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 57
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On January 29, 1896, Mr. Stothers was united in marriage with Miss Violet A. Brady, born in San Diego County. Her parents having died when she was twelve years old, she came to Kings County to make her home with relatives and there she was married. Mr. and Mrs. Stothers have had five children: Eva, a stenographer in San Francisco; William Earl, still at home; Alma, a resident nurse at Lane Hospital in San Francisco; Eileen, also a stenographer in San Francisco; and Shannon Elmo, attending the Merced Union High School. Mr. Stothers is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Merced. In politics he votes the Republican ticket.
JOHN JERDINE BAXTER
It is getting more and more uncommon in this day to find a man who has remained on the home ranch, faithful to the responsibilities he took up as a boy, and carrying on the work of his pioneer parents, who undertook to develop barren land into acres of fruition for future posterity. And when we do find such men, we know that their outstanding characteristics are reliability and and a steadfast "hew- ing to the line." J. J. Baxter was born on the ranch where he now makes his home, January 28, 1883, the youngest child now living in the family of James Campbell Baxter, pioneer rancher of Merced County. He received a good education, attended the Oakland High School, and later was graduated from the Oakland Polytechnic Busi- ness College in 1905.
Mr. Baxter resided in Oakland until 1906, which year he returned to the home ranch and worked for his brothers, D. A. and J. R. Baxter, and learned the fundamentals of ranch life from practical experience. He started ranching on his own responsibility in 1911 and has made a success of his chosen work in life, and he feels that Merced County has much to offer the settler who chooses this part of California in which to carry on development work. His ranch property now consists of 700 acres, and embraces the old Baxter home, in the Appling District, Merced County.
The marriage of Mr. Baxter, which occurred September 25, 1907, at Florence, Ore., united him with Miss Roberta Bond, born
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at Plainsburg, Merced County, September 25, 1885, the only daugh- ter of the late Rev. Lewis Robert Bond. She is a graduate student of music under Prof. Z. M. Parvin. One child has blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Baxter, Christine Margaret, born in Oakland, Cal., and a student in the Le Grand High School, class 1925. Fra- ternally, Mr. Baxter is a member of Merced Lodge No. 208, I. O. O. F., having joined that order in 1911; he also belongs to the Fraternal Aid Union of Le Grand, and in line with his ideas on cooperation, he is a member of the Le Grand Farm Bureau. In religious belief the family are members of the Presbyterian church.
LUTHER BATTEN
Coming from a long line of New England ancestors, Luther Batten was born August 28, 1848, on the Eau Claire River, in Wis- consin, a son of John Batten, Jr. His grandfather, John Batten, Sr., a native of Massachusetts, moved to Vermont when young and there spent the rest of his life, dying at the age of seventy-three. His wife, in maidenhood Hannah Banfield, spent her sixty years of life in the Green Mountain State.
John Batten, Jr., was born in Orange County, Vt., September 8, 1805. He served a seven-year apprenticeship as a carriage-maker in Springfield, then followed the trade in various parts of the country, finally going to Maryland, where he was connected with the Balti- more and Ohio Railroad as an employe. He subsequently assisted in building a canal along the Potomac River as far as Hagerstown. He then located in Philadelphia and was engaged in transporting coal from Mauch Chunk to that city. Resuming his trade he went to New York City and Buffalo, thence to Canada, where he embarked in the lumber business at Port Kent. His next move was to Michi- gan, settling at Monroe, then a straggling hamlet. In 1839, three years after his marriage, he moved to Galena, Ill., and from there to Grand Rapids, Wis., where as a pioneer dealer and operator he ran the first sawmill. He later went to Stevens Point, remaining there until 1870, when he went to Gar Creek, Lincoln County, Nebr., where he took up a tract of raw land and improved a farm. In 1879 he sold out and bought a tract in Lancaster County, where he lived until his death in 1891.
John Batten, Jr., was married in 1836, in Monroe, Mich., to Sophia Allen, a native of New York State. She died in Wisconsin at the age of eighty-six. Her father, Samuel Allen, was a cousin of Col. Ethan Allen of Revolutionary fame. She bore her husband seven children, one of whom, Hannah, born in Galena, Ill., died in
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childhood. The others grew to maturity: Mrs. Mary Chapin died in Nebraska in 1903; William lived in Wisconsin; Clarissa died in Wisconsin; Luther; John, of Waupaca; and Mrs. Adaline Dunbar, also of Wisconsin.
Luther Batten attended the schools of Wisconsin, then went with the family to Nebraska in 1870. In 1872 he homesteaded eighty acres on Gar Creek, and when he sold out he bought 160 acres in Oak Precinct, Lancaster County, where he settled with his family. He became owner of 290 acres, which he broke and improved into a very productive farm and where he carried on farming for many years, also raising stock and operating a threshing machine for about a quarter of a century, first using horse-power, but later using steam power. He was prominent and popular both as a citizen and a farmer and wielded a wide influence. In 1894 he came to California with his family and bought twenty-four acres near Dos Palos, where he started an orchard and developed eighteen acres to apples, pears, peaches, apricots, walnuts, figs, etc. He had thirty different kinds of trees on one acre for experimental purposes. He owned sixty acres in all and had an interest in the local telephone company and was manager of the G. A. R. park of ten acres.
On April 19, 1874, in Lancaster County, Luther Batten was married to Helen Hermance, born in Scio, New York, a daughter of J. L. Hermance. Her grandfather, John S. Hermance, born in 1806, died in Cuba, N. Y., in 1885. His wife was Marion Bristol, daughter of a clergyman. J. L. Hermance was born in 1832 in Rensselaer County, N. Y., and was a farmer. He served in Company C, Sixty-seventh N. Y. Volunteer Infantry, and was on detached duty at the Douglas Hospital, Washington, until July, 1862, when he was discharged on account of ill health. When he had recovered he reenlisted in Company A, 188th N. Y. Infantry, in which he served as color bearer for the Fifth Army Corps. He was mustered out after the Grand Review at Washington and returned home to take up civil life. In 1872 he went to Nebraska and took up a homestead north of Lincoln and improved a farm. He served as superintendent of the poor farm for six years. He later set out a fine orchard and improved a good farm five miles north of Lincoln, and eventually became a wealthy man. He was married March 28, 1852, to Esther Hawkins, also a native of New York. They had two children who grew up: Ernest Hermance and Mrs. Batten. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Batten was blessed with eight children : Ernest LeRoy died December 8, 1904; Carrie Addie died in 1901; Winnie died in 1903; and Elmer died in 1906, all dying or being buried on their twenty-first birthdays. Three other children died in infancy. Fay is the only survivor. Mr. Batten was a Republican
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and fraternally belonged to the Maccabees. Mrs. Batten was a member of the Methodist Church, South. Mr. Batten died on August 29, 1911, and Mrs. Batten passed away on October 28, 1922.
WALTER W. THOMPSON
Among the varied industries for which California is noted is bee culture, and a man who has made a record for himself in that industry is Walter W. Thompson, of Dos Palos, inspector of apiaries for Merced County. The son of Ephraim and Martha J. (Cook) Thompson, he was born in St. Charles County, Mo., on May 21, 1873. His father was born in Wythe County, Va., on October 26, 1842, the son of Bryant and Barbara (Buchanan) Thompson, of old Virginia families and prosperous farmers and stockmen, Bryant Thompson owning a farm of 640 acres. Ephraim's education was interrupted by the breaking out of the Civil War and on April 6, 1861, he enlisted in a company of cavalry under Captain McDonald of General Stuart's division in the Army of the Potomac. He entered as a private, served through the war, was wounded three times, was captured and spent thirteen months in the prison at Camp Morton, in Indianapolis, and came out of the service a sergeant. After the war he went to Missouri and bought seventy acres of land, leased some more and farmed for twenty years. He was married at Crab Orchard, Va., on November 5, 1866, to Miss Martha J. Cook, born in Virginia, a daughter of Frank and Mattie Cook, farmer folk of the South. In 1890 the Thompson family came to Dos Palos, Cal., where the father bought thirty acres northwest of Dos Palos, and here he has farmed and raised chickens ever since. There were four sons in the family who grew up. Walter is the oldest of those living; the others are John T. and R. C.
Walter W. attended the public schools of St. Charles and O'Fal- lon, Mo., and when he was twenty-two he struck out for himself, going to El Dorado County where he mined; also following mining in Oregon and Idaho. In 1900 he came back to Dos Palos and im- proved a five-acre ranch he had purchased, and he also owns twenty acres in Fresno County and 480 acres in San Bernardino County.
On June 12, 1905, Walter W. Thompson was united in marriage with Miss Susan E. White, daughter of Henry Jackson and Sally White. Her mother was twice married and by her first husband she had a son, George Appleton. By the second marriage she had the following children: Rebecca, Mrs. Alvord of Merced; Eva, Mrs. Smith, also in Merced; Susan E .; Emma and Anna. Mrs. Thomp- son was born at Raymond, Fresno County and was educated in the
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high school in Merced. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have two child- ren : Virginia, wife of Orlo Cruisenberry of Los Banos, and Edward, a high school student, Class of 1926. Politically, Mr. Thompson is a Democrat. Fraternally he belongs to Santa Rita Lodge No. 124, I. O. O. F., in which he is a Past Grand; and he belongs to the Rebekahs and to the Modern Woodmen of America in Dos Palos. Mrs. Thompson is a member and Past Noble Grand of Rebekah Lodge No. 333, of Dos Palos. Mr. Thompson has been raising bees in Merced County since 1905 and has had as many as 600 stands at one time. He is an authority on bee culture and has served as deputy inspector and inspector of apiaries of Merced County since 1911.
FREDRICK HADLEY
When the discovery of gold in California was drawing thousands from all parts of the world, among the hardy and adventurous argonauts who crossed the plains in 1849 was Mark Hadley, who was born in Pottsville, England, and came here with his wife, Jane (Woodhouse) Hadley to Wisconsin. Leaving his family there, he came to California with a party, by the Platte River, Salt Lake and Ogden route. After a few years spent in mining he returned to Wisconsin and took up an eighty acre claim of government land at $1.25 an acre and remained there until his death, in 1890, at the age of eighty. His wife was eighty-eight years old when she died in 1905. Fredrick Hadley, son of Mark Hadley, was born in Grant County, Wis., on July 6, 1848, and was one of thirteen children. Educated in the common schools and reared on his father's farm, he started out to work for himself when he was twenty-one.
On February 20, 1869, Mr. Hadley was united in marriage with Miss Ellen Brown, born in New York, near Binghamton, the daughter of Pulaski and Electa (Hugaboom) Brown, both na- tives of New York State. The Browns subsequently moved to Clay- ton, Iowa, where they farmed, later moved to Grant County, Wis., and after a time returned to Iowa and settled in Buena Vista County, and here the mother died, at the age of sixty-six. After her death, Mr. Brown went to Pennsylvania and there he died, when he was eighty-four years old. Mrs. Hadley is one of five children and the oldest living of the family and received her education in Grant County, Wisconsin. After her marriage with Mr. Hadley they farmed in Grant County for ten years, then moved to near Storm Lake, Buena Vista County, Iowa, and for seventeen years farmed there. Then they decided they would come to California, which they did, and located in Dos Palos Colony in 1895, being among
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the first settlers. He bought forty-two acres over in Fresno County and ran a dairy. About 1906 they purchased property in Dos Palos and erected their home. Mr. Hadley owns several parcels of real estate in the town and has property in Madera and ten acres of his Fresno County ranch. Mr. and Mrs. Hadley have had four children. Laura E. married F. H. Grieme and had two children, Mrs. Eva Redfern and Mrs. Opal Malm. The latter has a daughter, Betty Marie. Mrs. Grieme died on September 22, 1923. Lucius S. lives in Fresno. He married Miss Bessie F. Gable and they have a son, Glen M. Edith May is the wife of E. P. Gable and resides at Long Beach and they have a daughter, Mrs. Madeline Hickok. Lela P. married B. F. King. She met an accidental death in an automobile accident in Modesto on March 20, 1925. Mr. Hadley served as a constable while living in Grant County, Wis. He is a Republican and is a member of the Methodist Church. Mrs. Hadley is a social member of the Maccabees.
CHARLES BIZZINI
The name of Charles Bizzini was well-known among the success- ful agriculturists of the Gustine section of Merced County for many years, where he located the year prior to the laying out of the town of Gustine. His birth occurred in Canton Ticino, Switzerland, November 4, 1855, a son of Rafael and Madaline Bizzini, also natives of that country. Charles Bizzini received a common school education in Switzerland and when twenty years old came to Cali- fornia and settled at Cayucos in San Luis Obispo County, where he worked as a ranch laborer; later he removed to Monterey County where he leased land and farmed.
At San Luis Obispo, on September 16, 1885, Mr. Bizzini was married to Miss Delfina Dalidio, also born in Switzerland, daugh- ter of Jacimo Pietro and Mariana (Filippini) Dalidio. Her father had married in Switzerland and during the gold excitement in Cali- fornia came West leaving his family in the old country. He mined for twelve years, then returned to his home and there passed away at the age of fifty years Mrs. Bizzini's mother lived to be seventy-one years old. There were four children in this family : Angelina, died in Switzerland; Delfina, the wife of our subject; Amelia, still makes her home in Switzerland; Theresa, deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Bizzini lived in Cayucos for three years. In 1906 they removed to Merced County and purchased seventy acres in alfalfa just south of where Gustine now stands; here a residence was built. Later he purchased a nine-acre ranch on which he built a house and this was used as the home place. Mr. and Mrs. Bizzini became the parents of ten child-
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ren, namely : Elvira and Esther, twins. Elvira is now Mrs. Calan- chini, and Esther is Mrs. Zanini, and has four children, Alma, Louis, Henry, and Walter; Dora is now Mrs. Bonta and she has four children, Floyd, George, Mary and Chester. Edward G .; Louis Ralph; Clara is now Mrs. McFaul; Amelia is Mrs. De Martin; Albert Charles; Rosalie is Mrs. Louis P. Taglio; and Nellie D., a graduate of the University of California, taught two years in the Gustine Grammar School and is now a teacher in the Gustine High School. Mr. Bizzini passed away at the family home July 2, 1917. He was an honored member of the Odd Fellows Lodge of Gustine and a good citizen in every sense of the word.
ANTONE A. SOUZA
The career of Antone A. Souza, who has risen to be one of the largest dairy farmers in Merced County, is of unusual interest. Though of foreign parentage, he was born in Watsonville, Cal., on March 13, 1882, a son of Antone L. and Mary (Day) Souza, both natives of the Azores, the former of St. George and the latter of Flores. The father came to California in the early seventies and worked on ranches, was foreman on the Logan ranch, and also owned fifty acres five miles from Watsonville. He died at the age of sixty-eight; the mother is still living. There were five children in the family, namely : Antone, who died in infancy; Antone A .; Mary, Mrs. Amarante of Gustine; Joseph, deceased; Joseph, at Watson- ville. The son Antone A. was educated in the grammar school and the business college in Watsonville, and when he became of age he started out to work for himself as a ranch hand. In 1904 he came to Los Banos, where he was married on September 6, 1904, to Miss Helen Mellow, born in Watsonville, the daughter of Frank and Lucy Mellow both born in the Azores, the father at St. Miguel, where he was a dairyman. They were pioneers of Monterey County, and are now de- ceased. There were nine children in their family, as follows: Mary, Frank, Lucy, Helen, Antone, Manuel, Joseph, Anna and John. Mrs. Souza was educated in the public schools in Pajaro Valley.
Upon coming to the West Side, Mr. Souza rented James Sweeney's ranch near Los Banos and had a dairy of fifty cows for one year. He then went to Watsonville and worked one season on a hay press, returning to the Cottonwood district where he pur- chased a quarter interest in a dairy of 100 cows; but four months later he sold it and worked for wages for a year. Then he engaged in a dairy business at Los Banos for a year and a half, when he sold out, and ran a dairy on the Noble Marsh place four months, and one
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near Dos Palos for nine months. When he sold the latter he bought forty acres of land in the Cottonwood district, but disposed of this and went to Colusa County and with John Westfall ran a dairy on a percentage basis for a year and half. Mr. Souza then moved to a point seven miles below Knight's Landing in Yolo County on the Sacramento River and rented 2000 acres in the region now embraced in the Yolo County By Pass, but on account of the opening of this pass he had to quit this ranch and went to raising hogs and cattle, having about 400 head of each, continuing on one ranch four years. He then came to Cottonwood again and leased 648 acres on which he moved 375 head of cattle and thirty head of horses from Yolo County. The Cottonwood ranch is on the canal about six miles below Gustine. He leases several other ranches among which are the Jameson alfalfa ranch of 166 acres; the McCabe ranch of 320 acres, 200 acres of which are devoted to alfalfa; the Johnson ranch of 160 acres, 100 acres of which are in alfalfa; the Maude Wood's place of 345 acres, 150 acres of which is in alfalfa. He pays out $21,000.00 a year for land he has leased, but he sub-leases some of these ranches to other tenants for dairies. He now has a herd of 450 dairy cattle and has purchased the J. D. McCarthy ranch of 160 acres. He does some dry farming and has 300 acres in grain about four miles out from Los Banos.
Mr. and Mrs. Souza have no children of their own but have reared the following children taken from the Watsonville orphan- age, namely : Robert Pompey, Clifford Jones, Martin Heath, Antone Espinosa, Clifford Marshall, Louis Jensen and Victor Lawrence. In politics Mr. Souza is a Republican. Fraternally he is a member of the U. P. E. C., and of the Eagles. of Los Banos.
JACK BANCHIO
Born in Brisbane, Australia, of Italian parentage, Jack Banchio is typical of the hardy mountaineers of northern Italy, as will readily be seen from an incident here related, which took place in his child- hood days, and truly shows that "the boy is father to the man." His parents went from Piemonte, northern Italy, to Australia, set- tling in Brisbane, and there Jack was born and reared, and his school- ing obtained in the public school. He had his own ideas on the sub- ject of education, however, and when eight years old he decided to start out in life for himself, and ran away from home, starting afoot to the interior of Australia. The school and truant officers undertook to return him to his parents, and overtook him quite a distance from home; after capturing him they made him ride on a horse
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with one of the officers, and while en route the officers, tired from their chase, stopped to get some refreshments, leaving young Jack on the horse; he turned a handspring off the animal, and was again soon lost in the brush. He this time headed across country, as the officers had threatened to whip him and put him in jail for being a bad boy, and he headed for Ipswich, where he arrived safely. The officers were soon in pursuit, but, being a strong, husky lad, used to the wilds, he succeeded in outwitting them and did not go home until he was about twelve years of age.
Not a long time following this occurrence, his parents left Bris- bane for New Zealand, and after remaining there a short time they went to Sidney, Australia, and then decided to return to northern Italy via the Indian Ocean to the Isle of Ceylon, through the Red Sea and Suez Canal, then down the Mediterranian to Italy ; so before their son Jack was much older he had become quite a traveled youngster and knew how to find his way about. On reaching young manhood he came to California, and finally landed in Merced County in 1910, where today he is one of the influential men of that district, one of the city trustees of Gustine, and proprietor of the Gustine Hotel, and Gustine Hotel Grounds. A man of originality and strong character, his influence is always for progress and the further ad- vancement of his home section, and he has proven himself a real citizen of his adopted country. He has in his possession citizenship papers of England, Italy and the United States.
MICHAEL DE GREGORI
The sketch of the life of Michael De Gregori shows his wide experience in America and in foreign lands. He was born in Naples, Italy, on September 29, 1841, the youngest of three children born to Antonio and Laura De Gregori. As a lad he followed the sea and during his travels landed in New York; from there he came to California via Cape Horn and found employment on a ranch after his arrival. He later went to Stockton and raised vegetables in San Joaquin County, which he sold in the city. He was married in Stockton on May 19, 1877, to Miss Adeline Alegretti, born in the province of Genoa, Chiavari, Italy. Her father was a sculptor and an artist and died when his daughter was only seven years old.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. De Gregori lived in Stock- ton, where their first two children were born. Then they moved to the Stevinson Colony in Merced County, leased ten acres of land and raised vegetables. In 1887 they moved to the West Side and bought 320 acres of land about four miles southeast of what is now
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the town of Gustine and improved the land and made it their home for several years. This ranch is still owned by Mrs. De Gregori and is devoted to all kinds of farm produce. Their next move was to buy eighty acres one mile from the New Era Creamery and run a dairy. They leased this property and moved into Gustine, where they bought a home, and here Mr. De Gregori passed away on November 20, 1915. Mrs. De Gregori resides in this home.
This worthy couple had eleven children: Sylvia, Mrs. Rimola, died leaving one son, Paul; Joseph, of Los Banos has five children, Walter, Ernest, Oliver, David and Annie; Artelia, deceased; Frank, of Gustine has a son, Michael; Louis, of Los Banos has two children, Blanche and Elmer; Antonio, of Newman; Mary, widow of J. O. Souza has two sons, Clinton and Vernon; Annie, Mrs. D. J. Canale, of Santa Cruz has one daughter, Virginia; Laura and Louise, twins, the former deceased; and George.
JAMES T. RAGSDALE
The owner of the Ragsdale subdivision and addition to Meced, James T. Ragsdale, has a national reputation as a dealer in horses, mules and blooded stock. It was a business that came naturally to him from his father. He was born on a farm in Missouri on October 25, 1869, the fourth of nine children born to Thomas and Betty (Smith) Ragsdale, both natives of Missouri. The elder Ragsdale was a farmer, who owned vast tracts of land in Missouri before the first railroad bridged the Mississippi; he was also a well-known buyer of mules and horses, taking large droves of them to St. Louis. He devoted his life to that work and was a most successful business man; he died at the age of sixty-nine, and his wife at the age of sixty-eight.
James T. Ragsdale was brought up on the farm and attended the Washington district school. At the age of eighteen he began an interest in his father's business, taking charge of 160 acres, five miles south of Shelbina, and was there located until 1902, in the meantime engaging more and more in the breeding of shorthorn cattle, buying and selling mules and horses and handling as high as 2000 head of horses and mules in a season, shipping them to Texas and into the South. As a buyer he represented Brown and Price and Clay Robin- son, of Chicago. During those days he never failed to show at the county and state fairs of Missouri for thirty years. At the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893, he and his father took many premiums; he was the only one of his brothers who followed in the footsteps of their father in the stock business.
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