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 118

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 118

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married Mr. Kelly, and they became the parents of one daughter, Florence, who married Millidge Sherwood, and died in Berkeley, Cal. Mrs. Kelly is a member of Fresno Parlor Lecture Club. Mr. and Mrs. Kelly are both very enterprising and have given freely of their time and means toward the further- ance of all projects that have had for their aim the upbuilding of the State of California and of Fresno County in particular, and no more public-spirited citizens are to be found in the country than these two honored pioneers.

WILLIAM FRANKLIN ROWELL .- Prominent among those New Englanders who have upheld the best of "Down East" traditions and at the same time have contributed greatly to elevating that standard which has given a definite and higher significance to the name of Californian, was W. F. Rowell, of special interest as having been a member of a sturdy old family, the great majority if not all of which have in some way distinguished them- selves. He was a brother of Dr. Chester Rowell, George B. Rowell, and Al- bert Abbott Rowell, all of them renowned pioneers and commonwealth build- ers like himself.

William Franklin Rowell was born in Woodsville, N. H .. the son of Ton- athan and Cynthia (Abbott) Rowell, who moved west in 1849 with their eight sons, and settled at Stouts Grove, near Bloomington, Ill. There, under truly wild and unsettled conditions. his father died the next year, and then he lived and worked on an Illinois farm. doing his bit toward the support of the mother, until the outbreak of the Civil War. The Rowells have in all generations heen distinguished for their Americanism, and in short order not less than five of the bovs, including our subject, had enlisted in defense of the Union. W. F. Rowell put his name to the paper that bound him for military duty on June 14, 1861, and became a member of Company D of the Eighth Missouri Infantry. The fact is that he was originally in an Illinois contingent, but the quota for Illinois being full, he joined the Missouri regi- ment, which was largely made up of Illinois boys. He served through the war with commendable fidelity and more than one exhibition of marked bravery ; was veteranized ; and on Independence Day, 1864, was duly mustered out as a corporal.

Having laid aside arms for the more peaceful implements and agencies of rebuilding a nation, Mr. Rowell spent some years in the Middle West. In 1883 he followed the trail of his brother. Dr. Chester Rowell, who had come to the Pacific Coast in 1866, and of Albert Abbott, who migrated in 1873, and found himself in California just before the great realtv boom. He looked over the ground carefully and decided to cast his lot with Fresno. and in a short time he had entered the field of viticulture in which he became a leading spirit and a most successful producer. He was active in the first cooperative raisin asso- ciations, and had a cooperative packing-house at Easton, where his vineyard was located and where he made his headquarters.

Developing his ranch properties with foresight and judgment, he de- veloped himself and steadily came more and more before the public, and hence it was natural that he should be tendered the honor of representing the Sixty-second District in the Assembly of the State Legislature. It happened that the representative from the Sixty-third District at that time was N. L. F. Bauchman, who had served in the Confederate Army, and it is indicative of the superior character of each gentleman that, when they found, by com- paring records, that they had fought opposite each other in a number of bat- tles, they became intimate friends, and so remained, for years helpful in their fraternal exchanges.

When Mr. Rowell retired, he removed to San Jose, and there, on April 13, 1912, he died, ten days before his brother, Dr. Chester Rowell, passed away. His esteemed widow continues to make her home at San Jose, the recipient of every honor and courtesy that is naturally due to the companion and helpmate of one to whom California owes so much. Of their eight chil- dren, six are living : Gertrude F., head of the Psychology Department of San

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Jose State Normal; Milo L. and H. D., connected with Hobbs-Parsons Com- pany, Fresno; Edna Ellen, Mrs. W. C. Claybaugh of Jefferson District; Ola, Mrs. C. H. Reynolds of San Jose ; Isabel, Mrs. S. B. Smith of Los Gatos ; Jen- nie and Jonathan, who died in their youth.

Mr. Rowell, as might be expected from one of his old Yankee traditions, became not only a strong Republican but one prominent and guiding in the councils of the party ; and his influence was felt not merely throughout the state, but in the legislative halls of the national capitol. He never allowed party politics, however, to interfere with his energetic cooperation in local affairs ; and his good works in civic reform will help to keep alive that altru- istic spirit needed more and more as society becomes complex and self- centered.

JOHN R. GLOUGIE .- A most excellent man, with an enviable record for real accomplishment, whose memory is the blessed heritage of the man who knew him as one of the most progressive of Central Californians by adoption, was John R. Glougie, who passed away somewhat over a decade ago. His grandfather was John R. Gladu, a native of France who migrated to America (at which time he changed the family name to Glougie) and set- tled in Vermont. He had a son, John R. Glougie, who was the father of our subject. Both grandfather and father made their mark, although in a modest way, as French-American citizens, contributing something to the early devel- opment of the neighborhood in which he lived.

John R., of this sketch, was born on February 18, 1839, at Jeffersonville, Lamoille County, Vt., where his father was a farmer. When the Civil War broke out and his country needed his services, he served under General Grant in Company H of the Second Vermont Regiment, and after some of the hard- est fighting during the Battle of the Wilderness, in 1864, he was wounded and for the time put out of commission. He received the coveted honorable discharge, however, and in time returned to Vermont.

At Jeffersonville, on January I. 1865, Mr. Glougie was married to Miss Martha Hull, the daughter of John P. Hull, also a soldier in the Civil War, and an Englishman, who had married Rozina Edwards. Mrs. Glougie's grand- father, William Edwards, served in the English Army during the War of 1812 and afterwards located with his family in Vermont, and he lived to such a ripe old age that he was one of the centenarians at the Centennial Exposi- tion in Philadelphia. After some of their children had settled in Iowa, John P. Hull and his wife removed there also and resided in the Hawkeye State until their death. This association of the names of Edwards and Hull is the more interesting as a part of the life-story of Mr. Glougie because of the valiant performance of General Oliver Edwards at the Battle of the Wilder- ness when, on the second day, he broke through the Confederate lines, giving a splendid example of Yankee prowess.

After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Glougie removed to Austin, Mower County, Minn., where they homesteaded land and engaged in farming. Later, they sold out and moved to Adair County, Iowa, where they purchased a farm. Not finding there exactly what they wanted, they sold again, and this time moved to Prescott, Adams County, in the same state, where they became well-to-do farmers and resided until they moved to Corning. the county seat.

On account of impaired health, Mr. Glougie at length turned his face toward California, which he and his wife first visited in 1905. They liked the climate and country so well that they concluded to locate here, and in 1907 they came to Fresno, and soon after purchased their residence. Sad to relate. Mr. Glougie closed his eyes to the scenes of this world in June, 1908, a good man, widely esteemed and by many beloved, and nowhere more welcome than in the circles of the Masons, to which time-honored organization he be- longed.

Since her husband's demise. Mrs. Glougie has resided at the family home. loved, revered and assisted by her children in the care of her property. She

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is a member of the Christian Church of Fresno, and as a cultured, refined woman loving the beautiful and the things of good report, she is interested in the genealogy of her family and in the annals of Fresno County and in all that pertains to its promising future.

Nine children blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Glougie: Albert, a farmer near Kerman ; Cora, who is Mrs. Shafer of El Centro; Eugene, a retired ranch- er in Fresno; Clyde and Cleon, successful real estate men in Nampa, Idaho; Irene, who is Mrs. Anthony of Fresno; Pearl, who married F. T. Bingham and assists her mother in presiding over her home in Fresno; Irma, who is Mrs. C. F. Gallman of the same city ; and Inez, who is Mrs. F. M. King of Bakers- field.

RICHARD A. CAMERON .- A native Californian, and one of the fore- most ranchers and dairymen, who deserves material success as well as a high place in the history of the dairy interests in Central California, is Rich- ard A. Cameron, whose father, Alexander M. Cameron, was a native of Ten- nessee, having been born in that state about 1822. In his youth the father was a farmer, and then he took to school-teaching: and in both these fields he excelled. Manly, sympathetic, and naturally observing, so that he studied both nature and human nature, he made many friends and accomplished much good before he began his greatest tussle with the world. In the exciting year of 1850, stirred by news from California, Alexander M. Cameron left for the Pacific Coast. He had served a couple of years in the Mexican War, and that contributed to develop his hardy qualities. He came up to Monterey Bay, and walked across to Millerton. Then he mined in Fresno County, and was successful where others failed. In 1852 he went into the stock business, going to Yuma, where he bought and sold for three or four years. Having lived in Ventura until 1889, he went to Mexico and took up land: and after oper- ating there for three years, he died there. His wife, a native of Arkansas, was Margaret Glenn before her marriage; they were married at Visalia, and she had many good stories of how her folks crossed the plains in 1852. She was the mother of six children, and her third child was Richard A.

Born in a part of Santa Barbara County that is now Ventura County, on May 12, 1863, Richard A. grew up to join his father in stock enterprises and. finally, on the twelfth of July. 1881, he came to Fresno County. He located at Kings River, three miles east of Fresno, and went into stock-raising, in which he has been interested to the present time. He secured 180 acres of land, and then and there began his important association with California dairying.

At Centerville, on New Year's Day, 1898, Mr. Cameron was married to Annie Douglass, a native of Denton County, Texas, who came to California with her parents in 1887. Her father was Theodore Douglass, a farmer, and her mother was a member of the well-known Darden family. They were mar- ried in Texas, and coming to Fresno County, located the Sunny South Or- chard, which they improved by planting thirty acres to oranges; the father died at Centerville in 1916. Two children resulted from this ideal marriage, and they are Douglass and Margaret Cameron. Wherever the Cameron name is known, there it speaks for what Californians hold most dear.

CARL F. HEISINGER .- Comparatively few of the present-day resi- dents of Fresno County have any conception of what the early settlers en- dured, to make it possible for later generations to live in comfort, if not in luxury, brave of heart and strong of body, must always blaze the way that others may follow. He opens the paths that generally are lost in broad high- ways, and too frequently the trail-maker hardly finished his task ere he is called to his last couch and rest.

Among the notable path-finders is Carl F. Heisinger, whose name, now so familiar to many, heads this article. His life story is as profitable as it is absorbing. He was born in Ray County, Mo., August 11, 1872, and is the son

Rst Cameron

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of Fred and Mary A. (Harris) Heisinger, of that state. Their family included eight children, two of whom are now living, Paul E., in Sacramento, and Carl F., of this review. The father died in Missouri, suddenly, after having made all arrangements to come to California; the widow, taking her eight children, carried out the plans he had made and arrived in San Diego, in 1886, and the following year, 1887, she came to Fresno County. There were six deaths in the family in California, leaving the two children now living. The mother is now making her home in San Jose, hale and hearty at seventy-seven.

Carl F. Heisinger attended school until the family came to San Diego, and there he had to work to help support the younger children and himself. He was soon employed and was the first bell-boy in the then new Hotel Cor- onado. A year later, in 1887, he accompanied his mother to Fresno County, and here drove the first bus for the then New Hughes Hotel ; he was healthy and strong, and of a willing disposition, and early thought of making his own way in life. Seeking employment in any honest work he could do, he took to ranching, learned the details, and then concluded that if he could make his work profitable for anyone he could make it more so for himself. and in 1894 bought his first property, raised grain on the ranch, near Selma, but it proved a poor investment and he lost his earnings. His next venture was in 1901. when he bought forty acres, upon which he resided fifteen years. It was far from ideal when he bought it, but he made many needed improvements and little by little increased its attraction and value. While living on this forty- acre ranch he purchased his present place of eighty acres.

Mr. Heisinger was the first man to buy property in the new section, then called "hog-wallow" land, and people said he would never make it pay as a vineyard. There were no vineyards then except a few old ones between his place and Parlier, but Time has verified his judgment. He has made the place "blossom as the rose:" others followed his lead and today the entire section is covered with vineyards and orchards. This land was bought for $75 per acre and $1.250 per acre has been refused for the property. Mr. Heisinger leveled the land, put in ditches so the entire acreage could be irrigated with an electric pumping-plant, and during eight years of this development work he "batched it" on the second ranch while his family lived on the other place, and his good wife would drive up nearly every day with an old horse and buggy, through dust in summer and mud in winter, to bring some provisions and homemade delicacies to him and his men. Always prudent, he was far sighted enough not to give up his old home until he could see his way clear on his new place. In the course of time, he reached that stage, and in 1916 he moved onto the new tract of eighty acres and gave it that more vital touch possible by near personal oversight.

Without doubt the ranch is one of the finest home sites in Fresno County ; Mr. Heisinger has spared neither pains nor expense to develop its varied pos- sibilities ; he has it most beautifully laid out for complete irrigation by means of an electrically-operated water system. He erected, in 1918-19, a fine mod- ern bungalow, with electric lighting system, hot and cold water, and all other modern conveniences, which, with the grounds and vineyards, make it a show-place of the county.

In Sacramento. September 23, 1896, Mr. Heisinger was married to Mrs. Anna R. Ratliff, a native of California and daughter of Charles and Sophia Byrd, who came to this state from Texas, in 1849, in which state Mrs. Byrd was born, the father having been a native of Mississippi; they crossed the plains with oxteams and settled near Porterville. Tulare County, took up Government land and proved up and developed it, living on this ranch until their death. These pioneers were the parents of six children, all of whom are now living. Mrs. Heisinger was married, prior to her union with her pres- ent husband, to George Ratliff, by whom she had a daughter. Ruby E. Four children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Heisinger. The first was Everett C., a graduate of Heald's Business College, who learned ranching

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under his father and helped develop the home place, and who married Violet Toler of Tulare County, a daughter of W. E. Toler of Orosi, and who had one child, now deceased; this patriotic son felt the call to serve his country, and left his wife behind to enlist for service in the World War with the U. S. Navy; he was stationed at Philadelphia during all but three months of his service, which time he spent at sea, and was discharged in January, 1919, when he came home and is now engaged in ranching two miles south of Par- lier. The remaining three children were: Clyde F .. the second born, who died ; Jack, who is developing a ranch owned by his father near Kingsburg; and Harold J., a student and coming rancher, who from his first attempt, won first prize for an eight-months fat pig. second prize for most gain for least expense, and special mention for grade and condition. This was at the Reed- ley Pig Fair, held in 1919, for the grammar and high school boys, numbering some seventy-five boys of the various country schools in the Reedley section.

Mr. Heisinger has always worked for good schools: he helped to organize the River Bend School District and advocated the best of teachers. He has been associated with every cooperative raisin association from the beginning and now is a member of the California Associated Raisin Company. He never turns a deaf ear to any mortal in distress, believing that a good word and a little financial aid may help them to success. He lives bv the Golden Rule as the true religion ; however, he has always put his hand in his pocket to aid the churches, regardless of creed. He loves his home and his ranch work- loves to watch things grow and develop, and sees some good in everything.

Those who are fortunate in knowing this interesting and representative couple are duly impressed by their qualifications as citizens and neighbors. A self-made man in the true significance of the term. Mr. Heisinger has al- ways pursued a straight-forward way and always operated by the most hon- orable methods: with the result that today he enjoys the fullest confidence. and commands the widest respect of his fellowcitizens. Mrs. Heisinger is not only the most companionable and helpful of mates, but she is a citizen who takes a live interest in the welfare of her community, and is ever willing to help in all movements for its advancement.

AMBERS BROWN .- The popular and efficient Justice of the Peace of the First Judicial Township of Fresno County, Judge Ambers Brown is an able, conscientious and impartial dispenser of justice, whose wise counsel and advice are eagerly sought by the residents of Tranquillity and vicinity. Judge Brown is a native of the Hawkeye State, born in Washington County, Iowa, June 3, 1849, son of James and Agnes ( Johnson) Brown. His father was a native of Kentucky, who moved to Indiana, where he married Agnes Johnson, a native of the Hoosier State, and they migrated to Iowa about 1845, where they were among the early pioneers of Washington County. The Indians were still to be seen in the county when Mr. Brown located in Iowa. He improved a farm and followed farming until his death in 1878, and his wife passed away in 1855. James and Agnes Brown were the parents of three children. Judge Ambers Brown being the only member of the family living. He remained at the Iowa home until he was twenty-one years of age, when he was united in marriage with Miss Mary Pike, a native of the Buck- eye State, born near Columbus, Ohio. She came with her parents, Jonathan and Louisa (Umbel) Pike, to Iowa. They were pioneer farmers of the Hawkeye State.

In 1875, Mr. and Mrs. Ambers Brown removed to Hamilton County, Nebr .. where they homesteaded eighty acres of land, twelve miles from Aurora, on the Little Blue River. Mr. Brown broke up the virgin prairie soil, and raised corn, wheat and stock. continuing his operations in this locality for about twelve years, when he sold his farm and returned to Fremont County, Iowa, where he followed farming for four years. In 1891 Ambers Brown decided to migrate to the Golden State, and after arrival in California, he located at Dos Palos, where he purchased twenty acres and improved it

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by planting alfalfa and fruit trees, and also engaged in dairying. While living there he was honored by being elected to the office of justice of the peace and also served as school trustee. In 1910 he sold his ranch and located at Tranquillity, Fresno County, where he purchased twenty-two acres. The land was raw and unimproved, but Mr. Brown soon leveled and checked it, set out an orchard, planted alfalfa, built a residence, engaged in dairying and raising hogs and cattle.

In 1914 he was elected justice of the peace of the First Judicial Township of Fresno County, after which he moved into the town of Tranquillity and bought his present home, and has established an office on the same lot, rent- ing his ranch for three years. In 1918 Judge Brown was reelected, evidence of the satisfactory manner in which he has conducted the affairs of his office. He is also notary public and grain-buyer for Gen. M. W. Muller Company, of Fresno. Judge and Mrs. Brown are parents of two children: Dennis V., the owner of a ranch at Tranquillity ; and Robert E., residing in Hamilton County, Nebr., where he is a farmer.

Judge and Mrs. Ambers Brown are active members of the Church of Christ and were instrumental in the organization of the congregation at Tranquillity, aiding substantially in building the house of worship, the Judge being a member of the building committee and a trustee. Judge Brown is an exceedingly pleasant and affable man and is highly esteemed in the community.

WILLIAM CLOUDSLY CORLEW .- Californians can never be too grateful to those pioneer farmers and stockmen, such as William Cloudsly Corlew, who, daring and sharing. through self-denial and hardship have won success and so strengthened the various social and business activities, crown- ing the whole, as has Mr. Corlew, by a live interest in local history and the preservation of historic records. Born at Rocheport, Boone County, Mo., on December 16, 1862, William's father was John Corlew, a native of that state who married there, Eliza Sexton, a worthy helpmate. William C. was the youngest of the three children; a brother, Clifford, is still living. The mother died in Missouri when our subject was born. Soon after, the father abandoned farming for the more hazardous but more profitable enterprise of teaming across the great plains to California; and as a path-breaking pioneer he made several trips to the Pacific Coast. Among all the sturdy Americans who thus contributed to conquer the great continent, none was braver or more surely deserved the reputation he acquired for safeguarding the lives and property of those confiding in him, while serving them to the limit of his strength and endurance.

In 1875, John Corlew came to California to locate, having by that time caught the "fever" sure to seize all who had a chance to become personally posted as to the superior advantages of the Golden State; and he settled at Modesto, where he established himself in the stock business. Later, he brought his sheep to Auberry Valley, at the same time he filed on a claim in the Valley. He continued in the sheep business until 1879, when he sold his sheep and engaged in cattle-raising at the same place. After that he moved to Big Sandy, and raised cattle and hogs; and finally he took up his residence at Fort Washington, at which place he died, honored by everyone who had known him and had dealings with him.

William C. was reared in Missouri by his grandmother Sexton, and at- tended the schools of his district. In 1878, when he had just passed his fif- teenth year, he came to Fresno to live with his father, helping on the farm. He went to school at Big Sandy, grew up as a farmer, and remained at home until he was twenty-four. Then he started out for himself, having been well prepared for the battle of life in a country of such keen but honest competi- tion that to succeed in one's chosen field is indeed a high honor. He rented a farm and engaged in the raising of hogs and cattle; and as soon as he was able, he bought 160 acres at Big Sandy from his brother, Clifford. Then he

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bought still more land, until he had 290 acres of choice farm territory. This ranch he continued to run for the next three years.

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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 118

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