Tulare & Kings Counties
California
Biographies
1913


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DANIEL WOOD

A native of the Empire State, at one stage of our national development a mother of pioneers, Daniel Wood went early to Wisconsin, whence, in 1849 he came across the plains to California as a member of a party of thirteen whose experiences during their six months' journey were perilous and painful in the extreme. Once they were obliged, in the desert, to burn some of their wagons for fuel, and a few of the party died of cholera. After his arrival in California, Mr. Wood went into the mines at Hangtown, where flour was $50 a sack, one onion cost $3, and eggs readily brought $1 each. Of course it will be understood that the lack of local production and the excessive cost of transportation were factors in determining these almost prohibitive prices. When he was done with the mines, he went to San Francisco, whose Indian camps were then its most conspicuous features. From there he went to Mariposa County, where he taught school for a time. He was one of the first white men to visit the Yosemite valley. Eventually the fortunes of the border brought him to Visalia and soon he was employed to teach in the old Visalia Academy and later given charge of schools in other parts of Tulare County. He was one of the founders and a constituent member of. the first Methodist class organized in Visalia and was the pioneer berry grower of Tulare County, taking off a crop of strawberries worth $1600 from one acre of ground. During the pioneer period he oper­ated a ranch of two hundred and forty acres near Farmersville, Tulare County. For some time he held the office of justice of the peace, by authority of which he performed the marriage ceremony of the famous Chris Evans.

The state of Indiana includes what was the birthplace of Miss Carrie Goldthwaite, who became Mr. Wood's wife, and bore him children as follows: Daniel G., George W:, Litta, Stella, Edna and Edward. John W. Goldthwaite, Mrs. Wood's father, came 16-California by way of the overland trail, in the pioneer days, took up government land and developed a ranch in Tulare County. He saw service in the Union army during the Civil war and had an intimate personal acquaintance with Gen. W. T. Sherman. In the years after the war until he passed away he was a leading spirit among Californians of the Grand Army of the Republic.

                                             　

HENRY O RAGLE

On October 15, 1860, Henry 0. Ragle was born in Hawkins County, Tenn. His parents, natives of Virginia, both died in Tennessee. They were representatives of old Southern families and his mother was a woman of rare quality, who to an uncommon degree impressed her character on her children. He was about twenty-three years old when he came to California, well equipped by public school education and by much practical experience in farming to take up the battle of life in this then comparatively primitive agricultural region. For a time after he came here he did farm and ranch work for wages, but soon he took up one hundred and sixty acres of land and began to improve and cultivate it. From time to time since then he has bought other tracts until he is now the owner of more land than nine hundred acres, some of it grazing land, some of it fruit land, and some of it devoted to grain. Besides being a successful farmer he is quite an extensive handler of cattle.

In 1894 occurred the marriage of Henry 0. Ragle, son of Henry Ragle, to Miss Jennie K. Underwood, a native of Tennessee, whose father has passed away, but whose mother is still living. Mrs. Ragle has borne her husband four sons and three daughters. Clarence is a student in a business college at Fresno; Eva is in grammar school; Lloyd, Herbert, Oscar and Marie are in the public school; Dorothy is the baby of the family.

Without capital when he came to Tulare County, Mr. Ragle has been successful beyond many of his friends and neighbors and as he has advanced he has been ready at all times to extend a helping hand to those who have been less fortunate. His interest in the community is such that he has been public-spiritedly helpful to every movement for the general uplift. Especially has the cause of educa­tion commanded his attention, and though having no liking for public office, he has been impelled by it to accept that of school trustee, in which he has served with much efficiency, with an eye single to the educational advancement of his neighborhood.

SANTOS BACA

A descendant of old Mexican and Spanish families, Santos Baca was born in San Bernardino County, Cal., in what is now Riverside County, November, 1865. His father was Jesus Cabeza De Baca, who was the son of Jose Baca, for whom Vacaville was named. (The name Baca was formerly spelled Vaca, hence the spelling of Vacaville.) Jesus Cabeza De Baca married Inez Baca, a native of Spain, and he engaged in the stock business and grazed sheep where the city of Riverside now stands. He was directly descended from Spanish discoverers who landed on the shores of the United States in the middle of the sixteenth century and eventually settled in New Mexico. In 1849 the parents of Santos Baca came to California with ox-teams from New Mexico, and both passed away at old Spanishtown, near Riverside.

When Santos Baca was seven years old he was taken to Sacramento to attend school and in 1880 made his way to Tulare County and thence to Riverside. In 1883 he went to Vacaville but the same year found him in the employ of a liveryman in Tulare city. In 1902 he located at Porterville and was employed in the same business until 1910, at which time he became one of the proprietors in the Exchange stables. He has from time to time interested himself in other enterprises and has evidenced a helpful solicitude for the advancement and prosperity of the community. Fraternally he affiliates with the Woodmen of the World and the Ancient Order of United Workmen.

In 1892 Mr. Baca married Miss Nancy E. Doty, a native of Missouri, who has borne him six children, as follows: Fay and Harold, in the high school; Glenn and Rita, in the grammar school; Rene, in the primary school, and Damon.

JOHN H LEACH

One of the comparatively few citizens of Porterville, Tulare County, Cal., who saw the place come into being on the prairie and have witnessed and promoted its development to the present time is John H. Leach. A native of Washington County, Ill., born January 15, 1849, he was reared and educated in Clinton County, whither his parents moved when he was a small child, there taking up the responsibilities of active life. In the spring of 1880 he left Illinois for the Black Hills, where he prospected for gold and worked in the mills four years. After that lie lived for a time in Missouri and later until 1890 in Kansas, where he followed the carpenter trade. In that year he located near Porterville, Cal. He soon bought property and later brought his family on from the east. After he was well started here he bought land, planted orange seed, raised the plants and set out five acres, which he still owns, and has given considerable attention to truck gardening.

In 1875 Mr. Leach married Miss Louisa Lewis, a native of Clinton County, Ill., and they have two children. Their daughter, Mamie E., is a member of their household. Their son, William S., is an architectural draftsman and resides in Baltimore, Md. Mr. Leach's success is all his own and he is recognized as a self-made man who deserves the high place in the community that is his, not alone by his record as a man of affairs, but by the fine character which has been manifest in his entire career and the generous public spirit that makes him promptly responsive to every demand for the general good. Mr. Leach's mother, now eighty-six years, is a member of his household.

SAMUEL C BROWN

In Franklin County, Vt., Samuel Carr Brown, late of Visalia, Tulare County, Cal., was born August 17, 1826. He died December 31, 1908. His parents were James and Sarah (Smith) Brown, natives respectively of Rhode Island and of Massachusetts, and his father was long a merchant and an extensive land owner at Swanton, Franklin County, N. Y., but they moved eventually to St. Lawrence County, N. Y., where they passed away. Of their four sons and three daughters, Samuel Carr was the youngest. He was educated in the common schools, at the Pennsylvania College in the Western Reserve, and at Oberlin College, where he was a student in 1848. Under the instruction of Judge Wallace of St. Lawrence County, N. Y., he acquired a rudimentary knowledge of law; later through long connection with the justice court, he gained considerable experience of its practice and during all his active life gave much attention to legal matters. In 1849 he located in Pike County, Ill., and six months later joined a band of gold seekers who were turning their faces toward California.

The journey across the plains was begun in April and in September Mr. Brown reached the North Fork of the American river, where he mined for a year, but meeting with no success then went to San Francisco, where he was for six months a steward on the Vincennes, a sloop sailing out and in that port. In January, 1852, he came to Tulare County in company with about fifty people, most of whom were farmers from Iowa. Learning that the Indians had two years before killed the primitive white settlers, they built a stockade in which they erected eight or ten log houses. He came as a hunter and remained as a citizen, to practice law, teach school, buy land and engage in multifarious activities as settlement advanced and civilization took root and spread. In the Civil war period he was an active sympathizer with the Union cause and Confederate sympathizers made three attempts to wreck his office, but United States troops preserved order till the end of the war, by a request of a committee of three prominent Republicans and three prominent Democrats.

For a. time Mr. Brown had as his law partner William G. Morris, later was a member of the firm of Brown & Daggett, and in 1891 retired from professional work and until his death gave personal supervision of his extensive property interests, which included an office building in Visalia, twenty-five hundred acres of farm land near that town and a half interest in four thousand acres in the mountain foothills. His land was divided into five ranches, most of which he usually leased. Many of the important enterprises of Visalia were encouraged and promoted by Mr. Brown. He was influential in the establishment of the Bank of Visalia, of which he was a director. The same may be said of his relationship to the local ice concern and to the Visalia Steam Laundry. He was a director of the Tulare Irrigation Company and of the soda works. Politically he was a Freesoiler and later a Republican. During early days here he was for two years district attorney, for two terms mayor and for three terms a member of the city council.

After Mr. Brown became a citizen of Visalia he married Miss Mary F. Kellenburg, a native of Illinois. The following are their children who are living: May, wife of William H. Hammond, of Visalia ; Fannie, wife of C. G. Wilcox of Visalia; Philip S., who is succeeding as a farmer in Tulare County; Maude, who married J. E. Combs, of Visalia; and Helen, who is a  member of her mother's household.

PETER BONDSON

The progressive and successful farmer whose name is above, and who is well known in Hanford and vicinity for his high character and respectable achievements, was born in 1848. He is a native of Denmark, a country that has given to the United States many citizens of the purest motives who are leaders in their communities and ex­amples to all who take notice of their integrity, industry and deter­mination, national traits brought to bear upon their careers in a strange land. Peter Bondson came to America in 1870 and was a pioneer at Merced. In 1876 he made his advent in Kings County, set­tling on the land which he has since developed into one of the most productive and valuable farms in its vicinity. Originally the place consisted of three hundred and twenty acres, but in the process of bringing it to its present perfection he reduced it to two hundred and forty acres. He gave eighty acres to his son Arthur, and he now gives his attention to general farming, hog and cattle raising. His stock is of good breeds and is always so well fed and skillfully handled that it brings the highest market price. The farm is out‑fitted with modern buildings and accessories and is in every respect thoroughly up-to-date.

The first marriage of Mr. Bondson occurred February 22, 1882, uniting him with Cordelia Nance, and they have three living children: Stella, wife of A. L. Miller; Pearl, wife of Charles C. Church; and Arthur. On June 16, 1910, Mr. Bondson married Miss Maud Waite, a young woman of many accomplishments, who is his devoted helper in his endeavors for success. They have one daughter, Ethel. Mr. Bondson has not thus far had much to do with practical politics, but he has decided opinions upon questions of local and national policy to which he gives expression at the polls. A friend of education, he has served two years as school trustee, and in that capacity has ably served the interests of his district. On several occasions his public spirit has commended him to his fellow citizens who recognize in him one who is ever ready to encourage to the extent of his ability any proposition having for its object the general uplift of the community.

WILLIAM WILLARD BROWN

In Jefferson County, N. Y., William Willard Brown was born November 13, 1851. When he was five years old he was brought to California by her mother, his father, William A. Brown, having come out a year before to look over the ground with a view to making a settlement here. The father was a school teacher and he was em­ployed at Stockton and Visalia. He opened a school at Camels Crossing, Kings river, one of the first schools in the County. He enlisted as a musician for service in the Civil war, returned east and was transferred to. El Paso ,Texas, where he was mustered out and began teaching school at Terrill, Texas. He spent his remaining days in that state.

The son left Visalia in the fall of 1859, when he was about eight years old, with the family of his mother and her second husband, Huffman M. White. The latter homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land in the Frazier valley and went into the sheep business, giving some intelligent attention to fruit growing. Mr. Brown states that in 1864 the first orange trees ever planted in Tulare County were planted on' the farm of his step-father. The boy was educated in the schools of Tulare County and remained on the White ranch until 1882. He took up a government homestead in 1878 and remained on it most of the time until 1889, for a time making his home with his mother. In the year last mentioned he sold out and located in Porterville. Since settling in town he has been engaged in the machine business and since 1904 has been the local representative of the Samson Iron Works of Stockton and San Francisco.

In 1882 Mr. Brown was a guide for the United States Government surveying party working in the mountain district of Tulare County and for a time he filled the office of road overseer. So well developed is his public spirit that he has been found ready at all times to aid to the extent of his ability movements which in his opinion have promised to benefit the community. Socially he has associated with the Knights of Pythias since 1884 and he has repre­sented his lodge at the Grand Lodge in 1886 and again in 1911.

In 1876 Mr. Brown married Rosalia Ford, a native of California, and daughter of J. P. Ford, a pioneer of 1856. She has borne him six children, three of whom are living. Roy F. is in New Mexico. Lahalla A. is the wife of Thomas Ferguson, of Porterville, Cal., and Pauline is a student in the Porterville high school.

ALFRED BALAAM

It was in Louisville, Ky., that Alfred Balaam, stockman and farmer, ex-sheriff of Tulare County, was born September 5, 1839, a son of George and Sarah (Swain) Balaam, natives of England. The family moved from Kentucky to Arkansas and from there to Texas, and from the Lone Star State came with a train of fifty ox-wagons across the plains to California in 1853, settling at El Monte, Los Angeles County, where they remained until the end of December, 1857. They then set out for Tulare County, where they arrived soon after January 1, 1858. The head of the family took up land a mile west of Farmersville, entering it at the government land office, a raw tract of one hundred and sixty acres, on which he raised horses, cattle and sheep. He was a man of ability who took a leading part in local politics, served in the office of justice of the peace and promoted the best interests of the community as long as he lived.

The following nine children of George and Sarah (Swain)Balaam are named in order of birth: George, the eldest, is dead; Sarah Ward; Ann Ward; Martha is the wife of Joseph Homer; Frank S.; Alfred; Edward; Mary Van Gorden is dead; and Mrs. Emily Van Gordon resides at Watsonville.

Alfred Balaam was educated in the public school near his boy-hood home and early worked with his father at stock-farming. Later he farmed for himself and at one time operated a half section of land.

At this time he owns thirty-one acres near Farmersville, Tulare County, which he devotes principally to hay, alfalfa and Egyptian corn. For sixteen years he has filled the office of roadmaster and has been instrumental in introducing great improvements in local roads and bridges. By appointment of Sheriff Wells, he served as deputy sheriff under that official and in 1885 was elected sheriff of Tulare County, which office he filled for one term with great efficiency and integrity. A man of abundant public spirit, he has always promoted the prosperity of the community.

In 1862 Mr. Balaam married Anna Whitlock, a native of Ohio, who bore him two children, Charles and Nellie. His present wife, whom he married in 1869, was Miss Marion Bequette, a native of California, and children as follows were born to them: Ida Higdon, Carl and Edward.

                                                      

DANIEL FINN

The late prominent and successful man of affairs of Kings County, Cal., Daniel Finn of Hanford, was born at Oswego, N. Y., May 11, 1858, and lived there, meanwhile acquiring an education, until he was about twenty years old. He then went to Colorado and between that state and Idaho and Nevada he divided his time until in 1883. when he came to Colusa County, Cal., and farmed about a year. In 1884 he located in Hanford, which has since been his home town, and it is probable that in all the years since he came no man has been more devoted than he to its growth and development. For about ten years he worked on farms and conducted a draying and transportation business and in the period 1895-1901 he was in the retail liquor trade. After the oil business began to assume some importance in California he gave attention to it and in 1898 was one of the locators and incorporators, whose foresight was destined to bring success to the Hanford Oil Company, the property of which was locked at Coalinga, where the first discovery of oil was made in that district outside of section twenty. The holdings of this company were bought in small pieces by the Standard Oil Company in 1906-1907, the parcels having been deeded one by one to Martin & De Sabla, who later transferred them to the great corporation mentioned. Mr. Finn was president of the Hanford Oil Company until the termination of its corporate existence; he was one of the organizers and was from the first vice-president of the Hanford Gas and Power Company, which was incorporated in 1902; and in 1901 he was one of the incorporators of the Old Bank, of which he was a director through all its history and of which he was president after the death of the late President Biddle. As a Knight of Pythias he passed all the chairs of the lodge. In 1890 he married Mary Corey, who survives him. Mr. Finn was a self-made man, and found his true field of endeavor and the profitable scene of his success at Hanford, hence the reason for his manifest devotion to the town and to all of the various interests which make for its advancement and prosperity. It is doubtful if any measure for the general good was pro­posed that did not receive his co-operation. As his fortunes advanced he was more and more generously responsive to demands upon his public spirit. He passed away June 22, 1912, mourned by many friends and admirers.

                                                            

PHILIP S BROWN

The home of Philip S. Brown, on the Exeter road near Visalia. is one of the show places of that part of Tulare County. A fine new residence graces the property, and its approach is by way of a roadway past a fountain and underneath palms and other ornamental trees and bordered on either side with many of the kinds of flowers for which California is famous.

In Visalia, June 15, 1867, Philip S. Brown was born, a son of S. C. Brown., who came to. Tulare County among the pioneers. After he had finished his education he engaged in the real estate business in Visalia, as a member of the firm of Frasier, Prendergast R Brown, to the interests of which he devoted his energies until in 1896, when he began dairying and farming on nine hundred acres of his father's land near Visalia. He soon built up a large business which brought him good yearly profit and he had at one time one hundred registered Holstein cows, four or five hundred hogs, and one hundred acres of prunes and peaches. His fruit was killed by a flood a few years ago. At this time his ranch consists of three hundred and fifty acres, one hundred and fifty acres of which he has planted to alfalfa. As has been seen his career has not been without its vicissitudes, but he has overcome all obstacles and achieved success in the typical California way, and while he has prospered be has public-spiritedly promoted the welfare of the community. In 1896 he married Miss Jenevieve Loraine, a native of New York, who has borne him a daughter whom they have named Bernice.

                                                      

DALLAS H GRAY

One of the few men represented in this work who were born on property which they now own is Dallas H. Gray, who made his advent into the world in February, 1882, near Armona. Harvey P. Gray, his father, was born in Wayne County, Pa., April 20, 1841, and came to California from Nebraska in the '50s. Before 1870 he came to Tulare County, before settlement had advanced to any considerable extent, and here homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land. He mined in Tuolumne and Placer counties and in 1863 enlisted in the Federal army, serving until the close of the Civil war. It was in December, 1869, that he came to Tulare County and engaged in farming, taking over one hundred and sixty acres on army scrip and made a home to which he moved and lived out his days, passing away June 2, 1896. He was one of the pioneer raisin growers in the County. In 1879 he married Miss Emma C. Hurd, and they had two sons, Donly C. and Dallas H., the former living in Visalia. Harvey Gray was a man of public spirit and forceful character, and helped to promote the Peoples, Last Chance and Lower Kings River ditches and improved the home ranch to splendid condition.

Dallas Gray was educated at Armona and in the Hanford high school. After his graduation in 1903 he established a vineyard and orchard of eighty acres of the family estate, to which he has added by purchase from time to time. He now has ninety acres in vines, forty in orchard and ten in pasture. He is encountering success, drying fruit of various kinds and packing raisins. His packing house, covering a ground space of 80x120 feet, has a storage capacity of four hundred tons. He has erected nearly all the buildings on his place except the packing house. His dairy of twenty Holstein cows is becoming well known. He has erected sanitary buildings with concrete floors, 45x64 feet, for dairy purposes, and a hay storage building with a capacity of one hundred tons, elevated on concrete piling. His dairy requires thirty-four acres of alfalfa. He has also sixty acres in the orange belt of Tulare County and has an interest in one hundred and sixty acres of timber land in Madera County. From sixty-seven acres of vines he took one hundred and sixty-eight tons of product in 1910 and one hundred and fifty in 1912. He markets all his own produce in the East, selling direct to jobbers. On his ranch he has two three-room cottages and one five-room cottage for hired help. He has installed electric machinery and two electric motors and has a modern pumping apparatus. His chicken business dates from 1909. He raises thoroughbred White Leghorns only, increasing from one thousand to five thousand laying hens, and operates six incubators of a capacity of four hundred and eighty eggs each. All the eggs he sells are bought throughout the coast states for hatching, and to this interest lie devotes three acres. He gives employment to from five to one hundred men in his various enterprises, according to season. His brooder house is one hundred feet long, with capacity for two thousand chicks. His fireless brooders generate their own heat. The hens have sanitary drinking fountains. Mr. Gray advertises his chicken business extensively and cannot supply the demand that he has created.

In 1905 Mr. Gray married Miss Katie Biddle, daughter of S. E. Biddle of Hanford, and they became the parents of a son, Dallas H., Jr., who was born February 4, 1913. Mr. Gray is a man of much public spirit, having at heart the interests of the community, generously helpful to all good work.

                                                           

FRANCIS MARION AINSWORTH

In Missouri, in 1845, was born Francis Marion Ainsworth, and in 1857, when he was about twelve years old, he participated with his parents and others in a memorable overland journey to California. They came with ox-teams and endured many hardships and braved many perils. Their first home in this state was in Mendocino County. There his father acquired land which he farmed and improved three years. Then, after living a little while at Santa Rosa and a short time at Sonoma, the family moved to Napa County, where they remained until 1864. Stockton was the scene of the family's activities for some years. and after that Modesto numbered its members in its population. At Modesto the father died in 1870; the mother had passed away in 1863. It was from Modesto that Francis M. Ainsworth came to the Mussel Slough district of old Tulare County, near Hanford, where he soon began ranching. He moved to his present location at Milo in 1876. He owns here two hundred and forty acres of land which he is operating very profitably. It is remarkable to realize that Mr. Ainsworth, who at the age of sixty-seven years is enjoying splendid health and is giving personal attention to the conduct of his ranch as well as the duties of postmaster at Milo, was at one time a consumptive in a most precarious condition, suffering from hemorrhages of the lungs. His cure may be attributed to his tremendous will power and the exceptional climate and he has every reason to count his blessings and be happy that he has sought this country as his place of residence.

In 1872 Mr. Ainsworth married Nettie Braden, a native of Iowa, who bore him ten children, all native sons and daughters of California, four of whom have died. Royal Jasper Ainsworth married Clara Hinkle and lives in Tulare County. The other survivors are named Chester 0., Archie W., Frances M., Lisle R. and Alden R. The parents of Mrs. Ainsworth moved to Kansas when she was about five years old and some two or three years later they came overland to California, settling in Santa Clara County, whence they later removed to Stanislaus County, and it was here that she first met her future husband. She was the second child of a family of four children, one son and three daughters, born to her parents, the others being: William Braden, of Ventura County, Agnes Richardson of Portervi]le, and Malissa, who died in Tulare County in 1878, being at that time the wife of S. W. Webb and leaving no children. Mr. Ainsworth's uncle, Davy Crockett, is a justice of the peace at Ukiah, Mendocino County. Col. Davy Crockett, the hero of the Alamo, was Mr. Ainsworth's great-uncle. His life of adventure, his devotion to the cause of liberty and his tragic death for the freedom of Texas are all matters of history. Mr. Ainsworth is a man of public spirit and as a Democrat he has been elected school trustee and in 1907 was appointed post­master at Milo, which responsible office he still fills with ability and credit.

                                                  

M E WEDDLE

In Virginia, M. E. Weddle, late of the Dinuba district of Tulare County, Cal., was born July 28, 1844. When he was ten years old he accompanied his parents to east Tennessee. In 1861, before he was seventeen years old, he enlisted in Company H, Second Ohio Cavalry, under Captain Chester, with which he served until in 1863. In June of that year he re-enlisted, and served until the end of the war and was mustered out at St. Louis, Mo., in 1865: He took part in sixty- three battles and skirmishes, some of his memorable experiences having been in the Wilderness campaign and at the battle of Cedar Creek. In 1865 his father had removed from Tennessee to Indiana. In Tennessee he had had his war experiences as well, having operated there a corn mill which was patronized by passing soldiers, sometimes, but not always, to the profit of its proprietor.

At the close of the war young Weddle joined his father in Indiana, worked at ranching and at teaming and learned the carpenter's trade. He married Miss Lucy J. Newlon. They had six children: John C. married Mabel Day and has three children. Mary E. married Charles Snyder of Oregon and they have three children. George W. married and has four children. Hester married William Heine of San Jose, Cal., and they have a son and a daughter. Two have passed away. By his later marriage with Mary E. Robbins he had no children. She was the widow of David Alden Robbins of Iowa and had two children by her first marriage. Her maiden name was Mary E. Fulton and she was born in Westmoreland County, near Monongahela City, and is the daughter of Abraham and Rachel (Newlon) Fulton.

Mr. Weddle came to Tulare County in 1888. As far as the eye could reach in every direction lay an expanse of wheat fields and Dinuba had just been planted. He found plenty of work as a carpenter, and helped to erect the first building in the town for a store and real estate office. He became owner of ten acres of land on Wilson avenue. Three and a half acres of it are under vines, one acre is planted to trees. For a number of years he prospered as a housemover. Politically Mr. Weddle supported Republican principles and was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He passed away August 12, 1912.

                                                         

JAMES THOMAS BOONE

In Missouri, Benton County, in 1862, James Thomas Boone was born. There he grew up and was educated. He began his active career as a clerk in a factory in St. Louis. When he was twenty-one years old he came to California and not long after his arrival he located at Traver. For a time after he came to the state lie was bookkeeper in connection with one of the old canal projects which in their time promised to be influential factors in the commercial prosperity of this then new country. In 1884 he bought land at Traver, on which he lived until 1895, when he moved to Orosi. After two years' residence there he located at Dinuba and in 1899 he bought forty acres near that place. He was the first man to build a home in Section Eight, and when he planted most of his forty acres in vines it was as a pioneer vineyardist. The land cost him $37.50 an acre and $600 an acre would be a low price for it now.

In 1887 Mr. Boone married Matilda Isabelle Blakemore, a native of Tulare County, and their five children are all living in Tulare County. Roy B. Boone, prominent in the drug business at Dinuba, married Frances Williams. He is one of the few graduates in pharmacy who live in this part of the County. Guy H., who is prospering at Dinuba as a liveryman, married Ethel Alford. Estella Jeanette is a graduate of the high school at Dinuba ; William is a student in that school; and Clyde Thomas is attending the, grammar school. Thomas Jefferson Boone, father of James Thomas Boone, was a native of Kentucky and the woman he married was also a native of that state. William Bailey Blakemore, father of Mrs. Matilda Isabelle (Brakemore) Boone, was a native of Arkansas, who in pioneer days made the overland journey to California with ox-teams. His daughter, who was born in Tulare County, recollects seeing much game on the plains and in the woods round her home when she was young.

A man of much public spirit, Mr. Boone is ready at all times to do anything in his power for the advancement of the public good and has served his fellow townsmen in the office of justice of the peace, making a record for just and wise decisions of which judges of many greater courts might well be proud. Mr. Boone was the first City Clerk after Dinuba was incorporated and served the first term.

                                                        

JONATHAN W MAY

It was in Mississippi, in the heart of the Old South, that Jonathan W. May of Springville, Cal., first saw the light of day in 1836. When he was six years old he was taken by his parents to Texas, where he lived until 1870. Then, aged about thirty-four years, he came over­land by ox-team transportation to California, consuming nine months in making the journey, and settled at Pleasant Valley, Tulare County. When he came here there was no one living in the vicinity of his present home. He bought property at Springville and became the pioneer livery stable keeper there. At this time there is no other than his blacksmith and wood-working shop in the town. Meanwhile he has acquired a moderate sized but profitable ranch. In his younger days he raised stock, but in the more modern period he has kept abreast of California agriculture and horticulture.

In the Civil war Mr. May was a lieutenant in the Confederate army, and he once filled the office of deputy sheriff in Shackelford County, Texas. In 1868 he married John Ann Stanphill, a native of the Cherokee nation, and she bore him three children, the eldest of whom is dead, while the others are living in Tulare County. Mrs. May died in 1875 and in 1904 Mr. May married Mrs. Anna Brown.

Wherever he has lived Mr. May has, since he was a very young man, been interested in the growth and development of his community. In many ways he has demonstrated his public spirit since he came to this County and no movement is made for the benefit of any large number of its citizens that does not have his hearty encouragement or co-operation.

                                                      

BENJAMIN J FICKLE

The earliest recollection of Benjamin J. Fickle is of having seen a team of horses fall down when he was only two years old. That happened back in Ohio, where he was born December 12, 1832, a son of George and Margaret (Beckley) Fickle, natives respectively of Kentucky and of Pennsylvania and descended respectively from German and from Irish ancestors. George Fickle fought for America in the war of 1812 and his father was a Revolutionary soldier.

In 1853 young Fickle crossed the plains to California and stopped at Volcano, Amador County. He was of a party that came by way of the Sublett cut-off, most of whom turned back to find grass for their stock. He and others pressed forward on foot, and after a day's travel they came upon a train under command of Clark, who was leading it to the Napa valley. The young man found employment with the train at $18 a month and board. After the party had crossed the Green river, he met a man named Hogan, whom he accompanied to Volcano, helping with a drove of cattle until the animals ate too much grass and died as a consequence. Then he was employed near Amador and in the vicinity of Court House Rock. While he was there, three women went out to see the rock and were captured by Indians and were never seen there again. Here he mined for a time at $3 a. day until a passing stranger told him he was not being paid enough, and for a time he farmed at Nevada, then took up a homestead on the Tule river three miles below Porterville, to which he acquired title and which he subsequently sold for $2200, taking his pay in cattle which perished on the plains for want of water. Next he bought three hundred and twenty acres of railroad land, near the site of Hanford, which he sold in two or three years for $1000 and which is now well worth $200 an acre. He now JWIlS forty acres, eighteen acres of which is vineyard land, five acres peach orchard, the remainder pasture.

Politically Mr. Fickle is a Socialist. He affiliates with the Christian church. As a citizen he is public-spiritedly helpful to all the interests of the community He married Emma Rutherford, a native of California and a daughter of pioneers, and she has borne him eleven children: Jerome F. married Beatrice Craft and has two children. Alfred H. married Katie Burch, a native of Missouri, who has borne him three children. George M. married Lottie Turner, and they have one son. Pearl F. married Charles Burch and has borne him three children. 0. Estella married Clem Moyer and has four children. Delia is the sixth child. Flossie F. married Albert Carver and has one son. The others ar : G. Frank, Flora L., John H., and Belle, who married E. H. Hackett and who has two children, Elmer and Flora.

                                              

SAMUEL DINELEY

The late Samuel Dineley, born in Worcestershire, England, in 1829, died in Visalia, Tulare County, Cal., August 5, 1907. His mother dying when he was quite young, his father brought their children to New York city, where later he took a second wife. After that some of the children went away and the family was in a manner broken up, but Samuel remained in New York city until he was twenty-five years old and then crossed the plains to California, where he engaged in mining and later in the mercantile business.

About 1855 Mr. Dineley came to Visalia, where he lived out the remainder of his allotted years. He was the pioneer lime-maker in Tulare County and set up the first limekiln ever seen here. Later for some years he was a successful sheep-herder, and after his retirement from that business he long conducted a confectionery store on Main street, in Visalia. On April 2, 1861, Samuel Dineley was united in marriage with Charlotte E. Kellenberger, the ceremony taking place in the old Pasqual Bequette house. He took his bride to the home purchased from Nathaniel Vise in 1862, located at 417 North Locust street, which has since been the home of the family and is perhaps the oldest homestead continuously inhabited by one family in Visalia. There eleven children were born to this worthy couple, viz.: Mrs. E. 0. Miller, Mrs. H. W. Kelsey, George, Mrs. George Vogle, Mrs. G. C. Lamberson, Mrs. Herbert Askin, Mrs. Fannie Burroughs, deceased, Mrs. Eve Bliss, Clarence, Harry and Frank, also deceased. Mrs. Dineley was born in Washington and was a daughter of F. J. Kellenberger, who brought his children to the Pacific Coast via the Isthmus of Panama in 1860.

                                                      

WILLIAM F DEAN

The well-known farmer, fruit-grower and educator, whose post-office address is Three Rivers, Tulare County, Cal., was born in Muskingum County, Ohio, in 1855, and when he was about four years old his parents removed to Iowa. A few years later the family moved down into Missouri. Thus young Dean was educated in both Iowa and Missouri. In the latter state he took the course at the State Normal School at Kirksville, and was awarded a state certificate as to his ability as a teacher, which gave him the privilege of teaching anywhere in Missouri. He taught there and in Illinois for some time, and in 1877 came to California and in that year and in 1878 taught in the public school at Poplar ; later he taught two years more at that place. In California his abilities and his standing as an educator were recognized by Governor Perkins, who conferred upon him a life diploma, a document having the same effect here as the state certificate in Missouri. His recollections of his early school at Poplar are interesting. There was a goodly number of pupils, but the attendance was somewhat irregular in had weather, as some of them came from a considerable distance. He says that some of the early school districts in this part of the state were fifty miles from side to side. The houses of the settlers were widely scattered, each one practically isolated.

About ten years after he came to the state, Mr. Dean home­steaded land on the Kaweah river. By subsequent purchases he acquired a total of six hundred and fifty acres, on which he embarked in stock-raising. After disposing of his cattle, he turned his attention to fruit-growing, devoting himself chiefly to the production of apples. He has fourteen acres of apple trees, nine acres of them being winesaps which bore for the first time in 1912. He now owns six hundred and thirty-two acres, a part of it given over to grazing, the remainder being set to fruit.

Mr. Dean's father was Henry Dean, a native of Western Virginia, who settled in Ohio when he had reached middle age. His mother was born within the present borders of the state of West Virginia. They both passed away in Missouri. In 1885, in California, Mr. Dean married Miss Etta B. Doyle, a native of Pennsylvania and a daughter of parents both of whom were born in that state. She died in 1886, leaving no children.

When he came to this state, Mr. Dean expected to teach here a few years and go back East, but the longer he remained the less inclination had he to return to the old climate and the old environment. Now he is a loyal Californian who expects to die under the sunny sky that keeps flowers blooming the year round and makes fortunes of golden grain and golden fruit that are more reliable and more valuable than the fortunes of real gold that lured men to this coast in the days before and after the Civil war. In his political affiliations he is a Republican. In an official way, he has helped to enumerate the census of Tulare County and by election on the Republican ticket has served his fellow townsmen as a member of the local school board. There is no home interest that does not have his encouragement if encouragement is needed, and in many ways he has demonstrated a public spirit that makes him useful and popular as a citizen.

                                                     

MARTIN DONAHUE

Among the retired citizens of Tulare County, and one who has figured prominently in the industrial circles there, is Martin Donahue. His parents were born in Ireland. This blacksmith, so long known by the people round Springville, Tulare County, Cal., was born February 17, 1828, at Oswego, N. Y. He there went to school, learned his trade trade, and lived until he was thirty-two years old. In 1862 he enlisted in the Federal army for three years and served until honorably discharged and mustered out at Raleigh, N. C., in 1865. After the war he went back to his trade, and in 1869 came to California. For some' time after his arrival he was a prospector in the gold fields and later was employed at his trade and otherwise. In 1887 he located in Tulare County, and about one year later, in 1888, he came to this County and settled near Springville. He has divided his time between farming and blacksmithing and has prospered so well that he now owns three hundred and twenty acres of good grain land. He stopped working at his trade about two years ago, since when, except for the attention that he has had to give his land interests, he has enjoyed a well earned rest.

Politics has never strongly attracted Mr. Donahue and he has never been particularly active in political work. Always deprecating partisanism, he has at no time in his life yielded his allegiance to any political organization, but has held himself in readiness at all times to support such men and measures as in his belief promise most for the general good. To all measures for the benefit of the community he has always been generously helpful in a truly public-spirited way.

                                                        

JAMES W FINE

The death of James W. Fine, which occurred at Plano, Cal., January 12, 1900, removed from his community one of the old and well-known pioneers of California and ended the activities of a well spent and splendid life, full of energy and unswerving perseverance. He was the son of John Fine, a native of Missouri, who died in 1868, at the age of seventy-two ; he followed farming during his active years and brought his family to California in 1857, his death taking place at Woodville. The Fine family are well-founded, James W. Fine being of German extraction on his mother's side, while his paternal line is Irish. He was born April 13, 1823, in Missouri, and started with his parents from Randolph County, Ark., in May, 1857, to make the journey across the plains with ox-teams. There was a large party at the start of the journey, ninety wagons being required, but at Salt Lake City many remained behind, and the remainder of the party arrived in California in October. Mr. Fine first lived at San Andreas, Calaveras County, Cal., where he remained until 1860, his wife having been buried there. Subsequently he came to Tulare County, and settling on the Kaweah river, at the elbow, he farmed and followed stockraising on rented land, but finally he made his way to the Porterville section and buying six hundred and forty acres of land, remained there until upon selling out to Daniel Abbott, he retired from active life. His last days were spent with his son, Robert R., and he passed away at Plano January 12, 1900, at the age of seventy-six years and nine months.

Mr. Fine was married December 7, 1848, to Martha Jane Warner. born September 13, 1831, in Arkansas. She passed away January 12, 1858, a short time after arriving in California. To their union five children were born: Mary Ann, born October 28, 1849, married S. B. King and has six sons now living, one daughter and two sons having passed away. Her sons are, John T. residing in Watsonville, George G. in Salinas, S. Frank in Merced, Charles W. in Porterville. William W. in Modesto and Daniel B. in Stockton. Mr. King was born in Kentucky and was reared in Missouri. Their marriage occurred in 1864, in California, and Mrs: King makes her home in Porterville. where in 1900 she purchased her home place. The second child horn to Mr. and Mrs. Fine was Steven, who was born April 24. 1851, and now resides near Salinas. Robert R., born September 12. 1853, also resides at Salinas. Frances E., horn April 26, 1855, is Mrs. Daniel Abbott, of Porterville. William A. was horn April 2. 1857, and lives in Hanford.

                                                      

LEVI MITCHELL

In the passing of Levi Mitchell, in 1885, Tulare County lost one of its oldest and most conspicuous pioneers. He was born in 1821 and was a child when brought to California. He married Miss Anna Stargarth, a native of Germany, who came to California with her aunt and located in Stockton in 1863, three years and a half before their marriage. After their marriage they located at White River, Tulare County, where Mr. Mitchell bought a store, and there they lived nineteen years and saw the place grow from vacant land to thriving town. Miners and Indians were the only inhabitants, and for three years after they came Mrs. Mitchell was the only white woman there. Her husband built the hotel and schoolhouse and practically all the buildings there. He was a comparatively wealthy man when he came, and his fortunes improved. Twenty-two years after he died his wife moved to Ducor, where her son conducted a hotel, the Mitchell House. She remembers Porterville when it was a small cluster of houses; she saw the cattlemen supersede the Indians, as ()lie- of the early steps in the march of progress under which California has  been transformed. Her husband bought mines and grubstaked miners and was in a general way ready for any speculation that promised good returns. Genial, friendly and naturally helpful, he was popular with all who knew him and to the end of his days was honored as one of the pioneers who blazed the way for the civilization of a later day. He and his brother owned the first store in Visalia. Fraternally he was an Odd Fellow and did much for the benefit of his order.

Born in 1842, Mrs. Mitchell was considerably younger than her husband. She bore him eight children, four of whom are living. Her son Joseph is managing a hotel at Hot Springs, Cal. Michael married Deborah Samuels, a native of California, and has children named Annie and Lee, aged respectively six and five years. Jacob is living at Hot Springs, Cal. Herman is employed at a bank at Visalia. All of Mrs. Mitchell's children were born at White River and are by birth-right native sons and daughters of California. Joseph and Michael are both Masons. Michael Mitchell fills the offices of justice of the peace and notary public and is secretary of the Ducor Chamber of Commerce and of the Ducor Realty Company.

                                                           

DAVID GAMBLE

Formerly a trustee of the City of Hanford, Kings County, Cal., and member of its board of education, David Gamble is at the same time one of the leading contractors and builders of Central California, a man of enterprise and public spirit who would be a credit to the citizenship of any municipality. Mr. Gamble was born in Chester County, Pa., September 15, 1852, and grew to manhood in Philadelphia, where he gained a practical knowledge of contracting and building. When he decided to come west he planned the structure of his future success as carefully as he would plan a building of today. As the foundation must be first in the building, so the location must be first in his business career. He prospected, with eyes and ears both alert, through Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona and then into California.

In 1878 Mr. Gamble arrived in Hanford. He found employment at his trade and worked at it diligently, saving his money, until in 1886, when he became the pioneer contractor and builder in this city. Many of the buildings erected by him in the years immediately following have been destroyed. Among the blocks of his erecting in the central part of the city which are standing today are the Baker, Malone and Manasse buildings, the court house, of which he did the woodwork, the Hill and Robinson buildings, the offices of the Hanford Water Works Company, the Bernstein block and the high school building. One of his larger buildings is the hotel at Traver. The following residences in Hanford are monuments to his artistic skill and business enterprise: Goldberg's, Daniel Finn's, Kuntz's, F. A. Dodge's, Bern- stein's, Wesebaum's, Kilpatrick's Among those he has built in the country round about Hanford are D. Bassett's, H. E. Wright's, S. L. Brown's and the Ralestock home.

For twelve years Mr. Gamble has been a member of the board of education of Hanford and in 1908 he was elected city trustee. Fraternally he affiliates with the Woodmen of the World and the Knights of Pythias. He married, in 1886, Miss Margaret A. Raisch, a native of Kansas, and they have four children: Katherine, a teacher in the Hanford grammar school; Edith; Florence, a student at Stanford University; and Raymond.

                                                         

C A ELSTER

One of the most valued and industrious workers for the public welfare in Springville and one to whom is due much praise for his untiring efforts and generous aid in promoting the many enterprises with which he has been identified is C. A. Elster, who was born in Grass Valley, Nevada County, Cal., in 1862, and is now one of the leading business men and landowners in the community. He is a son of Alonzo Elster, who came to Nevada County in 1858 and became well- known through his activity in running a block mill at Grass Valley, which he built about 1861. He was born in New York and died in California in June, 1888. He had come to Tulare County in 1866 and engaged in freighting from Stockton and Banta to Visalia before the advent of the Southern Pacific Railroad. He hauled the first fire engine ever used in the city of Visalia and he also ran the Overland livery stable at Visalia in the early seventies.

When he was three years old, C. A. Elster's parents came to Tulare County, where he has since lived. He was educated here in the public schools and took fundamental lessons in ranching and in business under his father's instruction. He began to acquire land by buying a claim before he was twenty-one years old, and by later purchases he has brought his holdings up to about five hundred acres. For a while he operated a sawmill, but he later gave his attention to ranching and to stockraising, and has from time to time been active in large enterprises for the general good. He is known as the father of the Tulare Electric, Water and Power Company, the history of which dates from 1908, and it was largely through his and the efforts of C. W. Hubbs and C. H. Hawley that valuable water rights were secured on the middle fork of the Tule river about two miles from Springville, which when developed will generate at its full capacity about twenty-seven hundred horse-power electric current. In this con­nection Mr. Elster has been one of Tulare County's most active promoters. Desiring a road to Springville, he associated with Messrs. Hubbs and Hawley and other Tulare County men and proposed an electric line which was duly incorporated under the name of the Tulare County Power Company, with capital stock of $1,000,000, which consisted of ten thousand shares at $100 each. It was proposed to operate this road by means of electric power and to run from Tulare to Lindsay, from there to Strathmore and from Strathmore to Springville. Mr. Elster supplied the necessary money for the prelimi­nary survey, right of way, etc., and the Southern Pacific Railroad, observing their preparations, immediately built their branch line from Porterville to Springville, and thus Springville secured its railroad, and it has been entirely due to the work and enterprise of Mr. Elster that this has been accomplished.

Mr. Elster in 1912 completed a two-story brick building, 48x60 feet, the cost of which was $12,000. He owns a comfortable residence in Springville and has an olive nursery and orchard, and he is today one of the largest taxpayers in the city.

In 1887 Mr. Elster married Miss Eva Hubbs, who bore him a son, Irvy Elster, who is now a member of his father's household. Mrs. Elster died in 1890 and in 1895 Mr. Elster married Miss Minnie Hubbs, by whom he had a daughter, Lora, who died when she was thirteen years old.

LOUIS BEQUETTE

In the state of Wisconsin occurred the birth of Louis Bequette, stockman and orange grower, one of the citizens of note in the vicinity of Lemon Cove, Tulare County, Cal. He was a child of three years when his parents came, with four teams, overland to California. The family located in Sierra County and remained there five years, the father working in the mines. Their next halt was one of two years in Yolo County, whence they moved to Tulare County, within the hospitable borders of which the immediate subject of this article has had a home ever since.

As a young man Mr. Bequette worked on ranches and helped herd cattle, and he has never been able to give up such employment in all the years that have ensued. In 1872 he married Miss Mary Eliza Davis, of Stanislaus County, Cal., whose father, Harvey Davis, was a pioneer of 1849. Their three children were : Irving Bequette, who was born in Tulare County in 1874 and died in 1909, in his thirty-sixth year; C. L. Bequette died in 1911, leaving three children; Leonard Bequette, born in 1877, is married and is in the stock business in this County.

When Mr. Bequette took up the burden of life on his own account he ventured a little at first with stock. There came a time when his operations in that line were very considerable and made him widely known. His first tract of land was one of one hundred and sixty acres, and today he is the owner of twelve hundred acres, with fifteen acres in corn, five acres in oranges, and the remainder in crops, range and alfalfa. His home is one of the most comfortable in his neighborhood and his ranch is fitted up with every improvement and appliance necessary to its successful operation. He takes an intelligent and patriotic interest in the public affairs of the County, state and nation and responds readily and generously to all calls for aid in the advancement of his community.

J CARL THAYER

The architect is able to show forth his good works as no other man, except, perhaps, the editor ; though the architect's exhibit is permanent as any human creation, the editor's comes into being today and is gone tomorrow. Only in musty and dusty files, half hidden in a dark corner of some library, is the editor's record available after he has himself passed away, but out in the sunshine the work of the architect has its place in its own chapter of the history of the men who have lived and built on Earth's great open page, where men and the sons of men may see and read. So is the record of the professional achievements of J. Carl Thayer spread before those of this generation and of generations to come, everywhere in the business district and in the residence districts of Visalia, Tulare County, Cal.

In Lewis County, N. Y., Mr. Thayer was born. He was educated in the Booneville (N. Y.) High School, at Cornell University and at Syracuse University, graduating with the degree of C. E. and other professional degrees, after having pursued a collegiate course in archi­tecture. The first six years of his professional career were passed in Pittsburg, Pa. Then, after two Years in New York City, he came to California and located at Visalia for the practice of his profession. Here his success has been commensurate with his abilities and his personal popularity. He has drawn plans for the following mentioned buildings, among others : The R. A. Little residence, the Episcopal church, the Levey building, the Willows district school, the C. W. Berry residence, the A. D. Wilson residence, the George Baker build­ing, the J. E. Richardson residence, the C. B. Moffatt resides at the N. H. Grove residence, the Presbyterian church, the Visalia club, the L. Lucier residence, the theater block erected by E. 0. Miller at Hanford, the Lemoore grammar .school building, which cost $40,000 ; the Methodist church at Lindsay, the Second National Bank building at Lindsay, L. L. Brown's store block in Exeter. the store building of Frank Mixter at Exeter, the store block of George Tinker at Lindsay and the store building of Tinker & Smith in the last named town. Considering the comparatively recent date of his advent in Visalia, it will be seen that he has been very successful in a professional way. It should be noted that he is not merely an artistic designer, but is at the same time a practical designer, all his buildings being admirably calculated for the uses to which they were to be put and all giving the best of satisfaction in actual use.

It was in 1905 that Mr. Thayer came to California. He married Miss Mary Morrell, a native of the. state. As a citizen he is public-spiritedly helpful to all important interests of the community. January 1, 1912, he removed to Fresno, where he is a member of the firm of Thayer, Parker & Kenyon, 3489 Forsyth building.

LOUIS LEE THOMAS

The story of the self-made man is always interesting and it is always instructive. As such this brief account of the successful career of Louis Lee Thomas of Exeter, Cal., should be of service to some of the younger readers of this volume. Mr. Thomas was born in Posey County, Ind., in 1868. John Thomas, his father, was born in that state in 1838 and died in Missouri in 1904, and his mother also was a native of Indiana. When Louis was nine years old he was taken by his family to northern Missouri, where he grew to manhood and obtained such education as was afforded him in the public schools near his home. While he was yet a young man he went to the state of Washington and secured employment at farm work and remained there about fifteen years. Coming to California, he settled on the eighty- acre ranch on which he now lives. The place was well improved and he later sold all of it but thirty-six acres. Of this, twenty acres is planted to orange trees, which are now in full bearing, fourteen acres is in alfalfa and one acre is devoted to nursery stock. Mr. Thomas came to Tulare County with very little capital, but his industry, economy and good judgment have made him the owner of one of the best homestead properties in his vicinity.

In 1895 Mr. Thomas married Miss Grace Akers, a native of Decatur County, Iowa, who had gone with her parents to Oregon when she was seven years old. Her father, a native of Indiana, and her mother, a native of Iowa, are both living. Fraternally Mr. Thomas affiliates with the Woodmen of the World. While he has well defined ideas upon all questions of public moment, he has never been aggressive in political work, nor has he asked or accepted public office. He favors anything which promises to advance the welfare of the County and the country at large, and never fails to respond promptly and generously to any legitimate demand upon his public spirit. As a farmer and fruit grower he has been successful beyond many whose opportunities and advantages have surpassed his. In 1911 he sold fifteen hundred boxes of oranges and in 1912 he raised two thousand boxes of oranges from twenty acres of five-year-old trees. His land will produce six crops of alfalfa each year, aggregating nine tons to the acre. The place is provided with an up-to-date water plant, and he spares no pains or expense to add to the value and productiveness of his property.

WILLIAM FREDERICK HEUSEL

At Kalamazoo, Mich., William Frederick Heusel was born August 6, 1859. He was reared and educated in that city until he was ten years of age, when the family moved to Sturgis and that was his home until 1879. After that he lived two years in Illinois and several years in Kansas and from the Sunflower State came to California in 1891, locating in Hanford, Kings County. He bought property in that city and worked there at plumbing and in season was a foreman in the Del Monte Packing House. Thus he was employed until 1900, when he bought twenty acres of land a quarter of a mile north of the city. It was entirely unimproved, .but now he has it planted to orchard and vineyard. He now has nine acres of growing vines and about seven acres producing fine peaches and apricots. He was one of the first to settle on this subdivision. He has given special attention to poultry, raising fine chickens and ducks. His chickens are mostly thoroughbred buff and silver Wyandottes and Buff Orpingtons, his ducks are Indian Runners and Pekins. He has imported thoroughbred stock from the east for breeding purposes and hatches about five hundred ducks and as many chickens each year. At the state fair at Sacramento he has presented exhibits for four years and at local fairs throughout the state from time to time and has taken numerous prizes of many kinds.

July 13, 1882, Mr. Heusel married Mary L. O'Brien and they have five daughters: Jessie is the wife of W. L. Peers, a native of Colorado, and they live at Oakland. Irma married Walter Tandrow of San Francisco. Nora, Bernice and Muriel are members of their parents household. In 1911 Mr. Heusel built a fine residence on his place, and .until that date lived in Hanford in the home he erected, 214 West Ivy street, which he still owns. He is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and passed the chairs of the subordinate lodge while a resident of Wichita, Kans. As a citizen he is helpfully public- spirited.

FREDERICK M CARLISLE

A progressive Tulare County farmer who has lived in the vicinity of Ducor since 1883 is Frederick M. Carlisle. He was born in Tennessee in 1852 and was a son of Wiley H. Carlisle, a native of North Carolina, who came to California in 1900 and died in 1906. When he was thirty years old Mr. Carlisle left Tennessee and during the succeeding three years lived in Texas. On coming to Tulare County he homesteaded land which is included in his present holdings. His ranch, which is located about one mile from Ducor, is a five-hundred­acre property, well improved and under systematic cultivation. He raised grain until two years ago, but is now giving his attention to fruit. He long kept an average of forty head of horses and mules, but has sold off much of his stock and in season operates a threshing machine.

In 1876 Mr. Carlisle married Elizabeth Haley, a native of Mississippi, whose father came to California and lived out his days here, her mother having died in Mississippi. Mrs. Carlisle has borne her husband nine children, six of whom are living: Joseph Node, born in Tennessee, is married and lives in Sacramento County. Eva M. (Mrs. Van Valkingburge) resides in Tulare County. Jessie H., who married A. F. Welsh, is living near Ducor. Viola E., who married Charles Hughes lives in Ducor,. Clarence M. and Clyde F. are in school.

As school trustee and as clerk of the school board Mr. Carlisle has done efficient and praiseworthy service to the community. He has never sought public office, but has well-defined opinions on all political questions, and his active interest entitles him to a place in the front rank of progressive citizens. Fraternally he affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

MANUEL B LEMOS

A native of one of the Azores, Manuel B. Lemos was born Decem­ber 11, 1860, in the home of a farmer. When he was twenty-two years old he came to the United States, and for sixteen months after his arrival was employed on a farm near Providence, R. I. Coming to California, he stopped a short time in San Francisco, then went to Fresno, where he worked six years on a ranch. The succeeding two years he passed in the sheep business, which in his hands was so extensive that at one time he and his partner, Manuel Silva Gularte, had fourteen hundred sheep. Selling his interest in this venture, he did ranch work again for a while, then with a partner he handled sheep for eleven years. By this time he had done so well financially that he was able to take a trip to the land of his birth.

Returning to Hanford in 1898 Mr. Lemos bought the forty-acre ranch which is now his home property, two miles north of the city. All the improvements on the farm, including his comfortable house, he has put on since then. In 1905 he bought forty acres adjoining his first purchase of his brother, John B. Lemos. He has eight acres in vine and twelve in orchard, and the remainder of his land, except what he devotes to general farming, is under alfalfa. His principal business is the raising of hogs and sheep, but he breeds horses and cows for use on his place.

In September, 1896, Mr. Lemos married Maria Clara Cardoza in Hanford, and she has borne him ten children. Those living are: John, Bento, Frank, Andrea, Manuel, Mary, Joseph and Tony, the first mentioned four being students in the public school. Manuel, the first born, died aged eight years, and Bento died aged fifteen months. Mr. Lemos affiliates with the I. D. E. S., of the interests of which society he is a liberal supporter. Though of foreign birth, he is a loyal American and his public spirit has impelled him to do much for the general benefit of his community.

PERRY C PHILLIPS

A pioneer of his section of the County of Kings that was last partitioned from Fresno County, as well as one of the successful men who are now residents of the County, is Perry C. Phillips, who was born on April 7, 1838, in Gibson County, Ind. His schooling was limited to a brief attendance at the common schools in the vicinity of his home and he early gained experience in farming as it was carried on there. In 1854 he crossed the Plains with ox-teams and located at Grizzly Hill, Nevada County, engaging in mining for a time. In 1860 he came to the San Joaquin valley and settled in Fresno County, locating on his present home place on October 23 of that year. Visalia, twenty-five miles distant, was the principal trading place. He first bought eighty acres of land upon which is now located his home, and by subsequent purchases increased his holdings until he is now the owner of about four thousand acres. Nearly all of this is fertile soil; twenty acres are now in fruit, the balance in alfalfa and grain for general farming purposes, and he makes a specialty of raising hogs.

In the early days of the irrigation movement Mr. Phillips became prominent and was one of the men of foresight who saw that by the construction of ditches to carry the water from the river a large area of unproductive land could be converted into one of the world's garden spots. How well he and his associates planned the history of this whole region testifies. He was for a year a director of the People's Ditch Company, and as a citizen he has ever had in view the greatest good to the greatest number, firm in the belief that the prosperity of one is the prosperity of all, and he has been ready at all times to respond to any call on behalf of the uplift and development of the community.

Mr. Phillips was united in marriage April 29, 1860, at Vacaville, Solano County, with Elizabeth Hildebrand, born in Shelby County, Ind., October 22, 1840. She came to California in 1853 with her parents, who settled first in Sierra County and later lived at Grizzly Hill, where she first met Mr. Phillips. After their marriage they came that fall to Fresno County and settled on their present home place. They had eight children: Florence E., wife of E. D. Morton; Martha I., wife of W. D. Runyon; Carrie W., the wife of L. L. Lowe; Ada B.; Dora E., deceased; George H.; Robert H., and Oscar L., all born, reared and educated in central California. Mr. and Mrs. Phillips are the last of the pioneers in this section of the County.

W C MACFARLANE

A native of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, W. C Macfarlane was born June 3, 1868, and now is proprietor of the Richland Egg Ranch, at Hanford, Kings County, Cal. He went to Chicago when a lad and learned the printer's trade and finally engaged in business on his own account. He came to Hanford from Chicago in 1886 and for a time Worked at his trade in this vicinity. His second claim to distinction is his prominence in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In the fall of 1911 he organized the lodge at Hanford and served as its Esteemed Leading Knight. February 16, 1891, he married Miss Mary Sevier, of Visalia, who has a son, Harry C. Macfarlane.

Writing, two or three years ago, of the beginning of his egg enterprise, Mr. Macfarlane said: "About eighteen years ago I traded a scrub calf for three dozen scrub hens, and the first month they netted me $15. That caused me to "sit up and take notice." I then purchased a few settings of Brown Leghorn eggs and raised that breed for a few years; but finally discarded them for the White Leghorns, as they are a larger bird, lay larger eggs and as pullets get to laying a marketable sized egg much sooner than their brown sisters." His original White Leghorns were "bred to lay," but he improved the strain by the use of trap-nests, and constant work and breeding produced birds that laid as many as two hundred and twenty-seven eggs in a year. Hens showing a record approaching this were yarded for breeding. Until five or six years ago he never offered or advertised eggs or birds for sale, and even now will not sell a female from the two hundred and twenty-seven stock, but is in the market with male birds and eggs. He confined his breeding to hens laying one hundred and ninety-two to two hundred and twenty-seven eggs a year and has increased his size of birds and eggs so that they are larger and more vigorous than the average Leghorn. Pullets from the high-grade layers were laying when fifteen weeks old and pullets from the one hundred and ninety-two egg strain were laying two weeks later.

The Richland Egg Ranch, four miles northwest of Hanford, comprises ten acres, its soil is good and it is watered by the People's Ditch. Mr. Macfarlane improved the place by building a small house and soon afterward planted part of his original five acres to peaches and sowed the remainder to alfalfa. When he was well started in the poultry business, he named the place the Richland Egg Ranch. A practical man of mechanical mind, he has done much of his own building and the ranch shows care and the painstaking work of a practical owner. The buildings are simple in construction, but neat and attractive. Under the sign bearing the name of the place stands the brooder, a building with a ground area of thirty-six by one hundred and twelve feet, which houses about twenty-five hundred pure bred White Leghorn chicks from a few days to a few weeks old. The brooder is fitted with thirty-two runs and is heated with nine gas heaters by which the temperature is kept at ninety degrees for the younger chicks down to seventy degrees for the older ones, according to season. Mr. Macfarlane averages a loss of but five per cent, leaving ninety-five per cent for successful breeding and maturing, notwithstanding many scientific poultrymen have a loss of fifty per cent. The incubators turn out fully ninety-four per cent of the fertile eggs and Mr. Macfarlane is able to keep the chicks alive and growing after they come out of the incubators. His brooders are devised on a plan of his own, adopted after he had visited all the principal poultry farms of the state, and the part under the mother boards is cleaned daily, the runways twice a week. During the first ten days of their life the chicks are fed on Richland Ten Day Chick Feed, a preparation of Mr. Macfarlane's own, and after ten days they are placed on a diet of meat, blood, bone, bran and barley, a food that stimulates the body growth of the fowls so that the feather growth does not its healthfulness. Pure water is furnished to the chicks in stone fountains. When they are ready to leave the brooder they are placed in yards laid out in a peach orchard, which furnishes the necessary shade. Each yard is watered automatically by means of pipe and automatic fountains and there are no puddles or mud holes.

Mr. Macfarlane breeds entirely for eggs. All the product from October to July he sells for hatching purposes, usually taking up six or seven hundred eggs daily. He ships hens and cocks as far east as New York and as far west as the Hawaiian Islands. He sells about twelve hundred birds a year. Breeding only White Leghorns, he has taken first premium on his showings at the County fair for several years past. His four-story tank house, which cost $500, was built with the profits of one season's broilers. His yards measure one hundred by one hundred and sixty-five feet and he never keeps more than eighty birds in one yard; and he never feeds any kind of food on the ground, but uses troughs for the soft food and hoppers for grain. Some information concerning the prices he receives will be of interest in this connection. For males from the one hundred and ninety-two egg strain he gets $3.50 to $5 each, age and appearance causing difference in price. For males from the two hundred and twenty to the two hundred and twenty-seven egg strain, $7 each. For females, from April until sold, $1.25 each; these, being hens in their second season, are the best breeders, especially when mated with a two hundred and twenty-seven cockerel; no females of the two hundred and twenty to two hundred and twenty-seven egg strain are sold. For eggs from selected trap-nested layers that pass the one hundred and ninety-two mark, $2 for fifteen, $7 for one hundred, $70 for one thousand, delivered at the Hanford express office. He now offers settings from hens that have records of two hundred and twenty to two hundred and twenty-seven at $4 for fifteen, or $25 for one hundred. Having increased the number of birds of this class, he can supply settings in greater numbers than in previous seasons.

On his ranch Mr. Macfarlane now has three thousand White Leg­horn chickens. In December, 1911, he received the largest order for eggs for hatching purposes ever given in California and at the highest price, two hundred and twenty-five thousand eggs at seven cents an egg. This great order came from Petaluma, Cal. He ships eggs in lots of fifteen hundred and twelve, for which he receives $100 a lot. Mr. Macfarlane thanks his White Leghorns for a ranch worth $10,000, a business block in Hanford worth $30,000 and considerable other valuable property. All printing of catalogues is done by himself on his ranch, and he is now using his fifth press.

PETER THOMSON

Cattle raising has been the chief industry of Peter Thomson, who is numbered among the most progressive citizens of his community. Born in Sweden in 1844, he came to the United States when he was fifteen years old and arriving in New York he enlisted in the United States Navy and served one year, at the end of which he received honorable discharge. After that until 1870 he was employed on vessels sailing to different parts of the world, but in that year he landed at San Francisco, where he remained about twelve months. Then he worked in the redwood forests in Mendocino County for three years, later coming to Tulare County. In 1875 in partnership with L. W. Howeth, he went into the sheep business, and since then he has at times owned as many as three thousand sheep in a single band. He did not dispose of this interest until 1894. During the time of his connection with this enterprise he saw many of the ups and downs of sheep raising, of the sheep bought in 1875 most were lost. One of his largest purchases after that was in 1879, when he added two thousand to his flock. He now devotes his attention to cattle, of which he has about two hundred head. He owns six hundred and forty acres of land, which he judiciously devotes to various features of modern farming as it has been developed in this part of California. He feels grateful to the country at large for what it has done for him and more especially to central California for the opportunities of which he has so wisely taken advantage, and as he has prospered he has always tried in an unselfish, loyal way to make some returns to the community for the benefit he has received from it.

It was in 1889 that Mr. Thomson married Miss Eleanora Thaden, a native of Germany, who has borne him five children, four of whom are living. Lyla attends the State Normal at San Jose and will graduate in 1913. Ernest is at home and aiding in the conduct of the home farm. Beattie is a student in the Porterville high school. Olga attends school at White River. George E. is deceased.

HIRAM L PARKER

It was in that mother state of the Middle West, Ohio, that Hiram L. Parker was born May 25, 1849. He was taken to Iowa by his parents when two years of age and there he was reared to manhood and educated, and in 1870, when he was about twenty-one years old, he came to California and located in Yolo County, not far from Wood­land. There for seventeen years he raised grain and stock, ,Iiving increasing success and gained a financial start. He came to Hanford, Kings County, in 1887, and bought eighty acres of land which is now included in his homestead. He planted ten acres of it to vines in 1888 and the rest of the ranch was devoted chiefly to grain and alfalfa. In 1890 he planted thirty-five acres to peaches, apricots and prunes, in the proportion of twenty-seven, five and three acres, respectively. Eventually he sold forty acres and bought eighty acres more in the same section. Of the latter tract fifteen acres is in alfalfa, the remainder in fruit. He sold it in 1912 to E. J. Hummel at $400 an acre. In 1907 he bought twenty acres adjoining his homestead and planted it with peach trees. His last purchase was another twenty acres, which lies south of his homestead in the same section. It is now utilized for general farming, but he intends later on to devote it to fruit. His expenditures in fitting up his home ranch have been heavy, including the cost of buildings, fences, trees, machinery and appliances. His original house was destroyed by fire and he immediately built a new one on its site.

Aside from his farming, Mr. Parker has some other important interests, having been associated with others in the production of oil in the Lost Hills district, the general development of which is now being promoted. He is a stockholder also in the Lilian Oil Company.

In 1909 Mr. Parker married Mrs. Ella (Harris) Fraser. By a former marriage he has children as follows: Mrs. Nellie Hummel; Mrs. Mettle Moorehouse; and A. C. Parker, of San Jose. Mrs. E. E. Brooks, of San Francisco ; Mrs. Clarence Kemp, of Lakeport; and Bruce Fraser, of Lake County, are Mrs. Parker's children by her former marriage. Mr. Parker's enterprise along the lines of private business is equaled only by his public-spirited helpfulness in all movements for the general good.

A J SALLADAY

In the Buckeye State, in 1854, was born A. J. Salladay, a prominent citizen of Tulare County and an enthusiastic promoter of the interests of Terrabella and its tributary territory. When he was twelve years old he was taken to Iowa by his parents on their removal to that state, and there he remained eighteen years, until 1884, when he came to California and settled in Fresno County. After a residence of two years there he removed to Tulare County, within the borders of which he has since made his home. It was in Ohio and Iowa that he obtained his education. His 'father was a rancher and all through his boyhood and youth the son was his assistant. When he left Iowa in 1884 he took up the battle of life for himself, buying forty acres of land in Fresno County, which he subsequently sold. In Tulare County he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres, to which he added by subsequent purchases until he owned a whole section, which he sold a few months ago for $42,000, it being good producing wheat land. There is food for thought in this brief statement of the success of a self-made man. It was dependent not alone on industry and perseverance, but not a little on a prophetic foresight which took account of values past and present and future.

In 1885 Mr. Salladay married Sophia Carr, a native of Iowa, and they have had four children, all of whom are living. Nita married J. B. Garver and lives at Terrabella. Sarah became the wife of Henry Owens and lives in the same neighborhood. Joe is unmarried, and Carr is a boy of five years. Mrs. Salladay's parents, natives of Ohio and Pennsylvania, are living in California. Mr. Salladay's father, also of Ohio birth, died soon after his son came to Tulare County. The latter remembers the country then as only a boundless sheep range, and he has watched and aided in its development until it has become famous as the citrus belt of California. When he came here the people did not dream of this latter day prosperity based on irrigation, and farmers were subject to all the vicissitudes of the seasons. Patriotic and helpful to an unusual degree, Mr. Salladay is not an active politician and has never consented to accept any public office except as a member of the school board, the duties of which his interest in general education has impelled him to undertake.

BYRON ALLEN

This native son of California, of Tulare County and of Visalia was born October 10, 1868, was brought up by his stepfather, James W. Oakes, and after leaving school was associated with him in the cattle business. Later he went to Arizona, New Mexico and Old Mexico on a prospecting tour, then, returning to Visalia, he again engaged in the breeding of cattle and horses; for, after all he had seen, ranching looked more promising than mining. Since the death of Mr. Oakes he has had the management of the interests left by the latter and is making a success that is notable among the many successes in his vicinity. With two hundred and eighty acres of land, he is making a specialty of the raising of fine blooded horses. Cattle also command his attention, he having a range of two thousand acres in the mountains and keeping year after year about two hundred and fifty head of beef cattle, a hundred and fifty hogs and forty turkeys. A feature of his home farm is a large family orchard­ one of the most productive in the neighborhood.

In 1904 Mr. Allen married Miss Della Carter, daughter of an early settler in Tulare County. Fraternally he affiliates with the Eagles and the Woodmen. As a citizen he takes an intelligent interest in all questions of national or local significance and as a voter does his whole duty by helping to elect to office the men who will best serve the interests of the people. His public spirit, many times tested, has never been found wanting either in spontaneity or in generosity, for he has near to his heart the uplift and prosperity of the community.

ROBERT M ASKIN (CAPT)

As citizen, soldier, artisan, merchant and official, Capt. Robert M. Askin of Visalia  won prominence among his fellowmen. He was born in Dublin, Ireland, April 10, 1838, and died at his home in Tulare County January 1, 1908. John Askin, his father, an Englishman transplanted to the Emerald Isle, became a plumber under his father's instruction and worked at his trade in Ireland as long as he lived. He was married in Ireland to Miss Sarah Sophia Shea, a Dublin girl, who bore him five children, of whom Robert M. was the third in order of birth, and of whom two sons and two daughters grew to maturity.

In November, 1852, Robert M., seeking fortune in a new land before he was fifteen years old, crossed the Atlantic and joined an uncle at Trenton, Canada, where he gave about two years to learning the tinner's trade. From 1854 to 1856 he worked at his trade in Jefferson County, N. Y., whence he went to New York City at the request of another uncle. Three years later he was working at his trade in St. Louis, Mo., but he soon went with a Mr. Crippen to Steelville, Crawford County, that state, where he established a tinsmith's shop, which he operated until in the fall of 1861. On September 6, 1861, he became a member of Company E of the Phelps Regiment, with which he served six months, during which he witnessed the battle of Pea Ridge. Receiving honorable. discharge at the end of his term of enlistment, he re-enlisted in Company E, Thirty-second Missouri In­fantry, August 14, 1862. From a private he was promoted in the following October to lieutenant, and April 14, 1864, he was commissioned captain. He served under Grant until 1863 and afterward until the end of the war under Sherman. It is somewhat remarkable that while he participated gallantly in thirty-two engagements he never missed a roll-call or a meal with his company and received but one wound, a mere scratch by a ball while he was charging on a battery at Jonesboro, Ga. He was mustered out of the service July 18, 1865, returned to Steelville, Mo., and worked as a tinner and sold hardware. In 1870 he moved to Cuba, Crawford County, Mo., and in 1878 to Salem, Dent County, Mo., where he dealt in hardware and house furnishing goods for twenty-one years. From his young manhood he was an active Republican, and for a term he held the office of presiding justice of the County court and he served as postmaster of Salem by appointment of President Harrison. From the time of his arrival in California until his death lie had his residence and business headquarters at Visalia.

Captain Askin married, February 22, 1866, Clara Alice Jameson, a native of Missouri, who bore him four children : Charles Robert and Mary Catherine are dead; William C. lives in Missouri; John Herbert was connected with his father in business at Visalia and is still a resident of that city. Mrs. Askin died at Cuba, Crawford County, Mo., April 12, 1876, and Captain Askin married (second) in that town Miss Frances Amelia Shephard, of New York birth, and they had children, Arthur Wesley, Adney Horace, Mervyn Leroy, Matie Amelia and Flora Dell. Captain Askin was a constituent member of the post of the Grand Army of the Republic at Salem, Mo., and on coming to Visalia transferred his membership to Gen. George Wright Post No. 111, of that city. In religious affiliation he was an Episcopalian and the surviving members of his family are communicants of that church. At Salem he was active in the work of the Masonic lodge and cornmandery and in that of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Wherever he lived he was in a public-spirited way devoted to the uplift of his community, and in this respect his son is following in his footsteps. giving generous encouragement to every movement at Visalia for the good of any considerable class of the people.

GEORGE BRIDGES

California is a field peculiarly alluring to young men of states further east, who, having good health and good character, are determined to prosper by their own efforts. This is proven by a glance at the facts in the life thus far of George Bridges, a prosperous farmer and dairyman near Visalia, Tulare County. Mr. Bridges was born in Morton County, Ind., March 3, 1867, and there he attended the public schools and gained a practical knowledge of farming as it was then carried on in his vicinity. In 1884, when he was seventeen years old, he came to California. His original settlement here was at a point west of Visalia, and eventually he bought ten acres of land near the Shirk ranch, which he still owns, and where for nine years he grew alfalfa. Then he rented a part of the Frans ranch, forty acres, east of Visalia. There he cultivated alfalfa and installed a dairy of thirteen cows, besides raising some vegetables. The following year he rented the Smith ranch of three hundred and twenty acres and increased his dairy to one of twenty-five cows, giving attention to alfalfa and devoting an adequate portion of his land to pasturage. After living there a year he moved to his present residence, two hundred and twenty-six acres of the old Patterson ranch, northeast of Visalia, which tract he has since operated under lease. At this time he has ninety-eight acres in alfalfa, owns one hundred head of hogs and beef cattle and has a dairy of fifty cows. Thus, from a small beginning and not under the most favorable circumstances, he has developed a fine, growing business which stamps him as a man of ability and enter­prise and holds much promise for his future.

In 1890 Mr. Bridges married Miss Mary F. Stokes, a native of Tulare County, where her father, Yancy Stokes, was an early settler, and they have four children: Flora May, Stella I., wife of Roy Switzer, George M., and Zelda E. Mr. Bridges is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, devoted to all its interests. He is a man of considerable public spirit, always ready to do his part for the advancement of any measure for the general good of his community.

ARTHUR P HUBBS

It was in Porterville, Tulare County, Cal., that Arthur Preston Hubbs was born in 1870, a son of James Robert Hubbs. He was educated in the schools of Porterville and in the Mountain View school, and in his youth assisted his father in the latter's stock farming. The elder Hubbs came across the plains in 1840 with his father, making the journey with ox-teams, and later he and his father owned thousands of acres of land which they bought cheaply and sold while land was yet a drug on the market, and they operated extensively in stock while the stock business was only in its infancy. When Arthur Hubbs first saw the site of Porterville it was wild land without a building, and he remembers Springville when its condition was no less primitive. He has watched and assisted in the development of the country and observes its present prosperity with the just pride of the pioneer. At one time he served the community with ability as constable. and he remembers that being a constable then was not the peaceable undertaking that it is today. In all the years of his residence here he has always been ready in a public-spirited way to assist any movement proposed for the general good. Fraternally he affiliates with the Court of Honor, of which his wife also is a member.

In 1895 Mr. Hubbs married Miss Olla Doty, a native daughter of California, and they have had three children, Delpha, Gladys and Lawrence. Delpha and Gladys are in school. Mrs. Hubbs' father was a pioneer in California and is still living in Tulare County, where he was long a stockman. So extensive were his operations in that line that he once owned a fifteen hundred and twenty acre stock range which he bought at two dollars an acre and sold later at six dollars. Some years ago he went into the livery business and now he is the proprietor of an up-to-date stable at Springville, Cal., which is one of the best appointed and most profitable in this part of the country.

ISAAC T HALFORD

On October 10, 1848, in Moniteau County, Mo., Isaac T. Halford was born, the eldest of twelve children born to L. R. and Hester (Coale) Halford, both natives of Missouri. L. R. Halford was the son of Kentuckians and he passed away in Missouri, where also his wife died. In 1866 the family moved to Henry County, Mo., and there Isaac T. Halford worked on a farm and attended school until he reached the age of eighteen years. Two years later he was in the cattle business in Texas, whence he returned to Henry County, Mo., to engage in the mercantile business in Coalesburg, and continued in it successfully until in 1885, when he sold out. In 1887 he came to California and located at Orange, in Orange County, remaining for two years, and then moved to Porterville, Tulare County, which has since been his home. Opening a general merchandise store, he conducted it for a while and later engaged in stock raising. After forty-two years of active business life he retired to enjoy a three years' rest, and December 27, 1912, with Stephen D. Halford, his brother, he bought the grocery business conducted by Wilko Mentz, and they are now conducting the business under the firm name of Halford Bros. Mr. Halford has bought property in Porterville and improved it and has in different ways manifested a helpful interest in the town. While a citizen of Coalesburg, Henry County, Mo., he held the office of post­master seven years, and at another time he was a deputy sheriff. Though he has wielded a political influence in Tulare County, he has never consented to hold office. Fraternally he affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Encampment. He was a charter member of his lodge and has for some time served as its secretary. Mrs. Halford is a Rebekah. When he began business in Porterville there was not a brick building in the town, and his was the faith store in operation.

In 1878 Mr. Halford married Cornelia. Holston, a native of Tennessee. They have no children, but they have an adopted son. D. Wrinkle, born December 24, 1902, who has been a member of their family since he was three years old. Before her marriage Mrs. Halford was a teacher in the State Normal school at Kirksville, Mo.

JOSEPH WILLIAM HOMER

Born in England, the late Joseph William Homer early settled in New York, whence, while yet a young man, he went to New Harmony, Posey County, Ind. His father, Richard Homer, and other members of his family came to America also and lived in Indiana, where Richard died. After that event Joseph William Homer went down the Ohio river and enlisted for service in the United States army for service in the Mexican war, in which he did duty as a soldier about a year. Returning to Indiana, he later came through Arkansas and Texas and thence west to Los Angeles, and soon engaged in stock raising at Visalia in partnership with his brother-in-law, Ira Van Gordon. Later he lived a mile north of Farmersville, with stock-raising as his principal occupation. When he first came to California the Indians were very troublesome, and he assisted in the construction of a fort for the protection of women and children. He was a pioneer also in the construction of irrigation ditches and was in one way or another connected with many important movements and enterprises. He was well educated, spoke the Spanish language fluently, and taught his own children before schools were established. He voted at the historic local election held under the oak tree. He continued to live at his home at Three Rivers until 1879, when his long and useful life came to an end.

Mr. Homer married Miss Martha Balaam, a native of Kentucky, who bore him these children: Catherine R., S. Ellen, Truman J., Edward B., Thomas and Anna M. Catherine R. married James S. Price, and they have a son, Charles, and a daughter, Alta Florence. S. Ellen married John Hambright, whose parents were among California pioneers, and they have eight children. Truman J. married Alice Rice and they have a child, Carrol S. Edward B. married Anna Swank, and they have five daughters and live near Orange Heights. Thomas married Matilda Mehrten and they have two sons. Anna M. married Harvey Hodges, of Dinuba, and bore him one son.

JAMES S PRICE

With Jackson Price, his father, James S. Price, then only about six months old, came overland from Kansas to California in 1863. Later the family removed to Oregon, whence the younger Price eventually came to California, where he has won success as a dairyman and as a stock-raiser. He bought twenty acres of land at $200 an acre and has three and a half acres under trees and vines, the remainder under alfalfa. He has recently sold seventy head of stock, but keeps an average of forty head and about one hundred head of Duroc hogs. Not long ago he sold a male pig for $15. His cattle are of the Holstein breed. Politically he is Republican and his wife is a Progressive Republican. He very ably fills the office of postmaster at Orange Heights. He is an Odd Fellow, a Forester of America, a Woodman of America and a member of the Order of Loyal Protection. Mrs. Price, formerly a member of the Women of Woodcraft, is identified with Rebekah Lodge of San Luis Obispo County.

S C KIMBALL

A successful merchant and financier Of Hanford who is well known here for his exceptional business ability and honorable methods is S. C. Kimball, who was born in Barton, Vt., March 24, 1859. He was educated in the public schools and at the Eastman Business College at Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Meantime he early entered business life, and from the time he was seventeen until he was twenty-one years old he traveled through the New England states, buying wool in carload lots and establishing agencies for fertilizers. In this period he opened a general merchandise store at Albany, Vt., where he gained his first experience as a merchant. In 1889 he went to Puyallup, Wash., and there sold drygoods for six years, then returned to Vermont for the benefit of his health. He opened a drygoods store at Barton Landing and incidentally engaged in the flour, feed and grain trade to a large extent, having six agencies with one to five carloads of feed and grain on the track all the time during the shipping season. Meanwhile he bought and conducted his grand­parents' old farm. Though he was doing well, he was longing for the west and he sold out his interests in Vermont and came to California, and by advice of wholesalers of his acquaintance, located, in 1903, in Hanford. Here he opened a drygoods store on the site of the present city market, taking over the old Hutchins stock. His small initial business was the forerunner of greater things and in a year and a half he moved to his present site at the corner of Seventh and Douty streets, moving into the ground floor story of the building he now occupies. His store space was 125x35 feet; later he leased an adjoining building, acquiring an additional space- of 25x100 feet, and not long afterward added to his establishment the second floor of the original building. In October, 1911, he opened two branch stores, one at Lemoore, the other at Exeter. In the first he sells drygoods and shoes, in the other drygoods only. His sons, Raymond C., Hugh A. and H. C.Kimball are associated with him in business. H. C. Kimball is secretary of the New York department store and manager of the Lemoore branch store. The stocks of the three stores embrace general drygoods, cloaks, suits, carpets, shoes and men's furnishings, tinware, glass­ware, agateware and stationery.

In addition to his large department store, Mr. Kimball is becoming largely interested in banking throughout Tulare and Fresno counties. In the spring of 1910, associated with Chester Dowell, he organized the Lindsay National bank, of Lindsay, Cal., of which he was made the first president, and in February, 1911, he bought the First National bank of Exeter and was made president of that also. His sons are married and settled in Kings County, their financial interest in his business dating from June, 1911. Mr. Kimball is president of the First National bank of Exeter and the National bank of Orosi, the latter being capitalized at $25,000 and opening its doors in February, 1913. He is a director of the Fowler National bank at Fowler, Cal., capitalized at $50,000 which started its business also in February, 1913. He is largely interested in the Golden State's Security Co., Inc., of Exeter, capitalized at $50,000, their holdings being practically all orange lands. This company has a bright future and handles twenty and forty acre tracts, and as director of this corporation Mr. Kimball is an active element.

In 1908 Mr. Kimball bought the Dr. Holmes fruit ranch, a mile west of Hanford, which he has converted into a fine estate. Besides this twenty acres he bought twenty-five acres near the city limits, all in orchard and vineyard. In 1912, with A. W. Quinn and two others, he bought nine hundred acres of orange land in the orange belt, four miles from Exeter, which they intend to improve.

A W PHELPS

Near Sheboygan Falls, Wis., A. W. Phelps, who lives north of Dinuba in Tulare County, Cal., was born June 24, 1862, a son of Benjamin and Matilda (Humes) Phelps, and lived there until he was nine years old, when he was taken by his parents to Missouri. There the family home was located directly across the road from that of the Samuels, mother and stepfather of the James boys, famous in outlaw history of the west.

The Phelpses, who were pioneers in Wisconsin, became pioneers in Oregon in 1875, settling near Salem and Silverton, in Marion County, where the family lived twenty-one years and where the father died, aged eighty-five. In 1896 A. W. Phelps came to California and located in Tulare County. He leases ten acres belonging to Mrs. Latin and another tract of twenty acres, and has four acres and a half in peaches and three in Malaga vines. As a farmer, considering the extent of his operations, he is achieving a marked success.

Mr. Phelps' experience as a pioneer in several states was replete with interest. On one occasion in Tulare County he wandered from the road on his way to a dance and came upon two young lions, and while he was considering the advisability of capturing and making pets of them he was startled by beholding in the near vicinity a five legged double hoofed Jersey calf. How these strange animals came to be there or whether or not he took them home with him he did not inform his interviewer. Perhaps he left them because he was more anxious to attend the dance than to begin the collection of a menagerie. In the early days he saw many droves of elk and was successful in deer-stalking.

In his politics Mr. Phelps is an independent Republican. Fraternally he affiliates with the Maccabees. He married in Kingsburg, Tulare County, Miss Emma Peterson, a native of Kansas, and they have children named Minnie, Gracie and Eva. Minnie has passed through the local grammar school.

History of Tulare and Kings Counties, California with Biographical Sketches
History By Eugene L Menefee and Fred A Dodge
Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company, 1913
Transcribed by: Martha A Crosley Graham - Pages 761 - 791                                                             

Site Created: 12 January 2009
       Martha A Crosley Graham           
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