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 62
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Mr. and Mrs. Luiz have four children : Mary C., born February 17, 1913; Anna Aileen, born December 23, 1915; Ernest D., born April 29, 1917; and Elaine M., born July 8, 1918. These children are attending the Atwater school. Mrs. Luiz is a great reader and is much interested in education, being a past vice-president of the Atwater Parent-Teachers Association, and served on the Ways and Means Committee in 1923. She served as the treasurer of the U. P. P. E. C. society for some time. Mr. Luiz is secretary of the U. P. E. C., of which he has been a member for over fifteen years. He is the president of the Atwater Pentacost Club Association, which he helped to organize. He is a Republican in politics. Both Mr. and Mrs. Luiz
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are stockholders in the California Peach and Apricot Association and their thirty acres is in a highly developed condition, with trees from five to seventeen years old. They are liberal-minded and cooperate in all movements for the betterment of the community.
OSCAR HOLDEN
Lying northwest of Hilmar three and a half miles is the highly- developed ranch of fifty-five acres owned by Oscar Holden, a respected and popular native son of California, who is a director in the Hilmar Mutual Fire Insurance Company. Mr. Holden raises alfalfa, runs a dairy and also specializes in breeding pure-blooded, prize Minorcas. His original purchase of land was sixty acres, but he deeded five acres for an irrigation ditch. He is public spirited, well-liked and interested in the welfare of the Turlock Irrigation District and every other good thing for the county and the community.
Mr. Holden was born in Goleta, Santa Barbara County, May 15, 1879, the youngest of three children of Oscar and Mettie (Bad- ger) Holden, late of Santa Barbara County, where they farmed. Oscar Holden, Sr., was born in New York State and married in Nebraska, where he was engaged in cattle-raising on the Nemaha River, when Nebraska was a territory. In 1875 he moved with his family to Goleta and farmed for a while and then moved to Monte- cito, a suburb of Santa Barbara. His wife was born in Michigan and grew up in Iowa and Nebraska. Her parents were also pioneers. Oscar Holden grew up on his father's farm in Goleta until he was seventeen. When his parents moved to Montecito he attended the public school there and learned the carpenter's trade. He did a little contracting and a little teaming. His attention being called to the Hilmar district in Merced County, he visited the place in 1908 and was so well satisfied that he bought sixty acres. Coming home he loaded up his goods and unloaded them at the Hilmar station on February 16, of the same year.
Mr. Holden was married in Santa Barbara to Clara Stevens, a daughter of Lyman and Lydia V. Stevens. Her father was a veteran of the Civil War, who came from Missouri to California after the war and passed away at the age of seventy-one. Her mother resides in Napa County, and is now seventy-five years old. The Holdens' two children are Earl Lyman, an electrician, and Laura, the wife of Donald Ross, an engineer in the cold storage plant in San Jose. Mr. Holden was elected a director in the Hilmar Mutual Fire Insurance Company in 1906 and has served acceptably and continuously ever since. This company provides insurance for about one half the cost
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of old-line companies. During the late war he was captain of the district in the various bond drives, and his district went over the top every time. It is largely through his efforts that the Prairie Flower school district was organized, in which he has served as director for many years. Mrs. Holden has also served on the election board and done jury duty, and is deputy county clerk in the Riverside voting precinct, which has recently been formed out of a portion of the Fairview Valley precinct. Mrs. Holden is a very estimable lady and shares the excellent progressive spirit of her husband.
JOHN GROOM
When John Groom came to Livingston, Cal., in 1910, there was not much to suggest the present remarkable prosperity which he him- self has helped to bring about. His first experience in Livingston was as a building foreman, but it was not long before he saw an oppor- tunity for an energetic contractor. From the very start Mr. Groom averaged one building per month and to his credit stands the Marshall store building, the Livingston telegraph office building, the library building, the Sumner Grammar School building, the pool hall, the First Bank of Livingston building, the Walter Ward building, the Livingston bakery. He built the George Bloss home in Atwater, the residences of A. Craig, E. G. Adams, Dr. G. C. Saunders and others. In 1923 he built the Atwater Grammar School at Atwater and the new addition to the Merced Falls Grammar School. Mr. Groom has built five houses for himself and has sold four of them and is living in the fifth.
Mr. Groom is of English descent; his father, also named John Groom, and his mother, Anna Theresa (Williams) Groom, were born in England. They immigrated to Canada, and were there united in marriage. John Groom, Sr., located at Muskoka, Canada, where on May 22, 1876, John Jr., was born. The family remained in Canada for the following three years, then removed to Chicago, where the father engaged in contracting and building in the stock- yards district. There were six children in this family: Anna, the wife of Angus Morrison, of Philadelphia, Pa .; Emma, the wife of George Palmeter, of Hood River, Ore .; John, our subject; Thomas, assistant superintendent at the California Barrel Factory at Arcata, Cal .; James, deceased; and Bessie, wife of Mark Austin, of Living- ston. The father passed away at Antigo, Wis., aged sixty-five years, and the mother died at Livingston on February 9, 1924, aged eight- one years.
جوم
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John Groom attended public school in Chicago and one year at Benton Harbor, Mich., and at the age of fourteen he went to work as an apprentice to learn the carpenter's trade. He left the family home at Antigo, Wis., and came to California in 1901, locating first at Gonzales, Monterey County, where he worked for about eight months; then went to Eureka, where he remained until 1908, when he removed to San Francisco and worked for a couple of years prior to locating at Livingston.
At Livingston, in June, 1914, Mr. Groom was married to Miss Abbie E. Carson, a daughter of John Carson. and of this union one child has been born, John Carson Groom. Fraternally, Mr. Groom is affiliated with Humboldt Lodge No. 77, I. O. O. F., and Mt. Zion Encampment, I. O. O. F., both at Eureka, Humboldt County, Cal. He is a stockholder in the First Bank of Livingston. He is very active in all matters pertaining to the advancement of the Livingston section of Merced County and is ever looking for an opportunity to aid in its further development.
JAMES RYAN, JR.
The list of public-spirited and highly respected business men of Merced is not complete without the name of James Ryan, a member of a large family of pioneers and a man who took an active part in local affairs. Being a stanch Republican, he made his influence felt in every movement to promote the welfare of Merced City and County. He was born on his father's farm in Mariposa County, on August 8, 1878, a son of James and Louisa (Pate) Ryan. The father came from New York State in 1859, while yet a boy, and mined for nine years, and then bought the ranch now known as the Cornett ranch, and farmed to grain. He sold this ranch and took up what is now known as the Ryan ranch, but moved from it two years before his death. His sons farmed the ranch up to the time of his death, in 1921, and it was later sold by the family to Frank Crane. There were thirteen children in the family, of whom two died young; the others grew to maturity and eight are now living.
James Ryan, Jr., attended the Cunningham school, four miles from his home, and afterwards took a course in the Santa Cruz Busi- ness College, at the age of eighteen. From working on a ranch he went to San Francisco and was employed in a wholesale store for three years; his next engagement was in a store in Le Grand for a while. Then until 1918 he was engaged in farming, and afterwards in pros- pecting for oil in Fresno and Merced Counties on the West Side. In 1924 Mr. Ryan became owner of a third-interest in the Lost Pose
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Eaton gold quartz mine in Tuolumne County, and at the present time they have struck a ledge assaying from $100 to $2000 per ton.
James Ryan married Miss Eva Holloway of Illinois, but reared in California, and they have three children, namely : Leonore (Mrs. Phil Clark ), Evelyn, and James. Fraternally Mr. Ryan is an Odd Fellow, and served as Grand Master of California in 1922; and he is also a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Native Sons of the Golden West, and Merced Lodge No. 1240, B. P. O. E. He belongs to the Lions' Club and the Chamber of Commerce in Merced. He is fond of outdoor life and in his younger days was a baseball player.
P. A. LUNDQUIST
It is from Sweden, Denmark and Norway that the United States gets many of its energetic, reliable and progressive people, who make loyal citizens, and typical of the best in those races we have P. A. Lundquist, owner of a forty-acre well-improved ranch in the Fair- view precinct of the Hilmar Colony. On a five-acre addition, which he later acquired, he has built a comfortable home which will serve him and his wife during their declining years.
The son of Andrew E. and Catherine Lundquist, P. A. was born in Skaraborg Lan, Sweden, on May 19, 1856; and he came with his parents to America and settled with them in Jefferson County, Iowa, being the youngest of three children, two sons and one daughter. He entered heartily into the work of helping to clear up and develop his father's farm. In 1886 the parents moved to Montgomery County, Iowa, where the parents and sister died. The brother, John G., is still living retired in Stanton, Iowa.
. In 1892, P. A. Lundquist was married in Montgomery County, Iowa, to Miss Louisa Holm, a daughter of a merchant-tailor in Sweden. As a young girl of sixteen she courageously migrated to Iowa. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Lundquist bought an eighty-acre unimproved farm in Montgomery County, Iowa, upon which they carried on a general farming business. Three children were born of this union. The oldest, John E., served in France during the World War and is now a farmer north of Hilmar; Agnes mar- ried Arthur Nilsen, and is the mother of three children, Arnold, Leonard and Reuben, and resides on the home ranch; David W., who graduated from Heald's Business College of Oakland in 1920, is a young man of sterling worth and is working for the Standard Oil Company.
Mr. and Mrs. Lundquist became interested in the Hilmar Colony in California and in 1915 they left Montgomery County, Iowa, and
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came here. They brought with them considerable means and have wisely invested it and have improved their property. They are active members of the Swedish Mission Church and are among the best people of the Hilmar Colony. In politics they are Republicans.
PETER PETERSEN
Closely associated with the advancement of the agricultural pros- perity of Merced County is Peter Petersen, who owns and occupies a choice and well-improved ranch of forty-eight acres, which is pleas- antly situated west of the limits of the city of Gustine. During 1923 he purchased another ranch which contains 13.62 acres, both ranches being under the Miller & Lux canal. Mr. Petersen conducts a dairy of forty cattle and raises alfalfa. The birth of Peter Petersen oc- curred on the Island of Als, Germany, but now Denmark, March 2, 1875, a son of Mathias and Catherina (Petersen) Petersen. Mathias Petersen was a cooper by trade and also followed farming in his native country ; he never left Denmark, passing away there in 1883, while the mother passed away about 1905. Five children blessed this union : Maria, Mrs. James Hansen, residing at Newman; Peter, the subject of this review; Hans, deceased; Mathias, living in Michigan; and Doris, who still makes her home in Denmark.
Peter Petersen attended public school in Germany and remained at home until he was sixteen years old, when he came to America. Locating in Escanaba, Mich., he worked for six and a half years in a saw mill. Desiring a change of location, he came to California and stopped at Newman, where he learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed for the next fifteen years. At the end of this time he came to Gustine and purchased his present home place, which was uncultivated land at that time; on this place he established a dairy and planted the land to alfalfa; his second purchase of land is also being developed to alfalfa.
At Modesto, June 18, 1908, Mr. Petersen was married to Miss Catherina Miller, also born in Als, daughter of Jorgen Miller, who was a professional musician, also a farmer, but devoted most of his time to music. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Petersen: Esther, Wilbur, and Edwin. During January, 1919, the flu epidemic claimed Mrs. Petersen and the two eldest children, all passing away within one week's time. Mr. Petersen favors the principles of the Democratic party, but usually votes for the candidate best fitted for office regardless of party lines. Fraternally he belongs to Romero Lodge No. 413 I. O. O. F. and to the Dania Lodge at Gustine.
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CHRISTIAN STONER WEAVER
The rapid advance of education in every part of our fair land and the development and improvement of educational methods have raised the teacher's calling to the dignity of a true profession, which today is one of the most useful known. Especially qualified for his present position by reason of his broad learning, rare patience and good executive ability, Christian Stoner Weaver is successfully filling the position of county superintendent of schools of Merced County. A native of California he was born near Livingston, Mer- ced County, on October 28, 1878, a son of William L. and Annie (Stoner) Weaver. W. L. Weaver was born in Pennsylvania in 1847, came to California the first time in January, 1870, remained until October, 1871, when he returned to his eastern home and on December 28, 1871, was united in marriage with Miss Annie Stoner, born in Pennsylvania on February 5, 1847. In 1874, with his wife and two children, Mr. Weaver again came to California and in 1876 located in Merced County and followed the carpenter's trade and engaged in ranching. In 1900 the family moved to the British Colony and here Mr. Weaver continued farming until he was acci- dentally killed in a railroad accident in 1907. Mrs. Weaver is still living and is the mother of nine children, all living, as follows: Charles H., residing with his mother; Mrs. Elma Middleton, of Ceres, who has two children; Mrs. Sadie Clark, of Alameda, who has two children; Christian Stoner, of this review; Robert S., of Merced, who is the father of three children; Mrs. Mollie Lander, of Ceres, the mother of five children; Nettie and Margaret A., who are with their mother ; and Alvin E., of the British Colony and the father of two children.
Christian Stoner Weaver was reared and educated in Merced County, supplementing his public school studies with courses at the University of California, the Stockton Normal School, the Stock- ton Business College, and the Fresno Teachers' College. His first position as teacher was in the schools of his native county for three years. He then was in the employ of the Yosemite Valley Railroad during its construction for four years, after which he returned to his pedagogical work for three years in the schools of Fresno County; then in the city schools of Fresno for four years, and serving one year as deputy county superintendent of schools. In 1920 he came back to Merced County and farmed for a short time. He next taught for two and one-half years in the Tuttle school and in Novem- ber, 1922 he was elected to the office of county superintendent of schools of Merced County, a position he continues to fill with efficiency.
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The marriage of Mr. Weaver united him with Miss Anna Peden, a native of Kentucky, and four children have blessed their union: Robert Christian, Martha Elizabeth, Ruth Louise and Doris Mae. Fraternally, Mr. Weaver is a Mason, belonging to Yosemite Lodge No. 99, F. & A. M., and Fresno Consistory of the Scottish Rite ; has been through the chairs of Merced Lodge No. 208, I. O O. F .; and is also a member of the Woodmen of the World. Mr. Weaver is devoted to his work and is a close student of the educational needs of Merced County. Politically, he is independent in his views.
CLYDE E. BRIDEGROOM
A representative dairyman of the Fairview Precinct in Merced County, who has made his own way in the world and has reached his present place in the esteem of his fellow men, is Clyde E. Bride- groom, residing about seven miles southwest of Turlock. Mr. Bridegroom was born at Mt. Carmel, Wabash County, Ill., Decem- ber 28, 1885, the son of William E. Bridegroom, the present mayor of Turlock, Stanislaus County. The latter was born in Winamac, Ind., and became a railroad man, running on freight and later on passenger trains as a conductor, first with the "Big Four," then with the Wabash, and later was with the Texas Pacific in Texas. He had married in Indiana, Miss Mary Gill, born in that State; and she bore her husband four children who are now living.
Clyde E. attended the public schools in Illinois and after com- pleting his courses at the age of sixteen he took to farming on 192 acres owned by his father at Reinard, Ill. The lure of California called to the young farmer in Illinois and on October 3, 1905, he arrived in Los Angeles to see if he could not better his condition, he being the first member of his family to come this far West. After the usual sight-seeing in the southland, Mr. Bridegroom found em- ployment in the factory owned by the Southern California Lumber & Box Company, and a few months later he went to Bakersfield, where he was fortunate to become a foreman for the Kern County Land Company on their 120,000-acre Poso Ranch and he remained in that position for the ensuing seven years. His next field of en- deavor was with the American Oilfields Company, at Taft, as fore- man of the Transportation Department for two years. In 1906 he had made a visit to Turlock, Cal., and at that time purchased a few lots in the new and growing community. In 1912 he came back to that city, but in the meantime had traded his lots for twenty acres of land south of the city, upon which he built a house and made improvements, and it is here that he still makes his home. Through
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general ranching and dairying he has succeeded and now owns 120 acres of fine land upon which he runs a dairy of seventy cows, having every modern convenience obtainable to make his barns and equip- ment sanitary and convenient.
Much of the success that has accompanied the efforts of Mr. Bridegroom he attributes to his wife, whom he married in Modesto and who was in maidenhood, Miss Ethel Marie Kirkwood, born in Ukiah, Cal., the daughter of William Edward Kirkwood, who came to Mendocino County from Iowa when he was eleven years of age. Of this happy union have been born four children: William Rad- cliffe, Bethel Beatrice, Robina Bernice and Kirkwood Clyde. Mr. Bridegroom is essentially a "home-man" as he finds his greatest happiness in the bosom of his interesting family. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and are Republicans in politics. Both Mr. and Mrs. Bridegroom are highly esteemed by their ever- widening circle of friends and well-wishers.
PAUL D. BLOOM
Among the younger generation of dairymen and ranchers in Merced County, Paul D. Bloom has won a name and place for him- self. He was born in Davis County, Iowa, March 16, 1891, a son of John and Laura A. (Royer) Bloom. John Bloom was born in Sweden, near Stockholm, and was reared on a farm. He left his native land, lived in Iowa, where he married; in 1900 he came to California, eventually locating in San Jose, where he passed his last days, dying at the age of sixty-six years. He had been engaged in the hotel business in San Jose. Mrs. Bloom still makes that city her home.
Paul D. Bloom grew to manhood in San Jose and was educated in the public schools, after which he started out to make his own way in the world when he was twenty. His first employment was with the Standard Oil Company at San Jose in the sales department. He was there until he came to Merced County, in 1918. Here he located on the ranch owned by his father-in-law, Jasper Parnell, having at first forty acres, but now operates 160 acres devoted to dairying and raising alfalfa on shares.
On July 16, 1913, occurred the marriage of Paul D. Bloom and Miss Julia Stella Parnell, who was born in Stockton, the daughter of Jasper and Cassie Parnell, mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Bloom have three children: Cedric, Mildred and Donald. Politically Mr. Bloom is a Democrat. Fra- ternally he is a member of the Odd Fellows at Newman.
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CHARLES WILSON O'DONNEL
It is a significant tribute to the merits of Merced County, that a man of such wide experience as Charles W. O'Donnel should choose to settle here and invest his money. He is a citizen of whom any com- munity might well be proud and the people of Merced County have accorded him a place in the foremost ranks of its representative citi- zens and business men. His material worth is represented by two fine ranches, one of sixty-five acres near Arena devoted to alfalfa, dairying and fruit; another of forty acres in the Jordan-Atwater section, in which there are ten acres of Thompson Seedless grapes, twelve acres of Malagas, fourteen acres of Elberta peaches, and four acres of alfalfa. He has concrete pipes for irrigating and an abund- ance of pure water from his own wells for domestic, stock and irri- gating purposes which are operated by means of two Fairbanks-Morse gasoline pumping engines. The two farms are very fertile and valuable.
Mr. O'Donnel was born at Parker's Landing, in Butler County, Pa., on November 6, 1876. His father, L. D. O'Donnel, was born in 1847 and married to Edith Black in Venango County; he was well known as one of the first contract-drillers in the Venango County oil fields of Pennsylvania and was in the oil game until his retirement, in 1896, to his farm in Venango County. He drilled the first oil well that was drilled by contract in the United States, it being the discovery well at Scrub Grass, Pa., and drilled on what is now the right-of- way of the Pennsylvania Railroad, now known as the Allegheny Val- ley Railroad, between Oil City and Pittsburgh. Mr. O'Donnel is still living in Pennsylvania. His wife died there in 1914 at the age of fifty-nine. There were three children, the others being Edward, of Sharon, Pa., an inspector of the Carnegie Steel Works at Farrell, Pa .; and Daisy, Mrs. J. C. Reynolds, whose husband is a concrete contractor at Franklin, Pa.
The second child, Charles Wilson O'Donnel grew up in Pennsyl- vania. His education, begun in the common schools, was topped off by a commercial course after which, at the age of sixteen, he started in business with his father; and when his father retired, he took pos- session of the five strings of tools in the Rosenburg field in Pennsyl- vania. He has drilled in nearly every oil State of the Union. He came to California in 1910 and drilled at Taft for the K. T. & O. Co., which is subsidiary to the Southern Pacific Railway. In 1913 he left California and went to Electra, Texas, where he brought in thirty wells. When he left Breckenridge, Texas, in 1910, and came to Cali- fornia Mr. O'Donnel purchased his first ranch in the Jordan-Atwater tract in Merced County, but continued drilling until 1918. He
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standardized and brought in the first oil well at Burnett, Texas, where he kept six strings of tools at work.
Mr. O'Donnel was married in Franklin, Pa., in 1908, to Miss Edna Levier, born in Venango County, Pa., the eleventh child of the twelve born to John Levier and his wife. Mrs. O'Donnel died in 1918.
On December 15, 1924, Charles L. O'Donnel, who is the oldest son of Edward O'Donnel, of Sharon, Pa., purchased an undi- vided half interest in the 105 acres of land owned by our sub- ject at Arena and will give his time and best efforts to develop- ing the property into fruits, and to the development of a market from Arena to Sharon, Pa., for California fruits. Charles L. O'Donnel was born at Pittsburgh, Pa., on June 27, 1897, and for ten years was connected with the Carnegie Steel Company, at Sharon. He was also for two years with the Pennsylvania Railway Company. His wife, whose maiden name was Margaret Moriarity, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, is a proficient stenographer, was secretary to the secretary of the Sharon, Pa., Chamber of Commerce, and like her husband, has a wide acquaintance and is well posted as to the market conditions and requirements for fruit of the people in the Pittsburgh section of Pennsylvania. 400 carloads of California grapes and other green fruits were marketed at Sharon during 1924. Mr. and Mrs. C. L. O'Donnel have one son. Their advent in Arena is very welcome, particularly as it initiates a new era for Arena as a fruit shipping center.
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