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 70
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Thomas attended the Lower Lake public school and at the age of sixteen went to work in his father's shop, remaining for five years. At the age of twenty-one he engaged in carpenter work, learned the business thoroughly, and in 1902 came to Merced and worked as a journeyman until 1911, when he removed to Atwater, then a village of about 100 inhabitants. Since that time he has done most of the building in that town and vicinity, his handiwork showing in many of the best residences, business blocks and school buildings; in 1925 he erected the Bloss Memorial Library costing $15,000. He is the owner of a ten-acre vineyard in Arizona Colony and his home prop- erty in Atwater; and he is the proprietor of the Atwater Billiard Hall and Cigar Store and is considered one of the substantial men of the town, as well as a public-spirited citizen of the county.
Mr. Wayne was united in marriage with Miss Bertie L. Cunning- ham of Lower Lake, daughter of the late W. H. Cunningham, a
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pioneer blacksmith, who was also assessor of Lake County three terms. He was well and favorably known in Northern California. The children of this union are : Leonard A., Nora E., Ethel I., Mil- dred M., Leta and Thomas A., Jr. Mr. Wayne was elected a member of the first board of trustees of Atwater upon its incorporation ill August, 1922. Fraternally, he is a member and a Past Grand of the Odd Fellows lodge at Lower Lake, and a member of Merced Lodge No. 1240, B. P. O. E. He stands at all times for cooperation in all public development and is a champion of the rights of the people.
JOHN NORDSTROM
Numbered among the well-to-do ranchers of the Hilmar Colony, Merced County, John Nordstrom has met with truly remarkable success, due to his habits of unremitting industry, thrift, and good management. Born in Sweden, on September 1, 1875, he is the eldest of nine children born to his parents, P. A. and Sophia Nord- strom, who never left their old estate in Sweden, the father still living there, and the mother having passed away on March 4, 1925. The owners of a fine farm in the old country, the parents were able to give their children good educations, and John Nordstrom was educated and confirmed in the Lutheran Church, and finished with a course in business college in Stockholm. On completing his school- ing, John was apprenticed to learn the machinist trade, and for five years worked in a general machine shop in the manufacture of tur- bines and all kinds of engines. The lure of "Westward Ho!" finally had its effect on him, and embarking at Gottenburg, on the ship Mayflower of the Old Dominion Line, he landed in Boston, Mass., in May, 1903. A few days later, May 19, found him stepping off the train at Chicago, where he secured employment in the firm of Pettibone & Millikin, a railway supply company, for whom he worked eight years.
In Chicago, in 1907, Mr. Nordstrom's first marriage occurred. uniting him with Miss Vorborg Bergersen, a native of Norway, and three children were born to them: Morris; Carl Roald; and John Vernon, who has been adopted into the family of his aunt, Mrs. Leonard F. Johnston. In 1911, Mr. Nordstrom enjoyed a six- months tour of Europe, with his wife and eldest son, visiting Nor- way, Sweden and England; and on May 13, 1921, occurred the death of the wife and mother.
The family had come to California and settled in the Hilmar Colony, in 1912, and, starting with a working capital of only $800, Mr. Nordstrom is now the owner of fifty acres of productive land,
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twenty acres in the home ranch, and thirty acres one-half mile north of there. He keeps the property in excellent condition and carries on a general mixed farming, raising alfalfa, corn, beans, grapes, and has four acres of peaches; and in addition operates an eight-cow dairy. That he has met with such results in a comparatively short length of time shows him to be a man of sturdy character, willing to work hard and take advantage of the opportunities so abundant in California and Merced County.
In December, 1923, Mr. Nordstrom married a second time, to Mrs. Freida Lind, widow of John Lind, late of Chicago; she is the mother of three children by her first husband: Clarence, Siegwald, and Lester.
M. P. LEWIS
Numbered among the representative business men of Los Banos, Merced County, are the Lewis Brothers, grocers of that thriving city, who by the careful attention to business and courtesy to their customers have built up a very successful enterprise, principally by anticipating the wants of their many patrons and by carrying a clean and up to date stock. The senior member of the firm, M. P. Lewis, was born in Watsonville, Cal., on September 13, 1885, and attended the public schools of Watsonville in the primary grades, supplement- ing this foundation by the practical experience gained while in the office of the Watsonville Pajaronian, the leading newspaper of that city. He started to learn the trade, beginning as "devil," after which he followed the trade in Kingsburg, San Luis Obispo, Santa Maria and Los Banos. While thus employed he acted as foreman of various shops and during the temporary absence of the proprietors he frequently got out the papers. For a time he had charge of the printing department on the Spreckels Californian at the Spreckels sugar factory.
In 1907 Mr. Lewis came to Los Banos and entered the office as a printer on the Los Banos Enterprise, serving on its staff for several years, later leasing the plant and becoming the editor and proprie- tor. The possibilities of intellectual development in publishing any country newspaper are varied, but are more than offset by the small financial returns and Mr. Lewis was induced to give up his chosen calling and enter the grocery trade by becoming a partner with M. B. Miranda by buying out J. J. Silva. Later the firm became Lewis and Miranda, and still later Lewis Brothers when Miranda sold out to W. J. and M. P. Lewis, who have since greatly enlarged their stock and expanded their trade so that their patronage now covers
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a wide area in this section of Merced County. They now have one of the largest, if not the largest grocery store in Los Banos.
Mr. Lewis was united in marriage with Miss Ethel King, born in Salinas, who was a teacher in the Oakland and Los Banos schools. They have one daughter, Marjorie. Mr. Lewis is a member of Merced Parlor No. 24, N. S. G. W., and of the Fraternal Order of Eagles.
LORENZO A. SISCHO
As proprietor of Sischo's Garage of Los Banos, Lorenzo A. Sischo has established himself on a firm basis in Merced County. He first came to the West Side as a duck hunter, which vocation he fol- lowed very successfully for several years, until he decided that he could find better opportunities for advancement here than in any other place he had seen. He was born in the Puget Sound country, at what was called Sischo's Cove on Henderson Bay, Wash- ington, on October 10, 1884, and was the first white child to be born in that locality. His education was obtained in the public schools of Washington, which he supplemented by studying law in Tacoma. In February, 1902 we find him in Los Angeles looking for employment, and not finding anything satisfactory he went out to the E. J. ("Lucky") Baldwin ranch in the country and went to work as a ranch hand.
That same year Mr. Sischo drove a team of horses to Los Banos on a duck-hunting expedition and upon his arrival on the West Side he found more than a hundred men engaged in hunting ducks for the markets in the State. Being a good shot and noting the success made by the other men, he decided he would cast in his lot and therefore he equipped himself for the business and continued in that line of work for twelve years. He not only did a thriving busi- ness in supplying ducks for the market, but he studied the scientific side of the game and furnished the Academy of Science with various specimens of birds' eggs, and made a business of capturing wild geese alive and shipping them to various parts of the United States, one shipment consisting of 352 birds. He furnished the New York Zoo with many specimens. In hunting he used the largest bore shot- gun made, a No. 2 gauge. After following the business for a time he was humane enough to see that some restriction must be put on the wholesale killing of wild game and he assisted in organizing the People's Fish and Game Protective Association in San Francisco for conserving wild game for all the people instead of the favored few, and he was one of its first directors. In November 1918 he engaged in his present business with a capital of $9.45, and from this small
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beginning he has developed a business until at one time he had four garages, three in Los Banos and one in Gustine. Disposing of his various places he moved into the new and modern garage that had been built for his use in 1920. He now has one of the most modern and thoroughly equipped garages in the valley. He is the local agent for the Dodge Brothers automobile, also handles various makes of tires and does a large battery service business and is meet- ing with success.
When Mr. Sischo came to marry he chose one of Merced Coun- ty's native daughters, Miss Kate Pedroni, born at Volta, and they have a daughter Dorothy. Mr. Sischo was elected justice of the peace of Los Banos and served from 1908 to 1913. He is public spirited and does what he can towards promoting the best interests of his adopted town and county.
FELICE IACOPI
An enterprising citizen of Los Banos, Felice Iacopi is a self-made man in every sense of the word for he landed in San Mateo County, California, with nothing in the way of cash and only his willingness to work and a strong constitution as his only assets. A native of Italy, he was born at Montuolo, Lucca, on November 18, 1872, the son of poor but highly respected parents who gave their children such schooling as was possible under the circumstances. When he was sixteen years old he left home for the United States and arrived in Sacramento, Cal., in April, 1888, with just ten cents in his pockets. This he spent for a plug of tobacco, feeling that he might as well be broke in the new country as own one lonely ten-cent piece. He made his way to the San Pedro ranch in San Mateo County, later came into the San Joaquin Valley and in 1890 worked for Miller and Lux in Merced County. Then he went to Tulare County, and it was while he was employed there that he received his citizenship as a United States citizen at Visalia. He came back to Merced County and worked for Miller and Lux again. In 1901, with his brother, Angelo Iacopi, he bought the Los Banos Soda Works and they operated it for a time; then Felice sold out to his brother and built ." an ice plant, which he operated for some time, then leased it for a creamery. He then became the agent for the Union Ice Company, which he still continues and at the same time deals in fuel. At the fire in August, 1919 our subject lost considerable, but nothing daunted he rebuilt and continued doing business.
Mr. Iacopi was married January 2, 1905, in Los Banos to Teresa Puccinelli, born in Italy, and they have six children: Louis, Fred.
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Emma, Velia, Mario, and Dante. Mr. Iacopi is self educated in English, is well-known and well-liked in Los Banos and is always ready to help put through any worthy project that he believes will help the town and its people.
OLOF P. ANDERSON
A name which will be remembered long in the Hilmar Colony as belonging to a man of sterling worth and exemplary character in the community in which he has lived, a self-made, hard-working God-fearing man, is that of Olof P. Anderson. No less honor is due to his loyal and faithful help-mate, who has mothered nine children and helped put them all through the high school, and a number of them through the university, and is still well preserved, active and interesting. Mr. Anderson is a son of Aaron and Mary (Pearson) Rosen. His father was in the Swedish army and passed most of his life as a soldier. Olof was the sixth in order of birth in the family of seven children and was born in Seffle, Sweden, on August 28, 1859. He grew up in Sweden and began working out on farms when only eleven years old. He has a brother, Jacob, in Turlock, a sister, Sophie, in New York City, and three sisters still in Sweden. .
In 1882 Olof P. Anderson embarked at Gottenburg, Sweden, on the S. S. Romeo for America, landing at Hull, England, then took the train to Liverpool, from there crossed the Atlantic and after a stormy voyage of eleven days arrived at Castle Garden, N. Y. He proceeded at once to Fremont, Nebr., and worked around as a farm hand for a year and a half. He next went to Haxtum, Colo., and there took up a homestead of 160 acres and proved up on it, but it proved to be a drouthy country and not well adapted to general farming.
Mr. Anderson there met and married Charlotte Marie Ander- son, a countrywoman, whom her parents, Anders and Johanna John- son, brought to this country when only eighteen months old with three other children. They first settled and lived for four years near Lincoln, Nebr., then moved to Colorado. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson lived on his Colorado homestead and farmed for seven years, then returned to Nebraska and rented a farm at Mead, and engaged in farming and stock-raising for four years. They then moved to Warsaw, Knox County, Nebr., where they farmed for seven years before coming to California. They joined the Swedish Mission Church in that city. Mr. Anderson bought a ranch of forty acres in Hilmar Colony without seeing it, but sold off three acres. They have nine children as follows: Ephraim Julius, who owns an undivided one-half interest in a thirty-five-acre farm in the
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Hilmar Colony across the road from his father's place; Joseph Emanuel, a professor in Heald's Business College in San Francisco; Reuben Benjamin, bookkeeper and assistant cashier in Hill Broth- ers' Coffee Company, San Francisco; Olga Ruth, a registered nurse in San Francisco; Lydia Elizabeth, stenographer in San Francisco; Hildur Marie and Naomi Mariam, both seniors in the University of California; Clarence Nathaniel, a graduate of the Hilmar High School; and Florence Viola, a junior in the Hilmar High School.
WILLARD R. DAVIS
The life which this article narrates began in Brookfield, Mass., on November 16, 1847. The only son and survivor of three child- ren, Willard R. Davis has experienced many hardships and struggles against adversity, and has seen many changes in the space of seventy- eight years. When he was a small boy his father, Benjamin F. Davis, went to Pikes Peak and was never heard from. His mother, Alice ( Rice) Davis, a native of Massachussets, moved to Chicago and died there in 1853. The children were then taken to Bowen Prairie, Jones County, Iowa, where Willard was reared on his uncle's farm, at- tending school until he was fifteen. When he was eighteen he hired out to some men who were coming to California, but on the way he stopped at Reese River, Nev .; from there he went to Virginia City, encountering many tough experiences common to those days. In 1868 he came on to California, and stopping in San Francisco, heard there was a good chance to get work at Mountain View, Santa Clara County, and thither he made his way. He spent some time working on ranches, then went to White Pine, Nev., and from there packed in to Hamilton. In 1871 he went to Kansas and took up a govern- ment claim on the Osage Indian reservation. He suffered many set-backs and decided he would return to California. He then spent five seasons in Mountain View section, and in 1877 went to Eastern Washington and staid four years. He returned to California and bought forty acres in the Kearny tract in Fresno County and tried raising raisin grapes, but it did not pay at 2c per pound; then he went to Cotati and tried the poultry business there and in Santa Rosa, but the Mississippi Valley cold storage eggs forced him out again and he spent two years in the quicksilver mines in Lake County, In 1904 he bought eighteen and one-half acres one and one-quarter miles from Atwater and raised beans and sweet potatoes as a double crop; he also set out fig trees, getting the stock from George Roed- ing in Fresno in 1905. He developed his property and now has ten acres in figs. In 1920 he built his house and the following year his
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barns and installed lighting facilities in his home. His sister, Violet Huff, came from Walla Walla, Wash., and lived at his home about eighteen months, until her death in 1918.
Mr. Davis was married in San Diego on January 1, 1921, to Mrs. Helen (Rogers) Wright, a native of Wetumpka, Ala., born in 1848, who on September 17, 1867, was married to Dr. W. A. Wright, a prominent surgeon in Waco, Texas. He died in 1908 and his widow came to California in 1909, accompanying her daughter, Mrs. Annie Willet, to her home at Yam. Mrs. Davis is the mother of five children, as follows: A. M., R. E., Mrs. Annie Willet, J. B. of Indianapolis, and Ella. There are twenty-two grandchildren and five great grandchildren. Mr. Davis has prospered well of late years and is now living comfortably in his home.
DANIEL T. HALEY
Through their removal from their native Ireland and their settle- ment in California the Haley family attained a degree of independence and prosperity that would have been impossible in the old home. It was during 1850 that William Haley crossed the plains in the primi- tive manner then necessary, and cast his fortunes with the new and undeveloped State of California. He settled in San Francisco, where he worked at his trade as a brick-layer. In 1854 his wife, who was Miss Esther Byrne before her marriage, and two sons came via Panama to California. In 1860, William Haley engaged in the dairy business in San Francisco, and from that humble beginning has been evolved the present Dairy Delivery Company. Eight children were born to this pioneer couple, four of whom are still living, namely : James W., residing at Los Banos; Mary Catherine, living in Palo Alto; William Edward, who also resides in Palo Alto; and Daniel T., the subject of this sketch.
Daniel T. Haley was born in San Francisco on November 11, 1854, and there early was trained to habits of industry and thrift. He attended the Spring Valley school and while still young in years be- came associated with his father in the dairy business. The business was first known as the Laurel Vale Dairy; later the firm name was changed to the Dairy Delivery Company, this being the outcome of the great fire of 1906, when seven other companies consolidated and formed this one company. In 1908 Mr. Haley came to Gustine to take charge of the branch which he had established at this place, and here he has since resided. The Gustine plant furnishes from eighty- five to 100 ten-gallon cans of cream a day, and this product is dis- tributed by the San Francisco plant. The main plant in San Francisco
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distributes some 10,000 gallons of milk daily to customers in San Francisco and Burlingame and other towns in that vicinity.
The marriage of Mr. Haley united him with Miss Grace Truitt, born at Wheatland, Cal., daughter of George Washington and Rose Truitt, natives of Missouri and Oregon, respectively. They were pioneers of Yuba County. When Gustine was incorporated, in 1915, Mr. Haley was elected mayor of the town. After his term in office expired, for a year and a half he was not active in political affairs ; but he was again elected mayor, and still holds the office at the present time. Mr. Haley is Democratic in his political views. Fraternally he is affiliated with Merced Lodge No. 1240, B. P. O. Elks; Sequoia Lodge No. 615, N. S. G. W., San Francisco; the Knights of Columbus of San Francisco; and also the Young Men's Institute No. 4, of the same place. He is a member of the California Dairy Council.
H. P. SARGENT
In a country in which agriculture is entirely dependent upon irri- gation for production there is no more responsible position than that of secretary and right-of-way man, which H. P. Sargent has held with entire satisfaction for the Merced Irrigation District. Though he owns a twenty-acre ranch in the Fruitland voting precinct, he gives his entire time and attention to his official duties and his office is in Merced.
The son of Franklin H. and Elizabeth (Ham) Sargent, he was born in Norway, Maine, October 5, 1879. His father, who was a builder and contractor, moved to Salem, Mass. in 1881, and worked principally as a brick and stone mason; he built some of the leading business blocks in Salem, and remodeled the old Ropes (historic) museum in Salem. He is the man who moved the Ghirardelli Chocolate exhibit building at the Chicago Exhibition to Brookline, Mass., and rebuilt and remodeled it into a mansion for its millionare owner. He died at Fair Oaks, Cal., in 1918, when sixty-six years old. His wife died in Salem in 1893.
H. P. Sargent attended the grammar schools and after he had graduated from the Salem High School, in 1897, he took care of his father's office, keeping his books and accounts in his building opera- tions. He was so engaged until he came to California in January, 1898, accompanying his father to Fair Oaks, where the latter bought an olive and orange ranch. He helped his father on the ranch and became the assistant manager of the olive and orange department of the Fair Oaks Fruit Company, continuing thus engaged until 1906.
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H. P. Sargent and Idaline Adele Buckley, a native of Truckee, Placer County, were united in marriage on June 14, 1906. She was the daughter of John Mason and Emma (Orr) Buckley. Her father was born in Boston and was a mechanical engineer who came to Cali- fornia and was employed by the Central Pacific Railroad Co., in its machine shops at Truckee, as a master mechanic. Her grandfather, James Orr, was born in Scotland and was a California Forty-niner. He mined at Coloma and Virginia City and he worked on the Com- stock Lode in Virginia City, Nevada. Idaline Adele was graduated from the high school at Colfax, and from the State Normal School in Stockton with the class of 1895. She took a post graduate course in pedagogy under Miss Bernard at the University of California. She specialized as a primary teacher for three years before her mar- riage and is now in charge of the primary department of the Atwater Grammar School. They have one son, Franklin Buckley, now a stu- dent in the Merced Union High School.
In 1907, Mr. Sargent went to Sacramento and entered the county clerk's office and served as clerk and deputy under William B. Ham- ilton until his death, and under his successor, Ed. F. Pfund, until his decease, and he then became assistant county clerk under Harry W. Hall, the present county clerk of Sacramento County. During that time for eight years he was clerk of the Superior Court under Judge Peter J. Shields, the present incumbent. He also served four years as chief deputy county clerk and registrar of voters. In politics he is a stanch Republican. He took an active part in carrying the bond election for the Merced Irrigation District and was appointed right- of-way man and later secretary for the district.
CHARLES MARCHESE
California is noted for many things, such as gold, fruits, climate and so forth ; it also has its meed of self-made men, for here, perhaps more than in any other section of our country, are the opportunities offered the ambitious and enterprising young men to get ahead and make a name and place for themselves. One of this number is Charles Marchese, the enterprising and successful plumber of Los Banos, who has done about one-half the plumbing business of the fast-growing city. A native son, he was born in San Francisco, on September 29, 1889, the son of James and Antonia (Tringla) Mar- chese, both natives of Italy and now deceased. The father came to Merced County in 1884 and was employed as a gardener by Miller and Lux. Later he was able to buy some land and he followed ranch- ing on it until 1918, when the family moved into Los Banos, where
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he died aged sixty-eight years. His widow died in 1921 at the age of sixty-five. They had eleven children, seven of whom are still living.
Charles Marchese attended the public schools in Los Banos and in 1908 entered the employ of Ed. Hoffman to learn the plumbers' trade. When he had mastered the craft he went to San Francisco and worked as a journeyman for a time, then went to Los Angeles, where he continued at his trade until 1912, when he returned to Los Banos and started in the business for himself. In 1909 he assisted with the plumbing of the Los Banos Bank building and the Morbes block; he has done the plumbing on all the business blocks but one erected to the present time in Los Banos; the Cirimele block, one of the finest in the city, the Toscano residence and the original gram- mar school building are among the many jobs he has executed since opening his shop in 1912.
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