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 83
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FRANK SILVA
Born in 1871 on the Island of St. George of the Azores group, Frank Silva is the eleventh child in a large family of children born to John Silveira and Mariana Silva, both born on St. George Island. The father was a farmer and spent his entire life following this occu- pation in Portugal. The names of the children are as follows : John, Antone, Joseph, George, Fostino, Manuel, Joaquin, Mary, Mariana, Katherine, Frank, and Peter.
Frank Silva acquired a very limited education, for very early in life he helped with the support of the family. He was only a lad when he landed in Boston, Mass., where he remained until 1886, when he came to California and located in Marin County, where for two years he milked cows for his board; after that he received ten dollars per month for his services. He also worked at San Rafael, Point Reyes and Spanish Town. His next move was to San Francisco, where he was delivery boy for a retail milk company for , eleven years. During these years he saved some money and bought an interest in a dairy at Redwood City. During the panic of 1897, the partners sold the stock and with the proceeds Mr. Silva paid his debts and again began working for wages, milking cows at a dairy in San Mateo. Later he drove a milk wagon at San Bruno and dur- ing these years again saved his money. With this money he bought and sold cattle until 1906, when the conditions around San Fran- cisco were not so good as could be hoped for and Mr. Silva shipped several carloads of cattle to the San Joaquin Valley and sold them.
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Coming to Merced County he bought ninety-five dairy cows and put them on 170 acres of land which he had rented about three miles southwest of Gustine. He continued to buy and sell cattle, and later, when he removed to a neighboring farm, he had a herd of 250 cattle. He paid off all he owed and rented 300 acres of land on which he maintains a dairy. Mr. Silva built a house on this place and a first- class dairy barn; later he built another barn and planted the land to alfalfa. Mr. Silva also runs three other ranches in the same vicin- ity, one of 173 acres, another of 11612 acres, and the third one of 240 acres, all planted to alfalfa with modern milking and feeding barns. Mr. Silva's dairy business is a partnership affair and the dairy herd now numbers about 700 cattle.
At San Rafael, in 1901, Mr. Silva was married to Miss Mary Cabral, born at Bolinas but reared at Arcata, Cal .; she is a daughter of Joseph and Mary Cabral, natives of St. George of the Azores. Her mother died in 1919, but her father is still living, having returned to his native country. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Silva : Frank, Jr., Angie, and Howard. Mr. Silva is a mem- ber of the U. P. E. C., the I. D. E. S. and the Eagles, all of San Rafael, where he maintains his home, but most of his time is spent in Merced County looking after his large dairy interests. Mrs. Silva met her death in an automobile accident at Dublin, Cal., on September 30, 1924, and is buried at San Rafael.
MRS. ELVEZIA TONOLLA
No object lesson could be presented to the student of history more striking than the progress of civilization and especially of California in the last twenty years. It was about that time that Miss Elvezia Pedrazzini, a native of Canton Ticino, Switzerland, came to California. Since her arrival she has seen more new inventions that are now in common use than were made in a hundred years previously. Her father, Fedele Pedrazzini, was an attorney at law, who went to Australia and died there leaving his family in Switzer- land. The daughter, who remained with her mother, Celestina (Traversi) Pedrazzini, was educated in the grammar school in Switzerland and taught school there. She was the youngest of five children, namely : Adelaide, Pauline, Flamina, Carmelo and Elvezia.
Miss Pedrazzini came to Pescadero, San Mateo County, and was married in Redwood City, on December 3, 1903, to Venanzio Tonolla, a native of Canton Ticino, Switzerland, the son of Antonio and Mar- tina De Grigioni, and reared on his father's farm. When nineteen
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years old he came to California and worked in hotels, dairies and as a ranch hand. After his marriage he remained on ranches in San Mateo County. Later they moved to Merced County and he leased the S. A. Smith ranch and ran it for nine years. In 1916, he bought the Louis Bambauer place of thirty-seven acres, one and a quarter miles south of Los Banos and carried on a dairy there. He died there, on January 17, 1918, leaving a family of three children : Ida, Oscar, and George. Mrs. Tonolla is a Democrat in politics. Mr. Tonolla was a member of the Druids of Santa Cruz.
MANUEL SOUZA
While a young lad living in the Island of St. George, in the Azores, Manuel Souza often heard stories of America, and Cali- fornia in particular, and he was fired with the ambition to cast in his lot and see if he could not make a fortune where his brothers Antone and Joseph had already made a good beginning. The opportunity came when he was eighteen years old and ever since that date he has resided in the Golden State. He was born in 1865, a son of Joseph O. and Anna (Brazil) Souza, who also had a daughter, Marie, besides the three sons, and being poor people the son had no chance to go to school. Upon arriving in California he stopped in Watsonville and soon found employment at ranch work among his countrymen who had ranches in the section and ever after he has been engaged in that kind of work and has made a success of it. He is a practical dairyman and knows how to make a dairy pay.
Mr. Souza married Josephine Pimentel, born in Flores, in Wat- sonville, Cal., and the young couple set out together to make a home and found a fortune. In 1903, they moved to the West Side in Mer- ced County and leased the Jameson ranch near Los Banos ; two years later they moved to the McCarthy place and farmed there two years. The next move took them to the Simonson ranch where, with a part- ner, Mr. Souza ran three strings of dairy cows. The profits he made enabled him to buy eighty acres of his own in the Cottonwood dis- trict and here he erected a house and barns and developed the ranch to alfalfa and runs a dairy.
Mrs. Souza was the daughter of Joseph and Mary Pimentel and came to California with her brother when she was sixteen years old. The twelve children in her father's family are: Delphine, Mary, Joseph, Antone, Flora, Joaquin, Frank, Anna, Josephine, John, Amelia and Marion. Of the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Souza three children were born, and the only one now living is Josephine, who
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married Frank Tosta of Patterson, in January, 1921, and is the mother of two children, Gerald and Aldine. Mary married Joseph Olivieira August 30, 1912, and died, aged twenty-one. Joseph mar- ried Mary De Gregori on November 30, 1914, and they had two children, Clinton and Vernon. Joseph died November 7, 1923, aged thirty-two. His widow lives in a house he erected on the home ranch where, during his life, he helped his father with the ranch work. Manuel Souza became a citizen of the United States at Santa Cruz, Cal., and is a Republican. He is a member of the U. P. E. C. and the I. D. E. S. societies.
CARL EDWARD OLSON
The assistant superintendent of the canal system on the West Side with a territory extending from Mendota to Crows Landing, a distance of seventy-one miles, is Carl Edward Olson, residing on his ranch one mile southwest of Los Banos. A native of Sweden he was born in Oland, on January 28, 1870, a son of Ole and Christina (Pearson) Olson. His father was a corporal in the Swedish Navy and was in the service until he was retired. He came to California in October, 1913, and now resides in Turlock, and is eighty-four years old. The wife and mother died at the age seventy-four. They had seven children : Peter, of Turlock; Amanda, deceased; John, of Los Banos; Carl Edward, our subject; Ida, of Turlock; Hilda, in Hilmar ; and Albert.
Carl Edward Olson had but little opportunity to get an education and when he was sixteen he began earning his own living, working about in his native country until 1889. He decided he could better his condition by coming to the United States and California was his goal. For a time he stopped in San Francisco, then came to Dos Palos in Merced County and secured employment with Miller and Lux as a ranch hand. He knew little of the English language, but was alert and picked up a practical working knowledge as he went about his daily tasks. He was next in the employ of Crocker & Huffman, on the Merced River, for a time; and as a diversion he spent four seasons hunting game for the markets of the bay cities, and it paid very well. He worked in the harvest fields in the sum- mer. In 1895, he went to work for Hans Albertsen, in the hills on the Newman ranch, and for four years was steadily engaged; then he spent fifteen months in the employ of the San Joaquin-Kings River Canal and Irrigation Co .; later, after a harvest season for Albert- sen, he took a trip back to his native land, spending six months visit- ing among friends and relatives. Returning to California Mr. Olson
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worked for Mr. Albertsen, for two years, then for John Olson, and in 1904 he again entered the employ of the San Joaquin-Kings River Canal and Irrigation Co., beginning at the bottom and gradually working his way through the various positions with the company until he is now the assistant superintendent over seventy-one miles of ditches. In 1922, he bought a part of the Midway ranch con- sisting of twenty acres and makes that his home.
On August 2, 1903, Mr. Olson was married to Miss Anna Lena Albertsen, a native of Ero, Denmark; and this union has been blessed by the birth of a son, Ray Olson.
JEAN B. ERRECA
A very representative business man of Los Banos who has earned the respect of his many friends is Jean B. Erreca, drayman of that city. He was born in the Basque province in the Pyrenees, in France, on May 26, 1874, and attended the public schools in his native land; in the meantime he was reared in the sheep business. When he was old enough to make up his mind as to his future he embarked for America and landed in New York on January 1, 1893, and made his way to California and we find him first in San Diego County herding sheep on the Ensenada for the next few months. He then came to Los Angeles and worked in a butcher shop for Charles Gasen and Simon Meyer ; later he went to Williams, Ariz., where he had charge of the sheep on the Welch ranch until in September, 1902, when he came back to California and herded sheep with his brothers, on the West Side of the San Joaquin Valley. He had learned the English language and had saved his money, so he was now able to become a property owner in his own right and bought a lot 150 x 150 feet at the corner of Sixth and K Streets in Los Banos, which he still owns. Here he established a feed yard and dealt in hay and grain and also erected a brick residence. As he prospered he bought the Robert Miller livery stable and ran that for four years. Then he erected a garage, at a cost of $45,000, the finest in the valley and known as the Sischo Garage. Mr. Erreca owns and operates a five-ton Pierce- Arrow truck and has built up a fine draying and hauling business.
Mr. Erreca married Marian Laxague and they have three boys, Martin, Peter and Emil. They have reared one adopted daughter Marcelin Menta. Mr. Erreca belongs to the Woodmen of the World and is a member of the San Francisco Hospital Association. He became an American citizen in 1905 and supports the best men and measures at all elections.
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WILLIAM MAZZINA
An active rancher, William Mazzina is well-known in Merced County as one of the progressive men of Los Banos. He was born in Milano, Province of Sondrino, Italy, on May 30, 1880, and at- tended the schools of his native land and worked at various occu- pations until 1900, when he went to South America, arriving at Bonasario. Two years later he arrived in New York City with one- hundred dollars in his pocket, and from there he made his way to San Francisco and found employment in dock construction. It was hard work and his faithfulness was rewarded with promotion and he stuck to it for three years. He saved his wages and was able to take up ranching in Napa County, which he followed for two years. In 1908 he came to Los Banos and was engaged in the liquor busi- ness up to the passing of the war prohibition in 1917. During this time he bought a dairy ranch of seventy-five acres, six miles from Dos Palos, where he is engaged in ranching and in the dairy business. In 1920 Mr. Mazzina took a trip to his old home in Italy and was gone six months. He was made a citizen of the United States Febru- ary 14, 1911.
Mr. Mazzina married Faustina Arburua, a native of Spain, and there are four children of the union : Mary, Tony, Ellen and Theresa. Fraternally he is a member of the Fraternal Order of the Eagles and of the Druids.
FRANK M. OSTRANDER
An old and prominent family in Merced County, is that repre- sented by Frank M. Ostrander, the junior member of the law firm of Ostrander & Ostrander, of Merced, Cal., where he was born on January 13, 1890. His father, Frank Merced Ostrander, was the first white boy born in Merced County. His grandfather, Harvey J. Ostrander, was a pioneer of 1850 and he spent the remainder of his life in Merced County. The father was also an attorney by profession and he was the first Republican to be elected to the office of district attorney in Merced County; he passed away in 1890, the year our subject was born. The mother, who in maidenhood was Georgina Bain, is still living.
Frank M. Ostrander attended public school in Palo Alto, Cal., also the Hitchcock Military Academy and the Leland Stanford, Jr., University, where he completed his law course. He was admitted to the bar of California in 1920 and immediately began practicing in Merced. On November 1, 1923, he became associated with his
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uncle in the firm of Ostrander & Ostrander and their efforts have been rewarded with gratifying success.
The marriage of Mr. Ostrander united him with Miss Frances L. Reesor of Oakland, who was born in Montana. Mr. Ostrander enlisted for service during the World War and spent one year over seas at Base Hospital No. 30; he was a sergeant, first class, when he was discharged from the service. In his fraternal relations he is a Mason, a member of the N. S. G. W., and the Moose. He belongs to the Merced Post of the American Legion. Mr. Ostrander is actively identified with the public life of Merced and his aid in pro- moting measures for the public good has been of vital importance to the community in general.
NIELS LARSEN
The life story of Niels Larsen has been one of toil and cease- less endeavor since early boyhood. His father, Jorgen Larsen was a carpenter and cabinet-maker who lived his entire allotted time in Denmark, dying at the age of sixty-eight. His mother, Marie (Niel- sen) Larsen, died there at the age of forty-nine. They had fifteen children, two of whom died in infancy. Those living to grow to maturity are: Lars, Hans, Margaret, Niels, Christina, Anna, Thomas, Christian, Ingaborg, Theodore, Johanna, Jens, and Laura.
Niels was born at Sjeetland, Denmark, on October 9, 1871, and was educated in the schools of his native land. When he was nine- teen he came to the United States, in 1890, and soon after his arrival made his way out to Douglas County, Neb., where he secured employ- ment for three years on a farm, then he undertook to farm some land on his own account, leased 160 acres on the Elkhorn and Platte Rivers and raised corn, cattle and other stock. The lure of adven- ture and the possibility of making more than he could make on a farm, decided him to go on a whaling expedition in 1907. He was gone eight months in the north Pacific and five whales were brought back to San Francisco. His percentage of the profits was one dollar net for the eight months' work. In 1908, he first came to Los Banos. Returning to Nebraska he worked a year and went back to Denrnark. In 1909, he was back again in Nebraska and worked there until 1911, when he came to California and followed carpentering for a short time. He next worked a year on the canal and then undertook a dairy which he carried on for five years near Los Banos. In 1917, he went to work for the San Joaquin-Kings River Canal Co. and has been on that job ever since. He is foreman of the Los Banos Out- side Division of this canal.
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On May 6, 1909, Mr. Larsen was married in Fremont, Neb., to Miss Inga Jensen, a native of Sjeetland, Denmark, and daughter of Jens and Sine (Sivensen) Jensen, born in Denmark and Sweden, respectively. She was the eldest of five children, the others are Sven, Carl, Alma and Apel. Mr. and Mrs. Larsen have had four children : Laura (died in infancy ), Laura, Margaret, and Evelyn. Mr. Larsen is a Democrat. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America in Fremont, Neb.
RANSE R. SISCHO
Although somewhat of a recent acquisition to the ranks of Mer- ced's attorneys, Ranse R. Sischo has won a name for himself and today ranks among the successful lawyers of the county, as well as representative citizens of the locality. He was born in Shelton, Wash., on August 1, 1892, a son of Abel and Frances (Willie) Sischo. The parents were married in New York and removed to Iowa; then in 1870 went to Missouri, from there to Nebraska, and in 1872, settled in the State of Washington, where both parents passed away.
Ranse R. Sischo completed the grammar and high school courses in Long Beach, Cal .; then he took up the study of law in a private office and in November, 1921, was admitted to practice law in the State of Nevada. In 1922, he came to California and settled in Merced, and having been admitted to the bar of California on March 17, 1924, he opened and maintains a law office in that city.
Mr. Sischo was married on January 4, 1925, in Los Banos, Cal., to Miss Ethel L. Riedeman, of Santa Cruz. Politically he gives his influence to the Republican party; fraternally he is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Lodge at Long Beach. Mr. Sischo has become an enthusiast on the resources of Merced County and his public spirit and activity for the prosperity and welfare of Merced has won for him many friends and a well-established law practice.
CHARLES WILLIAM DEMPSEY
One of the busiest and most enterprising men of Merced is Charles William Dempsey, contractor and builder, architect and de- signer. In many ways he has proved a valuable citizen of his county, contributing to its growth, fostering its enterprises and promoting its welfare. At Washington, D. C., on October 20, 1885, he was born,
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the son of William Daniel and Elmira (Chilton) Dempsey, who have both passed away. The father was a carpenter by trade and the son, after what education he was able to get in the public schools of Washington, learned the trade from his father, which he followed in the capital of our country up to 1906, when he reached his majority and struck out for himself. Houston, Texas, was his first landing place, where he spent two years at his trade. Various cities in the State of Washington were where he followed his trade for the next four years. In 1912 he came to Merced, and since 1917 has been contracting for himself. He specializes in residences, remodels build- ings and also designs new buildings, employing eight men. Among the seventy fine houses which he has built in Merced the homes of E. S. Hass and Charles Crossland may be mentioned as evidence of superior workmanship and design. He also built the wholesale house for the Richfield Oil Company.
The changing vicissitudes of life brought Mr. Dempsey in contact with Miss Emily Scofield, a lady who was brought up near Merced. An intimacy was formed which resulted in marriage and two children, viz .: Thomas and Thelma. As a public-spirited man, he is deeply interested in the progress of Merced. He belongs to the Knights of Pythias; and is the Worshipful Master of Yosemite Lodge No. 99, F. & A. M., of Merced, and is highly respected.
MAURY CURTIS
The genealogy of Maury Curtis, is traced back to Scotland and England, his ancestors being among the American families who settled in Virginia in an early day. He was born on his father's farm in Virginia, on May 18, 1885, a son of A. M. and Roberta (Hume) Curtis, both natives of Virginia. A. M. Curtis served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War; after the war he engaged in farming for the balance of his life and passed away in 1901. The mother is still living.
Maury Curtis began his preliminary educational training for his life's work in the public schools of his native state; after graduating from the high school he entered the academic department of the Washington Lee University at Lexington, Va., where he remained one year; subsequently he entered Georgetown University Law School in Washington, D. C., from which he was graduated with the degree LL.B., in 1910. He then became connected with the solic- itor's office, in the United States Department of Agriculture. On January 1, 1912, he left Washington for San Francisco to become
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assistant to the solicitor of that department, and remained in that position until April 15, 1914; he then spent one year in private prac- tice in San Francisco. In 1916, he went into the United States De- partment of Justice and was thus occupied until 1917, when he removed to Los Angeles, where he became clerk in the United States District Court under Judge B. F. Bledsoe. On August 15, 1920, Mr. Curtis removed to Merced to become assistant district attorney of the county, where he has since resided. Mr. Curtis is a single man and takes great delight in all outdoor sports, especially base- ball and football. No trait is more noticeable in his character and life than that of energy, and he deservedly ranks among the enter- prising and resourceful citizens of Merced.
JOHN M. SILVA
Among the many immigrants from the Azores Islands who have contributed towards the development of Merced County is John M. Silva, who possesses those traits of character upon which material success is founded. He was born in St. George, of the Azores on June 7, 1886, the son of Joseph M. and Barbara Silva, and was the second of six children as follows: Germania (deceased), John M., Rosa (deceased), Antonio, Joseph and Manuel. He came to Amer- ica in 1904 and stopped for a short time in Boston, Mass., came to San Luis Obispo where he secured employment as a milker on a dairy ranch for four years. It was the first round of the ladder on which he hoped to climb toward a business for himself. With the wages he saved he was able to enter into partnership with J. M. Diaz, in a dairy of 100 cows on a ranch of 700 acres, five miles from San Luis Obispo, and after running the dairy five years they moved fifty of the cows to Merced County and settled on the Henry Pfitzer place five miles southwest of Gustine. Here John M. Silva has sixty-three acres in alfalfa, having bought the land the same year he came here. In March, 1925, he bought out his partner and is now running the business alone.
On September 9, 1914, J. M. Silva was married to Mary Azevedo in San Luis Obispo. She is the daughter of Manuel and Minnie (Perry) Azevedo and was born in San Luis Obispo; her parents were both natives of the Azores, the former of Pico and the latter of Fayal. Her father came to California in 1889 and was married in San Luis Obispo, where he is still dairy farming near that place. Mrs. Silva is the eldest of six children, namely: Mary, Ida, Manuel, William, Louis, and Mabel. She attended school in the Los Osos
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and the Santa Fe districts, both of San Luis Obispo County. Mr. Silva is a member of the U. P. E. C. and of the I. D. E. S. of Gus- tine; also a member of the Foresters of America and Knights of Columbus of Newman. Mrs. Silva is a member of the S. P. R. S. I. of Gustine and of the U. P. P. E. C. of Newman.
PATRICK J. THORNTON
An official of Merced County who has proven his worth and ability in the discharge of the duties of his office, is Patrick J. Thorn- ton, the county clerk. He was born on March 27, 1872, within a stone's throw of the limits of the city of Merced, a son of the late William and Julia (Whelan) Thornton. William Thornton owned and operated a large ranch in the McSwain school district. He was born in Ireland, came to California across the Isthmus of Panama in 1865, and settled in Merced County in 1867. He was married in San Francisco in 1869. His wife was also born in Ireland, and came to California in 1866. Of this union ten children were born, all in Merced County : Daniel W., who died in 1898, at the age of twenty- six; Patrick James, of this review; Mary A .; Margaret M .; John J .; Hannah T., now the wife of M. S. Maddux; Julia B. who died unmarried; Rose M., who married W. H. Wegner ; William W .; and Joseph F., who died in early boyhood. William Thornton, though a stanch Democrat, never aspired to official honors. He was a man of excellent judgment and common sense. He died at the age of sixty-nine; but his widow survived until 1919, dying at the age of seventy-two. She was an active member of the Catholic Church and liberally contributed to the fund for the building of the new edifice.
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