History of Fresno County, California, with biographical sketches 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, Volume I, Part 110

Author: Vandor, Paul E., 1858-
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company
Number of Pages: 1362

USA > California > Fresno County > History of Fresno County, California, with biographical sketches 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, Volume I > Part 110

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He was born in the White Oak country, seven miles northwest of Bloom- ington, Ill., on his father's farm, for he was the son of Milo J. Abbott, who descended from English stock that traces its ancestry back to the Mayflower, and came from New Hampshire. He is a cousin of the late A. A. Rowell and also Dr. Rowell, whose lives are sketched elsewhere in this work, and a second cousin of Chester H. Rowell. the distinguished journalist and scholar. Having first seen the light on January 12, 1854, he was educated in the public schools of McLean County, Ill., and at the business college in Bloomington : and then he worked at home on the farm until he was twenty- one. Frank Rowell, his cousin, at that time offered him work on his farm; and he accepted, and he continued five years.

California made its irresistible appeal about that period. and on the sixth of January, 1879, he took the train for the far West. Twelve days later he walked about Fresno, or what there was of it then. for the town had scarcely begun to grow. He lost no time in finding something to do; and again he entered the service of a relative. His cousin, George B. Rowell, wanted him in the sheep business; and to sheep-raising he turned, getting more than a start, for, as was customary with him in all that he did, he learned the business thoroughly.

In 1883, Mr. Abbott was married to Miss Addie Barnes, a native of Chico, and a daughter of G. W. Barnes, and after the ceremony, he went. with his bride to the Washington Colony, where he had acquired, the year before, a twenty-acre tract of land. It was at best a humble home; but assisted by his good wife, he planted it to vines and trees, and made there a domicile in which they were happy.

After a while, however, he sold that place and then bought the forty acres where he makes his present home, afterwards adding forty acres im- mediately adjoining on the west. All of this choice land he long since leveled and otherwise improved, and planted; and there he built, in 1908, a beautiful one-story cement bungalow, 33 by 60 feet in size. He is a member

Andnow. Abborr

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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

of the California Associated Raisin Company, and cooperates enthusiastically in its work for the advancement of California vineyarding.

Mrs. Abbott passed away on September 8, 1917, at the age of fifty-three, and to the sorrow of many. She left a daughter, Georgia, who is the wife of Anderson R. Miner, and lives in Fowler with her five children-George A., James H., Eleanor, Anderson R., Jr., and Mary. Mr. Abbott attends the First Presbyterian Church at Fowler, and for twenty years he has been a Knight of Pythias-first at Fowler, then at Selma. He still endeavors to practice the Golden Rule ; and perhaps this is why Fate has so happily smiled upon him that the ranch he lost in the early nineties, and was enabled a few months afterward to buy back, he has been asked to part with for almost $100,000.

FRANK L. COOPER .- A pioneer and a native son, who was always a hard-worker and for years held responsible positions, is Frank L. Cooper, a man having the steady ambition to lead a useful life and so coming through unscathed, though surrounded by the temptations of the bar and the gaming table. Now, well-preserved, he is a strong advocate of temperance and all that makes for decent living. He resides a mile northwest of the Laton Cream- ery, maintains a first-class dairy, and is one of the representative farmers and stockmen of Central California.

Born near Santa Rosa, in Sonoma County, on August 17, 1867, he is the son of B. F. Cooper, who came to California from New York State when he was eighteen years old, in 1859, traveling by way of the Isthmus. The same year he settled in Sonoma County, and there married Miss Mary Schultz, who died when Frank was only nine, leaving four children. These included two sisters, who died of scarlet fever when seven years old, and a brother, Fred D. Cooper, who is a farmer near Stratford, in Kings County. The father is now about seventy-six, and lives on California Avenue south of Rolinda and about ten miles out of Fresno. He resides with his third wife, but he had children only by Frank's mother. When he came from Sonoma County he settled in Alameda County, then went to Contra Costa County, and after that to San Luis Obispo County. Then he moved to Fresno, and then to Stanislaus County, where they lived seven years ; and finally the family came back to Fresno County.

Frank Cooper came to the Laguna de Tache in the fall of 1890, and he helped James Downing move over from Kings City, Monterey County. Mr. Downing bought land at Burrel, then known as Elkhorn, and he also bought a forty-acre vineyard near Fresno. Frank thus rode over all of the Burrel ranch in the early romantic days, when the tules were thick and tall. They were so thick and tall, in fact, that a rider on horseback could not see about or ahead of him, and when the cattle strayed off and got lost, the only way for the cow-boy to do was to ride into the tules, make all the noise that he could, and thus scare the cows into coming out on higher ground.

In the summer of 1905 Mr. Cooper bought his present place, at first in- vesting in forty acres, then thirteen and a half, then twenty. Like his father, he has farmed grain extensively at what is now Riverdale, and there he has had a chance to display his ability in the driving of horses. He has driven thirty-two horses with a combined harvester, and once he drove forty horses over the rough hills of San Luis Obispo County. He is a true native son, and has been out of the State only once in his life when he made a trip to Reno, Nev.

It was in September, 1890, that Mr. Cooper came to Fresno County, soon after beginning his three years' work for Cuthbert Burrel on his 2,000-acre ranch at Visalia. Mr. Burrel also owned the Burrel Ranch of 18,000 acres, an- other ranch, of 2,000 acres, at Visalia with a section at Riverdale, and the lumber yard at Visalia. He did a good deal of heavy hauling for Mr. Burrel. He drove eight horses and superintended the work of the other drivers, haul- ing lumber for the ranch houses, which were being built in the vicinity of

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Burrel and Riverdale. He also hauled the lumber for the barn where H. M. Hancock now lives. During these years Mr. Cooper became a very trusted employe of Mr. Burrel, and almost assumed the relation of a son to him. Cer- tainly he formed a strong attachment for the rancher, and will always recall him as one of the noblest of the old pioneers of the San Joaquin Valley.

Mr. Cooper has always been a stockman and is, therefore, thoroughly familiar with the problems of stock-raising and the varying markets. Now he has a good ranch of seventy-three and a half acres, and rents an adjoining pasture of about 200 acres. He and his good wife have worked hard, and they deserve all that represents their wealth. As has been stated, he is an expert driver, and guides forty horses when the occasion demands. He had 480 acres of the Burrel ranch under lease when he was married, and ran it several years when his father cooperated with him and farmed grain. He cut his father's grain, his own and sometimes the grain of others besides.

His associations with Mr. Burrel led him often to conjure up the historic past, once so full of early California glory. While Mr. Burrel was running the 2,000-acre ranch and lumber yard at Visalia, he was also engaged in build- ing up and developing his 18,000 acres at Burrel and his section at Riverdale. In carrying on this work a great deal of lumber, machinery and other material had to be hauled to Riverdale and Burrel, most of which was brought from Visalia before the advent of the railroad. Great eight-horse wagons were used, and the drivers would usually stop at old Kingston, now no more, but which was then a very lively and a very rough and tough place. In the real early days gambling was constantly carried on, and scarcely a night would pass without some shooting affray or fight ; and often thousands in gold would change hands on the turning of a card. Kingston was on the line of the main freight trail from Stockton to Visalia, and was therefore a much-frequented place. It was the last scene of Vasquez looting. and now there is little to remind the wayfarer that it was once the scene of a wild and woolly western business town.

While living at Visalia, Mr. Cooper was married to Mrs. May Norton, a daughter of Oscar Stanton of Fresno; and by her he has had four children : Fred S. was in the United States Navy, on a transport ship, and made ten trips across the Atlantic ; Margery Lillian is the wife of Edward McKenzie of Corcoran, the transfer man, and they have one child; Elizabeth married Harrison Askew, Jr., and they reside in Laton, with their two children, where Mr. Askew is a baker ; and Bernice is still at home. It was shortly after their marriage that Mr. Cooper rented the 480 acres of the Burrel ranch.

FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF DEL REY .- If there is one thing that Californians have a right to be proud of, sensitive as they always have been in matters of financial and commercial integrity, and conscious of the high stand- ing of California and its credit in the outside money-world, it is that their banking institutions, both with respect to the character of the men behind them, and the sanely conservative way in which they are administered, are without doubt of such a grade, strength and vigor that they have long since come to set a pace for similar institutions in many of the much longer estab- lished and more populous commonwealths. And prominent among these live wires of trade, social life and political administration on the Pacific Coast must be rated one of the undoubted bulwarks of Fresno County, the First National Bank of Del Rey.

This well-equipped and fully-manned house of business was incorporated on July 20, 1917, under the banking laws of the State of California ; and on the sixth of August it opened its doors and bade the public welcome.

Its officers, to whom the people looked for confidence and leadership. were as follows: President, H. S. Hulbert, the rancher two miles south of Del Rey ; Vice-President, H. J. Hansen, also a rancher, two miles west of Del Rey ; and A. A. Werner, Cashier and Secretary. Board of Directors: H. S. Hulbert, H. J. Hansen, A. A. Werner. George Meyers, rancher two and a half

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miles southeast of Del Rey, and Ralph Mitchell, manager of the California Associated Raisin Company at Del Rey.

Prosperity has smiled upon this bank since it was first thrown open for transactions, as may be seen by its report of the Spring of 1918. Its total resources and liabilities were $139,870.89, and of the latter the paid in capital stock was $25.000, with nearly $95,000 of individual deposits subject to check. State, county or municipal deposits aggregate $4,500 ; there were $2,525 worth of certificates of deposit other than for money borrowed; and over $10,000 of time deposits, subject to reserve. Of the resources, on the other hand, there were loans and discounts totalling $70.226.08. United States Bonds to the extent of $5,000, Liberty Bonds amounting to $1,000, $5,000 worth of bonds and securities pledged as collateral for state or other deposits, postal excluded or bills payable, stock of the Federal Reserve Bank (fifty per cent. of the subscription) to the extent of $850, furniture and fixtures valued at $2,147.36, lawful reserve with Federal Reserve Bank of $7.500, cash in the vault and net amounts due from the national banks aggregating $48,147.45, the whole show- ing what even a town of the size of Del Rey, if it but have the Del Rey spirit, can do.

Already this bank has played its role in the development of the town and outlying districts ; and it bids fair to be of more and more service to the com- munity and the county in the bright days of the near future, dawning for Central California.

The bank will move into its new concrete structure about August, 1919. This new building is a model of its kind and is equipped with the modern appliances of banks in the larger cities, viz., electric wiring protection, safe deposit vaults and accommodation for the storage of private boxes.

The organization of the bank was due finally to the efforts of its presi- dent, Mr. Hulbert. Attempts had been made to establish an institution, but not until Mr. Hulbert and Mr. Werner put their shoulders to the wheel, was the organization completed. Mr. Hulbert is the leading spirit of Del Rey and is now erecting three substantial buildings, with a frontage of ninety-six feet. These buildings are to be occupied by entirely new concerns which will add much to the now constantly growing prospects of Del Rey.

RT. REV. LOUIS CHILDS SANFORD, D.D .- The Rt. Rev. Louis Childs Sanford, D.D., first bishop of the Episcopal Missionary District of San Joaquin, was born at Bristol, R. I., July 27, 1867. He was educated in the public schools of his home town and then entered Brown University, from which he was graduated in 1888, with the degree A.B. His desire had been to enter the ministry of the Episcopal Church and his studies were directed along those lines. He was graduated from the Episcopal Theological School of Cambridge, Mass., in 1892, and received the degree S.T.B. In 1913 Brown University conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. After graduating from the theological school at Cambridge he came to Cali- fornia and was appointed to the pastorate of the Mission Church at Selma, Fresno County. He also served the congregation of Fowler, and it was through his ministrations that the present edifice was erected in that town. From 1898 until 1900 he was rector of the Episcopal Church at Salinas, Monterey County, and for the next seven years he was stationed in San Francisco as rector of St. John's Episcopal Church. The years 1908-1910 he served as secretary of the Eighth Missionary Department of the Episcopal Church, which included all of the United States west of the Rocky Moun- tains. His circle of friends increased ; and many congratulations were received upon his election, in October, 1910, at the general convention held in Cin- cinnati, Ohio, to the bishopric of the Episcopal Missionary District of San Joaquin. He was consecrated in St. John's Church, San Francisco, on Janu- ary 25, 1911, and at once assumed the duties of his office with Fresno as his home.

The Missionary District of San Joaquin was constituted in October,

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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

1910, it being the fourth division of the Diocese of California. Rev. Louis Childs Sanford was nominated for bishop and was elected without opposi- tion. The district comprises fourteen counties in Central California; viz., Fresno, Madera, Merced, Stanislaus, San Joaquin, Kings, Tulare, Kern, Cala- veras, Tuolumne, Mariposa, Alpine, Inyo and Mono. The primary convoca- tion of the district was held in St. James Episcopal Church in Fresno on May 9, 1911, with an attendance of eleven clergy and twenty-five lay dele- gates, representing twelve parishes and missions. Rev. L. A. Wood was elected secretary and registrar, and the first council of advice consisted of Revs. H. S. Hanson, G. R. E. MacDonald, H. C. B. Gill and B. L. Barney. The bishop announced the selection of Fresno as the see city of the district. St. James Episcopal Parish Church became the Pro-Cathedral of the district in December, 1911. The bishop nominated Rev. G. R. E. MacDonald first dean of the Pro-Cathedral, and he was installed on May 12, 1912. The activ- ity of the bishop and his superb leadership on all occasions, together with the loyal support of the clergy and laity of his district, are evident in every department of church work and church life. Under his able leadership the debt of the church has been liquidated and, as the country of the district has been more thickly populated, new churches and missions have been established, among which we mention the Mission of the Holy Spirit, erected at the corner of Van Ness and Mckinley Avenues, with Rev. F. G. Williams, vicar in charge. The ground upon which St. James Pro-Cathedral stands consists of six lots fronting 150 feet on Fresno Street and 150 feet on N Street, all very valuable property.

Bishop Sanford was united in marriage with Ellison Vernon, a native of London, England, and they have three children : Edward, born on Decem- ber 17, 1902: Mary, born on March 27, 1906; and Royal, born on March 7, 1910. Rt. Rev. Sanford, aside from his duties as bishop, is very active in civic and kindred work. He is treasurer of Fresno Chapter of the Red Cross, as. well as active in all war and relief work. Fraternally, he is a member of the Zeta Psi.

JOSEPH MARTIN GRAHAM .- Among the successful and public- spirited dairymen of Solano and Fresno Counties was Joseph Martin Graham, who was liked by all who knew him and who attained his prosperity, partly, as he himself used to say, because of the wise counsel and unfailing sympathy of his excellent wife, who has survived him. She both understood and at- tended to his wants and comfort, and since his death she has shown much natural ability in her management of the interests left to her care.

Mr. Graham was born in the north of Ireland, of Scotch descent, in 1861, and as an infant came with his parents to New York City, after which he was reared at Port Byron in New York state. His father, William Graham, had married Mary J. Martin; and about 1875 they came west to Solano .County and located at Benicia, when they engaged in the dairy business, continuing in that field of activity until they died. There were five children, four girls and a boy; and Joseph was the second oldest. While working in San Francisco, he attended the night school, thus paying for his education; and being quick in learning, he soon obtained a good schooling. He was naturally a good mathematician, was a wide reader, and had the blessing of a good memory.

On September 26, 1888, he was married in San Francisco to Miss Nellie Agnes Drum, who was born at Mokelumne Hill, in Calaveras County, the daughter of Patrick Drum, a native of Ireland who came to New Jersey, with his parents, where he was reared to manhood. When the gold excite- ment in California drew thousands west he came with the tide across the plains and mined at Mokelumne Hill; and later in California he married Bridget Brady, a pioneer. He followed mining for many years and then settled at Antioch, where he was a farmer and dairyman until he died. Mrs. Drum died in Dixon, Cal., the mother of two boys and two girls. A brother,

I. m. Graham

Maz. Nellie . Graham rahan

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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

Henry, who died when he was nineteen, and Mrs. Graham were twins. She received her education in San Francisco in old St. Mary's Academy, which was conducted by the Sisters of Mercy on Rincon Hill, and there completed the course with honors.

After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Graham engaged in dairying, and soon they bought a ranch one and a half miles south of Cordelia in Solano County. It was known as the old Page ranch, but after they bought it, it was always and is to this day called the Graham ranch. He became an ex- tensive dairyman, and at one time he had four different dairies in operation and milked no less than four hundred cows. In those early days they panned all the milk and skimmed it by hand. They used horse-power in making butter and cheese, and their brand of "G. Butter" became famous. Mr. Graham ran four dairies and shipped the milk to San Francisco, sending as many as forty-two ten-gallon cans a day. They had a ranch of 640 acres, finely adapted for dairy purposes, and it attracted attention as a model farm.

The oldest son, Joe, of this worthy couple died of appendicitis, and on a trip to Fresno to dispel his sorrow, Mr. Graham bought an eighty-acre vineyard west of Fresno. Three years later they rented their ranch at Cor- delia and in October, 1909, he moved their dairy herd to Fresno County. He always rented his eighty-acre vineyard on California Avenue to others. Bring- ing his dairy-herd, he leased his present ranch from D. C. Sample and con- tinued dairying. The vineyard still belongs to the estate. In 1912. Mr. Graham bought the place they had been renting, comprising 160 acres on Belmont Avenue, ten miles west of Fresno; and there he continued success- fully in business until he died, on August 11, 1916.

Mr. Graham was a trustee of the Houghton school district, and was much interested in the cause of education. He was a member of the Knights of Pythias, and in national politics was a Republican. He supported generously all movements for local uplift. Since Mr. Graham's death, Mrs. Graham has continued the business and is meeting with deserved success. She has a herd of sixty milch cows and uses the Empire Milking Machine. They have an electric pumping-plant for irrigating their broad fields of alfalfa and use a gas engine for power-milking and another for their domestic water plant. Mrs. Graham is a member of the San Joaquin Valley Milk Producers' Asso- ciation, and is a stockholder in the Danish Creamery Association. She also belongs to the California Associated Raisin Company.

Ten children were given Mr. and Mrs. Graham, and seven were priv- ileged to grow up: Eunice was the wife of Maurice Burns who died at Benicia on October 12, 1918, and Mrs. Burns and her one child, Raymond Lee, now reside with Mrs. Graham ; Joseph William's death has already been referred to : Eloise C. manages the Graham Dairy : Edna is a graduate of the Kerman Union High School; Nellie is also a graduate of Kerman Union High as well as Heald's Business College, Fresno; Cyrus and Howard are operating the ranch for their mother. The children are all very helpful and thoughtful for their mother, being ambitious to succeed and always busy and dependable, assisting her in their respective ways in the management of her large affairs. Mrs. Graham, like her esteemed husband, is a friend of popular education, and serves as trustee of the Houghton school district.

JOHN MARION CARTWRIGHT .- Among the representatives of historic families, who have contributed largely toward the development of our American commonwealth, is J. M. Cartwright, a progressive business- man and public-spirited citizen, who has become the leading man of affairs at Malaga, where he manufactures the widely-known Cartwright Pruning Shears that now meets over ninety percent. of the requirements of the Pacific Coast trade. He is the seventh in order of birth in a family of eight children -five sons and two daughters-and was born at Willows, then in Colusa, but now in Glenn County, March 16, 1874; and there he lived until the winter of 1885.

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When John Cartwright, the father, in the middle eighties, bought forty acres from the Briggs' estate, and began farming two miles southwest of Malaga, his enterprise affected the residence of J. M. and helped to shape the later course of his life. The town had just then been laid out, subdivided and sold; and having learned the blacksmith's trade at his birthplace, near Charleston in Coles County, Ill., the prospect of development there attracted the artisan. This fact as to the father's handiwork is all the more interesting, because the Cartwright family-so distinguished through such members as George Cartwright, the English traveler who explored and wrote about Labra- dor; John Cartwright, the English author who advocated peace with the American Colonies; Peter Cartwright, the apostle of Methodism ; Sir Richard John Cartwright, the Canadian statesman; and Dr. Samuel Cartwright, Gen- eral Jackson's surgeon,- received its name from the occupation of the found- ers, and a branch of the family is still conducting a wagon-making factory in England.

J. M.'s grandfather was Reddick Cartwright, a pioneer of Coles County who came there from North Carolina, was a second cousin of Peter Cart- wright, the famous circuit rider just referred to, and was said to have been a man of great physical strength, as was his son, John Cartwright, our sub- ject's father. The latter was one of a family of twenty-three children. He was also distinguished for his moral and mental qualities, and these found expression in his work as a minister of the Baptist Church, which ordained him in Boone County. Iowa, whither the Cartwrights had removed. He had learned the blacksmith trade and wheelwright trade in Illinois, as has been said, and was such a first-class workman and mechanic that, arriving in California, he was able to help himself and his family much better than the average pioneer.

The elder Cartwright first settled at Butte City in Colusa County, and in time became a large wheat-raiser, having as high as 3,000 acres. It was when he came to Fresno, in 1885, however, and set out a vineyard, and realized his wants in a somewhat primitive community, that he was led to take a step even momentous in the history of his family. He needed some pruning shears, and finding none adapted to the local requirements, he set about to make a pair in his own little blacksmith shop on the home farm. They proved to be better than anything on the market, and neighboring ranchers having borrowed and used them, ordered some for themselves. The result was that Mr. Cartwright made thirty pair the second year, and two hundred pair the third year ; and from that time the output has been greater and greater each succeeding year. For the past thirty-three years the Cart- wrights have manufactured these shears, and now over 200,000 are in use.

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History of Fresno County, California, with biographical sketches 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, Volume I, Part 110

Author: Vandor, Paul E., 1858- Publication date: 1919 Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company Number of Pages: 1362

Author: Vandor, Paul E., 1858-
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company
Number of Pages: 1362