USA > California > Merced County > A history of Merced County, California : with a biographical review of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 40
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Still seeking a newer country in which to make his home, in 1852, Mr. Taylor brought his family to California, landing at French Bar (now La Grange) on the Tuolumne River, and followed mining for three years, then conducted an eating-house for seven years. He later bought land on Dry Creek, near Snelling, and farmed. Due to
WM. C. TURNER
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the drouth of 1864, he moved to the Gwin ranch, now owned by the Buckley Brothers, in the Merced River bottom. In 1868 he moved to Bear Creek, near Merced, and took up land in what is now known as the British Colony. The last years of his life were spent in Merced, his death occurring January 6, 1896. Mrs. Taylor died at the home of Mrs. G. W. Baxter in 1910, aged eighty years.
The marriage of Mr. Taylor, which occurred on March 16, 1848, near Springfield, Mo., united him with Elizabeth Ellen Inman, daughter of Ezekiel Inman. Her parents were of Scotch and Phila- delphia Dutch extraction, and were engaged in the mercantile busi- ness. Several brothers served in the Civil War in the Union Army. Ten children were born to William and Elizabeth Taylor, as follows : Martha A., widow of W. B. Aiken, of Fresno; John H., married Miss Lilly Van Blaricum of Oregon; George, deceased, married Het- tie J. Booker, of Sonora ; William D., married Molly Quinly, lives at Zion City, Ill .; Atlanta B., Mrs. G. F. Hannah of San Jose; Milton T., deceased; Mary A., now Mrs. Vern Christy of Modesto; Fanny B., now Mrs. George Baxter of Le Grand; Rebecca F., Mrs. W. A. Quinly of El Cerrito; and Miss Sidney J., deceased. The two oldest children, who took the pioneer trip across the plains with their par- ents, are living and active today, Mrs. Martha Aiken of Fresno, aged seventy-six years, and John H., of Oregon, aged seventy-four.
WILLIAM C. TURNER
The late William C. Turner was one of those intrepid pioneers who were the forerunners of our present-day civilization in California. He was born in Caswell County, North Carolina, on February 14, 1827, and in 1849, with a party of 150 men, all on the hunt for the gold to be found in the new Eldorado, left Greene County to take the northern route; but upon hearing that cholera was prevalent along that route, they turned south and with their ox-teams and wagons be- gan the long trek that was to occupy six months. Their trip was with- out incident, and to relieve the monotony of the days they would or- ganize hunting parties and go after buffalo, bear, deer, antelope, and elk, which were plentiful on the plains. Among the men of their party, to Mr. Turner was given the credit for killing the first buffalo. Upon reaching Los Banos, N. M., they traded their oxen for pack- mules and employed two guides to pilot them through the mountains to Salt Lake. En route they ran out of provisions and most of the party stopped at Utah Lake while the advance guard went on to get provisions from the Mormons. When they reached Salt Lake, Sep- tember 15, they were told by the Mormons that it was too late to cross
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the Sierra Nevadas, on account of the snow; but the party, under the guidance of James Waters, reached Los Angeles without mishap. They traveled through Cajon Pass up to Tulare Lake, and crossing the various streams reached Fort Miller. Resting for a few days, they then continued on to Fine Gold Gulch and did some prospecting, and then went on to Mariposa County. Large bands of elk were found in the San Joaquin Valley; and while one of their party was following one of these bands, he got lost in a heavy fog and wandered about for eighteen days. He was found in a hollow log on the Mer- ced River, with his feet so badly frost-bitten that he lost some of his toes. He was taken to a New York company camped on the river, and later went back to Alabama without trying his luck at mining.
Mr. Turner reached the Mariposa mines on December 8, 1849, and began operating on Sherlock's Creek. Having brought sheet- iron with them, they made what the miners called a cradle and from the dirt obtained gold very rapidly, some days taking out as high as fourteen ounces. He remained in Mariposa County until 1852, when he came onto the Merced River and began farming and stock-raising; and that same year he reaped a good crop. In time he accumulated 2500 acres of land, with water facilities for shipping, and later the railroad came within eight miles of his place. His house was located on an eminence that commanded a fine view for miles around the val- ley. Here he set out a fine family orchard and a vineyard, all of which grew on the fine sandy loam without irrigation. His average yield was twelve bushels of wheat to the acre; and he kept about 1000 head of cattle and some 1200 head of hogs, and 100 head of horses and mules to operate his ranch.
On one occasion, it is related, Mr. Turner, while teaming into the mountains, secured a large grizzly bear, which he hauled to Stock- ton from near Jamestown. He built a strong log cabin or corral on his wagon, into which he got the bear, and with a ten-horse team hauled it to Stockton. During the journey the grizzly became very hot and angry and nearly tore the cabin to pieces; but the bear was landed safely in Stockton, where for years it was an exhibit in one of the parks.
About 1860, Mr. Turner was married to Miss Elizabeth Walling, who was born in New Madrid County, Mo. They had ten children. William E. was a superintendent for Miller & Lux for twenty years, and was a prominent stockman of Merced County. He married Ella Rucker and died in 1923. Mary E. married Capt. W. W. Gray, formerly a supervisor of Merced County. She is deceased. John Archibald is mentioned on another page of this history; Harriet E. is the widow of John Breckenridge, and resides in Santa Cruz; Thom- as C. is also mentioned in this history; Mrs. Lucinda Barson lives in
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San Francisco; Mrs. Diana Henderson lives in Berkeley; Virginia died in Santa Cruz; and Eva and Evy both died in early childhood. Mr. Turner died at the age of sixty-four, on February 14, 1892; Mrs. Turner lived until February, 1922.
The life story of Mr. Turner is one of great interest; for the pio- neers are practically all gone, and with them the stories of their trials and tribulations, as well as their jubilations. He was always opti- mistic and public-spirited, and their home always dispensed that par- ticular kind of hospitality which is only to be found in the homes of the pioneers who have lived for others as well as for themselves.
C. H. HUFFMAN
At one time known as the "wheat king" of the San Joaquin Val- ley because of his close association with Isaac Friedlander, who was known as the "wheat king" of California during his active career in the wheat growing, buying and shipping business, C. H. Huffman left a void in the ranks of the upbuilders of Merced County when he sold out his interests to take up his residence in San Francisco, in which city he died on July 7, 1905. His was a busy life, filled with work for the State he adopted for his home. He participated actively in the initiation and development, in the county in which he lived, of the irrigation projects that have had such far-reaching effects on the expansion of its agricultural and horticultural interests, thereby enriching the people who sought homes in what is considered by many as the garden spot of the San Joaquin Valley.
C. H. Huffman was born at a point near the mouth of the Missis- sippi River, on July 14, 1829. In early boyhood he received a fairly good schooling, and evinced a desire to make his own way in the world when he was but ten years of age, for we find the records state that he was then working his own way and acquiring a knowledge of bus- iness on board a pilot boat at the entrance of the Mississippi River. Following his experience on the river, and up to his nineteenth year, he followed the sea on vessels plying between America and European ports; and in this manner he was widening his scope of knowledge of the world and its people, and the lessons he learned and the experi- ences he met with helped to mould his future life and work. At the age of nineteen he was a second officer of a full-rigged ship.
When the tide of emigration started West in 1849, Mr. Huffman decided to get to California and made his way around the Horn, in company with other California pioneers, who later became prominent in the making of the State. Mr. Huffman remained in San Francisco
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a short time and then made his way to Seirra County. There he fol- lowed mining for a time; but his health necessitated a change, and so he located in Stockton and began teaming into the southern mines. Meeting with gratifying success, he gradually built up an extensive freighting business, and for twenty years was identified with Stock- ton as one of her sound business men and financiers of more than or- dinary ability.
In 1868 Mr. Huffman visited Merced County; and, being favor- ably impressed with its many advantages, he concluded to purchase land and in time accumulated many hundred acres of good farming land. Through his connection with the Crocker-Huffman Land & Water Company, which had so much to do with the irrigation of the East Side of this fertile region, he added very materially in bringing the fame of Merced County as an agricultural section prominently to the fore.
Mr. Huffman became associated with the late Isaac Friedlander in the buying of grain throughout the San Joaquin Valley, acting as his agent and continuing thus until the death of his employer. There- after Mr. Huffman devoted his time to raising wheat and became a large grower of that commodity. He accumulated much property and was very successful in all that he undertook, working not alone for his own personal gain, but also to advance the general welfare of Merced County.
From the small beginnings of irrigation made before the advent of Mr. Huffman in Merced County, he readily saw that the future prosperity of the entire San Joaquin Valley depended upon getting water onto the fertile lands that only wanted that necessary adjunct to make the whole section "blossom as the rose"; and through his as- sociation with the Crocker-Huffman Land & Water Company, he did his full share to bring about the present prosperity of Merced County. The details of the initiation and successful consummation of the irrigation movement are given in detail in the historical section of this volume and need no repetition here. Suffice it, here, to say that no one man did more to promote the various movements directed toward obtaining water for the lands in the county than did our sub- ject. He was the prime mover in the organization of the First Na- tional Bank of Merced, and was its president from its organization until it was reorganized into the Commercial and Savings Bank in 1892, when he retained his position as a director and helped to guide its affairs through the trying times of its early life in the community. Mr. Huffman was a man of rare executive ability and maintained a personal contact with his large interests until he retired. He moved to San Francisco in 1893 and located in the home he had purchased
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at Broadway and Buchanan Streets ; and there he passed to his reward on July 7, 1905.
The marriage of C. H. Huffman, which occurred on May 26, 1869, united him with Miss Laura A. E. Kirkland, born in Missouri, the daughter of R. M. and Catharine (Woods) Kirkland, natives of Missouri and Kentucky, respectively. At the age of nine years, in 1861, the daughter accompanied her parents across the plains to Cal- ifornia behind slow-going ox-teams. Her father was a dentist. Up- on arriving in California, they settled in Gilroy, where the daughter grew up. After her school days were over, she was married and then moved with her husband to Modesto. They first lived at Para- dise City, where Mr. Huffman built a house, which later he moved to Modesto. Of this union there were ten children. William R. died at the age of twenty-eight years, unmarried; Caroline is now the wife of Dr. A. C. Griffith and resides at 119 Palm Avenue, San Fran- cisco; Mary E. became the wife of Espie White, of Portland, Ore .; Fred H. is a cattleman in Modoc County ; E. T. is interested in the automobile business at Miami Lodge and is also connected with trans- portation into the Yosemite Valley; Mercedes is the wife of Maj. G. E. Nelson, who is stationed at Fort Sill, Okla .; Genevieve married Col. Matt C. Bristol and lives in Honolulu; J. Walton lives in Mer- ced; Hazel died at the age of fifteen months; and another infant died unnamed. By a former marriage Mr. Huffman was the father of three children. Mr. Huffman was recognized as townsite man for the Southern Pacific Railway and located nearly all the towns along the railroad through the San Joaquin Valley. The family moved to Merced; and there Mr. Huffman erected on the banks of Bear Creek, a large residence known as the Huffman Mansion by nearly everybody in that section of the country. This property was sold at the time they moved to San Francisco to the home in which he died; and this, in turn, was sold later by Mrs. Huffman, after a residence there of twenty-three years. She now makes her home at 119 Palm Avenue, San Francisco.
WALTER E. LILLEY, M. D.
Merced County has been most fortunate in the class of business and professional men who have chosen to come here and establish their homes and business careers. The fertile valley of the San Joaquin is today the background for many thriving community centers, and the business and professional offices, as well as the mercantile establishments, are equal to any like communities in the United States, long famous for its cities, developed from what were formerly "coun-
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try towns," but now ranking with the larger metropolis in point of wealth and convenience. That this is due to the caliber and work of the men who have lived and been identified with the towns for the past decade or two, goes without saying, and is a lasting monument to their individuality. Among these in Merced we find Dr. Walter E. Lilley, born in Portland, Chautauqua County, N. Y., November 5, 1868, the son of Abner Lilley, also a native of that State. After finishing his preliminary education, Dr. Lilley attended the Baltimore Medical College, from which institution he graduated in 1894 with his degree of M. D. He practiced in Findley's Lake, N. Y., and later in Barnard, Windsor County, Vt. In 1899, he came out West and located in Merced, and has ever since that date been prominent in the medical fraternity of the city and county. He is county phy- sician of Merced County, in charge of the County Hospital, in addi- tion to his private practice, and has built up a most enviable reputation as a conscientious and able doctor of humanity. He is past president of the San Joaquin Medical Society, serving twice in that office, and is also past president of the Merced County Medical Society; a member of the State Medical Society and the National Medical Asso- ciation; and surgeon for the Santa Fe and Yosemite Valley railways.
The marriage of Dr. Lilley, occurring at Mayville, Chautauqua County, N. Y., united him with Mabel Crosgrove, a native of that city, and two sons have blessed their union: Harold, a graduate of St. Mary's College, Oakland, now engaged in fig culture; and Ivan, a graduate of the University of California, and now a member of the firm of Lilley and Stribling, nurserymen. Prominent in the finan- cial and civic life of his community, as well as professionally, Dr. Lilley is a director in the Farmers and Merchants National Bank of Merced; he is a member of the Merced Rotary Club; belongs to the Merced Lodge No. 1240, B. P. O. E .; and is a Mason of high standing, a member of Merced Lodge No. 99, F. & A. M., and all branches, including Aahmes Shrine, of Oakland. As dean of the practicing M. D.'s of Merced County, and a man learned in his profession both through practical experience and scientific know- ledge, Dr. Lilley is held in high esteem by the entire county, and by his friends and business associates, who have found him to be relied upon at all times when the greater good of Merced and Merced County were in question, doing all in his power to advance the civic, economic and educational life of his district. His opportunities for public welfare work have been many, and have been taken ad- vantage of unostentatiously and with a true regard for humanity. It is such men as this who have helped build up our communities, and now stand with their shoulders to the wheel to help tide over any temporary difficulties and make the way clear for posterity.
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JAMES V. TOSCANO
The rise from very moderate circumstances to a position of honor and affluence has been the lot of James V. Toscano, leading citizen of Los Banos, solely through his energy and business integrity. A native of Italy, he was born in Basilicata, Potenza, on December 1, 1868, a son of Joseph Toscano, with whom he came to America in 1878. The mother and other members of the family followed them four years later and the home was established in New York City for a short time; later they came on to San Francisco. The year 1881 marks their advent in Merced County, the father purchasing forty acres of land in Badger Flat, near Los Banos. Improvements were made by building a house and fencing the property, our subject, then only a lad, assisting his father with this work. They raised vege- tables and James V. sold them from a wagon, traveling over the coun- tryside in a territory twenty miles wide by sixty miles in length and working from daylight until after dark.
In 1890 James V. Toscano came into Los Banos and embarked in business on his own account and erected the first business house in the new town. Seven years later his was the largest general merchan- dise business in Los Banos, the store growing in proportion to the increase in population. For nineteen years he carried on his business ; then after a lapse of two years he engaged in the furniture business, which he continued for twelve years. In the meantime he became the leading spirit in the town, giving of his time and means to help every project that he had an idea would help develop the community. He was the founder of the First National Bank of Los Banos, in 1911, serving as its president for twelve years, until the bank was taken over by the Bank of Italy, when he retired. During the twelve years he served as president of the bank it paid an average yearly dividend of over forty-three per cent to the stockholders. He helped organize the Merchants' Association and was its president for nine years; for eleven years he served as a city trustee, part of the time as chairman of the board; and he was one of the prime movers for the incorpora- tion of Los Banos, being on the board when this became a city; he worked for the installation of a sewer system, for street improve- ments, in fact every movement that would advance the city met with his hearty support. He was one of the organizers of the local Cham- ber of Commerce and served as treasurer for four years. Since 1909 Mr. Toscano has served as a member of the board of education; he was instrumental in having the local telephone service extended to give night service. After his retirement from the bank he engaged in the real estate business and was the means of having the Miller and Lux land sub-division of forty-two acres put on the market; also the sub-division southeast on the highway, and he sold most of the lots.
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In June, 1888, James V. Toscano was united in marriage with Miss Mary Sarbo, who was born in the same town as himself, in 1871, and was brought to California by her parents when a baby. They have had eight children, viz : Joseph L., engaged in the life insurance business in Los Banos, is married and the father of two daughters, Sydney and Inez; William P., who was a prominent attorney is now deceased; Rosie, Mrs. Julio Bartolomeoni of Los Banos; Margaret; Julia, a teacher in the Los Banos schools for the past seven years; Antone, attending the College of Physicians and Surgeons in San Francisco, Class of 1925; Violet, attending the San Francisco Teach- ers College; and Jeanette, a student in the Los Banos High School. Mr. Toscano helped organize the Druids Lodge and was a Grand Trustee of the Grand Lodge for six years, and for one year was Grand Herald; he was one of the organizers of the Foresters of America and for sixteen years was District Grand Chief Ranger ; he has passed all the chairs in the Mountain Brow Lodge of Odd Fel- lows, is a member of Newman Encampment and Modesto Canton; and he belongs to the Fraternal Order of Eagles and to the Frater- nal Brotherhood. After many years of activity Mr. Toscano is living practically retired, only looking after his own private interests for he owns considerable property in Los Banos, as well as ranch land. He is fond of outdoor life and spends much of his time enjoying the great out-of-doors.
DANIEL K. THORNTON
A citizen of whom any community might be proud is Daniel K. Thornton, and the people of Merced County, appreciating his public spirit and ability, elected him to the office of county supervisor, in which position he served for three consecutive terms of four years each. Not only while in office but in the common walk of life does he command the respect of all the people.
The son of Michael and Ellen (Hanlon) Thornton, he was born two and a half miles west of Merced on April 15, 1873. His father came to Napa, Cal., via Cape Horn, in 1866, and to Merced County in 1868, and bought the place on which his son Daniel was born; this he sold in 1883 and moved on to the P. Bennett ranch on the Mari- posa and Merced County line. He moved again, in 1885, to Bear Creek, where he staid fourteen years; from there he went into the Planada district for six years. His next move was to the old Hooper place near Yosemite Lake and two years later he returned to Merced. He died in the fall of 1924 at the age of eighty-six years. His wife, whom he had married in San Francisco, where she had come as a
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girl, died about 1905. There were thirteen children in his family, ten boys and three girls, of whom eleven are still living.
Daniel Thornton was educated in the public schools of Merced County and helped his father on the ranch in the farming season. From the age of twenty to thirty he worked for wages and then was able to engage in farming on his own account, which he did on several different rented places, first on the old Twitchell place for two years and next on the old Ivett ranch of 1300 acres for two years; then on the McClosky place for a like period. His last place to rent was the Cleek ranch near Plainsburg, after which he purchased his present place of forty acres on the Athlone-Buchanan road. In all his farming operations he has been fairly successful.
Mr. Thornton was married in 1904 to Miss Jessie Frances Poor, daughter of a pioneer rancher, and they have three children; Jesse Marvin, Ronald Daniel and Theresa Belle. Mr. Thornton's activity as county commissioner was marked by an activity for the good of the county in general and was highly commendable ; the concrete high- ways and bridges in the county have all been built during his terms in office. Fraternally, he belongs to the Odd Fellows, the Rebekahs, and the Modern Woodmen. He is a member of the Le Grand Band and also plays the violin.
JOHN A. RODUNER
One of the prosperous and well-known ranchers and diarymen of Merced County, John A. Roduner has spent most of his life in the San Joaquin Valley, and has thus become well versed in its possibili- ties, both as to soil and climatic conditions, and in the products best calculated for successful growth in this most fertile region of Cali- fornia, and his success has been founded on the knowledge thus gained and on its practical application. He is a native of Minnesota, born March 10, 1853, at St. Anthony Falls, the eldest of two sons born to his parents. His father, John Roduner, was born in Switzerland on August 24, 1824, and came to the United States in 1846, with his parents, first locating in New York, then moving to Wisconsin, and later to Minnesota, following his trade of carpenter. He came to California in 1863, via Panama, bringing his family with him; they boarded the steamer Ocean Queen from New York, and from the Isthmus came on the Golden Shore to San Francisco. Locating in Stockton, Mr. Roduner, Sr., there worked at his trade as carpenter until he retired from active business cares. His wife died in Stock- ton on September 2, 1902, and that same year he came to Merced County and made his home with his son, until his death on August
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19, 1909, at the age of eighty-four years. The mother is also buried in Merced County.
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