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 73
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FRANCISCO S. GARCIA
America has been justly called the "Melting pot of all Nations." People flock to this country from all parts of the world and in a few years, usually not later than the second generation, they are no longer foreigners, but Americans, loyal to the tenets of the country of their adoption and many of them rated among the substantial and successful citizens. A fair example of the above is shown in the record made by Francisco S. Garcia, who was born in the Azores Islands, on October
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31, 1885, and came to America at the age of ten, landing at Newport, R. I., where he attended school and grew up until he was twenty-five years old. He then joined his brother, A. C. Garcia, and they came to California in 1910. As soon as he had become acquainted with the country he rented land and engaged in the dairy business for four years, after which time he came to Los Banos and started another dairy, also on 186 acres of leased land. He prospered and soon was able to invest in land of his own, and he is still a land owner, leasing his property to tenants who are in the dairy business. Mr. Garcia was one of the first dairymen to pay the sum of $1000 for a high grade bull for his Holstein herd. He began with sixty cows and when he sold out his herd had increased to 200 head.
In 1918 Mr. Garcia helped organize the Portuguese Bank in Los Banos and was its vice-president, eventually being elected its president, continuing his connection with the bank until it was sold to the Portuguese American Bank of San Francisco, in 1921, when he retired from the banking business and now devotes his time to the real estate and insurance business and is meeting with well-deserved success.
Mr. Garcia was united in marriage with Miss Anna Gomez, also born in the Azores, and they have four children: David, Minnie, Francisco and Mary. Mr. Garcia is a member of the I. D. E. S. Society and the Fraternal Order of Eagles, of Los Banos, and of the Knights of Columbus, of Merced.
HARVEY A. BAKER
A progressive business man and an able official is found in Harvey A. Baker, who conducts a real estate office in Livingston and serves as judge of the city recorder's court; he was appointed to this position by the mayor, C. A. Ottman, and the city board of trustees in April, 1923. From the time of his appointment in April until October, he tried fifty-nine cases and collected $909 in fines. Mr. Baker, assisted by his wife and daughter, have charge of the stage depot; the line is known as the California Transit Co. and connects with Sacramento, Stockton, Merced, Fresno and Los Angeles and intermediate points with hourly departures. He was born at Danville, Ind., Novem- ber 20, 1881. His father, G. W. Baker, was for many years a success- ful farmer and real estate broker at Eureka, Cal .; he married Miss Lucretia H. Jones, born in Indiana, who can trace her family history back to Sir Isaac Newton; her maternal grandmother, Lydia H. Jones has reached the age of ninety-nine years and is living at Craig, Nebr. Three sons were born of this union: H. J. is a real estate
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broker in Livingston; H. M. resides in Berkeley, and Harvey A. is the subject of this sketch. Both parents are still living.
While still a small child, Harvey A. Baker accompanied his par- ents, in a prairie schooner, to Nebraska and he grew up and was educated at Beatrice. His father was a traveling salesman for a school supply house and made his home at Beatrice. During the panic of 1893, Mr. Baker resided in Omaha, Nebr .; from there he removed to Deadwood, S. D. and in 1898 enlisted for service in the Spanish-American War, but was discharged on account of disability. In 1901 he removed to Denver, Colo., and was for ten years in the employ of the street car company; he resided in Denver until 1918 and during that time made frequent trips to California to visit his family, who had located at Eureka, where the father was engaged in the real estate business. Mr. Baker permanently located at Livings- ton in 1920, and became a salesman for his brother H. J. Baker, who is engaged in the real estate business. Later Mr. Baker estab- lished his own real estate office.
At Denver, Colo., in 1903, H. A. Baker was married to Miss Bertha Damon, born in Missouri, a daughter of the late John Damon, a Civil War veteran who died from the effects of a wound received during the war. Her mother is making her home with our subject at Livingston. Two daughters have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Baker; Elsie is the wife of Maynard Pierce, a rancher living near Delhi, Cal .; and Lucetta G. married Eldridge C. Swan, traffic officer at Livingston. Mr. Baker belongs to Denver Lodge No. 41, K. of P. in Denver.
LEO HEID
As far as lies in the power of any one individual, Leo Heid has illustrated in his life the control of circumstances and the manifest advantages that await the industrious and enterprising men which have characterized for generations the race from which he springs. Born in Bavaria, Germany, September 26, 1881, he was left an or- phan at the age of seven years and was brought up by his uncle. His parents, Paul and Margaret Heid, had both passed away by 1888. The Lutheran minister assisted him through the parochial school until the age of twelve, but from that time on he has made his own way in the world, first by working in a planing mill and serving an appren- ticeship at the carpenter's trade for three years. It was a work to which he naturally gravitated for his father had operated a planing mill, as well as a farm. At fifteen years of age he worked as a journeyman carpenter, but in common with all of his countrymen he
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had to serve in the army and he didn't get free until 1909, when he struck out for the "Land of the free and the home of the brave."
Landing in Fresno, Cal. he found employment at once in a plan- ing mill; later he took up carpentering and bought a twenty-acre ranch in Fresno County. It was a good investment for in two years he sold it at a good profit. In 1920 he investigated Livingston and, as it appeared to be a good proposition, he bought twenty acres. He continued his trade and as contractor and builder has erected a num- ber of bungalows, including the Methodist parsonage. Many other buildings in Livingston are to be credited to his industry among which may be mentioned the residences of A. A. Harrington, Mrs. Ottman, Frank Emerich, L. Prusso, Forest E. Hammond, and John J. Hoch, besides several garages and other buildings, including the Lutheran Church and Dr. C. E. Saunders' office building. Mr. Heid was made a citizen of the United States in 1917 and is a Republican in politics. In many ways he has proved a valuable citizen of Livings- ton, contributing to its growth, fostering its enterprises and promot- ing its welfare.
ADOLPH SWENSEN
Among the dairymen and farmers of the Livingston section of Merced County is Adolph Swensen, proprietor of the Greenacre Dairy located a mile southwest of the city in precinct No. 2. He owns sixty acres, twenty acres devoted to his dairy, twenty-five acres in bearing Malaga grapes, and twelve acres in alfalfa. When Mr. Swensen purchased this tract of land in 1910, it was known as "blow land"; here the wind blew unobstructed and the sand drifted, but by the application of water it has been turned into vineyards, orchards and alfalfa fields. At the Pacific Slope Dairy Show held in Oakland, Cal. in November, 1923, Mr. Swensen made an almost perfect showing; his milk scored 95.5 out of a possible 100; on the item of bacteria, for which a perfect score was 35, Mr. Swensen's milk scored 35; other perfect scores by Mr. Swensen were butter fat, 15 points ; and temperature and acidity, 5 points. He lost points on bottle and cap or otherwise would have had a perfect score. He runs fourteen cows on his dairy farm.
Mr. Swensen was born at Skane, Sweden, on April 18, 1873, a son of Peter and Anna Swensen, both natives of the same country. There were six children in the family, two sons and four daughters, our subject being the second in order of birth and the only one living in America. Peter Swensen was a farmer and a creamery man and is now deceased; the mother is still living in Sweden, aged seventy-six.
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Adolph Swensen left the parental roof when only fifteen years old, and landing in Quebec, Canada, came directly to the United States, settling at St. Paul, Minn., where he found work in a store. He was ambitious to learn the language and manners of the Ameri- cans, and he attended night school, and also had private instruction in English. At Hallock, Minn., he learned the trade of harness and saddle-maker. While residing in Kittson County he was appointed a deputy sheriff. In 1902 he removed to Washington and worked at Spokane, Seattle and Tacoma as a journeyman saddler, and was also engaged as a salesman. In 1909 he arrived in Merced, where he was employed as a traveling salesman for Barcroft & Company, hard- ware dealers; in the meantime he purchased his present farm and be- gan to improve it and in 1917 moved onto it, where he has since made his home.
At Modesto, Mr. Swensen was married to Miss Pearl Turner, born and reared in Merced, the daughter W. H. and Marian (Mc- Swain) Turner, early pioneers of California. Two children, Marian Catherine and Virginia June, have blessed the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Swensen. Mr. Swensen is a member of the local Farm Bureau and takes a good citizen's part in the advancement of his section.
JOSEPH LOUIS PERRY
A well-known dairy farmer in the Livingston section of Merced County is Joseph Louis Perry, who owns one of the best appointed dairies of forty-six acres to be found in this section. He was born on the Island of Tuchido, of the Azores group, on April 14, 1876, a son of J. L. Perry, a soap maker who had married Emila Augusta Dutra, and they had three children; Joseph Louis; Samuel S., still in the Azores; and Emila Augusta, also at home. The father died in 1880 at the age of forty-three years. Mrs. Perry passed away in February, 1923, aged sixty-six, at her old home.
Joseph L. Perry, our subject, learned the blacksmith's trade in his native country and when he was twenty-five he came to America and California, arriving in San Francisco in October, 1901. He went to Sausalito and the next day after his arrival secured a job in a blacksmith shop, continuing there for a year. He then went to Oakland and bought out a restaurant, which he later disposed of and went to work for wages as a cook; he was cook and general employer for the Oakland Y. M. C. A. for nearly two years. On account of ill health Mr. Perry had to seek outside work and he came to Livings- ton and bought his ranch and has been active in its development ever since. His improvements are all of the best and have been put there
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by himself or under his direction. He has a bungalow house sur- rounded by a fine lawn and shade trees and shrubbery, and has a family orchard, a large dairy and cow-barn, milking sheds and the various yards and sheds needed on an up-to-date dairy farm. He has two good wells sufficient for his domestic needs and for his stock, an eighty-ton silo, tanks, troughs etc., all of which show the master mind who directed the laying-out and building of the home place. In his herd he has a registered Holstein bull, and also young stock.
Joseph L. Perry was married in San Francisco in 1910, to Mrs. Maria Lewis, widow of Frank Lewis, of Gloucester, Mass., and daughter of Martinho Costa, born on the Island of Pico, where he was a farmer and where his daughter was also born. She came to America when a young girl and was married in Massachusetts to Mr. Lewis, by whom she had three children: Frank E .; Marie, wife of Frank Golart of Livingston; and Henry, at home. Mr. Perry is a member of the U. P. E. C. Society.
REV. SOREN EMANUEL SORENSEN
Among the ministers of the Gospel in Merced County, none is more widely known or more successful in his chosen calling than Rev. Soren Emanuel Sorensen, who is serving as pastor to the newly established congregations of the Lutheran faith at Waterford, Stevin- son and other places and by the sterling traits which distinguish his character has won the esteem of all with whom he comes in con- tact. He was born in Norway, on December 1, 1849, a son of Soren Torinessen Gjerdal and Elisabeth Katerina Sorensen, born in Minnesota. When Rev. Sorensen came to the United States he settled in Minneapolis, Minn., and there studied theology at the Augsburg Theological Seminary; later he was duly ordained as a minister in the United Norwegian Lutheran Church and held several important pastorates before coming to California in 1903.
Rev. and Mrs. Sorensen are the parents of ten children, all born in Minnesota : Elizabeth, Mrs. L. F. Peterson; Camille, Mrs. Floyd Stevinson and the mother of Anita, Deta Dell, James, Samuel, and Soren Sorensen; Soren C., who married Ida Ness and is the father of three children, Loren, Soren C., Jr., and Floydine; Hulda, Mrs. E. H. Williams and the mother of Mercedes, Luther Wallace and Elmer H., Jr .; Luther, who married Maude Fox and has three children, Bernice, Georgia and Luella Maude; Joseph, who mar- ried Gertrude Pedrotte; Tonnis Oscar, who married Theresa Pollick and has two children, Garland and Margaret; Emma, wife of Harry
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Cochran and mother of Anna May, Dorothy and Elizabeth; Martin, proprietor of Sorensen and Co., in Livingston; Anna, who married Lars Mattson and has two children, William and Betty Ann. Rev- erend Sorensen, with the help of his sons, has developed a fine ranch in Merced County, consisting of forty acres located about ten miles west of Livingston, where he makes his home.
JOHN BAISA
The success of the San Joaquin Concrete Pipe Company at Chow- chilla is due in no small part to the energy and expert direction of John Baisa, who is one-third owner of three factories, at Chow- chilla, Livingston and Herndon. A more detailed account of the company is given in another place in this book; suffice to say here that it has a capacity of a mile a day of excellent pipe for irrigating, drainage and sewerage which endures the celebrated "Hi-Test."
Mr. Baisa is of Spanish-Mexican blood and was born in Texas in 1887, and he came to California in 1901. His parents, Catarins and Remigia Baisa, reside in Livingston and he lives with them as he is still unmarried. He began very early to work for this company and has been with it continuously up to the present and has become a highly efficient expert in laying concrete pipe. He personally attends to the outside work and has from four to twelve men under him. Politically he supports the men and measures of the Republican party.
SAMUEL J. ANET
A prosperous rancher of Merced County, who came here to the United States from his faraway home in Switzerland, when a boy of seventeen, and has made good in his chosen line of work, Mr. Anet, entirely unaided, has reached a position in life above the average, and can look back at his early struggles with pride in the fact that he surmounted all obstacles by hard work, unceasing thrift, and the com- bining of both with intelligent management. A native of Aigle, which is situated six miles east of beautiful Lake Geneva in Canton Vaud. Switzerland, he was the second of seven children born to Henry Vin- cent and Anna (Blanc) Anet, the former born in 1842, and died in 1917, and the latter born in 1843, and died October 30, 1908. There were seven children: Louis, Sam, Rosine, Fanny, Alice, Alfred and Benjamin. Both parents were of well established families in Switzer- land, who had four centuries earlier fled from France during the per-
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secution of people of their belief as French Huguenots, and took up their life again in Switzerland, where today their descendants have made beautiful the natural resources of the Rhone Valley, and there is where "Sam" Anet was reared. Of the well-to-do class, his father was a foremost authority on viticulture in his day, and owned and operated large vineyards.
Sam. J. attended the public and high school of his home place, receiving at the latter the benefit of thorough courses in literature. He worked on his father's property during harvest, a busy time, and also in the making of choice white wines from the small white wine grape, usually producing 800 gallons of liquid per acre. They also conducted a dairy, and were occupied in cheese and butter mak- ing. During the summer months, he went with the herders to the higher altitudes on the mountain slopes, returning in October. His brother, Louis, served twenty-five years as gendarme in Switzer- land, but is now retired. Sam decided to come to the larger republic of the United States, and sailed, via Havre, on the Steamship La France, crossed the Atlantic, and arrived in New York May 27, 1883. He went direct to Knoxville, Tenn., to a countryman of his named Buffet, who owned large ranch property six miles out of that city. Saving all he could out of his earnings of $8.00 per month, after three years he made his way to Texas, where he earned $40.00 per month, working in the cotton fields. There he was stricken with fever, and was obliged to return to Knoxville. On regaining his health, he entered the employ of the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia railway, and after three years on the road as fireman, brakeman, etc., he entered the main shops of the company, where were employed 600 men, and worked at the bench.
In May, 1893, Mr. Anet moved with his family to California, located at Merced, and soon after went to work in the Grange Com- pany's warehouse, then in charge of W. L. Turner. That fall he went into the flour mill of the Merced Milling Company, where for the next nine years he was foreman; it was while in charge of the mill that the name of just "Sam" was given him, an appellation which has remained his since that time; all knew Sam and Sam knew everyone- while in the mill.
In the meantime he invested his savings in land around Merced, and now owns some very desirable property. His first buy was eight acres of Southern Pacific railway land on the edge of south Merced, where now stands his home, rebuilt since 1908, when it was a fire loss. He has added thirty-four acres to the original acreage, and has fig and peach trees now bearing which are twenty-five years old. He also owns other residence property in Merced, and his unbounded faith
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in this district still grows, for he has never regretted his decision to settle in this fertile district. Twenty years ago he conducted a city retail milk route from his small dairy; the town has grown to three times its size since that date.
The marriage of Mr. Anet, which occurred December 31, 1889, at Knoxville, Tenn., united him with Miss Alice E. Hoffer, a native of Knoxville, and daughter of Rev. W. A. and Susan (Smith ) Hoffer, descendants of old families of planters in the South. Before her mar- riage, Mrs. Anet taught in the high school for fifteen years. Three children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Anet: Henry L., born in Tennessee, served in the Ordinance Department during the World War as sergeant, and was absent about eighteen months from Merced; he married Miss Rosina Collins, of Hornitos, daughter of Supervisor Collins of Mariposa County. Eugene E., the second child, died at the age of five years ; Ann Eleanor, now Mrs. Earl Kittrell of San Jose, has one son, Robert Sheldon.
Mr. Anet received his citizenship papers at Merced, in 1901, and he has always taken an active interest in public affairs and advance- ment; for the past fifteen years, he has served as county roadmaster of district No. 2.
ROBERT L. PUCCINELLI
The position of assistant cashier of the Los Banos branch of the Bank of Italy is held by Robert L. Puccinelli through his ability to accurately carry out the policies of the financial institution he so ably serves and by the ability he displays in handling the many problems that confront a man in his responsible position. A native of the Golden State, he is a 100 per cent American although born of foreign parents. His parents, Edidio and Nancy (Del Carlo) Puccinelli, were both born and reared in Italy and the former came to California about thirty-five years ago and engaged in raising beans on the islands in the Sacramento River near the capital city; later he was engaged in ranching in the Italian Swiss Colony near Campbell, Santa Clara County, but is now residing in Los Banos.
Robert was educated in the schools of San Jose, spending two years in the high school there, after which he took a course in Heald's Business College in that city. Thereafter he entered the employ of De Bernardi, Inc., wholesale importers in San Francisco. Coming to Los Banos, he entered the Bank of Los Banos and worked his way through the various departments until he became the assistant cashier. When the Bank of Italy took over the bank he was made assistant
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cashier in 1921, the position he now holds to the eminent satisfaction of all who know him.
Mr. Puccinelli was married to Mary Padula, born in Los Banos, and they have two children, Eunice and Florine. He belongs to Merced Parlor No. 24, N. S. G. W .; the Knights of Columbus; and Merced Lodge No. 1240, B. P. O. E., all of Merced; and to the Fra- ternal Order of Eagles, of Los Banos. He is a firm believer in the old adage that "Nothing succeeds like success" and is living up to the tenets of the Golden Rule in his everyday life.
JOSEPH MARCHY
Merced County has become known far and wide as a prosperous dairy district, and among the men who recognized this fact and took advantage of it, may be mentioned Joseph Marchy, a rancher and dairyman of this section. In a comparatively short space of time he has demonstrated both his ability, and the suitability of Merced lands for dairy and ranch purposes, and the fact that a newcomer need only use his brain and brawn to become successful. Born on January 6, 1886, at Brunnen, Canton Schwitz, Switzerland, he was the young- est of five children in the family of Joachim and Anne ( Boggenstor ) Marchy, both natives of Brunnen, where the father was a well-known landscape gardener.
Young Joseph attended the common schools of his native canton, and on reaching twenty years of age, left home for the United States, making the journey via Havre, on the Steamship St. Paul, and arriv- ing in New York November 7, 1906; November 14, that year, he reached San Francisco. The party he came with was made up of some thirty of his countrymen, and the day after his arrival, he com- menced work in San Francisco. Soon after, he joined the Cement Workers Union, and during the rebuilding days of the city he made good money, and saved it, investing in the real estate which he now owns in the Mission district of the city. Two seasons were occupied in the logging camps of Mendocino County.
January 26, 1916, Mr. Marchy came to Merced County, and took a one-third interest in the Three Joe Dairy and Cheese Factory, near Plainsburg. This partnership was dissolved in 1919, and Mr. Marchy has gone forward with his share of the land; he has a string of Holstein dairy cows, and with one helper, conducts his business in a modern and up to date manner. In addition to his dairy, he is developing a part of his acreage to fruit, and has set out vineyard and orchard, now in the third year of growth. A progressive man,
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Mr. Marchy received his United States citizenship papers at San Francisco in 1912, and he is fully interested in the further advance- ment of his adopted land. His only relatives in America are two nieces, living at Stockton and San Francisco, respectively.
JOSEPH WIGET
An interesting and well traveled life has been the portion of Joseph Wiget, and he has settled in California with the full knowl- edge that here can be found real opportunity and advancement. A native of Canton Schwitz, Switzerland, his birth occurred February 16, 1883, the youngest of thirteen children born to his parents, Mar- tin and Frances (Rickenbacher) Wiget, both born, reared and lived their entire life in their native land. Martin Wiget served in the Na- tional Army as bugler, and he was on the frontier in 1870 and 1871, during the Franco-German War, while in civil life he was hotel and stable owner at Brunnen, on the Lake of Four Cantons. An expert coachman, he handled a vast amount of the tourist trade, as this was in the famous resort district of Switzerland, and he knew the roads thoroughly, especially to Berne and Geneva, over which he drove hun- dreds of times with his guests, among whom were often the crowned heads of Europe, and other famous people. He led the town band at Canton Schwitz, and was one of the popular and leading figures in the community. His death occurred in 1895, while his good wife passed to her reward in 1889.
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