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 50
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The first marriage of Mr. Pate, which occurred in the Cathey Valley, united him with Martha Andrews, a native of Illinois; her death occurred in June, 1906, survived by six children : Louis F., of Le Grand; Mrs. Olive L. Latour, of Merced; Samuel M., of Visalia ; Mrs. Edna Hurd, of Oakland; Harvey W., of Merced; and Leota, now deceased.
On June 3, 1907, Mr. Pate's second marriage occurred, uniting him with Lottie Wilson, born in Stockton, the seventh of eight child- ren born to Samuel and Malinda (Key) Wilson, natives of Kentucky who crossed the plains in 1853, and settled near Stockton and en- gaged in ranching. They moved to Merced in 1896, where both their deaths occurred. Their property was a valuable ranch on the edge of Merced, the present group of Merced High School build- ings being now on a part of the property, it having been acquired from the heirs of the estate a few years ago. A staunch Democrat, Mr. Pate has never aspired to public office, except as pertains to his business interests. He is a charter member and president of the Cal- ifornia Cattle Men's Association, and attends the meetings regularly, giving much of his time to the study of cooperative problems. Fra- ternally he is a Past Grand of the Merced Lodge No. 208, I. O. O. F.
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JOHN R. GRAHAM
Few if any families have been more intimately associated with the development of Merced County, and especially with the progress of Merced, than the one which is represented by John R. Graham, who is in every respect worthy of the name he bears, and of the esteem of the entire community. Coming to Merced County in 1892, he has since made this county his home and has been actively identified with numerous activities toward its local progress and the development of its material resources. In San Francisco, Cal., John R. Graham was born on January 1, 1869, a son of John and Elizabeth (Gardner) Graham. The father was born in Pennsylvania and came via Panama to California in 1851. In 1855 Miss Elizabeth Gardner crossed the plains with her parents; later she was united in marriage with John Graham. The father taught school in Tuolumne County and became superintendent of schools of that county in the late fifties. Later the family moved to San Francisco and there he engaged in the grocery and butcher business; then for a time he was in the dairy business. In 1890 he removed to Merced County, where he homesteaded a tract of land, but it was not until 1892 that he established a permanent resi- dence in the county. While on a visit to his old home in Pennsylvania he passed away; the mother is also deceased.
John R. Graham attended the public schools in San Francisco and his first money was earned in the employ of the American Tract Society, beginning when he was thirteen years old. From that com- pany he went into the Bank of British Columbia and was with them for three years; then for two and a half years he was employed by the Los Gatos Ice Company of San Francisco. In 1888 he be- gan working for the National Ice Company in San Francisco and three years later he got his chance, when the company sent him on a two-weeks trip through the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys and told him to choose the town he thought had a future where an agency could be successfully established. "I found irrigation in Merced," says Mr. Graham today; "and the town looked good to me, it still looks good to me." In 1892 Mr. Graham opened an agency in this bustling town, having a small ice house from which natural ice from Truckee was dispensed, with the aid of one helper. The sale of fuel was added in 1894, and in 1910 the present ice manufacturing plant was erected through Mr. Graham's effort in convincing the ice company of the strategic position of Merced in relation to a large agricultural area and to the Yosemite Valley. The company has never regretted the investment here, which is in the neighborhood of $75,000. This large business employs from twenty to twenty-five persons in summer and fourteen in winter. The average payroll is $3000 monthly. The production of ice is twenty-five tons
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every twenty-four hours, the storage capacity being 2000 tons; the surplus ice is stored away early in the year, until about July, when the storeroom is full and the demand reaches a point when more than the daily capacity is taken out. From this peakpoint on until the end of the season the surplus ice is gradually removed from the storage room. At the present Mr. Graham also handles crude oil, road oil, and fuel oil, gasoline, kerosene and distillate and is the representative of the Grant Rock & Gravel Company, and the Old Mission Portland Cement Company of San Juan.
The marriage of Mr. Graham united him with Miss Mable Farnell, born in Merced and a daughter of a pioneer family. Two sons have been born of this union, John R., Jr., and Donald R .; and there are two grandchildren, Robertson Bruce and Elaine. John R., Jr., enlisted in May, 1917, in the signal corps, went over seas with the 28th Aerial Squadron and served fourteen months. The record of Captain Graham, as he is familiarly known, is one of unselfish public service. In May, 1893, when Company H, 6th Infantry, N. G. C., was organized by him in Merced, his popularity was attested to by his being elected company commander and he served as such for six years. Later he was attached to Colonel W. R. Johnson's regimental staff, then to the Third Brigade staff of General M. W. Muller of California. Company H served actively under Captain Graham for thirty-one days during the railroad strike of 1894. Mr. Graham was a supervisor of Merced County during 1921, having been appointed a member of the board by Governor Stephens to fill the unexpired term of T. H. Scandrett. For twenty years Mr. Graham was an active member of the El Capitan Hose Company, and for two years was president of the Yosemite-to-the-Sea Good Roads Association which was organized in 1911 for the purpose of securing an all-the-year- round road from Yosemite Valley to the sea. This road costing $11,000,000 will be completed in 1925. Fraternally, Mr. Graham is a member of La Grange, now Yosemite, Lodge No. 99, F. & A. M .; Fresno Consistory of the Scottish Rite; Merced Chapter No. 12 R. A. M .; and Islam Temple A. A. O. N. M. S. of San Francisco. He belongs to Merced Lodge No. 1240, B. P. O. Elks and Yosemite Parlor No. 24, N. S. G. W., and is a member of the Rotary Club of Merced. He has been a member and a director of the Merced Cham- ber of Commerce for many years, and a director in the California State Automobile Association since 1914. He was one of the organiz- ers who formed the Merced Irrigation District. During the World War Mr. Graham served as chief of the Merced County section of the American Protective League, this being a secret-service body un- der the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice; he was the local secretary of the Merced Y. M. C. A., and directed its activities dur-
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ing the war; was also a member of the Merced County Council of Defense under the direction of the National Council of Defense; and was district chairman of the Highways Transport Committee, Coun- cil of National Defense, of Division Three, comprising thirteen coun- ties in Central California. Mr. and Mrs. Graham conducted a canteen for the benefit of the aviation section of the United States that was training at Mather Field, and took a very active part in Red Cross work. Mr. Graham served on every committee in each of the bond drives, giving his entire time to the national defense during the war.
JOHN ARCHIBALD TURNER
Among the representative men in Merced County who are ably carrying on the traditions of their pioneer fathers who laid the foun- dation for our present-day civilization, is John A. Turner, familiarly known as "Archie" Turner, and named in honor of Col. Archibald Stevinson. Archibald Stevinson, John Mitchell and William C. Tur- ner, the father of our subject, were the earliest settlers and principal early landowners on the Merced River.
Archie Turner was born on January 20, 1865, and has spent his whole life in his native county, where he attended the Jefferson school in pursuit of his education. He now owns 200 acres in the Irwin Precinct and 861 acres on the San Joaquin River, all of which is devoted to stock-raising and farming. Turner Avenue was named in honor of our subject for the part he has taken in advancing the interests of his community and county. A sketch of his father appears on another page of this history, and for him the Turner voting precinct was named.
Archie Turner was married in 1887, in Merced County, to Miss Kate Hicks, daughter of James Hicks, who served as county clerk. Of this union was born one child, a son Archie James, who is married and with his family of two sons, Clifford and William, resides on his 160-acre ranch on the San Joaquin River. Some time after the death of his first wife, Mr. Turner married a second time, this marriage uniting him with Blanche Olive McCarty, who was born in California, the daughter of William McCarty, of Merced County. By her there are five children: Elizabeth, a graduate of Armstrong's School in Berkeley, and now employed in a law office in Merced; Moneta and Clinton, who are students in the high school; Dorothy, a pupil in the grammar school; and Kenneth, who died aged four years.
Politically Mr. Turner is a Democrat of the liberal-minded class. He is an extensive stock-raiser, and having been raised in the saddle, he knows all the details of that business. He has bought and sold
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thousands of head of cattle. Mr. Turner is a stockholder in the First Bank of Livingston. He is a liberal contributor to all movements for the upbuilding of the county, and believes in and supports church organizations and schools, well knowing that the children of today will be the active men and women of tomorrow. In all his dealings with the people, he has been a strict observer of the golden rule, which has been his guide throughout his life.
RUDOLPH HENRY BAMBAUER
Numbered among the successful farmers of Merced County is Rudolph Henry Bambauer, who located on his present home place of fifty-seven acres in 1896. This farm he developed to alfalfa, fruit and walnuts, also improved it with a comfortable residence and other necessary farm buildings, and for many years he has conducted a dairy with increasing profits each year. He was born in Columbia, Tuolumne County, Cal., December 16, 1859, a son of Charles and Adaline Bambauer, the former a native of Baden and the latter of Bavaria, Germany. Charles Bambauer came around the Horn to California in 1849 and engaged in mining in Tuolumne County; he married into a family who were pioneers of the Golden State and by this union there were eight children; Carrie, now the wife of C. A. Mills, of Berkeley: Rudolph Henry, the subject of this sketch; George S., deceased; Charles D., of Santa Clara County; Louise, Frank, and Edward are deceased; and Louis of Pacific Grove. The father spent a few years in teaming from Stockton to the mountains ; then removed to Paradise district of Stanislaus County, where he farmed. He next removed to Calaveras County and again engaged in freighting, and in 1871 the family came to Merced County, where the father took up a quarter-section of land in the Charleston district on the West Side south of Los Banos. The father removed to the Cottonwood district of the county, where he passed away at the age of sixty-three years; the mother lived to be seventy-seven years old.
Rudolph Henry Bambauer attended the Altaville district school in Tuolumne County, walking four miles to school each day during the school term; at the age of eleven years he began working on farms earning his own living. In San Francisco he learned the butcher trade, which he followed for a year and a half with Miller & Lux. He then came to Merced and learned the blacksmith trade, which he followed for about eight years. He settled on the West Side and dry farmed for about twelve years, having 2280 acres in grain each season. He also worked on the first canal in 1877.
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On October 18, 1896, Mr. Bambauer was married to Miss Ella Stahlman, a native of Indiana, and by this union five children have been born; Fred, deceased; Fulton R., associated with his father; Marvel E .; Adaline E .; and R. H. Jr. Mr. Bambauer generally prefers the principles of the Democratic party. He has served as an officer in Orestimba Lodge of Odd Fellows, but transferred to Ro- mero Lodge at Gustine. He is also a member of the Encampment and with his wife belongs to the Rebekahs of Gustine. For about fourteen years Mr. Bambauer has served as deputy registration clerk in Merced County.
WILLIAM CARL JENSEN
A citizen of much worth and character, who is widely esteemed by all who know him, is William Carl Jensen whose residence in Merced County really dates from 1897. He has made his influence felt for the best interests of the county and has won a position of prominence among the successful stock-raisers in the vicinity of Gustine. He was born on the Island of Foehr, in the province of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, on October 29, 1881, a son of William H. and Caroline Julia (Paulsen) Jensen. The father was first mate on a sailing vessel and spent his entire lifetime as a seaman. There were six children in this family; Oluf W. was also a seafaring man and was reported lost at sea off the coast of South America ; Catherine M., still lives at Foehr; Meta C., now Mrs. Hinrichsen lives at Foehr ; John D., re- sides at Gustine, Cal. ; Nahmen, deceased; and William Carl, the sub- ject of this review. The father lived to a ripe old age; the mother passed away in 1922. William Carl Jensen attended school in his native province until 1897, when he came to the United States and direct to Newman, Cal., and worked for Peter Miller on a ranch in Stanislaus County in the hills west of what is now the townsite of Gustine. Mr. Jensen attended school in the Cleveland district school in Stanislaus County and worked on Mr. Miller's ranch for several years. He then made a trip back to Germany and spent about six months visiting his home folks.
On August 29, 1905, at Newman, Cal., Mr. Jensen was married to Miss Gertie J. Miller, a native of Germany, who was brought to California when an infant by John H. and Johanna ( Maas) Miller, her parents. Her father was a brother of Peter Miller, who settled seven miles southwest of Newman and acquired a section of land there. Mrs. Jensen was the only child born to her parents. The father passed away at the age of forty-two years and the mother was forty-five years old when she died. After his marriage Mr. Jensen leased the J. H. Miller ranch until Mrs. Miller died, when Mrs. Jensen fell heir
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to the property. They lived there until 1913 ; he still runs this section of land and leases besides 260 acres, making a total of 900 acres of hill land where he conducts an extensive stock business. In 1911 Mr. Jensen purchased fifty acres at the northwest corner of Gustine where he conducts a dairy varying from twenty to forty head of stock, and has about 1000 laying hens, and also about fifty head of Poland China hogs. Ever since 1914 Mr. Jensen has tested his cows for production, at first by a private company, but for several years the testing has been carried on under the auspices of the Merced County Farm Bureau, Mr. Jensen being a member of the Cottonwood Center of that body.
When the Cleveland school, of which Mr. Jensen served as a trustee, was discontinued, he purchased the school house and remod- eled it into a comfortable farm house. He has been a member of the Newman Lutheran Church since coming to California and is now sec- retary-treasurer of the congregation. Politically, he is a Republican. Six children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Jensen; Caroline Julia, John H., William H., Alma M., Oluf N., and May Catherine.
HANS HANSEN
Noteworthy among the successful agriculturists of Merced Coun- ty, was Hans Hansen, who passed away December 14, 1924, at Gus- tine. Born and reared on the farther side of the broad Atlantic, he be- came master of the various branches of agriculture when young, and after coming to this country followed the occupation to which he was reared. Energetic and ambitious, he was never satisfied with anything less than the highest possible results in his agricultural labors, and having added substantial improvements to his valuable farm, he car- ried on a most successful business in general farming, raising large crops of hay and grain, and some stock. He was born December 19, 1861, in Denmark, a son of Peter and Anna Christina (Johnsen) Hansen. His father and mother spent their entire lives in Denmark as farmers.
Brought up on the home farm, and obtaining his education in the common schools, Hans Hansen remained at home until eighteen years of age. Seeing but little opportunity to accumulate much wealth in his native land he immigrated to the United States in 1879, coming directly to Alameda County, Cal., where he secured work on a ranch. Going from there to Benicia, he was in the employ of Baker & Hamilton, manufacturers of implements, for two years. Resuming work as a ranchman, he lived at Crow's Landing for a while, and then settled in Merced County, where, from 1890 until 1892, he was em- ployed in farming near what later became his home farm. Prudent
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and thrifty, Mr. Hansen accumulated considerable money during these years, and in 1892 bought the farm where he made his home for many years, consisting of 640 acres. Embarking in general agri- culture, he met with success in his labors, his homestead property becoming one of the finest and most valuable in the vicinity, being well supplied with all the necessary buildings and appliances for carrying on his work after the most approved modern methods.
In San Francisco on October 1, 1890, Mr. Hansen married Chris- tina Schmidt, a native of Denmark, and into their household six children were born, namely : Peter, Hans, Christina, Lillie, Mabel and Chester. A loyal and trusted citizen of his adopted country, Mr. Hansen was a supporter of the Democratic party, and a valued mem- ber of the Lutheran Church, toward the support of which he con- tributed generously.
JOHN FRANK SNYDER
A pioneer of California of the early eighties, John Frank Snyder was born in Trenton, Canada, on February 24, 1861, the son of Bliss and Phoebe (Smith) Snyder, farmers, who located at Syracuse, N. Y., where the father died at the age of forty; the mother lived to reach her seventy-second year. Their children living are: Mary, Caroline, Elizabeth and J. F. The fourth in a family of seven children, John Frank Snyder was thrown upon his resources at the age of fifteen, having attended the public schools up to that time. For the first two years he worked on farms near Syracuse, then went to Detroit, Mich., where he was employed until he became of age. In 1881 the urge was too great and he came to California and took up government land in the foothills back of Crow's Landing, proved up on it, working around on ranches in the meantime, and then sold. In 1888 he leased the Ben Crow ranch of 640 acres and raised grain until 1897. Mr. Snyder helped build the first dairy barn used for a commercial dairy business on the West Side, that of Giovannoni and Crow. In 1897 he came into Merced County and, eight miles west of Ingomar, bought a section of land, to which he added another parcel at a later date; here he has engaged in raising grain and stock and has set out fifteen acres of walnuts. He now owns 640 acres of land where he resides.
On April 14, 1888, J. F. Snyder was united in marriage at Crow's Landing, with Miss Jean Niddrie, born at that place, the daughter of George and Ellen Niddrie, natives of Scotland and Ire- land, respectively, who came to Crow's Landing in 1869 and settled in the hills west of that place. Her father was a farmer and stock raiser and lived to be seventy-five years of age; her mother died at
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the age of forty-five. Mrs. Snyder's half-brother, Joseph, is also deceased. She attended the schools at Crow's Landing and here her marriage occurred. There have been nine children born to Mr. and Mrs. Snyder : George died at the age of ten years; Harry married Aileen Heacox and they have a son, Joseph Franklin; Ruby, became the wife of E. H. Osburn of Newman and has two children, Emerson Page and Robert Niddrie; Hazel, married Robert Butts of Gustine and has two children, George Edmund and James Robert; Helen M., married John Butts of Cloverdale and has one daughter, Dorothy Jean; Helena May, a twin of Helen M., died in childhood; Nellie, Mrs. Robert Osburn of Newman, has a son Donald Cress; Howard F .; and Genevieve Louise. Mr. Snyder is a Democrat. Fraternally he belongs to Hills Ferry Lodge No. 236, F. & A. M. at Newman. For twenty-five years he has served as a trustee of the Occidental school and for ten years of the Gustine Union High School.
GEORGE STEELE
The possession of a six-acre ranch within the city limits of Gustine has brought George Steele a realization of his desire for an ideal existence and a competence. The modern improvements which add to the value of his property are entirely of his own making, for when he settled in Gustine in 1897, the land was an undisturbed prairie, and at present it is devoted to general farming and raising chickens. Mr. Steele was born in Lancashire, England, April 1, 1876, a son of James and Anna (McCarthy) Steele, both natives of Eng- land, but the latter of Irish descent. The father was a foreman in a steel plant in Barrow-in-Furness, England, and spent the remainder of his life there.
The education of George Steele was limited to the common schools of his native country and at twelve years of age he went to work on a farm. In 1892 he came to the United States and for two years worked in Woonsocket, R. I .; then going to Milford, Mass., he worked for five years and then came to California, going direct to the flag station then called Gustine. He found work on the Page ranch and by economy and industry was able to purchase forty acres of it in 1904; later he sold this ranch and invested the proceeds in his present home place of six acres within the city limits. For ten years Mr. Steele was road overseer for District No. 4 and is still serving in that capacity.
At San Francisco, Cal., on September 13, 1913, Mr. Steele was married to Miss Edith May Simpson, born at Kendal, England, daughter of Richard and Sarah (Meyer) Simpson, both natives of the
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same country. Mr. and Mrs. Steele are the parents of two daughters and they adopted a girl when she was two and a half years old. The children's names are Elizabeth Meyers, Mary Ellen, and Gertrude Rhodes. Mr. Steele is a Republican in politics, and fraternally is a member of the Knights of Pythias of Newman. He serves as a trustee of Gustine, and also as school trustee for the Gustine Union High School and the Gustine Grammar School.
HON. CURTIS H. CASTLE, A. M., M. D.
During the pioneer history of Illinois Henry Castle brought his family to that State from West Virginia and settled in Knox County in 1833, being among the early inhabitants of that locality, where he made his home until his death. He had a son Reuben, who was born in West Virginia and devoted all of his active life to farming in Knox County, where he died in 1894. Reuben Castle married Miss Mary A. Long, born in Pennsylvania, whence she ac- companied her father, George Long, to Zanesville, Ohio, and from there, in 1835, to Knox County, Ill., where she married Mr. Castle. They had four children. Rufus served as a member of Company E, Eighty-third Illinois Infantry during the Civil War, and afterwards settled near Healdsburg, Cal., where he died. George H. was a lieutenant in the Fifty-ninth Illinois Infantry, from the beginning to the close of the war, being severely wounded before Atlanta. In later years he was an attorney in Shenandoah, Iowa. The only daughter, Mrs. Griffith, made her home in Omaha, Nebr., and it was at her home that the mother died in 1904.
Curtis H., the youngest son, was born near Galesburg, Ill., on October 4, 1848. He received an excellent schooling, attending Knox College until the close of his sophomore year, after which he became a student in the Northwestern University, from which he was gradu- ated in 1872, with the degree of A. B .; later the degree of A. M. was conferred upon him by the same institution. After graduation he served as principal of the schools of Washington, Texas, for four years, during which time he spent all of his spare time in the study of medicine, which he supplemented with a course in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, at Keokuk, Iowa. Graduating in 1878, he took up professional work in Fulton County, Ill., but soon removed to Wayland, Henry County, Iowa, and in 1882 came to California. He stopped in Los Angeles, then with a population of some 10,000 souls, at the beginning of the boom in that part of the State. The town was literally overrun with doctors and our subject decided he would seek some other location and accordingly went to Point Arena in Men-
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