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 67
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Mr. and Mrs. Johnston are hospitable and very highly esteemed in their community. Mr. Johnston has acquired a vast stock of knowledge through experience and general reading, and he aims to keep himself posted on the national, State, county and local issues and he will cast his ballot without fear or favor for what expresses his honest conviction. An interesting incident in his life is his acquaintance with W. J. Bryan, which came about through his en- thusiastic admiration of Bryan and free silver in the latter's first campaign for the Presidency. Bryan heard of it, and when he was in Waverly called on him and walked up the street with him. His respect for the Great Commonor is as profound as ever.
ROY VAN DEN HEUVEL
One of the many highly respected citizens of Merced County is Roy van den Heuvel, a resident of Merced and proprietor of the Merced Monumental Works and a cement contractor. He is a native son of California, born at Santa Rosa, on July 22, 1875, a son of William and Eliza (Iles) van den Heuvel. About 1872 William van den Heuvel came from his native country of Holland to the United States and directly to California and located in Lake County ; he passed away in 1888, while the mother of our subject is still living.
Roy van den Heuvel received a public school education and when the family located in Merced, he learned the butcher trade with Banks & Bedesen, working for them five years. At the outbreak of the Spanish-American War he volunteered for service and was made first lieutenant of Company H, 6th Infantry of the 1st Battalion; after
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serving eight months he returned to Merced. He began clerking in a grocery store but after three months secured the position of janitor of the high school, which he occupied for eight years, the last two years acting in the capacity of assistant manual training instructor. He resigned this position and served as deputy sheriff of the county for four years, at the end of which time he engaged in the cement con- struction business and in 1918 established the Merced Monumental Works; he does all kinds of flat concrete work, including sidewalks, curbs, foundations, gutters, copings and vaults.
The marriage of Mr. van den Heuvel united him with Miss Mary Gstrein and of this union two sons have been born, Cyril A. and Raymond W. Mr. van den Heuvel is a Democrat in his political views, and fraternally has been clerk of the Woodmen of the World camp for eighteen years ; he is also a member of the B. P. O. Elks and the Odd Fellows lodges of Merced.
M. M. REIMAN
One of the pioneer fruit men of the Planada district, Mr. Reiman and his wife are among the three families of Planada's original set- tlers who have the distinction of having remained there through "thick and thin" in the years of the pioneering of this new fruit section, and they are now the owners of a very fine ranch, entirely of their own development, and in the meantime have built up a remarkable business in the raising of prize-winning Giant Bronze turkeys. A native of Somerset, Pa., born January 22, 1888, M. M. Reiman is the third of four children born to J. J. and Rebecca (Schrock) Reiman, of that State. J. J. Reiman was born June 26, 1854, the youngest of four children, and he became a school teacher in early life. He later engaged in farming as a vocation, and was successful in his undertakings, for he was a decidedly enterprising man; he organized and is still a director of the First National Bank of Berlin, Pa .; is secretary of the Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and a man whose friends are legion. He is still living, active and well-known in his section of the country as a man of dis- tinct public spirit and the energy to carry through his ideas to completion.
M. M. Reiman attended the Stony Creek public school, and at the age of sixteen passed the teachers' examination with the county superintendent of schools, and taught for the next three terms. He was a graduate and class president of the Normal School at Cali- fornia, Pa., receiving his degree in 1910. After teaching for one term in Centerville Borough, Pa., he left for California, in August,
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1911, and never returned to his native State until 1924, when he made a visit to his people.
After his arrival here, Mr. Reiman remained six months in Southern California, and as a sightseer took in that entire section. In April, 1912, he located at Planada, Merced County, investing in twenty acres of land, a portion of the Holt Ranch. He taught school for five terms in the Plainsburg and Planada schools, from their beginnings, and in the meantime he set about the development of his ranch, setting it out to almonds and figs, and has added by subsequent purchase an ajoining ten acre tract. His ranch property has been brought to a high state of cultivation, and is very sufficient proof, both of his ability and industry, and of the suitability of this section of the State for profitable raising of fruits.
In the spring of 1913, Mr. Reiman started with a single setting of eggs, to raise turkeys; he now has enlarged this branch of his business to an extent shown by the size of the annual catalogue he issues, giving full information about his prize-winning birds, and showing many testimonials from pleased patrons. The year 1924 ushered in the initial Fair of the Merced County's Poultry Associa- tion, of which, on its organization in January of this year, Mr. Reiman was elected president, at the general meeting. The show was a huge success, with about seventy-five exhibitors and 500 birds in evidence, breeders exhibiting from Fresno, Madera, and Stanis- laus Counties, as well as from Merced. Among Mr. Reiman's exhibits was his forty-five pound turkey gobbler, "Warren G. Hard- ing," who was transplanted from Illinois to Planada. He was pre- sented to President Harding to grace a White House Thanksgiving table, but the former President said he was too nice a bird for mere "eats," and so he is still alive to carry off all honors. This turkey was a first winner at Chicago, both as a cockerel and a yearling, and since Mr. Reiman bought him in 1922, he has captured first ribbons, both at Los Angeles and Modesto, and at Chicago during two suc- cessive years. He was pronounced by Frank Platt, of the American Poultry Journal, as "outstanding, in a class by himself, a flame of bronze." With this bird at the head of his flock, Mr. Reiman is going in for even higher standards; during the eleven years he has been breeding bronze turkeys it has always been his aim to produce "better turkeys," and he has built up a large patronage in turkey eggs for settings, which are shipped to customers in Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Washington, Oregon, Hawaiian Islands, Philippine Islands and South America.
The marriage of Mr. Reiman, occurring August 15, 1911, at Pittsburgh, Pa., united him with Elma Ruth Weaver, the third of eight children and eldest daughter born to L. S. and Lucy Leora
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(Smallwood) Weaver, both natives of Pennsylvania and still living. Mrs. Reiman is a graduate of the Centerville, Pa., High School, class 1910, and also attended both the Pennsylvania and California State Normal Schools, and taught in the primary grades for one term. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Reiman : Gene- vieve E., Gerald Milton, Irma Rebecca, Rita K., and Ruth Lucille; the first born in Los Angeles, and all the others natives of Planada.
While never seeking public office, Mr. Reiman has, since his first coming to the district, been active in upbuilding the community and in advancing the general welfare. He was the first secretary of the Merced County Farm Bureau, resigning in 1919, and for three years he served as school trustee of the Planada district, and in 1925 was elected a trustee of the Joint Union High School of Le Grand, Cal.
CLARENCE L. FANCHER
An extensive grain rancher of Merced County, Clarence L. Fancher is a member of a family well known in the county since the early days of 1850. He was born on a farm, five miles west of Niles, Mich., on February 11, 1875, the fifth of seven children born to Jonathan W. and Margaret C. (Roe) Fancher, the father a native of Syracuse, N. Y., born in 1835, and the mother of Indiana, her death occurring in Michigan, in 1905. Jonathan W. Fancher was a cooper by trade, who settled in Michigan in 1853. Moving to Indiana in 1885, he became an extensive owner of land and stock r there; and Clarence L., from the early age of ten, took up duties on the home ranch as chore boy, and remained there until 1899, when he came as far west as Butte, Mont., and later went into the Big Horn Basin, Wyo., where he entered on land under the Carey Act and homestead law, forty miles from the railway, and for twelve years developed the land, devoting it to grain, sheep and hogs, with marked success. In the meantime, his father had come west to Mer- ced, Cal., in 1900, where he had been preceded by his brothers, the late George H., and Lee R. Fancher, settlers there in 1850 and promi- nent figures in Merced banking and farming circles. Jonathan W. had acquired land near Merced, and came out to look after his interests, and in 1912, Clarence L. brought out a carload of stock, and has since handled the ranch work and managed the property.
C. L. Fancher's marriage, on March 27, 1903, in Wyoming, united him with Miss Lydia A. Lindsay, a native of Utah, and the fifth of ten children born to her parents, the late Edwin R., and Mrs. Emma Bowden Lindsay of Big Horn Basin. Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Fancher: Lila, Iras, Arlene, Vir-
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ginia, Lindsay, and Llewellyn.
In 1921, Mr. Fancher entered the Poultry Producers Associa- tion, and he is building up his pens to full capacity, with 1600 hens, engaging in egg production on a large scale. He is a member of the Planada-Tuttle Farm Bureau, and has always championed modern methods, both in theory and practice, for he sees in intensive culti- vation the real growth of California, and especially her valley lands. He is likewise interested in educational advancement, and is a mem- ber of the board of school trustees for the Tuttle district. A Re- publican in political adherence, he sponsors all movements which have for their purpose the ultimate development of the district's resources, realizing that in that way is the prosperity of the individ- ual enhanced, in proportion as the country develops.
THOMAS CRAWFORD TURNER
The name of Turner is synonymous with advancement and develop- ment; for when William C. Turner came to California and Merced County, though he at once plunged into mining, he soon realized that the future of this great Western State depended on land development, and in 1852 he became a rancher and stock-raiser. A sketch of his life appears on another page of this history. Thomas Crawford Turner, familiarly called "Tommy" by his associates, is a worthy son of his father, and like him has done his share to bring Merced County to the fore in agricultural circles. He owns 500 acres of fine land on the Merced River in Livingston Precinct No. 2 and 320 acres south of the Mellican Bridge, across the river in Turner precinct; and on this large and fruitful acreage he has been raising grain and stock, as well as some fruit.
Tommy C. Turner was born in Merced County on July 19, 1874. After pursuing his early studies in the public schools of Merced County, he finished the high school course at Santa Cruz, and then entered Stanford University. He remained at Stanford until the death of his father, when he came back home and carried on the work begun by his father on some 7000 acres in the home ranch; and ranch- ing has been his forte ever since. He has been successful in his under- takings and holds a high place in the esteem of his fellow citizens.
In San Francisco occurred the wedding of T. C. Turner and Miss Della Prusso, and they had three children: Louise, Beatrice, and Thomas C., Jr. Mrs. Turner died on January 1, 1919. Mr. Turner is a member of Merced Lodge No. 1240, B. P. O Elks. He is a stockholder in the First Bank of Livingston. Politically he supports Democratic candidates and principles in national affairs, but locally he is guided by an independent estimate of men and measures.
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JOSEPH R. SOUZA
Success has accompanied the efforts of Joseph R. Souza in his work as general blacksmith; he located in Merced in 1906 and estab- lished his present business, at first on a small scale, but it has increased during the passing of the years to its present proportions and he is now equipped to repair anything in the way of wagons and farming machinery and with the help of four men takes care of his large and growing business. He is a native of Mariposa County, Cal., born July 15, 1877, a son of J. M. and Mary Souza, both natives of the Azores. J. M. Souza came to California in 1862 and engaged in mining ; later he followed farming in Mariposa County. There were seven children in the family. The mother is still living but the father died March 27, 1925, eighty-three years of age.
Joseph R. Souza received his education in the public schools of Mariposa County; after leaving school he drove a team for the Mariposa Mining Company for three years ; following this he learned the blacksmith's trade, which he has since followed.
The marriage of Mr. Souza united him with Miss Ivah Ellen Pickard of South Bend, Ind., and they are the parents of four chil- dren : Annie, Chester, Lloyd, and Robert. Mr. Souza is a Republican in politics, and fraternally is affiliated with the Odd Fellows, Wood- men of the World, Neighbors of Woodcraft and I. D. E. S., all of Merced. He has spent the greater part of his life in Merced and has shown his public spirit in various ways, always supporting men and measures for the development of the resources of this place.
CHESTER E. WELCH
Not only is Chester E. Welch well-known and highly respected, but he is among the most prominent business men of Merced. As the senior member of the firm of Welch & Griffin, undertakers, he has become well-known as a man of broad sympathies and kindly nature. The firm occupies the entire lower floor of the Masonic building and is thoroughly equipped to handle their business in the most modern way and with up-to-date methods.
Chester E. Welch was born on a farm in Kansas, July 9, 1886, a son of C. R. and Flora (Winches) Welch. The family came West when our subject was a child of two years and located in Salem, Ore., where they lived for fourteen years, then removed to Medford, Ore., and from there to Baker City and thence to Portland. During all these years the father, C. R. Welch, was engaged in the furniture and undertaking business. He sold his business in Portland, Ore., and
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removed, with his family, to Oakland, Cal., where he successfully con- ducted a furniture and undertaking business until his retirement; he still has large interests in this line of business in Oakland and there makes his home.
Chester E. Welch received a grammar and high school education in the schools of Oregon and from the time he was sixteen years old was associated with his father in business, learning the undertaking business in a thorough manner. Mr. Welch located in Merced in 1915, when he bought the undertaking business then operated by Mr. Nordgren and the firm became known as Welch & Company; later he sold an interest in the business to W. M. Griffin, who died in 1924, and was succeeded by his widow Mrs. Lulu Griffin. The firm still coll- ducts business under the name of Welch & Griffin. Some few years ago Mr. Welch became interested in agriculture and has invested considerable money in farming land adjacent to the city of Merced.
The marriage of Mr. Welch united him with Miss Josephine Reuder, a native daughter of Merced. Mr. Welch has been deputy county coroner for many years and is now serving as county coroner and public administrator. He is a Republican in politics and fratern- ally is associated with the Elks and the Moose, and he is an active member of the Chamber of Commerce.
C. B. HANNER
Merced County has been unusually fortunate in attracting men of broad vision and the practical experience to carry out the pos- sibilities they could see in this most fertile part of our wonderful State. Among these C. B. Hanner has played a prominent part in the extensive development work done in the county during the past few years, where the face of this section of California has been changed from a haphazard grain field into one of the most produc- tive fruit growing valleys in the world. Mr. Hanner was born in Waverly, Iowa, the fifth of seven children born to his parents, John and Margaret (Jewell) Hanner, both now deceased. John Hanner was a native of Montreal, Canada, of Scotch parents, farmers who migrated to Rockford, Ill., in the early sixties, and later located in Iowa, crossing the Mississippi River on a ferry, and drove overland with ox-team to where the town of Waverly now stands. John Han- ner became a widely and well-known rancher and stockman in Iowa, and his family are among the present day representative men and women of that State.
C. B. Hanner was reared in a good home on the farm in Iowa, attending the Waverly Grammar and High schools, and also taking
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a dairy course at Ames College, Iowa. At the age of nineteen he took an active part in the conduct of the home farm with his father and a brother, and continued so engaged for several years. In the early nineties he purchased a farm near Forest City, Iowa, and en- dured many privations in order to get ahead quickly, and he soon became one of the leaders in that section, and in 1895 organized the initial Farmers' Cooperative Creamery in Madison County, becom- ing its secretary and manager until he resigned, in 1899, to come to California. He was a breeder of high-grade cattle and thorough- bred hogs and was very successful, and also as a breeder of imported Percheron horses from Riga, France, always selling his stock at top prices, for they were the best obtainable. His knowledge on all farm problems and market conditions is well rounded from both a theoretical and practical standpoint and in all fields of land develop- ment he is an able authority, as has been well proven by his success since coming to California.
He came West in 1899, and reached Fresno at a time when building was active. With considerable knowledge of the trade, and being a good carpenter, he soon started out as a builder there, and followed it through until 1918, devoting his attention to residence and home structures, and doing his own planning and designing. His work stands out in Fresno today; the H. Swift home, on Cala- veras and L Streets, the Creighton, Beane, and scores of Fresno's finest homes are from the plans drawn and work done by Mr. Han- ner. In the meantime he was always interested in land development, and owned a ranch of 160 acres in Lone Star, which he held until it came into bearing, growing Muscat grapes; and a highly developed vineyard of 115 acres in the Dinuba district.
In 1918 Mr. Hanner left Fresno, having a big contract to fill at Chowchilla, Merced County, $75,000 worth of construction and development work on the D. Hayes property. He incidentally be- came interested in a 1000-acre tract himself, which he subsequently sold off until he now holds but 200 acres of this. It was in 1919 that he came to Merced County to do his greatest piece of work.
On August 15, 1919, he brought from Chowchilla over the high- ways into Planada $60,000 worth of land developing implements to carry on his work, consisting chiefly of the following: seven Holt caterpillar tractors, subsoiler and full equipment, land-levelers, etc. ; and a gang of twenty men started to work almost at once, near Tuttle. People looking on did not realize then what they were destined to see today on the land, the largest orchard in the world, peaches, and apricots, embracing some 4000 acres. Mr. Hanner was in full charge of operations, the property being owned by the Cali- fornia Packing Corporation, owners of the Del Monte brand.
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Through 1919-1920-1921, this great project worked slowly but suc- cessfully into a state of being. It is conceded by authorities that the remarkable growth of the 350,000 trees which stand today in such splendid symmetrical lines could not have attained such growth had it not been for the skilled work performed with Hanner's wonderful outfits-the subsoilers.
While this was being accomplished, this energetic man had to have something to do for himself, so he bought 160 acres, the former home place of M. L. Holt, in December, 1919, and started at once to transform it from a grainfield into a fine vineyard, surrounded by a border of Kadota figs.
The marriage of Mr. Hanner, at San Francisco, May, 1923, united him with Miss Nellie Mae Backus, a native of Boston, Mass. She came to California in 1918, and is an ardent supporter of "our" climate and other factors which make California a pleasant place in which to make one's home. Mr. Hanner's parents both came to California in 1894, from Iowa, locating at Fresno, where the home they built is still standing, on East Avenue. The father returned to Iowa on a visit to his sons there, in 1898, contracted a severe cold en route, and died in Waverly, in January, 1898. The mother re- mained a steadfast devotee to Fresno, and her death occurred there in 1911.
JOHN ALFRED HALLNER
Prominent among the Swedish-American population of Merced County is the Hallner family, of which John A. Hallner is a member and the owner of a forty-acre ranch on Turner Avenue two miles southwest of Irwin in the Hilmar Colony. He was born in Carver County, Minn., on March 10, 1867, and at the age to three years was taken to Saunders County, Nebr., by his parents, John and Johanna (Johnson) Hallner, the former born in Westre Jotland on November 7, 1820, and the latter on August 20, of the same year, and they were married in Sweden.
Our subject grew up on his father's farm in Nebraska, forty-five miles west from Omaha, where he had homesteaded eighty acres of land. This was improved by himself and members of the family, all cooperating together until there were 400 acres under cultivation to corn. When this land was divided, John A. received 100 acres as his share. There were seven children in the family, viz .: Andrew, now living in Turlock; Mary married John Smith in Saunders County. Nebr., and died in 1892 leaving four children; Hannah, widow of Samuel Rylen, lives in Merced County ; August and Carl are dealers
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in agricultural implements and automobiles at Mead, Nebr .; Christina is the wife of Charles Youngstedt, of Turlock; and John Alfred, of this review, is the youngest and the only one born in the United States. A girl and boy died in infancy. The family came to America in 1863, settling first in Iowa, and then moved to Minnesota, and in 1870, to Nebraska.
Here John A. Hallner grew up under pretty rough and trying experiences, living in a sod house and battling with blizzards, drouths and grasshoppers. He went to school to his brother Andrew in a sod schoolhouse, and at the age of fifteen went to work herding cattle for his father. Much of his life was passed in the saddle. Carrying his books with him he learned his lessons at spare times while out with the cattle on the Nebraska prairies. His father had a herd of from fifty to one hundred head of cattle. After a strenuous life in Nebraska the parents moved to California in 1912, where they died, the father, January 21, 1913, and the mother, January 22, 1916.
John Hallner was married on his father's farm near Mead, Nebr., to Miss Anna Carlson, a native of Wadesten, Ostre Jotland, Sweden. the daughter of P. G. and Clara (Sundberg) Carlson. The father started for America four months ahead of his wife and family. They had three children: Tina, now Mrs. Sorenson of Randolph, Nebr .; Anna, Mrs, Hallner; and August, a carpenter who makes his home at times with his brother-in-law, John A. Hallner. Mr. Hallner bought twenty acres when he first came to California in 1912 and has added twenty acres since, and he has improved the place with a good house, barns and other farm buildings. He is a careful student of political economy and casts his vote for progressive and constructive legislation and for the general welfare of the people. In all of his hard work he has had a most loyal helpmeet in his good wife, who shares all his sorrows and rejoices in his successes. They are interesting people, of ready wit and cheerful disposition.
CHARLES B. TILLER
One of the best painting and decorating contractors in Los Banos is Charles B. Tiller, who was born in Dekalb County, Mo., on Janu- ary 26, 1887. He attended school in his home locality until he was eleven, at which time his parents came to Riverside County, Cal., and settled in Corona, where the lad continued his education, then they moved to Lincoln, Placer County, and he finished there. Upon leaving school he entered the laboratory department of the Standard Oil Company in Richmond and remained for eighteen months, when he went to Oakland and served his time in learning the trade of
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