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 59
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Mr. Batten has been twice married. His first wife was Mabel E. Birkhead, born in Troy, Mo., on September 4, 1889, the daugh- ter of Shapely and Mollie Birkhead, who brought their family to California in 1895 and settled in Tulare County. Their marriage was celebrated on June 18, 1913. They had three children born to them, only one now living, Fay Elizabeth. Mary Helen died in in- fancy and Luther Batten died on May 17, 1922, aged five years. The wife and mother passed away on December 21, 1918 and her loss was keenly felt by all who knew her.
The second marriage of Mr. Batten, uniting him with Eleanore Sargent, took place on September 1, 1923. She is the daughter of John Emery and Elizabeth (Pitts) Sargent, natives of Ohio and California, respectively. Grandfather Pitts was an early settler in
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California, coming soon after the end of the Civil War. J. E. Sargent is a lumberman and has a yard at Upland, Cal., where he and his wife make their home. One sister, Mrs. Katherine Matthews, lives in San Francisco. Mrs. Batten was educated in Pomona Col- lege and taught school in Dos Palos prior to her marriage. Besides looking after his ranch interests, Mr. Batten is acting as agent for the Ford and Lincoln automobiles and the Fordson tractor. In 1922 he was elected a member of the Dos Palos Grammar School board and served as clerk. He is a member of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, South, and is non-partisan in his politics. For several years he did considerable work with the Boys' Agricultural Club and was active in the Farm Bureau. Mrs. Batten belongs to the Dos Palos Women's Improvement Club.
SERAFINO BORSINI
The path to fortune is not strewn with flowers even under the most favorable conditions. In the life of Serafino Borsini there were many obstacles to be overcome which would have discouraged many young men, hence the success to which he has attained is worthy of mention. He was born in Canton Ticino, Switzerland, on April 25, 1855, the son of Sebastian and Josephine (Berta) Borsini, farmer folk in Switzerland who spent their entire lives there, the father dying at the age of fifty and the mother at seventy years. The sixth of eight children, Serafino received his schooling at the local school and when he was nineteen he came to America, arriving in Nevada in 1874, where he found employment in the mines and in the woods near Virginia City for a year. He then came to Plumas County, Cal., worked as a milker at twenty dollars a month and found for the first four months, on a dairy in the Sierra Valley. Even with this small wage he was soon able to buy cows and go into the dairy business for himself. In 1905 he came to Merced County, purchased forty acres of alfalfa land north of Cottonwood school house and here he has carried on a prosperous dairy business ever since. Mr. Borsini became an American citizen in 1883 and votes the Republican ticket at all times.
On October 30, 1883, Mr. Borsini was united in marriage with Miss Celia Mead, daughter of Allen and Mary (Price) Mead, of Pennsylvania Dutch stock. Grandfather Price crossed the plains with oxen and a prairie schooner in the pioneer days and settled in Plumas County. Allen Mead was a teamster; both he and his wife have passed on. Mr. and Mrs. Borsini have had nine children, viz .: Carrie Edna, Mrs. F. B. Sleeper of Oakdale; Mary Josephine,
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widow of Al Terzich, of San Francisco; Katherine Alberta, Mrs. Robert Cassity, has six children, Frances Lucille, Fay Roberta, Robert Hulen, Aloha May, Vernon Claire and Helen Grace ; Frankie Rae, Mrs. George Gilligan of San Francisco, is the mother of Ernest, Melba, Dorothy, Juanita, Frank, Mary, Jack and Jean- ette Gilligan; William S., who died when seven years old; Celia Rebecca, married Herbert Graham of Vancouver, Wash., and has a son, Bruce; Albert Sebastian and Allen Carlton, twins; Brenda Avis, Mrs. Laurence Sterling, of Gustine. Mr. and Mrs. Borsini are public spirited and hospitable people and assist in doing good wherever they can.
HOWARD M. AND RUSSELL B. HUNT
Located four miles south from Gustine is the fertile alfalfa ranch comprising 340 acres that is owned by Howard M. and Rus- sell B. Hunt and was inherited by them from their father, the late Martin Luther Hunt. He came from Quebec, Canada, where he was born in 1858 and was a pioneer of 1884 in the Golden State. He was engaged in the retail milk business in San Francisco for seven years after his arrival here, and it was in this State that he was united in marriage with Miss Emma Green, a native of Ver- mont. After a successful business career in the bay metropolis Mr. Hunt came to the Quinto ranch, located in the hills on the West Side in Merced County, and for the ensuing eighteen years held the position of superintendent, supervising the details of the operation of this large tract of land very successfully. In the meantime he in- vested in the 340 acres now owned by our subjects and here he made the improvements that today make the ranch what it is. In point of years he did not live long to enjoy his splendid possessions, for he died in 1921 aged sixty-three. The mother made her home on the ranch, enjoying the competence accumulated by her husband and surrounded by the loving ministrations of her sons, until her death on December 20, 1924.
Howard M. Hunt was born on the Quinto ranch on July 14, 1890, attended the Cottonwood school and grew up to assist his father with the work on the ranch, at the same time learning from his worthy sire the details of successful ranch operation. He mar- ried Miss Helen Detoy, a native of Fresno and a daughter of Louis Detoy of Berkeley, on February 24, 1925.
Russell B. Hunt was born on the Quinto ranch on January 1, 1892, and he went to the Cottonwood school and did his share of work on the home place as he was growing to manhood. On May 20, 1918, he enlisted in the United States Army for service during
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the World War, was stationed at Camp Kearney with the Twenty- first Infantry, Fortieth Division and remained in camp until he was honorably discharged eight months later, at the Presidio in San Francisco on January 20, 1919. He is a Mason, belonging to the Newman lodge.
The Hunt Brothers jointly own three 100-acre ranches, two of them in alfalfa and leased to dairy farmers; the third ranch is being leveled and checked preparatory to putting in alfalfa. The brothers have worked in harmony on the ranch left by their father and have shown the same public spirit he demonstrated by supporting every worthy cause for the advancement of their locality. They have spent their entire lives in this section and are counted among the success- ful young ranchers of the West Side. They have been a part of the growth of the county and have been interested participants in the events that have brought about the transformation from barren land to rich and productive ranches peopled by contented families.
JOAQUIN VIERRA, SR.
The life of Joaquin Vierra which began on the island of Terce- ria, of the Azores group, on March 14, 1856, sustained one of the greatest afflictions that can befall a young child, for his mother died when he was only fourteen months old. His father, also named Joaquin, was a farmer and lived to the age of seventy-two. His mother's maiden name was Josephine Gomez. The son grew up on his father's farm and went to the common school until he was sixteen years old. Then he started out for himself, came to America and directly to California, and eventually arrived at Haywards, Ala- meda County, where he spent the winter. He then came to the West Side and worked for Mr. Bunker in the Cottonwood district of Merced County, on the ranch now owned by John Jeffers. Young Vierra worked on this ranch six years and then made a trip back to his native land for a visit. Returning to California he worked another year for Mr. Bunker and then started out for himself and began raising stock on a small scale on the Donahue ranch for a number of years. He later sold this place of forty acres and pur- chased ten acres in another location and carried on a small dairy for six years. In 1910 he had so prospered that he was able to buy sixty-five acres under the ditch and is now making that his home, living practically retired, having turned the dairy over to his boys, who also run the McCabe ranch of 160 acres, of which 100 acres are in alfalfa.
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While living on his first ranch Mr. Vierra sent back to his native island where his intended wife, Angeline Menzes, lived and she came to California and they were married in San Francisco on Sep- tember 18, 1891. Her parents were Gariot and Margaret (Mar- tinez ) Menzes, and of this union there have been five children, viz. : Margaret, Mrs. Rocha of Volta; Joaquin, Jr., who manages the ranching interests ; and Joseph, Frank and Estella. There are fifteen grandchildren in the Vierra home circle to brighten his fireside. He belongs to the I. D. E. S., and the U. P. E. C., of Los Banos and is an ex-officer of both lodges. He has served for years as trustee of the Santa Nella school district of Merced County.
EDWARD FOLETTA
Though fairly successful Edward Foletta has met with many dis- couragements and has been bereaved of his parents, Jasper and Filo- mina (Pedrazzi) Foletta, who died in Switzerland, the former at the age of sixty-three and the latter sixty-five. Of their fourteen children eight are living : Edward, our subject; Josephine, in Switzer- land; Mary, in Italy; John, at King City; Mrs. Joseph Vosti, of Modesto; Harry, in Modesto; Constantine and Rosalinda, both in Switzerland.
Edward Foletta was born in Canton Ticino, Switzerland, on October 12, 1865, and his education, begun in the common schools, was completed by a military course until he was twenty-one years old. The year 1889 found him in America and he landed eventually in Pescadero, San Mateo County, where he got a job on a dairy ranch as milker at twenty-five dollars a month for two years. He learned the trade of cheese-making and then earned forty dollars a month, continuing for seven years, when he had accumulated enough funds to go into the dairy business on his own account with 130 head of cattle on a 1200-acre ranch, at Pigeon Point; he also carried on a cheese factory for nine years, taking in milk from neighboring ranches ; then for nine years he was at Point New Years, near Pigeon Point, on 600 acres. In October, 1909, he bought an eighty-two-acre ranch three miles south of Los Banos, and added twenty acres to it in 1921, now devoted to alfalfa ; and he has a dairy of sixty cows. In 1922 he bought fifty-five acres three miles east of the home place which he runs in connection with the home place alternately.
On February 21, 1898, Edward Foletta was married to Ernes- tina Cicardini, a native of Canton Ticino, Switzerland, born Novem- ber 28, 1876, a daughter of Joseph and Mary (Goi) Cicardini. Her father was a native of Piedmonte, Italy, and her mother was of
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Swiss descent. He was a stone mason and lived and died in Switzer- land. She was one of eight children, namely: Basilio, Theresa, En- celmo, John, Modesto, Angelina, Lena, and Ernestina. Mrs. Foletta was educated in the elementary schools of Switzerland and arrived in Santa Cruz, Cal., on April 13, 1893, where her sister Theresa was already located. She worked five years as a servant girl before she was married. Mr. and Mrs. Foletta have seven children : Mary, Mrs. Albert Bizzini, of Volta; Lena, of Los Banos; Emma, Mrs. Hugo Debene, of Los Banos; Edward, Emil, William and Josephine. Mr. Foletta belongs to the Sunset Center of the Merced County Farm Bureau and has served as a trustee of the Central school district for nine years.
MANUEL M. SILVA
From the time of establishing mercantile interests in the town of Gustine, Merced County, up to the present, Manuel M. Silva has been a leading factor in the commercial life of the place, a contributor to movements for its substantial and permanent progress. No influence has entered into the growth of the town more important than that exerted by him in his capacity of general merchant. Since 1910 he has been at the head of a general merchandise store which has grown with each succeeding year to its present proportions. He is one of Cali- fornia's native sons, having been born on his father's ranch three miles from Watsonville, Monterey County, near the county line, December 22, 1883, a son of Manuel and Mary (Smith) Silva. The father, also named Manuel Silva, was a native of St. George, of the Azores, and he came to California when a young man and engaged in the sheep business. He was married to Miss Mary Smith, a native of Santa Cruz, who was one of the first white children born at this place. The father herded his band of sheep in the San Joaquin Valley every sea- son taking them to the Sierra Nevada Mountains for pasture. Later he went out of the sheep business and with the money he had accumu- lated, established a dairy business which occupied him until his death, when something over fifty years old. .. There were nine children born in this family, namely: Manuel M .; Mary, deceased; George; Eu- genia; Margaret; Jack; Frank; Louis; and Walter.
Manuel M. Silva obtained his education in the Watsonville Gram- mar School and the business college at that place. When about eight- een years old he began clerking in a grocery store in Watsonville; he later drifted to Newman and for two years worked in the general store of Antone Souza. This brought him to the time when he located in Gustine in 1910 and that year he built a store building and
Cometh
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opened his general merchandise business, which has since occupied his attention.
On November 26, 1906, Mr. Silva was married to Miss Ella Johnson, born at Santa Cruz, this State, a daughter of Hans and Marie (Scheuter) Johnson, both natives of Denmark; her father is a farmer in the vicinity of Santa Cruz. There were two daughters in this family, Mrs. Silva and Anna, who died single. Mr. and Mrs. Silva are the parents of two children : Mildred and Anna. Mr. Silva has been a member of the board of trustees of the town of Gustine and in politics is a stanch supporter of the Republican party; he is identified fraternally with Merced Lodge No. 1240, B. P. O. Elks of Merced; the Foresters of America; and the U. P. E. C. Lodge No. 99 of Gustine and for some time has served as its treasurer.
DANTE POMETTA
One of the really progressive men who helped to lay the founda- tion for the present-day prosperity that is being enjoyed by the citizens of the West Side in Merced County, was the late Dante Pometta, a prosperous and efficient dairyman and rancher living five miles south of Gustine. He was born in Canton Ticino, Switzerland, on March 3, 1873, and received his education in the schools of his locality. When he was sixteen he made up his mind he could better his condition in America ; and hence he embarked for the land of opportunity, com- ing direct to California. He found employment as a milker on a dairy in Marin County for two years, and then for another two years he was in San Luis Obispo County. He saved his money and was fast picking up the English language, and when he was twenty years old he bought a dairy of fifty cows in Solano County, near Bird's Landing, which he ran for five years. In the meantime he had married. In 1898 he sold out his dairy herd, and with his wife and two children he visited Switzerland for a year; but the call of the Golden State was too strong, and they returned to engage in the dairy business in San Benito County near Hollister, where he had about 100 cows. He worked hard and prospered accordingly, and in 1904 he moved to Crow's Landing in Stanislaus County, where he carried on his business five years.
The year 1909 marked the time when Mr. Pometta became a land- owner ; for he moved into Merced County and bought 110 acres in the Cottonwood district, about a mile north of the Cottonwood school- house. This land was a bare field, and he began to make improve- ments by building fences, a house, and barns, and sinking wells. The land was planted to alfalfa. This is now known as the Pometta Home
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Place, and here he lived until 1912, when be bought the Beck ranch of forty acres a little north of his home place and moved on to it, leasing his 110 acres and doing business on a smaller scale, to gain needed rest. In 1920 he bought another 100 acres, known as the Sturgeon place, adjoining his first purchase. He farmed this property until his death, since which time his sons have carried on the business on their entire possessions. They are meeting with good success, having learned the business from their father. Mr. Pometta became a citizen of the United States in 1900, and was a Republican.
The marriage of Dante Pometta and Miss Ida Brughelli, who was born in Canton Ticino and who had come to America a few years be- fore, occurred on November 30, 1894. They became the parents of six children: Emma married Louis Luchessa and lives in Modesto; they have a son, Alvin. Adaline.became the wife of Ulisse Alessi, has a daughter Hilda, and lives in Gustine. Edward W., Secondo W., and Guido K. operate the Pometta ranches, having about 200 cows in their dairy. They are all energetic young men and members of the Wood- men of the World at Modesto; and Secondo and Guido belong to the Knights of Columbus in Modesto. Esther attends the Cottonwood school.
Mr. Pometta died on January 7, 1922, leaving a void in the family circle, who cherish his memory for the good he did during his life. He was a public-spirited man, always ready to help every project that he thought would help develop his adopted county. An item of his- torical interest is the fact that, located on the corner of one of his ranches, stood the old Sturgeon corner postoffice in early days, when ranches were many miles apart and when Hill's Ferry was the nearest commercial center for shipment of produce.
ALVIN A. ESHELMAN
The position as a member of the board of trustees of the Living- ston grammar schools shows the high esteem in which Alvin A. Eshelman is held in his home community by his fellow citizens. He was born in Mt. Morris, Ill., on October 3, 1872, the fifth of seven children in the family of M. M. Eshelman, who was born in Pennsyl- vania and reared on a farm there. After his preliminary education was finished he began teaching school to pave the way for his future work. Leaving the school room he became the editor of the Breth- ren at Work, a religious paper printed under the auspices of the Dunkard denomination, at Lanark, Ill .; when it was moved to Mt. Morris he continued as editor until 1882, when he went to Jewell County, Kans., and lived about five years, then removed to Republic
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County, that State, where he was instrumental in founding a Dunkard college. He next came to Lordsburg, Cal., and became immigration agent for the Santa Fe Railway and was the means of bringing many families into California, especially the southern section. He died in Los Angeles County at the age of seventy-six years, after complet- ing a life full of work and promise. He was the father of seven children, viz .: Olive M., married J. W. Keefer and lives at Covina, Cal .; Vinnie, wife of O. W. Lehmer, residing at Alhambra, Cal .; Harvey H., a rancher at Sawtelle, Cal .; Clara I., widow of J. E. Kindig, lives in Los Angeles, Cal .; Alvin A., the subject of this sketch; Amy A., wife of C. C. Langfeld of Brookings, Ore .; and Herbert N., of Spokane, Wash.
A. A. Eshelman's early life was spent in Illinois and he attended the schools in Lanark and Mt. Morris, and the high school in Mc- Pherson, Kans. At an early age he found employment on farms, and he came to Southern California with the family in 1890. He was asked to come to Merced County by his brother-in-law, O. W. Leh- mer, who was the general manager for the Yosemite Valley Railroad Company, to improve some land he owned near Livingston in the Number Two subdivision of the Livingston Land Colony. This colony had been settled by many railroad men and our subject began to improve and plant orchards and vineyards for them, finally becom- ing the owner of the property where he now lives and has a comfort- able home and valuable ranch land.
Mr. Eshelman was married on March 23, 1903, in San Joaquin County, Cal., to Miss Minnie E. Isbell, born at Lathrop, the daughter of C. E. Isbell. He was born in Stockton when the old Eagle Hotel and two other buildings were the only wooden structures in that city. He married Florence Hunsucker, who was born in a tent where French Camp now stands, at that time nothing more than a range. Her father, Adolphus Hunsucker, and her mother, were born in the South, crossed the plains in 1851 and were among the pioneers of San Joaquin County, where they were farmers. Grandfather Isbell and his wife were natives of the South and were Forty-niners in California. C. E. Isbell and his wife had three children : Minnie E., Mrs. Eshel- man; James L., a rancher near Tracy ; and Lloyd, who died at sixteen. Mrs. Eshelman attended the Lathrop school and had one year in Doane's Business College in Stockton. She then worked two years as a stenographer for Rev. H. R. Holsinger in the preparation of his history of the Brethren Church, taking in the German Baptists and the two branches of the Dunkard churches. Four children have come to bless the union of Mr. and Mrs. Eshelman, viz .: Vinnie M., wife of C. W. Nobbe, a rancher of the Livingston district. Mr. Nobbe served as a stenographer at the Base Hospital at Newport News,
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Va., and was honorably discharged after fifteen months of service during the World War. They have one son, Harold C. Alvin M. graduated from the Merced High school, class of 1923, and assists his father with the home ranch; Mildred B., a junior in the Living- ston Union High school; and Wilbur, a grammar school pupil. Mr. Eshelman is a member of the board of trustees of the Livingston Grammar School and evinces a live interest in the cause of education. He belongs to the Livingston Center of the Merced County Farm Bureau. He was reared in the Dunkard faith, but there being no church of that denomination in Livingston he affiliates with the Metho- dist Church. Mrs. Eshelman was reared in that church and is active in the work of the church. They are both highly esteemed in their circle of friends.
CHARLES E. STAGNER, M. D.
A man of superior attainments and culture, well fitted by study and experience for a professional career, Charles E. Stagner is the leading physician and surgeon of Gustine, where he has built up an extensive and lucrative practice in this part of Merced County. He is a native son of California, born at Wheatland, October 30, 1883, a son of A. C. and Louise (Greitman) Stagner. There are three children in this family: Hattie, the wife of Professor Ganthier, the principal of the Lompoc High School; Leora; and Charles E., the subject of this review.
Charles E. Stagner began his education in the Wheatland Gram- mar school; then he entered the Marysville High school, from which he was graduated in 1903; then for three years he attended Stanford University ; and in 1912 he was graduated from the Cooper Medical School, receiving his degree of M. D. from that institution, after which he served an interneship in the Sacramento and San Joaquin County hospitals. In 1916 he located at Gustine, where he engaged in the practice of his profession and succeeded in building up a good practice and in endearing himself to the people of the community. In 1919, Dr. Stagner founded the hospital at Los Banos, taking as his partner in the enterprise, Dr. Bush; this hospital will accommodate about twelve patients ; and as the demand increases, no doubt the hos- pital will be enlarged to meet the growing population of this section. Dr. Stagner served as health officer for Gustine and also deputy county health officer of Merced County. He is now Medical Super- intendent to the San Joaquin County hospital, where he is now living in French Camp.
At Modesto, Cal., July 18, 1916, Dr. Stagner was united in mar- riage with Miss Lucy Schit, born at Harrison, Nebr., daughter of
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Charles Edward and Mary (Schyler) Schit. Her father was a farm- er by occupation and came with his family to California in 1901, locating in the Bowles district of Fresno County, where he spent the balance of his life, passing away at the age of fifty-two years ; his wife still makes her home in that section. Dr. and Mrs. Stagner are the parents of one son, Alan Charles. Dr. Stagner, in partnership with W. H. Gilbert, is the owner of fifty acres at Wheatland, ten acres of which is in bearing peaches and walnuts; and the balance has been set to young trees. This ranch is irrigated by a private pumping plant. Dr. Stagner is a Democrat in politics, and fraternally, belongs to the Odd Fellows Lodge of Gustine and the Elks of Merced.
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