Young Williams was educated in the common Schools, With a finishing course, in 1873, at the California Baptist College, Vacaville.
Reared on a farm he engaged in agricultural pursuits for himself in 1874, in Fresno County, giving his attention to raising wheat, that being before the fruit industry was started. A year later, however, he went to Colusa County, and was variously employed until 1879, when he returned to Fresno and received the appointment of Deputy County Clerk, under A. M. Clark. He continued in that position until 1884, then being elected to fill the office. He has since been reelected at each succeeding election down to the present time 1890. When {Page 293} he first entered this office its work was very light; now it ranks fourth in importance in the State. He formerly performed all the work; now he employs four deputies.
Mr. Williams was married in Fresno in 1885, to Miss Mattie Thomas, and their household is brightened by one child, Clara; four years of age.
Mr. Williams is a Mason and a member of Fresno Lodge, Trigo Chapter and Fresno Commandery, Knights Templar.
W. J. H HUTCHISON, an early pioneer of California, who for many years has been connected with the assessor's office of Fresno County, was born in Monroe County, Tennessee, in 1833. The year following his birth, his parents moved to White Oak Springs, Wisconsin, where he received the rudiments of a common-school education, attending school three months during the winter. At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to learn the trade of blacksmith at Warren, Illinois, and at nine teen he started across the plains for California, making the journey in a 11 prairie schooner."
Arrived in the Golden State, Mr. Hutchison settled at Mud Springs, now El Dorado, and engaged in placer mining, which he continued with varied success up to 1866. In that year be came to Centerville, Fresno County, and resumed work at his trade, working at it for ten years. In 1874 he received the appointment of deputy assessor, under T. W. Simpson, for the term of three years. In 1877 he ran for County Assessor against J. A. Stroud, and being defeated he became his deputy for the term. Running for the same office in 1879, he was again defeated his opponent being W. H. McKenzie. Mr. Hutchison then accepted the position of deputy sheriff, under E. Hall, for a term of three years. In 1882 he again ran for County Assessor, this time receiving almost the unanimous vote of both parties; was elected for four years, and was reelected in 1886 and 1890. When he took the office the assessment roll of 1882 was $7,250,000, and by 1890 it had increased to $36,000,000. In 1883 Mr. Hutchison employed seven deputies; twenty-three are now required to do the work.
Mr. Hutchison was married in El Dorado County in 1863, to Miss Priscilla M. Schaeffer, a native of Pennsylvania. Of the four children born to them, three are living, namely: George D., engaged in the livery business at Porterville; John L., manager of their ranch at Selma; and Mark S., who is attending the Garden City Commercial College at San Jose.
With his sons, George D. and John L., Mr. Hutchison owns a forty-acre ranch at Selma, twenty acres Of which are in raisin-grape vines, the rest to be set out to vines in 1891. They also own improved city property.
J. E. RAWLINS. - To the young men of our country are we indebted for much of our rapid progression and development, and in the foremost rank at Hanford, Tulare County, California, we find the subject of this sketch. He was born in Warwickshire, England, in July, 1855. His father, Samuel Rawlins, was a prominent business Man of Birmingham, and his mother, Catharine (Donaldson) Rawlins, was a native of Scotland. Young Rawlins was educated at Restore. At the age of sixteen years he was sent to Scotland, and passed two years in learning the practical workings of a farm. He then attended the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester, Gloucestershire, where he graduated in 1875.
In 1877 Mr. Rawlins started for New Zealand, via the United States, and stopped in California to visit his friend, James S. Robinson, at Hanford. With a view of engaging in the sheep business, he then visited a friend in Mendocino County, but returned to the Lucerne district in 1878 and purchased 160 acres of land, located eight miles South of Hanford, and {Page 294} gave his attention to stock-raising. In 1879 he was elected secretary and director of the Lakeside Ditch Company, and was instrumental in working the company out of debt and placing it upon a sound financial basis, resigning after two years of service. In 1881 the firm of Robinson & Rawlins was established, composed of the brothers, James S. and William Rose Robinson (the latter now deceased), and the brothers, J. E. and Henry Rawlins. This company purchased 400 acres of land in the Coast Range, and developed the coal mine near Coalinga, which they operated until 1888. In that year they incorporated as the San Joaquin Valley Coal Mining Company, with a subscribed capital of $300,000, J. E. Rawlins being elected president of the company. In 1881 the firm of Robinson & Rawlins established the Hanford Water Works, the supply being raised by steam power from wells to an elevated tank, and through pipes supplying the town for domestic and fire purposes. In 1890 they sank art artesian well 500 feet, with a twelve inch casing, and developed a capacity of 30,000 gallons per hour.
In 1884 Mr. Rawlins returned to England, and was married to Miss Margaret A. McCalmont, youngest daughter of Hugh B. B. McCalmont. Their union has been blessed with three children, - Ethel Kathleen, Hugh Martin and Evangeline.
Mr. Rawlins was one of the incorporators of the Bank of Hanford in 1887, and was elected vice-president. In the spring of 1888 be was instrumental in the organization of the Hanford Improvement Association, capital $20,000, and of this company he was elected president. They purchased 400 acres of land adjoining the town, subdivided the tract into ten-acre lots, and sold the same tinder the name of the Lucerne Colony Lauds, selling on the installment plan, and meeting with eminent success in the enterprise. In 1890 be was one of the incorporators of the Hanford Development Company, of which he was also elected president. This company was organized for the purpose of building the Artesian Hotel, which was completed in a very satisfactory manner.
With all his enterprises Mr. Rawlins was not neglectful of religious privileges, and partly through his efforts and financial aid the Lapis copal Church was erected on Doughty street, Hanford, in 1882. He has sold his former land holdings, and now owns eighty acres near town, where he now resides, twenty-five acres of which are in fruit and vines, the rest being in alfalfa. Mr. Rawlins keeps about twenty-five head of fine horses, and breeds for driving purposes.
WILLIAM PEASLEE may well be termed the town-builder of Tehachapi. Evidence of his skill and taste as a carpenter and builder, are from week to week looming up in the form of attractive dwellings and business houses. There is no trade or calling, the prosecution of which has a more telling effect on the appearance of a town than that of architect and builder. Therefore Tehachapi may congratulate itself upon the permanent location of so thorough a mechanic as William Peaslee within its borders.
Mr. Peaslee is a native of Upton, Maine; born August 19, 1855. He came West in December, 1886; spent eighteen months in Monrovia, California, where he erected many handsome cottages and business blocks, and in 1890 located in Tehachapi. Here he built a workshop, is doing a thriving business, and has gained an enviable reputation as a thorough skillful and conscientious workman.
JOHN EVERMON BUCKMAN, Tulare County, California, was born in an ox wagon, August 28, 1864, while his parents were in Arizona en route to this State. His father, Clement Evenness Buckman, a native of Kentucky, married and in 1865 settled in California, {Page 295} purchasing in Tulare County the ranch on which his son, the subject of this sketch, resides. He first bought eighty acres, subsequently added to it eighty acres more, and also became the owner of other real estate. He was an upright and honored citizen and reared a highly respectable family. His death occurred in 1879. His widow and eight of their eleven children survive. One of the sons now holds the responsible office of auditor of Tulare County and a history of him will be found in this book.
John Evenness Buckman was educated in the Visalia Normal School, and for four years taught school in the country. He is now doing a general farming business, also raising cattle and hogs, and, while be is living on the old homestead, he has 160 acres of land in his own name.
Mr. Buckman was married in 1885, to Miss Mary E. Vastness, a native of California, daughter of William and Amelia (Miller) Voorhess, who came to this State in 1852. Mr. and Mrs. Buckman have four children: Mary Ada, Lily A., William Enoch and John Andrew. He is a Democrat and a member of the Farmers' Alliance; is a capable business man and has served as deputy county auditor two terms.
AUGUSTUS SCHOFER, M. D., a resident and practicing physician of Tehachapi, was born in San Francisco in 1864. His father, Henry Scherer, a native of Germany, came to California in 1857, and was subsequently married, in San Francisco, to Miss Mary Ford, a lady of Irish birth. Of their three children the subject of our sketch was the second born. Henry Schofer owns large tracts of land in Kern County. His residence, however, is in, Gilroy, Santa Clara County.
The Doctor attended St. Mary's College, of San Francisco, where he received his degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1884, and received his medical education at the Bellevue Hospital Medical College in New York city, graduating in 1887. He entered upon his professional career at Plainsboro, Merced County, California, and a year later, in 1889, removed to Kern. County and located in Tehachapi. Here he has established a large and growing practice, and has a wide circle of friends.
He was married, March 5, 1888, to Miss Belle Lander, of Merced.
FRANK J. BURLEIGH, one of the enterprising business men of Fresno, was born in Hill, New Hampshire, February 25, 1848. In the fall of 1854 he moved with his parents to Lawrence, Kansas. His father rented the first hotel built in the town, a sod structure, 100x 30 feet, one story, with thatched roof. A year later he moved to Riley County, Kansas, tool, Lip 160 acres of land on Deep creek, and remained there until 1861. From that time until 1869 he was located at Manhattan, engaged in running freight wagons to Leavenworth. In 1869 he again took up farming in Riley County, on Timber creek, and made that place his home until 1874, when he moved his family to California and settled in Fresno County.
Frank J. Burleigh was reared in Kansas, and was married in Manhattan, to Miss Mary A. Harris, a native of England. After their arrival in California he went to the mountains and worked in sawmills until 1878, when he returned to Fresno and brought with him a six-horse load of lumber, with which he built a two-room house on J street. With that as a foundation he has since built a commodious residence. From time to time he has invested in city property, and he also owns a twenty acre tract in Central colony. In 1880 he built his first warehouse, between Inyo and Kern streets, in partnership with S. Harris, and in 1882 they started a lumber business, being agents for the Puget Sound Lumber Company. The partnership continued until 1884, when they dissolved and closed up the business. Mr. Bnrlei gh then dealt more extensively in live stock, in which {Page 296} he had been engaged since 1878. In March, 1888, he began his present warehouse, between Mono and Ventura streets, on the west side of the railroad. This building is 60x250 feet, with a capacity of 8,000 tons. Mr. Burleigh deals extensively in wheat, barley and livestock. The present year he has sold 150,000 grain sacks to the farmers.
He and his wife are the parents of two children: Charles M., born in 1876, and Hattie L., born in 1878. Both are at home attending school. Having been deprived of educational advantages in his youth, Mr. Burleigh is the more careful that his children shall be educated. He has met with serious reverses during his career in Fresno, but by diligence and perseverance overcame and settled a loss of $15,000, and now carries on a lucrative and satisfactory business.
JOHN M. BRITE. - This venerable citizen of Kern County and patriarch of Brite's valley may appropriately be termed the pioneer of pioneers, as will be seen by the following brief narration of facts bearing upon his experiences in California and in Kern County.
Mr. Brite first came to this county in 1855. He then located in the Tehachapi valley on the ranch now owned by John Clark. There he built the first house in the valley, which was made from hewn pine logs, after the old Missouri style, like the home of his youth. He lived on this place about three years, after which he sold the same to John Dosier, and in the spring of 1858 located in what has from that date been known as Brite's valley. This beautiful spot, on the rugged eminence of the Tehachapi range, is a depression in the mountains, one mile south and seven miles west of Tehachapi. It is about four miles in length and two miles and a half in width, and is surrounded on all sides by mountain peaks and high rolling hills, which are covered with a heavy growth of oak and pine timber. This valley has an almost level surface, ascending slightly to the north. It has a fertile black loam soil, with only a few spots of alkali, and it produces a fine yield of grain without irrigation. A bountiful supply of spring water is at hand for stock and domestic uses, and the climate is superb. A lack of sufficient and unmolested cattle range is what first directed Mr. Brite's attention to this favorable locality. He at first took up a homestead of eighty acres, in 1858, and later be acquired by purchase eighty acres more, From time to time he has added to his possessions, and now owns 580 acres, all under fence and in a fine state of improvement. He built the first sawmill in the Tehachapi country, in 1863. It was a circular mill, located at the head of Tehachapi creek, and propelled by an overshot wheel. It did service for about twenty years and was finally burned down. In 1878 he built a steam mill on Antelope creek, which he sold to A. C. Deitz of San Francisco. This mill was abandoned in 1880. In 1888, associated with his sons, L. F., W. L., and J. B., he erected a second steam mill in the mountains, south of Brite's valley, which they still own and operate together with lumber yards in Tehachapi. The firm owns 6,140 acres of timber and grazing lands in the vicinity of their mill, and are doing business under the name of Brite & Sons.
John M. Brite was born in Callaway County, Missouri, August 9, 1822. His father, Henry Brite was a farmer and stock-raiser by occupation; was born in Fayette County, Kentucky, and lived near the city of Lexington. He married Elizabeth Moore, a daughter in one of the first families of that county. Of their twelve children (eight of whom lived to maturity) John M. was the fifth born. About the year 1819 the family emigrated to Missouri and subsequently to Texas, where both parents died the mother in Clarksville, Red River County, in 1839, and the father in Bastrop County, in 1865. Of their children Eliza H. came to California, married Benjamin Barton of the famous Barton ranch, and lives in the city of Redlands, {Page 297} San Bernardino County; Wharton H. came to the mining regions of this State and died some time in the fifties. Aside from these and the subject of this sketch, no other members of the of the family ever came to this coast.
November 22, 184:9, Mr. Brite married Miss Amanda E., daughter of Joseph Duty, Esq., of Traverse County, Texas. She was born September 1, 1833. Thirteen children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Brite, as follows: Elizaheth Louise, born July 27, 1851; Joseph Henry, May 21, 1853; James Moore, January 8, 1856; Mary Elizabeth, November 25, 1857; Lucas Franklin, August 13, 1859; Martha Ann, September 20, 1861; Eliza Lee, June 22, 1863; William Longstreet, March 16, 1865; John Brackenridge, December 10, 1866; Charles Richard, October 26, 1868; Chloe Mildred, January 17, 1871; Clara Ellen, March 10, 1873; Cora May, August 26, 1876.
Joseph H., the oldest son of the family, is engaged in farming in Brite's valley. He married, November 7, 1877, Miss Lydia A., daughter of Nathan McCrig. She was born December 9, 1861. Her father, a native of Tennessee, came to California, and his death occurred in Cummings Valley, in 1872. This union has resulted in four children, three of whom are living, viz.: Charles H., born October 1, 1878; Minnie E., July 26, 1886, and Myrtal M., April 9, 1889. One son, John A., died in 1883, aged two years,
James M. was married on the 25th of December, 1877, to Miss Lucinda, daughter of Francis M. Wiggins, deceased. She was born at El Monte, Los Angeles County, California, March 28, 1860. They have five children, James Arthur, born July 2, 1880; Francis Moore, October 14, 1882; Jesse D., February 27, 1885; Walter L., June 21, 1887; and Joseph Thomas, February 4, 1890.
L. F., familiarly known as "Gabe," married Miss Laura, daughter of John Smith. Their three children are John Perry, born January 17, 1887; Vance, May 14, 1889; and Bertha, August 17, 1890.
Elizabeth Louise, oldest of the family, died in Texas, at the age of two years. Martha A. died in Tehachapi, also at the age of two years. Mary lived to be seventeen, and died in Tehachapi. Chloe Mildred is the wife of J. E. Stowell, Cummings valley, this county. Other members of the family are single and at home
Mr. Brite has taken a somewhat active part in shaping the civil affairs in Kern County. He was one of its original petitioners for a county organization in 1865. He served on its first County Board, succeeding Colonel Bishop, and since that time has served fourteen Years. While not a blind partizan, he was born and reared a Democrat and votes the ticket straight when he regards it as consistent with the principles of good government. He has always been found foremost in favoring any movement tending to the social and educational advancement of the county; and, while not professing to be a religious man, he has always lived and reared his family on a high plain of morality, believing that temperance in all things is essential to useful living and the highest type of happiness.
W.C. WIGGINS - This venerable citizen is one of the first settlers of the village of old Tehachapi. He was born in Mason County, Kentucky, October 19, 1822; lived in St. Louis, Missouri, seventeen years, afterward in Lamar County, Texas, and from that place, in 1854, came to San Francisco. The fall of that year he went to El Monte, Lop, Angeles County, and there for seven years followed his trade, that of mechanic. Since 1861 he has resided at Tehachapi. He owns 160 acres of fine bottom land at this place, all under a high state of cultivation.
March 6, 1851, he married Miss Mary J., daughter of J. H. Dircks, deceased, a soldier of the regular army. Mrs. Wiggins was born in the Choctaw Nation. She died, leaving. six children: Henry F.; Lucinda, wife of John {Page 298} Durnel; Alice, wife of G. W. Bryant; Emma wife of Daniel Davenport, John W.; and Martha, wife of Frank Collins.
A. TOMBS, one of the pioneers of Fresno, was born in County Antrim, Ireland, in 1828. Until twelve years of age he assisted his father on the farm, and at that time was apprenticed to his brother, William C. Tombs, in Kilerea, to learn the trade of saddler and harness-maker, serving a period of five years. Then, seeking a broader field of labor, in 1845 he emigrated to America, landing at Quebec, Canada, he first worked at his trade in Ogdensburg and later in Toronto and western towns in New York, living a migratory life and working as opportunity offered. As a harnessmaker he was successful and did some fine work. Of eight sets of harness that he made to be exhibited at State fairs, each took a premium.
In 1850 he made the voyage via the Isthmus of Panama to California, landing in San Francisco in December. For a time he was successfully engaged in, placer mining on the Yuba river but in a quartz-mining scheme he lost everything he had made. In the fall of 1854 he engaged in the stock business in Mariposa County, buying one section of land and improving the privilege of free grazing. He had 100 head of horses and 3,300 head of cattle, and did a prosperous business until 1864, the memorable dry year, when he lost Dearly all his cattle and saved his horses only by taking them to the mountains. Closing out his stock interests in 1867, he went to Merced County and again turned his attention to his trade.
In September, 1873, Mr. Tombs came to Fresno. He brought with him a load of lumber, doors and windows from Merced, and on the present site of the First National Bank he put up the eighth house in the town. When it was completed he opened a shop in it, and remained at work there until 1882. In that year he made a trip to Europe for the purpose of settling an estate in Ireland to which he had become heir. On his return to Fresno he engaged in the hotel, business with John Albin at the California House on K Street, and also rented the United States Hotel. A After being associated with Mr. Albin for two years he bought out that gentlemen's interest and contiuned alone until 1886. That year he closed out his hotel business, purchased the general merchandise stock of R. P. Fanning on Mariposa street, and entered upon a mercantile life. This, however, was to be of short duration, for the following year a disastrous fire destroyed his store, and, having only a small insurance, he lost $17,000. Then for one season Mr. Tombs was successful] engaged in burning brick. In
January, 1888, he began his present hotel, corner of J and Merced streets. This hotel, 70 x 73 feet, three stories high, containing sixty-two rooms was completed and opened to the public on the 13th of July, 1888. Since Fresno was incorporated Mr. Tombs has been a member of its city Council. He has also served the public in other ways; was instrumental in bringing about and perfecting the present sewer system, served as School Trustee for two terms before the city was incorporated. In addition to the property interests already referred to Mr. Tombs owns other city real estate and a forty-acre ranch near Fresno.
Mr. Tombs was married in Merced County in 1861 to Miss Madeleine Beighle, a Native of Pennsylvania. They have a family of six children.
HENRY DEAS - The subject of this sketch is one of the most thrifty and prosperous citizens of Cummings valley. A brief outline of his life is as follows:
He was born in Germany, February 27, 18 50; was reared and educated in his native land and there learned the trade of shoemaker. In 1870 he came to America and at once engaged in farming in Santa Cruz County, California. {Page 299}
Three years later he located in Cummings valley, where he now owns 1,760 acres of fine agricultural and grazing land. Of this amount about 500 acres are grain-producing and the rest is suitable only for grazing purposes, but in also valuable for its timber. He keeps about 100 head of cattle, twenty horses and other domestic stock.
Mr. Deas was married in Tehachapi, November 30, 1879, to Miss Martha, daughter of William Baker, deceased, one of the leading pioneers of Central California, and a son of the venerable Thomas Baker, the founder of the city of Bakersfield. Mrs. Deas was born in Visalia, April 25, 1862. Their four children are Ana M., born June 27, 1881; Mattie D., May 17, 1883; Frederick W., November 11, 1884, and Henry, June 8, 1886.
Mr. Deas is a modern and model farmer, and his success in life is due entirely to his own personal industry and business tact. The orderly arrangement and solid improvements on his ranch and the taste displayed in and about his home is a true index of the character and thrift of Mr. Deas and his estimable wife.
COLLIS H. EMMONS - Prominent among the representative business houses of the Fresno of to-day stands that of Donahoo, Emmons & Co., of which firm Mr. Emmons, the managing partner, forms the subject of this biography.
A native of Pennsylvania, born in September, 1856, his early life was spent in various parts of the East. The family home is at Huntington, West Virginia, but young Emmons was sent to school in New York. There he pursued his studies for a time, returning later to Virginia, where he graduated at a college.
At the age of seventeen he came to California and entered the well known establishment of Huntington, Hopkins & Co., of Sacramento, where he learned the hardware trade. He was in this business for thirteen years, commencing at the bottom and gradually working up until at one time he was one of the assistant managers of the concern. In 1886 he came to Fresno and took a half interest in his present business, and is now its sole manager. When Mr. Emmons entered the firm the business was small and uncertain. Today it is the largest wholesale and retail hardware house in the valley and transacts the largest business. Tile development of the raisin industry and the enormous growth of the town and county in connection with wise and judicious management have had much to do with the success of this firm.
Mr. Emmons is unmarried.
D. P. BUHN was born in Baden, Germany, February 27, 1850. At the age of fourteen years he came to America, and from 1864 until 1871 lived in San Francisco and Los Angeles where he was engaged in the liquor business. In the, last named year he came to Tehachapi and turned his attention to agricultural pursuits. In 1881 he purchased a lot and on it erected the Golden Gate Restaurant building in which he established a restaurant and is now conducting a successful business.
He was married in 1870, to Katherine Ockert, who was born at his native home in Germany. She died in 1881 at the age of thirty years leaving three children, two daughters and one soil, namely: Annie, now Mrs. David Clark, of Tehachapi, and Finley and Amelia.
LOUIS M. COLE is associated with E. E. Manheim, they being partners and managers of the firm of Kutner, Goldstein & Co., general merchants at Hanford. The business was started in 1881, by Kutner, Goldstein & Co., with Mr. S. Rehoefer as manager in a store building 25 x 100 feet, located on Sixth street. In 1886 Mr. Rehoefer sold his interest to Mr. Arthur Dinkelspiel, who then assumed the management. {Page 300} The business having grown to such proportions that greater facilities were necessary, an addition of 25x100 feet was made, and the capacity of the store doubled. A warehouse, 50 x 50 feet was also added. Business was then continued very successfully until September, 1890, when that portion of the town was swept away by fire, the store and contents being entirely destroyed. Before the debris had ceased to smoke operations to rebuild had commenced, and sixty days from the date of the fire their present handsome store, 50 x 150 feet, was ready for occupancy. On December 31, 1890 Kutner, Goldstein & Co., the universal providers, was incorporated. Mr. Dinkelspiel then went to Fresno to reside and Messrs. Cole and Manheim, former clerks, were placed in management of the Hanford branch of their extended business. The new store is very handsomely and completely fitted, and their extended stock is all graded in the several departments for convenience of handling.
Louis M. Cole was born in Chicago, in 1870. His father, Samuel Cole, a practicing physician of that city, moved to Denver in 1871, practiced his profession there fourteen years and then returned to Chicago, where he still resides. Louis was educated in the Denver high school and took a course of study at the Bryant & Stratton Business College of Chicago. In 1887 he came to Hanford, and under the instruction of his uncle, Arthur Dinkelspiel, he learned the mercantile business.
E. E. Manheim is a native of California, born in San Francisco in 1868. His father, Isaac Manheim, came to California about 1852, followed mercantile life in Humboldt County until 1863, when he settled at San Francisco and continued the business there for many years. He is now an insurance and commission broker. E. E. Manheim was educated in the high school at San Francisco. Entering his father's office, he acquired a knowledge of bookkeeping and in 1889 came to Hanford, in the employ of Kutner, Goldstein & Co. A short time ago the Kutner-Goldstein Company purchased an additional 25 x 150 feet on the west side of the present site, and after the Construction of their new store will have a larger amount of square feet than any other store in the county. They also do an extensive grain business, handling two-thirds of the crop brought to this market.
LEWIS L. CORY is one of the prominent young attorneys of Fresno. His parents came across the plains to the Pacific coast in 1847 and settled in San Jose, where the family home was located for many years, and where he was born in 1861. Very early in life he was sent to the public schools and afterward to the University of the Pacific. At the age of fifteen he went East to complete his studies, entering the freshman class at Rutgers College in New Jersey, and remaining there two years. In 1879 he entered the junior class at Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, then under the direction of the venerable James McCosh, Lt. D., and graduated in 1881, at the age of twenty years. He then went to New York city and took a two years course in the Columbia Law School, without question one of the finest institutions of its kind in America. During this period Mr. Cory was at different times studying in the law office of Judge Fullerton, of New York, one of the most celebrated attorneys in the East. After graduating at Columbia Law School in 1883, he was admitted to the bar in New York State, and practiced there for two years in connection with the firm of Hubbell & Co.
Considering the opportunities for a professional man much better in the West than in the East, Mr. Cory returned to California, and in 1884 settled in his old home, San Jose. The following year he removed to Fresno, where be has since resided. He is a partner in the well-known law firm of Church & Cory, of which Mr. George E. Church is the senior member. The firm has an extensive practice throughout {Page 301} Central California, being employed in many of the most important cases of litigation. Mr. Cory was married in 1882, to Miss Carrie Ayres Martin, a native of New Jersey, and their union has been blessed by two children.
JUDGE FRANK H. SHORT, one of the rising young lawyers of Fresno, was born in Shelby County Missouri, in 1862. His father, Hamilton Short, carried on farming up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1863.
In 1871 young Short moved with his mother and family to Hastings, Nebraska, where he attended the city schools and taught one term prior to the year 1881, when they all came to California and located in Fresno. Here he entered the high school in order to further pursue his studies, and afterward taught one year at Gertrude, in the meantime devoting his leisure moments to the study of law. In 1884, he entered the office of J. F. Wharton, a lawyer of great prominence throughout this county. At the fall election of 1884, Mr. Short, at the age of twenty-two years, was elected Justice of the Peace for a period of two years, arid at the expiration of his term of office he formed a partnership with Judge J. F. Wharton, which continued until the latter's death in March, 1889. He then became associated with Judge George A. Nourse in a partnership, which partnership continued until January 1, 1891, since which time Mr. Short has been practicing alone, doing a general law business and having a large practice, - civil, criminal and probate. He was connected with the Corrick-Gates cases, which were quite noted, also more recently in the Vincent murder case. Vincent being prosecuted for the murder of his wife, and being the first white man sentenced to be hung in Fresno County: Mr. Short prosecuted in this case; - also in the Sullivan murder case, and appeared for the defense in the Jack Smith murder case - also in the Williams arson cases, -all cases of much interest in this county. Though but twenty-eight years old Mr. Short has appeared on one side or the other of nearly all of the more important cases recently tried in this county
In 1888 he was a candidate on the Republican ticket for District Attorney, against Mr. Tupper, and although defeated ran about 200 votes ahead of his ticket. He takes much interest in politics, and in 1890 was chairman of the Republican County Convention, a delegate to the State Convention and a member of the committee on platform and resolutions, and was also a delegate to the Congressional Convention. Though attending closely to his professional duties he has extensive real-estate interest, in Fresno, and his residence has the largest grounds and is one of the handsomest and best kept places in Fresno city, having been planted more than seventeen years ago.
Judge Short was married in Fresno, in October, 1885, to Miss Emma Packard, and their union has been blessed with one son, Frank H. Short, Jr., who is now three years old.
GEORGE W. CODY, of Grangeville, was born in Oakland County, Michigan, in 1842. At the early age of seven years he began his pioneer life, by going with his parents to Dane County, Wisconsin, and settling near Madison, in that wild, unbroken, prairie country. His father purchased a small farm and there resided until 1859, when they again moved, settling in Johnson County, Nebraska, where everything was new and undeveloped. Mr. Cody enlisted at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, January 20, 1861, in Company I Eighth Kansas Infantry, under Colonel John A. Martin, later governor of Kansas. The regiment was connected with the Army of the Cumberland and that of Tennessee. Our subject served three and a half years, passing through fifteen battles and skirmishes, and also spending fifteen months in the prison pens of the Confederacy. {Page 302} He was captured at Chickamauga, Georgia, and first confined in the Atlanta bull pens, and being frequently removed he passed through Libby and Andersonville, Pemberton, Danville, Charleston, and Florence prisons, besides many other tombs of incarceration. Upon his release, being greatly reduced and his time having expired, he was discharged and returned to his home in Nebraska.
He then began farming and milling and subsequently moved to Tecumseh, where he opened a general merchandise store. In 1873 he sold out and came direct to Lemoore, Tulare County, California, where the family of his wife then resided. He purchased 320 acres of land, and renting other lands farmed to the amount of 1,000 acres annually, without water. Mr. Cody was connected with and aided in the construction of the Lower King's river, the People's and the Last Chance ditches. He farmed until 1881 and then moved to Orange, Los Angeles County, bought forty acres of land and set it to English walnuts and raisin vines, 11 e remained there until the boom of 1886, and then moved to Los Angeles and engaged extensively in real-estate operations. In 1888 he came to Fresno and became interested in the Providence Mine in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Here they erected quartz mills and other expensive machinery, but the prospects were soon worked out and much money sacrificed. In the fall of 1889 he purchased his present ranch of twenty acres two and a half miles northeast of Grangeville, and eighty acres adjoining the town. The entire tract is now set to fruit and vines, where Mr. Cody devotes his time to his ranch interests.
Mr. Cody claims to have invented the most economical and perfect raisin dryer in existence. He makes the raisin culture a specialty; packs all his own and buys others and packs for some of his neighbors, etc. Packs but two grades, Three Crown London Layers and Three Crown Loose, - grades the balance and sacks them One grade is called Two Crown Loose, and the other Seedless Muscatel.
Be was married at Elk Station, Johnson County, Nebraska, in 1865, to Miss Mary M. Gray, a native of Wisconsin, and daughter of Hon. A. W. Gray, whose biography appears elsewhere in this history. Mr. and Mrs. Cody have three children living, - Thorley G., Harvey P. and Andrew Milo. Two are dead, Guy Trivial and Marenda Josephine.
ABRAHAM D. COBALT, Fresno, the resident agent of the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company, was born in Sisterville, West Virginia, in 1829. His father, Abraham Covalt, a farmer and physician, was born in 1800, and recently died at the advanced age of eighty-nine years.
The subject of our sketch received a limited education in the select schools of Virginia, after which be was made Colonel of a West Virginia militia regiment. In 1849 he went to Burlington Iowa, and learned the painter's trade in all its branches, remaining there until 1857. In that year he located in Danville, Missouri, still following his trade. At the Presidential election he voted for Abraham Lincoln, and for this loyal act his property was destroyed by incendiary fire, lighted by Southern sympathizers.
Mr. Covert was married at Danville, in 1858, to Miss Emily Case, and after the destruction of their home they moved to Macomb, Illinois. In 1862 he enlisted in Company A, Eighty-fourth Infantry Volunteers, Captain J. P. Higgins and Colonel L. H. Waters in command. The regimen t was forwarded to the Army of the Cumberland, amid their first hard work was escorting General Bragg, through Cumberland Gap. They bad several small fights, and on reaching Murfreesboro, Tennessee, December 31, 1862, they entered a general engagement, which lasted for three days. Mr. Covell was wounded on the first day, but, although disabled, he remained with his regiment during the battle. He was then sent to hospital No. 16. Nashville, Tennessee, where he remained {Page 303} until April 16, 1863, at that time receiving a discharge.
After leaving the service Mr. Covalt returned to Macomb, Illinois; being unable to work at his trade he opened a vegetable and fruit stand. He subsequently removed to Atchison, Kansas, and clerked for Ellsworth Cheeseborough, father-in-law of Hon. John P. Ingalls, United States Senator from Kansas. At the death of Mr. Cheeseborough, in 1867, his business was discontiued, and Mr. Covalt turned his attention to the life-insurance business, engaging with Dr. George A. Moore, the present president of the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company, with whom he has since been connected.
He came to the Pacific coast in 1875, first settling in Portland, Oregon, and remaining there until 1880, when he moved his family to Oakland, California, where they still reside. Mr. Covalt came to Fresno in 1880 to look after the interests of the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance, Company. He is also financial agent for the San Francisco Savings Union of San Francisco, and the Bank of Sacramento. Owing to injuries received in the war, from the effect of which he has never recovered, he is unable to enter actively into business.
Mr. and Mrs. Covalt have five children, three sons and two daughters, all living in Oakland.
JOHN CLARK FOSTER, deceased, was one of the California pioneers of 1849, and also one of the pioneer stockmen of the Mussel slough country. He was born in the Spartanburg district, South Carolina, in 1805, and his ancestors were among the early settlers of that locality when under British rule, and they were also identified with the Revolutionary war. He was married in 1832, to Miss Sarah Smith, a native of the same district, born in 1806. After marriage they removed to Oskaloosa, Alabama, and being a carpenter and millwright by trade he engaged in running a sawmill. Remaining until 1840, he moved to Crawford County, Arkansas, settling near Van Buren, where he followed his trade and farming. With the gold excitement of 1849 Mr. Foster was among the first to start. Joining a small company of thirty men, they traveled with ox teams to Santa Fe, where they sold their teams secured pack animals and a guide and started for Fort Driver, 800 miles distant, across the Rocky mountains, with no road and but a poorly defined and dangerous trail. At Fort Bridger they struck the old emigrant route through Salt Lake, and, having lost several of their animals, walking was necessary. As we now journey across the continent in parlor cars, how little we realize the indomitable will and energy of these early pioneers! After suffering many hardships Mr. Foster and his little company arrived at Diamond Spring, California, and there commenced mining operations, remaining until the fall of 1850. In that year he went to Smith's Bar on the Feather river, and mined until the winter of 1852, meeting with average success. he then left the mines to return for his family, via the Nicaragua route, and safely arrived at his home in the spring of 1853. He again embarked, with his wife- and eight children, by prairie schooner and ox teams, across the plains, following the Fort Smith route to the Arkansas river, over the spur of the Rocky mountains to the head of Cherry creek, and again lauded at Diamond Spring. There he followed mining near Placerville about seven years, after which he went to the Sacramento valley and engaged in farming for two years, or until he was washed out by the flood of 1862, when he went to Sheldon, same county, and farmed until 1866. In that year they came to the Mussel slough district and rented the old Middleton place of 640 acres, where he carried on farming and stockraising. In 1867 they located 160 acres, known as Willow Point Place, on King's river, and later secured the remainder of the section, where he engaged quite extensively in the stock business, and after the completion of the Last Chance ditch farmed to a considerable extent.
Mr. Foster died in 1878, at the age of seventy-three {Page 304} years. His good wife followed him in 1880, dying at the age of seventy-four years, leaving five children to mourn their loss: Frances, now Mrs. J. F. Brooks, a rancher north of Hanford; Sarah, now Mrs. P. Byrd of Visalia; William W., George S. and John C. The brothers are all unmarried, and upon the sale of their father's estate they combined their interests, purchased forty acres west of Grangeville in the edge of the town, and erected a commodious and handsome cottage, where they reside in harmonious unity. They have a fine vineyard of sixteen acres, with six acres in deciduous fruits and the remainder in alfalfa and pasture. They are recognized among the substantial residents of Grangeville, and are highly esteemed among their town people.
DANIEL DAVENPORT has been a resident of California since 1855. His father, Jesse Davenport, settled in San Bernardino County as a rancher that year, having been accompanied to this State by his wife and family. He later spent one year in Arizona; returned to California and located at Santa Cruz, where be remained eight years. In 1871 he took up his abode in Cummings valley, the present home of A. C. Alberts, Esq., where he died in 1877.
Daniel Davenport is a native of Brown County, Illinois, born August 29, 1851, and came to California in 1858, locating in San Bernardino. Thus far he has devoted his life to farming. He has a mechanical turn of mind, handles tools with the skill of an experienced workman and does his own blacksmithing and oversees his own carpenter work. Her owns one of the best located and improved grain and fruit ranches in the Cummings valley; also owns ninety-five acres of timber land and 200 acres of stock range, keeping about forty-five head of cattle.
Mr. Davenport has been twice married. His first wife, nee Cynthia Hart departed, this life in 1877, leaving one son, Milton. His second marriage occurred April 29, 1882, to Miss Emma daughter of Judge W. C. Wiggins of Tehachapi. By her he has six children: Edna, Jesse, Mary, Berenice, James and Henry.
W. W. SHIPP was born in Holmes County, Mississippi, May 3, 1834, W and was reared on his father's cotton plantation in that State. When he became of age he engaged in the cotton business for himself and pursued that occupation there until he came West.
In 1868 Mr. Shipp came to California, making the voyage via the Isthmus of Panama, and arriving at the Golden Gate June 8. After a week's sojourn in San Francisco he went to Solano County, where he had acquaintances. There he tried to buy a piece of land, but prices were high and he deferred making purchase. He finally procured a team and went through the San Joaquin valley on a prospecting tour. He traveled on down to Los Angeles and returned north on the western side of the mountains. During this trip he came Fresno County, and in Fresno County be determined to locate. He bought 1,060 head of sheep and drove them down to this county, on Big Dry creek, his partner in this enterprise being Major Nelson, the present count treasurer. Mr. Shipp has been engaged in the stock business ever since he came here. Eighteen months ago he retired in favor of his two sons, to whom he has entrusted his cattle interests. His operations in this valley have been uniformly successful. A man of sound judgmment and undaunted courage, he has earned his success through steady and persistent methods of work.
Mr. Shipp has interests in valuable property in Fresno, and also owns a fine vineyard of thirty acres adjacent to the town. He is a stockholder of the Farmers' bank, and also holds an interest in the I Street Improvement Company.
He was married in 1858 to Miss M. J. Strother, who, like himself, was born and reared {Page 305} in Mississippi, she being just four years younger. They have a family of seven children, two sons and five daughters, viz.: George, a resident of New Mexico; John M., who has charge of the ranch; Eliza, now Mrs. Ambrose of Arizona; Carrie, Lela, Lizzie and Mittie.
ALFRED BAIRD, a resident of Big Dry Creek, Fresno County, California, was born in Ohio, November 16, 1829. The Buckeye State continued to be the scene of his childhood and youth until he reached the age of eighteen years. He then went to Iowa and settled on the frontier of that State, where he engaged in carpentering. For twelve years he pursued this occupation with varying success. The year 1859 found him en route to California, making the trip with ox teams and horses and taking with him his wife and two children. Three years previous to this time he was married to Miss Lydia K. Beard, a native of Indiana, who, with her parents, settled on the Iowa frontier about the time Mr. Baird took his abode there.
The journey across the plains consumed the entire summer and proved an uneventful one. Arrived in California, Mr. Baird tarried a short time at a point near Visalia and finally settled down on King's river, Fresno County; here be has lived since the fall of 1859. The remarkable changes that have taken place, the rapid development of the soil, and the birth and growth of Fresno have all been witnessed by him. His early reminiscences of life in the San Joaquin valley are interesting in the extreme.
The year of his arrival here found him engaged in gardening on King's river, and prosperity attended him for two years, when the flood came and he lost his whole place. He then procured some sheep on shares and also engaged in the cattle business, which he continued with excellent success for eighteen years. Mr. Baird ascribed his success to his sheep investment and to the fact that his stock had the entire public domain to run over. he sold out his sheep interests in 1878, but still holds his ranch property, consisting of 8,000 acres of land, scattered through Tulare as well as Fresno County. He resides at Big Dry Creek, twenty miles east of Fresno, on what is known as Poverty ranch, the ranch being so named on account of a weed growing in abundance near his place called poverty weed. In his agricultural pursuits Mr. Baird has also met with eminent success.
During his long residence in this county he has assumed his share of work and responsibility in politics. Be has been a Republican candidate for Assemblyman, and on two occasions for County Treasurer, never, however, being elected, owing to the Democratic ascendancy in the district.
His family of four children consists of Benjamin M., a resident of Visalia; Alice, now Mrs. Dr. Reid of Tulare; L. E. Baird, living in Oregon; and Florence G., now Mrs. R. E. Keeler.
GEORGE HARRIS. - Antelope canon is one of the wildest yet most picturesquely beautiful nooks of the Tehachapi mountain region, and Mr. Harris has the honor of being one of its most independent denizens. In point of altitude he holds the vantage ground, being located nearer the head of this gorge than any other settler. He has been a resident of California since 1883.
Mr. Harris was born in Sullivan County, New York, November 3, 1810, and remained at home in his native State until he was twenty-one years of age. His father, W. D. Harris, was a blacksmith by trade, and of his six children the subject of this sketch was the second born.
In 1861 Mr. Harris enlisted for the defense of the Union, joining the Eighty-ninth New York Volunteer Infantry, and serving as it soldier until 1863, a little less than two years. He was in the Ninth Army Corps, and did some lively fighting, but fortunately received no wounds.
{Page 306}
After the close of the war he spent about eight years as a stationary engineer in the oil regions of Pennsylvania, then traveled extensively throughout the United States, Mexico and British Columbia, and in 1885 located oil his present ranch. His property is located in section ten, and comprises 240 acres, timber and farming land. He has also some mining property which *he jointly holds with Mr. S. D. Furber. Mr. Harris is a single man, and his hospitality and great generous heart make him popular, and class him among the old-time Californians. As a business man and a citizen, none stand higher in the estimation of the local public than George Harris.
WILLIAM H. TUCKER was born in Hardin County, Tennessee, December 22, 1852. His father, C. H. Tucker, carried on farming extensively, corn and cotton being his principal crops. Young Tucker's education was begun in Hardin County, and continued in Saline County, Illinois, to which place his parents moved in 1864, in order to give their children better school facilities. Two years later they returned to Tennessee, as the schools of that section bad been improved by securing normal-school teachers from Illinois. Mr. Tucker finished his education at the Saltillo high school, on the Tennessee river, completing his studies in 1876.
He then went to Texas, where he had a brother living, and passed the winter of 1876 in teaching school and looking over the country. Returning to Tennessee in the fall of 1877, he remained in his native State until December of the following year, when be came to California. He tarried for a short time in Stockton before coming to Fresno County. Soon after his arrival here he purchased 428 acres of land on the San Joaquin river, and 250 acres near by, and at once gave his attention to wheat farming. He was thus occupied until February, 1889, when he sold the former property. He still retains the other ranch, and has it rented; it is yet used for wheat, but when irrigated, which it will be in the near future, its value will be greatly increased.
In February, 1889, Mr. Tucker moved his family to Fresno, and engaged in the real-estate business. In a trade he secured his present store property, 50x 150 feet, on K, between Stanislaus and Tuolumne streets. He then bought the stock of general merchandise goods from John N. Albin. He has renewed this stock, and now carries a full line of all kinds of general merchandise except dry goods, and is doing a prosperous business.
Mr. Tucker was married in Fresno County, in May, 1882, to Miss Amanda Jackson Ward, a native of California. Four children have come to brighten their home.
S. D. FURBER is one of the most active miners of the Summit district, near Tehachapi. He is a native of Illinois, born in Bunker Hill, Macoupin County, April 14, 1864. He came from Kansas City to California in 1879, and located in Los Angeles thence to Kern County in 1885. He was educated in Los Angeles as a chemist and assayer of minerals, and since his location in Kern County has devoted his entire time to the exploration of the mining districts of the Tehachapi. He has located and practically developed several of the best mining prospects in that region of the country, taking from the sands what is termed light gold quartz, assaying from $10 to $41 per ton. Recently he became sole owner of the Colorado mine locate I in Antelope canon. This mine was opened by Mr. Olmsted and his boys in 1885, and in 1885 a fine stamp quartz mill was erected. Later this became known as the Baltic, and is soon to he worked by its new owner.
Mr. Furber, while yet a comparatively very young man, has shown much enterprise as a miner, and the success so richly merited is only the {Page 307} natural result of industry and all irrepressible ambition. He is favorably known as a man of sterling business principles and strict temperate habits.
NERO HARRINGTON. - Few people have seen and experienced more of frontier life on the plains and on the Pacific coast than the venerable subject of this sketch and his estimable wife.
Mr. Harrington was born in Ohio, September 1, 1820. His father, Giles Harrington, was a native of Connecticut, and his mother, Ann Murry, was born in Vermont They reared a family of ten children, of whom. Nero is next to the youngest and the only living member. They were among the earliest settlers of Gallia County, Ohio, and lived there till 1842. At that time they located in Missouri, where the father died the following year.
At the age of twenty-one Mr. Harrington left home and that year (1841) married Miss Charlotte Cooper, a native of Washington County, Maryland, born May 17, 1820. Her father, Cunningham Cooper, a farmer by occupation, removed from Maryland to Ohio in 1827, becoming one of the pioneers of the Buckeye State. After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Harrington lived in Kentucky about six months. In 1842 they removed to Iowa and located in Van Buren County, where they made their home for fifteen years. In 1857 they started across the plains to California with their family of seven children, making the journey with an ox team and being six months en route. They located in Shasta County. There they lived for twenty-eight years, reared a large family, developed a comfortable home and accumulated some property. In 1885 he sold his real-estate interests and for a short time lived in the town of Red Bluff, then six years in Arizona, and from there he came to Kern County and located in the Tehachapi valley. Four miles front the village of Tehachapi he owns eighty acres of well-improved land and a comfortable home. He and his wife have ten children, forty grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren, all occupying honorable and prosperous positions in life. The following is a record of their children's names and dates of birth: Catharine, wife of Ezekiel Thatcher of Shasta County, was born December 28, 1842; Cunningham, born May 26, 1843, lives in Arizona; George W., April 26, 1845, a farmer of Humboldt County, California, Clemens, December 22, 1847, became the wife of John Klotz, and is now deceased; Mary A., August 17, 1851, is Dow Mrs. Bidwell of Shasta; Rhoda A., April 4, 1853, is the wife of G. W. Munsey of Tehachapi; Morgan, October 4, 1955, resides in Shasta County; Cinderella, September 4, 1857, is the wife of A. H. Edwards of Shasta valley, California; Stephen T., February 26, 1860. resides at Reno, Nevada; and Charlotte is now Mrs. W. Black of Tehachapi.
CAPTAIN ROBERT L. FREEMAN Receiver of the United States Land Office at Visalia, first came to California in 1849. A review of his life, briefly given, is as follows: Captain Robert L. Freeman was born in New Jersey, April 24, 1830. His ancestors came to America the year previous to the Revolutionary war, and his maternal grandfather was a soldier ill the army tinder General Washington. Captain Freeman's father, Isaac P. Freeman, a native of New Jersey, married Ann Lee, who was born in Virginia, a member one of the most distinguished families of the Old Dominion. To Isaac P. Freeman and his wife eight children were born, of whom the four oldest are deceased. Of the four living the subject of this sketch is the oldest.
He received his education at Princeton, New Jersey. In 1847 he enlisted in the Second Ohio Cavalry and was a participant in the war with Mexico. In a skirmish he received a bayonet wound through his arm, which disabled him, {Page 308} and on account of this he was discharged. After his recovery he became a clerk on a steamer plying between New Orleans and St. Louis, remaining thus employed until the time of his coming to California in 1849. The overland journey to this State from St. Joseph to the Feather river occupied five months, and was fraught with much danger. Two of his company were drowned in the Green river, and they were attacked several times by Indians, but only suffered the loss of a few of their cattle. From the Feather river they went to Mokelumne Hill. At that place young Freeman mined a year and a half with good success; found a hundred dollars in a single piece, and averaged twenty dollars per day.
After remaining in the golden State two years he returned to Iowa, passed his examination in 1859 and engaged in the practice of his profession of attorney at law. Upon the breaking out of the great civil war he at once raised a company of cavalry in McGregor, Iowa, his company being attached to the Seventh Army Corps. They participated in file battles of Perry Grove, Hartsville, Pilot Knob and a number of other engagements. On the Red River expedition Captain Freeman's horse was shot from under him, and the Captain's bead was severely in tired by the fall. While in the service he acted most of the time as Assistant Adjutant General on the staff, in succession of Generals Curtis, Fremont Halleck, Sherman, Davidson and Carr, there being frequent changes of generals in his department.
When he came out of the service, our subject was elected Recorder of Clayton County, Iowa, and served eight years. In 1876 he returned to California and has since made his home here. He has been engaged in farming in Tulare County; has two ranches and a home on one of them.
On the 9th of July, 1889, President Harrison commissioned Captain Freeman Receiver of the United States Land Office. No more fitting appointment could have been made, nor could a more worthy candidate for the office have been found. A veteran of two wars, a man in the full enjoyment of all his faculties, he is in every way deserving of the office and is creditably performing the duties of the same.
The Captain is a modest, unassuming old gentleman and truly a representative American. He went into the great war the staunchest kind of a Democrat, and came out an equally strong Republican and the latter party has since had his fealty. He is a Knight Templar, Mason and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic.
THOMAS JEFFERSON DUNCAN, a native of Illinois, was born November 30, 1835. He was reared in Missouri, and came across the plains to California when he was nineteen years old. His stock in business then consisted of five hundred head of cattle and a few horses. The trip consumed over three months, and was uneventful, although the Indians were extremely hostile, arid our subject lost many of his cattle through methods peculiar to their race.
Arrived in the golden State, Mr. Duncan settled in Stockton, and lived there until the year 1871, running his cattle through the San Joaquin valley in the vicinity of Lathrop. He disposed of his stock it) 1866, and five years later came to Fresno County, where he has since resided. He was one of the first men in the valley to rent land for sheep purposes, an arrangement which has since proved so successful. Previous to the dry year of 18,87, he owned 9,000 head of sheep, and at the close of that disastrous year he had only 1,500 head. In 1881 he closed out his entire stock, consisting, of 4,000 head, making a good profit and investing his means in town property and land adjoining the, corporation. This latter property, two acres and a half in the Villa Home tract, located one-half mile from the courthouse, is the present residence of Mr. Duncan. He is one of the directors of the Fresno Loan and Savings Bank, {Page 309} and was at one time a stockholder in the Fowler Switch Canal Company - a company which he helped to organize.
Mr. Duncan was married in 1870, to Miss Miller, and has three sons and one daughter, namely: Andrew F., Ellen, Roy and Ray. The oldest is now attending college at Stockton.
C. C. MERRIAM, a prominent lawyer of Fresno, was born in Logansport, Indiana April 30, 1849. He enjoyed excellent educational advantages, graduating at the University of Chicago, Illinois, in 1870, and subsequently attending the Albany Law School, Albany, New York, where be graduated in 1874.
After completing his course of study in the East, he returned to his Indiana home and settled down to the practice of his profession. He did well there; but, like thousands of other young professional men, he saw in the West superior opportunities for rapid advancement, and directed his course toward the Pacific coast. Arriving in California in 1876, he settled at once in San Francisco, where he was engaged in the practice of law for three years. At the earnest solicitation of some friends in Tulare County, he lived in that locality for a time. Then he came to Fresno County and opened an office in Selma, and shortly afterward settled in Fresno, where he has since continued to reside. Mr. Merriam is actively engaged in the practice of his profession in this city.
He was married December 12, 1888, to Miss Lulu E. Mizner, a native of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
DAVID FRANKLIN COFFEE, County Assessor of Tulare county, California, dates his birth in Tennessee, May 10, 1845. He is a son of Joel and Martha (Moore) Coffee, the former a native or Tennessee and the latter Of Kentucky. His paternal ancestors came from Scotland to America before the Revolution. They subsequently settled in Kentucky and were among the prominent pioneers of that State. General Coffee, a cousin of Mr. Coffee's father, was a general in the Confederate army.
David F. was next to the youngest in a family of eight children, and he was reared and educated in southern Illinois. In 1864, at the age of nineteen years, he came to California and settled in Stanislaus County, engaging in agricultural pursuits. In 1874 he removed to Tulare County, and purchased and improved a ranch. His political views have always been those of the Democracy, and in 1890 he was nominated by his party and elected Assessor of the county, which position be is filling with marked ability.
Mr. Coffee was united in marriage in 1868, to Miss Elorendo Hunter, a native of Canada. Seven children have been born to them, all in California, namely: Joel Stanford, Ada Ella, Clara, Laura, Basic, Mina and Leroy. The two last named died in infancy.
Mr. Coffee is associated with the A.0.U.W. and the K. of P.
I. N. HYDE was born in Stanislaus county, California, in 1857. His father, S. S. Hyde, a native of Kentucky, emigrated to this State in 1850, coming as United States Marshal. He was a prominent figure in the early history of California; was for a time engaged in teaching, being one of the first teachers in the State. He moved to Fresno County in 1860, settled near King's river, and engaged in wheat farming and stock-raising. In 1867 he planted the first Muscat vineyard on the plains, and was the first to divert water from the King's river for irrigating purposes, which he did on May 24, 1867. The channel through which he conducted the water was three miles long, two spades wide and two spades deep. He was also one of the first supervisors of this county, and held the office until his death, which occurred in 1869. While out among his stock he met with {Page 310} an accident that proved fatal to him, and he died, leaving a wife and ten children.
His son, I. N. Hyde, was educated in the public schools of the county, and in the academy of Fresno. He graduated in 1876, received a certificate to teach school in the county, and was engaged in teaching in the schools of Fresno until 1888. At that time he passed a rigid examination in twenty-one studies, and received a life diploma, issued by the State of California and signed by the regents of the State University.
In 1877 the Legislature canceled the great register of Fresno County, and Mr. Hyde was appointed deputy clerk by A. M. Clark to compile a new great register. In 1888 he was appointed deputy recorder under T. A. Bell, which position he still holds.
Mr. Hyde was married in Millerton, Fresno County, December 25, 1879, to Miss Minnie E. McClelland. Their union has been blessed with four children, two sons and two daughters.
The home ranch of ninety acres is still owned by Mr. Hyde and his brother, H. R. Hyde. They have twenty-seven acres of oranges on the place, which were planted in 1883, and which promise a rich profit in the near future.
Mr. Hyde is a member of Fresno Lodge, No. 186, I.0.0.F. Wahtoke Tribe, No. 63, I.0.R.M., of which he is Sachem; Fresno Lodge, No. 3455, Knights of Honor; and Parlor No. 24, Native Suns of the Golden West.
LYMAN BROWN RUGGLES was born in Pennsylvania, April 3, 1828, and comes of old New England stock. The family record runs back to one Joseph Ruggles, who landed in Massachusetts in 1635. His son, Timothy, was a member of the Connecticut Legislature when that body voted on the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, and he with one other member voted against the measure, thus proving their loyalty to the king.
His brother Joseph's grandson, Eden Ruggles, was the father of Joseph Ruggles both natives of Connecticut. The latter married Silva Brown, a native of New York and, on the maternal side, a relative of Colonel Ethan Allen of Revolutionary fame. To them were born seven sons and three daughters, the subject of this sketch being the middle son. Of this family
one son and one daughter are deceased.
When only a few months old, Lyman B. was taken by his parents to Ohio, where they resided eleven years. At the expiration of that time they removed to Michigan and settled on a farm in Van Buren County. There Mr. Ruggles remained until 1850, when he came to California. For two years he mined in El Dorado and Nevada court ties, and during that time saved nearly $1,000. In 1852 he went to Yale County and took up a piece of Government land, which he improved and on which he was engaged in farming for twenty-one years. In 1873 he sold out and engaged in the lumber business at Woodland, and two years later, in 1875, came to Tulare County and settled on 160 acres of land half way between Hanford and Traver. This farm he cultivated and also purchased other lands in the vicinity of Dinuba. In 1888 he removed to Travel- and took an interest in the Traver Warehouse Association, and engaged in the handling of wheat and agricultural implements. He was president of the corporation for two years, but at this writing is retired from active business. He owns a home in Traver, where he lives, and has 400 acres of grain land that he is having farmed to wheat.
In 1857 Mr. Ruggles was united in marriage with Miss Martha Ann Dexter, a native of Illinois who bore him five children. Of these children we state that Mattie M. became the wife of Peter Mull, and is now deceased; Gertrude M. is the wife of George Farmer; the sons are John, Charles and Clarence, all except the last having reached maturity. After thirty-one years of happy married life Mrs. Ruggles passed away. She was a devoted wife and loving mother, and in her death the family and many friends sustained a heavy loss. April 28, {Page 311} 1889, Mr. Ruggles wedded Mrs. Emma (Hackney) Robinson, a native of Tennessee.
In politics Mr. Ruggles is a Republican, and while in Yale County he was a member of the Board of Supervisors. In 1880 he was Republican candidate for the State Assembly, and ran 100 votes ahead of his ticket. He is a member of the F. & A. M., and his church affiliations are with the Methodists, he being a trustee of the Methodist Church of Traver. Mr. Ruggles is widely known in Tulare and several other counties of the State, and wherever known highly respected and esteemed.
BERNARD PRESSING, deceased, was one of the respected pioneers of Central California.
He was born in Germany, November 4, 1838, and came to America at the age of twenty years; first located at Cincinnati, Ohio, where for fifteen years he was engaged in the clothing trade. In 1871 he came from Cincinnati to California. In San Francisco he did clerical work a year and a half for his uncle, John F. Kessing, a wealthy merchant. He moved to Tulare in the year 1872 and built the first hotel and store in that place. He also was the first Postmaster and agent for Wells Fargo & Co. at that point. After living in Tulare two years, he moved to Sumner, following up the construction of the Southern Pacific railroad; six months later, opened up the first stock of merchandise at Caliente. From Caliente he removed to the Loop, what was then known as Camp 12."
Mr. Kessing was married in San Francisco, November 4, 1872, to Mrs. Mary A. Goss, a native of Hanover, Germany. She enjoyed the advantages of a good German education, lost her parents when quite young, and came to this country at the age of sixteen years.
Removing from the Loop, Mr. and Mrs. Kessing took tip their residence at Tehachapi, where they erected the first frame building in the town, the Summit House, which Mrs. Kessing still owns and conducts. Failing health caused Mr. Kessing to go to San Diego to recuperate, and his death occurred there, January 27, 1889, at the age of fifty-one years.
Mrs. Kessing is a lady of business tact and executive ability and conducts her business affairs in a most creditable manner. She has a son at Bakersfield, and one daughter, an accomplished young lady, at home.
WILLIAM WALTER CROSS, Superior Judge of Tulare County for the past twelve years, is a native of Illinois, born in Vermilion County, December 8, 1842, His ancestors were among the first settlers of Maryland, having come to this country from England with Lord Baltimore. His father, Joshua Anderson Cross, a native of Maryland, married Mary C. Ford, who was born in Pennsylvania. In 1852, accompanied by his family, he crossed the plains to the far West. The Judge was ten years of age at that time, and remembers vividly the long journey with ox teams. They settled in Nevada City, where the father purchased property, built and sold houses, and carried on the business of contracting and building. His death occurred in 1881, caused by an accidental fall.
The Judge was the seventh of a family of nine children. He was educated in the schools of Nevada City and in the College one of Benicia. At the age of nineteen years he began to read law under George S. Hupp, and later with Hon. Aaron A. Sargent, being admitted to the bar by Judge McFarland. He then practiced in the State of Nevada one year with Judge John Garber and George S. Hupp. At the expiration of that time he returned to California and continued the practice of his profession in Nevada City. In 1867 he was elected District Attorney, and served two years; was renominated for the office but declined to be the candidate. He remained in Nevada City until 1872, when {Page 312} he came to Tulare County and settled in Visalia, opening a law office with Judge Burckhalter as partner. In 1874: the supervisors appointed him District Attorney, and at the expiration of the term be was elected to that office. In 1879 be was elected Superior Judge on the Democratic ticket, and has capably and honorably performed the duties of Superior Judge, three times having been elected to the position by his fellow citizens.
Judge Cross was happily married on the 20th of August, 1872, to Miss Florence Edwards, a native of Missouri. When a year old she was brought by her parents to California, and in this State was reared and educated. Their union has been blessed with seven children, six of whom are living. Their names are as follows: William Walter, Jr., Florence R., Mabel E., Lillian, Anderson and Gertrude.
The Judge is an active member of the I. 0. 0. F., and for years has been a member of the Grand Lodge. Politically he is a Democrat. He has given much of his time and attention to politics and has also done much to promote the growth and development of the country; is liberal with his means both in private and public affairs. As a judge his decisions are made with great fairness and legal acuteness and are very seldom reversed. With the legal profession he stands high as a lawyer, and the general opinion of the citizens of his county is that he is the peer of any judge in the State.
HON. E. H. TUCKER. - The self-made men of America have ever stood in the front ranks of our poets and authors, our orators and statesmen, our inventors and mechanics. He who has been the producer of his own fortune, whose education is the result of his own efforts, who has marked out his own path, pursued his own policy, and has succeeded is always an eminent success.
No man has ever risen to eminent distinction who did not come from the middle or lower classes. It is the rare combination of brains, industry and perseverance that makes the individual capable of being a leader, a man of influence, one who can make and mould public opinion. E. H. Tucker, the subject of this sketch, the member of the Assembly from the wealthy and populous county of Fresno, is an. excellent example of the self-made men of our day. He was born fifty-two years ago in the State of Kentucky, of the good old pioneer stock of the early days, when it took pluck, a good rifle and a scalping knife to go West. His father was one of the early settlers of Iowa, where Mr. Tucker received the best common-school education obtainable in a log-cabin schoolhouse of the pioneer days.
In 1852 his father was attacked with the gold fever, removed to this State and settled at Sutter Creek, in Amador County. His parents resided in Amador until their death, some years ago. For several years he mined with his father and two brothers, with more or less success, and when the Fraser river excitement arose he was caught up in the whirl, and soon found himself en route to the new El Dorado. On his arrival at Whatcom he met Colonel W. H. Wallace, an old and honored friend of his father's, who persuaded him to abandon the Fraser river trip, and go to his home at Steilacoom, on Puget Sound. Mr. Tucker did so, and within two years he became so popular with his newly made acquaintances that he was nominated and elected on the Democratic ticket to the responsible office of Sheriff. At the expiration of his term of office he was reelected by over a two thirds vote of the county. Before the close of his term he resigned, to assist Colonel Justin Steinberger, to recruit the regiment of First Washington Territory United States Infantry Volunteers, which was ordered for that section by a special act of Congress. When the organization of the regiment was completed, Mr. Tucker was mustered into service on the 27th of December, 1862, at Fort Steilacoom, with the rank of Captain. He served in the regiment with distinction, in command of Company "K " until the {Page 313} close of the war, when he was honorably mustered out of the service at Fort Vancouver, on the 8th day of April, 1865.
During a greater portion of his army service his company was stationed at Fort Steilacoom. He was afterwards appointed Quartermaster's Agent at Fort Boise, Idaho Territory, and was with General George Crook's command in charge of transportation, during that official's campaign against the Pit River Indians of eastern Oregon and northern California, and was present at the battle of Goose lake, in which the Indians were badly whipped. At the close of the Indian war, Mr. Tucker returned to California. He made tip his mind that the future wealth of this State must be in the agricultural products and stock-raising, as mining was becoming less and less important each year. He went to Fresno County in 1874, and settled at Kingston, where he was for a time engaged in staging and mail contracting between Kingsburg and Grangeville in Tulare County. As early as 1878, through his influence with the authorities at Washington, he secured the establishment of a daily mail service between Kingsburg, Wild Flower, Kingston and Grangeville. He sold out his staging business in 1879 to Messrs. Simpson and Woodward. In October, 1879, he married Miss Fanning of Fresno City, arid settled in the now prosperous town of Selma. He was one of the original founders of that beautiful little city, and much of its prosperity and that of the surrounding country is due to his wide-awake energy and business tact.
In 1891 he was elected the first president of the newly formed Selma Irrigation District Company.
His business is that of real-estate agent and the breeding of fine horses. He is largely interested in the canals of Selma and is president of the Fowler Switch Canal Company, one of the largest and most important enterprises of that nature in the State.
While this is Mr. Tucker's first experience as a legislator, he has served several years as a member of the State Irrigation Committee, and spent much of his time at the capital, during the session of 1886-'87, in the interest of irrigation, and was always considered one of its most intelligent supporters. He was instrumental in getting the injunction laws amended by which canal companies may give bonds and flow water, pending litigation, and was a stanch supporter of the "Wright Bill."
Mr. Tucker is what you may term an uncompromising irrigationist, and says the rights of the people to a reasonable run of the waters of all streams, for irrigation, must and will prevail in the near future. He is the president of the board of Trade of Selma.
In the Legislature of 1890-'91 he was honored with the chairmanship of the Committee on Irrigation, also the chairmanship (if the Committee on Indian Affairs. He is a member also of the Judiciary and County and Township Government Committees. He is always found in his seat, is a good debater, and no bill is introduced that he does not carefully scrutinize. If a good measure, he endorses it; arid it he thinks it one not in the best interest of the public, he unsparingly denounces it.
He has introduced the following acts which will become laws, and are all most excellent measures:
AN ACT.
To Amend sections 10, 22 and 27 of an act entitled "An Act to provide for the Organization and Government of Irrigation Districts, and to provide for the Acquisition of Water and other Property, and for the distribution of Water thereby for Irrigation Purposes," approved Mai-ell 7, 1887; all act relating to appointments to office in case of vacancies, and to assessments of real property, and to the collection of such assessments; and also an act for the protection of the owners of ditches and flumes for irrigative purposes.
AN ACT.
To amend section 392 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the State of California, relating to the place of trial of civil action.
{Page 314}
AN ACT.
To amend section 1248 of the Code of Civil Procedure, of the State of California, relating to the assessment of damages where the right of eminent domain is exercised.
AN ACT.
Supplemental to an Act entitled "An Act to provide for the Organization and Government of Irrigation Districts and to provide for the acquisition of water and other property, and for the distribution of the water thereby for irrigation purposes," approved March 7, 1887, and to provide for the examination, approval and confirmation of proceedings for the issue and sale of bonds issued under the provision of said act.
CLEMENT T. BUCKMAN, Auditor of Tulare County, California, is a son of Clement E. and Survilla (Shanks) Buckman, natives of Kentucky. His mother was descended from Maryland ancestors. He was born in Kansas, March 31, 1859, while his parents were en route to California. They did however, come direct to this State but remained a few years in Arizona, reaching California in 1864.
Mr. Buckman was educated in the Visalia Normal School. For a number of years he was engaged in farming and stock-raising on a ranch of 400 acres purchased by his father. He now owns a ranch of 160 acres which be rents. He acted as Deputy Assessor of the county for six years, and in 1888 was elected County Auditor, being re-elected for a second term which he is now serving. His position is one of importance, as he has the oversight of all the receipts and disbursements of the county. Sixteen years ago Mr. Buckman had the misfortune to lose his right arm, the result of an accident with his gun while he was crossing a fence; and he has learned to wield his pun in a swift and graceful manner with his left hand.
He was married September 13, 1882, to Miss Irene Combs, a native of Missouri and daughter of the late J. C. Combs. They are the parents of three children: Ethel F., Clement T., Jr., and Chester Raymond.
Mr. Buckman was born a Democrat, and has taken a deep interest in local politics. He is a member of the A. 0. U. W., and by all who know him he is regarded as a most reliable citizen.
T A. BELL, Recorder for Fresno County, was born in Gallatin, Sumner County, Tennessee, in 1856. His father, T. H. Bell, carried on general farming, making tobacco the staple crop. In 1859 be moved to Dyer County, West Tennessee, and there young Bell received his education at the Newbern School, which was chartered as Union Seminary. He entered the primary department and continued in school until he was eighteen years old. At that time the family moved to California and settled in Fresno County. On King's river his father engaged in wheat farming and stock-raising, remaining there until the administration of President Cleveland, when he was appointed Receiver of the Visalia land office. After his appointment he moved to Selma, and still makes that his home.
T. A. Bell lived with his parents until 1880, when he engaged in the sheep business, making headquarters at Centreville and keeping from 1,500 to 2,500 sheep. This be continued until 1884. In that year he sold his flock and entered mercantile life in Fresno, under the firmname of Harrell & Bell. Two years later he sold his interest and became agent for the Fresno Agricultural Implement Works, and was also in the land business.
In the fall of 1888 Mr. Bell was elected County Recorder, and was reelected in the fall of 1890. He employs, ten deputies, three of whom are official: J. M. Collier, C. C. Elliott and I. N. Hyde. {Page 315}
He was married in San Francisco, in January, 1887, to Miss Emma S. Maddon, a native of Stockton, California. They have two children: Mary Gertrude, born July 9, 1888, and Irma E., born May 5, 1891. Mr. Bell is a member of Fresno Lodge, No. 247, F. & A. M.; Vineland Lodge, No. 67, K. of P., and Fresno Lodge, No. 3455, Knights of Honor. Of the last named lodge he is a charter member.
MAURICE EDWARD POWER, District Attorney of Tulare County, California, is a native of the Golden State, born in Santa Clara County, December 14, 1860. The ancestors of his family came from Ireland at an early day, and his father, John Power, was born in Quebec, Canada. At the age of sixteen years he came to the United States and settled in Maine, where he engaged in lumbering until 1852. At that time he came to California in search of gold, and mined for seven years. In 1859 he married Mary A. Welsh, by whom he had five children, the subject of this sketch being the eldest.
Maurice E. received his education at the Santa Clara College and at the Washington College. He read law under Judge J. B. Lamar, and in August, 1885, was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court. He practiced law in San Jose until March 10, 1888, when he came to Visalia, at which place he has since continued the practice of his profession. He received the appointment of Deputy District Attorney under Charles G. Lamerson, holding the position until the expiration of Mr. Lamerson's term. He was then appointed to the same position by Mr. Jacobs. In the fall of 1890 he was nominated on the Democratic ticket for District Attorney, and was elected without an opposing candidate. He at once entered upon the duties of his office with alacrity and ability, and his many friends bespeak for him a successful career in his chosen profession.
Mr. Power is a member of the Native Sons of the Golden West, and is Second Vice President of the parlor to which he belongs
W. H. KNAPP, one of the leading agriculturists of the Tehachapi valley, has been a resident of California since 1875. He is a native of Medina, New York, born May 9, 1853, son of E. H. and Jane (Jackson) Knapp, both natives of the Empire State and members of pioneer New York families. The farmer by occupation, removed from New York to Walworth County, Wisconsin, where he lived about ten years; in 1870 he went to Homer, Calhoun County, Michigan.
W. H. Knapp had received a good common school education and at Homer learned telegraphy. After his arrival in California he spent one season in Napa City, and in Alai, 1876, was tendered a position as telegraph operator at Tulare. He remained there, however, only one month and was then assigned to the Tehachapi station. The Southern Pacific railroad was then in course of construction and the present thriving town of Tehachapi consisted of Mr. Knapp's operating office, 7 x 9 feet, and a few tents pitched by the railroad company. With an eye to the future resources of this valley, Mr. Knapp took note of the great fertility of the soil and the delightful climate, and decided to make a practical farmer's test. In 1877 he pre-empted eighty acres of Government land and sowed it to barley, the result being a revelation to himself and to the stock-rangers who had traversed the country for several years. To his pre-emption claim he has added until he now has 480 acres adjoining town. He has set out 180 fruit trees and has some fine improvements on his property. In 1888 he resigned his position as agent for the Southern Pacific, Railroad Company at Tehachapi station, and Dow devotes his time and attention to his personal interests.
Mr. Knapp was married December 24, 1878, to Miss Sierra Nevada Williams, daughter of a {Page 316} California pioneer, the tall James E. Williams. She was born in Visalia, December 2. 1863, and lived with her parents in the first hotel which was built by them at Old Town, about two miles from the present village of Tehachapi. Mr. and Mrs. Knapp have three children: James E., born November 15, 1881; Gertrude, May 13, 1884; and Bertha, February 3, 1887.
Mr. Knapp is one of Tehachapi's most thrifty citizens and a member of the town school board.
JOHN A. PATTERSON has the distinction of being the only person now (1891) living in Tulare County who was here when the first county election was held. A resume of his life is as follows:
John A. Patterson was born in Georgia, October 15, 1824. He was educated at a private school, and his youth was spent in assisting his father on the farm. In 1849 he crossed the plains to California with a company of adventurers, and after a journey of six months arrived at his destination on the 24th of September. Cholera, that scourge of the plains, followed them for a distance of 400 miles and claimed as its victims five of their number.
After his arrival in California, Mr. Patterson and his companions at once sought the mines. At Mariposa, on the Tuolumne river and at other places he worked in the mines, average about $10 per day. After mining three years he purchased cattle, in partnership with a Mr. Hazelton, went to King's river and turned loose the first band of wild cattle at that place. He made his home there fourteen years, and during that time Tulare County was organized. He remembers little about it although he came into the county to help with the organization. He moved to Visalia and purchased a ranch a mile and a half east of the city. In 1871 he sold out and moved to his present location, a ranch of 500 acres of choice land. The first house he built on it was consumed by fire. It was soon replaced, however, by a more commodious one that now nestles among the trees and flowers of its owner's own planting. At Stone Corral Mr. Patterson has 2,000 acres of land.
In 1854 he was married to Rebecca Glenn, a native of Missouri, and to them eleven children were born, of whom two died when young. The remaining children are as follows: Thomas J., Mary, Arza, Georgia, Robert L., Nettie, Andrew D., Henry and Charles. All are settled near their parents in Tulare County. The oldest son, Thomas J., is one of the prominent practicing physicians of Visalia.
In politics Mr. Patterson is a Democrat. He was a member of the State Assembly, and was instrumental in having the bill passed for the erection of the fine county courthouse. Although Mr. Patterson has witnessed the changes that forty years have wrought on this coast, still he appears strong and vigorous. He is a man of high moral character and strong convictions, commanding the respect and esteem of all who know him.
L. L. DIXON was born in Mississippi, in 1853, one of a distinguished family of seven children. In 1870 they all moved to California and settled in the town of Madera, Fresno County. For a time our subject was a student at the University of California at Berkeley, not, however, finishing the course which he originally selected, that of mining and engineering. Returning to Madera, be remained there for a while. Then he took tip some land near Bakersfield and turned his attention to ranching, but this did not prove congenial to his taste and he sought other occupations. He soon secured a position in the State Engineer's Department, where he had important duties to perform. His services in this field of labor were very satisfactory.
In 1882 Mr. Dixon came to Fresno. During that year and the one following he was Deputy County Clerk, and at the same time filled the position of Deputy County Recorder. At various {Page 317} times since then he has been accountant for different corporations and individuals, being particularly successful in this office work. He was the bookkeeper for Thomas E. Hughes in his real-estate business until January, 1889, when he assumed the office work in the Hughes Hotel, resigning October 15, 1890, when he opened a real-estate office of his own. In connection with his real-estate transactions he also does an insurance business, in both of which he has been quite successful.
Mr. Dixon was married, in 1889, to Miss Mead, a native of New York. They have one child.
EDWARD M. JEFFERDS, of the firm of Shepherds & Bell, United States land office and real estate, Visalia, California, is a native of the Golden State, being born at Rough and Ready, Nevada County, July 25, 1854. His parents were Forrest G. and Zanetta D. (Garfield) Jefferds, the former a native of Brownsville, Piscataquis County, Maine, born August 26, 1829, and the son of Alpheus and Rebekah Jefferds, who moved from Brownsville to Foxcroft in the same county when Forrest was two years old, and where he remained with his father until he was sixteen years old. He then went to Lowell, Massachusetts, and labored for the Hamilton Paint and Iron Works until the Mexican war broke out. He then enlisted in Company A, Massachusetts Volunteers, and served through the war. He was discharged in Boston July 24, 1848, and subsequently learned the trade of making gas meters for the Boston Gas Light Company. In August, 1851, he started for California, via the Isthmus of Panama, going by steamer from New York to Chagres (before the railroad was built), being ten days on the steamer, then tip the Chagres river in a canoe to Cruces, and from there to Panama on a mule. He went from Panama to San Francisco on the old steamer Republic, landing October 5, 1851. In a few days he went to the mines in Nevada County, and lived near Nevada City on Gold Run about a year; next he moved to Rough and Ready; and in 1855 removed to Timbuctoo, Yuba County, where he was owner of a hydraulic claim, known as the Babb claim which he worked until 1861. In 1860 Mr. Jefferds went to Tulare County, and bought land near what is now Farmersville. In 1852 he married Miss Zanetta D. Garfield, a native of Woburn, Massachusetts, and they had three children, - Edward M., Minnie and Nettie. The mother died in 1868, and in 1869 he married Mrs. Nellie Reed, widow of Tilden Reed. In 1871 he was elected Comity Assessor of Tulare County, which office he held eleven years.
His son, Edward M., the subject of this sketch, was educated at the common schools of California, and subsequently attended the Foxcroft Academy in Maine. He next took a course at Heald's Business College in San Francisco, and was graduated at that institution in 1875. He taught school in Tulare County during several winters. Mr. Jefferds served as Deputy County Assessor for five years, and two years as Deputy County Recorder under J. E. Denny. Twice he received the nomination in the Republican convention for County Recorder. In September, 1885, he went into the United States Land Office, in which he continued until January, 1889, since which time he has carried on the business for himself. Mr. Jefferds has taken an interest in many of the public enterprises of Visalia. He is prominently connected with the 1. 0. 0. F., arid is a Past Grand of the order. He has been a member of the A. 0. U. W. since 1880, and is a charter member of the 11 Native Sons of the Golden West," Parlor No. 19. He is also President of the Visalia Fire Department.
September 1, 1878, Mr. Jefferds married Frankie C. Thorns, a native of Visalia, and the daughter of A. 0. Thoms, one of the pioneers of this coast, who at one time ran a stage line from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Mr. and Mrs. Jefferds have two children, - Cleora, born December 11, 1879, and Amos 0., born December 11, 1881. {Page 318} His residence is on South Court street, and his Office in Harrell Block.
P. BERNAMAYOU is one of the prosperous farmers Of Cummings valley. He was born in France, January 17, 1858, and was reared as a farmer. At the age of sixteen years he came to America, landing in San Francisco. After spending some months on cattle ranges in Southern California, be came to Kern County in 1885 and located at Tehachapi. Here he engaged in stock-raising in Cummings valley and subsequently turned his attention to grain farming, in which be has been very successful, one year raising as high as 10,000 sacks of barley, from which he realized $12,000. He owns 640 acres of land, section 35, all under fence He is one of the most enterprising, of men, and is a representative member of the French colony in that region.
J M. COLLIER, second son of J. N. Collier and Me is. Patton Knox, nee Robinson, Collier, was born in Pickens County, Alabama, in 1855. In 1865 his father moved to Deer Creek, Washington County, Mississippi, where he still resides, and it was in that State that J. M. received his education. He attended the Vicksburg public schools and worked to pay for his board and tuition, finishing his studies in 1875.
After leaving school Mr. Collier went to Stormville, Bolivar County, that State, and engaged in mercantile business. Later he went to Memphis, and was there employed as a bookkeeper. In 1884 he visited the World's Fair at New Orleans, and immediately thereafter started for California. After three months spent in visiting and travel, he settled in Fresno, having neither friend nor kindred in the county. His penmanship attracted attention and secured him a position as Deputy Recorder, under C. L. Wainwright, receiving the appointment in December, 1884. He was continued through Mr. Wainwright's term of office, and was reappointed by his successor, T. A. Bell, still occupying that position.
Mr. Collier was married in Los Angeles, in July, 1887, to Miss Dora Church, daughter of Judge Firman Church, whose biography appears elsewhere in this work. Mrs. Collier died may 8, 1891, leaving two children: Dora E., born April 26, 1891, and Augusta, born in January, 1890. Mr. Collier is secretary of the Fresno Water Company, and is Ordnance Sergeant of Company Cc National Guards of California. By close attention to his business and by careful and judicious investment of his earnings, Mr. Collier has accumulated considerable city property in Fresno.
SIMON HEINEMAN, one of the leading merchants of the Tehachapi valley, has been a resident of California about nine years He is a native of Bavaria, Germany, and was born August 16, 1865. His father, Carl Hineman, was a prosperous grain merchant of Wurzburg, of some local prominence. He died in 1881, leaving two sons: Simon, the subject of this sketch, and Adolph, a younger brother.
Mr. Heineman came to America in 1882, bringing with him some means. He had enjoyed the advantages of a thorough schooling, in his native city and inherited from his father the instincts and traits of a successful business man. Upon reaching San Francisco he was readily tendered a position in the mercantile house of Frankenthal, Bachman & Co. Re renamed with this firm about four months, after which he accepted an offer of a position with J. Goldman & Co., Tulare.
March 1, 1889, he established the business house of which he is the head at Tehachapi, area which is one of the most extensive of its kind in Kern County. He erected the present spacious building which the firm occupies and {Page 319} which is well adapted to the wants of the business. Its shelves and warerooms are stocked with a choice line of merchandise calculated to meet the various demands of the agriculturist, stockman, miner sheep-rancher, artisan and mechanic. Mr. Heineman conducted this business alone until the following May, when he associated himself with L. Bachman, his uncle, a merchant and capitalist of San Francisco. As a member of the warehouse firm of John Iribarne & Co., Mr. Heineman is interested in handling a large share of the heavy grain product of the valley. The substantial evidences of Mr. Heineman's success at Tehachapi is a natural result of the purchase of merchandise in large quantities at the place of manufacture, at the lowest possible cash price, and giving to his customers full value - in quality and quantity. This he regards as the legitimate mission and moral obligation of the merchant.
CHARLES THOMPSON, all enterprising rancher and horticulturist of Farmersville, Tulare County, California, is a native of Scotland, born November 2, 1840, son of Neil and Agnes Thompson, both natives of Scotland. At the acre of nine years he came to America with his mother and family, his father having died in Scotland. They settled in Ohio and his mother remained a widow until her death. Mr. Thompson was educated in Detroit, Michigan, and from there entered the Union army, in the quarter master's department; was with Sherman until he left Chattanooga, arid for a time was a clerk on one of the river steamers.
At the close of the war, Mr. Thompson came to California and to Tulare County. His uncle, John McKay, had come from the Highlands of Scotland to this place, and with him Mr. Thompson engaged in the cattle, sheep and hog business. This uncle died on May 1, 1879, and left the ranch to Mr. Thompson and his aunt, he subsequently purchasing the aunt's interest.
Mr. Thompson was married in Detroit, in 1870, to Miss Annie Deering, a native of Massachusetts. Of their six children, all born in California, five are living-three sons and two daughters. Their names are as follows: Charles R., Arthur Al., Amy F., Annie M. and Hugh D. In connection with his farming operations, Mr. Thompson is engaged in raising choice fruits, his ranch being located half a mile north of Farmersville. In politics he has been a lifelong Republican, and as a worthy citizen he has the respect of all who know him.
GEORGE WALTER KIRKMAN, with his brother, Grant Kirkman, is associated in the general merchandise business at Exeter, Tulare County, under the firm name of Kirkman & Co.
Mr. Kirkman was born in Wayne County, Indiana, December 4, 1853. His grandfather, George Kirkman removed from North Carolina to Indiana in an early day, when his son, John Kirkman, father of the subject of this sketch, was a lad of seven years. George Kirkman spent the rest of his life and died in Indiana, and his son John was reared there and married to Elizabeth Thornburgh, a native of Indiana. Seven of their eight children are still living. He moved with his family to Missouri, and farmed there ten years, and in 1882 came to the Golden West. They settled on the plains, near the present town of Exeter, took lip a Government claim of 160 acres of land, and engaged in raising wheat. Prosperity attended their labors, and soon they were enabled to purchase 200 acres more.
In 1890, when the railroad was built to Exeter, the Kirkman brothers came to the town, built a store and dwelling and became the first merchants of the place. They keep a general stock of merchandise, and in this growing town and country have a thriving trade. At this writing, 1891, Exeter is only a year old, and the prospects for its future growth and development are flattering indeed.
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