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 119

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 119

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In the meantime, Mr. Corlew married, at Big Sandy, in 1887, Miss Annie Hall, a native of Solano County, Cal., born near Suisun, the daughter of Thomas and Mary (Jeans) Hall. Her father was a well-known pioneer and stockman of Fresno County who located in Red Bank district in 1870. Four children were born of this union: Vera, Harland, Lurline and Winnie. In 1904. Mr. Corlew also bought eight and one-quarter acres at the corner of Blackstone and Weldon Avenues, Fresno, and having improved the same for the growing of alfalfa and peaches, he built for his family a fine residence. They attend the Christian Church.

During all these years Mr. Corlew was engaged in hauling wood to retail in Fresno; and of late years, or since the construction of the San Joaquin & Eastern Railroad, he has shipped the wood into town from his place, thirty- eight miles northeast of Fresno. In 1914, he sold all of his ranch property except twenty-five acres, but in the spring of 1918 he bought 160 acres in Old Auberry Valley, at the foot of Corlew Mountain, and there he is still engaged in stock-raising and in handling wood.

Always public-spirited, interested as a wide reader in politics generally. Mr. Corlew has long supported the platforms of the Democratic party on national issues, and the best men and the best measures on strictly local ques- tions of the day. For years he served as clerk of the school board at Big Sandy. Mr. Corlew has done what he could to elevate the standard of good citizenship, and it is not surprising that prosperity has come his way.

HANS HANSEN .- A hardy, energetic and thorough viticulturist, who has done his share towards developing the county's resources, is Hans Han- sen, known for his high standards of character. In the early nineties he came to Fresno County, equipped with farming experience acquired in one of the fertile regions of Northern Europe. .

Born in Gjestelev, Fyen, Denmark, on September 6, 1865, his father was Niels Hansen, also a native of Fyen, and a farmer there. When Denmark was in her death-grapple with Germany. Mr. Hansen fought as a soldier in the Danish army ; and when peace enabled him once again to apply himself to his private affairs, he married Anna Nielsen, also a native of that district. Both are now dead, but they were the honored parents of six children, four of whom grew up and are yet living, three being in California: Hans, the subject of this sketch; Peter, a viticulturist in the Madison district; and Christ, also a viticulturist at Orosi.

Brought up on a farm in Denmark, Hans was educated in the common and the high schools of his home district, after which he went out to work on farms near-by. When twenty years of age he entered the Danish army, as a member of the First Company, Third Regiment and Seventh Battalion, and having served the time required, he received an honorable discharge with a good record. He thus balanced his account with his fatherland and is today free to return there and enjoy all that is so attractive in Danish life.

In 1892, Mr. Hansen came to the United States, convinced that America afforded opportunities not obtainable in the crowded Old World, and arriving in Fresno County in the month of April, he made haste to engage himself for vineyard and grain-farm work. The work was new and hard, but at the end of three years he had so far progressed toward self-independence that he bought his present place of forty acres on Johnson Avenue, four miles west of Fresno. Here he engaged in viticulture, erected a fine residence and put up barns and other outbuildings, and he also set out an orchard of three acres in apricots and peaches. Later still he bought twenty acres adjoining, which he set out and otherwise improved, and still later twenty acres on Kearney Boulevard, so that now he has eighty acres. sixty in vines, bearing muscats, Thompson seedless, and sultanas. He also bought and improved eighty acres near Orosi, which he carefully set out to vineyards, but later sold. No one

Hans Hansen

assens

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welcomed the early movements for a raisin association more heartily than Mr. Hansen, and it is only natural that he should be active in the California Peach Growers, Inc., and the California Associated Raisin Company. He was one of the original stockholders in the Danish Creamery Association.

Among the social events in Madison District, was the marriage of Hans Hansen to Miss Elina Nielsen, a native of Fyen, Denmark, and the daughter of Hans and Marie Nielsen, farmers there; and four children have come to them : Einer, Holger, Kenneth Ernest, and Anna who died in infancy. Mrs. Hansen came to Fresno in 1905 and was married in June the same year.

In 1894 Mr. Hansen made a trip back to Denmark; and there he spent some four months visiting his old home. He is a member of the Danish Brotherhood, and was for some years also a member of the Dania, and with his wife is a member of the Danish Sisterhood, an auxiliary of the Danish Brotherhood. Mrs. Hansen is a member of the different ladies' societies of the Lutheran Church, as well as the Danish auxiliary of the Fresno Chapter of Red Cross. Mr. Hansen is a Republican in national politics. He was one of the organizers of the Scandinavian Fire Insurance Company and is still a member.

THOMAS BETTIS MATTHEWS .- What the right kind of a man can accomplish when adversity has overwhelmed his parents, hurrying the one to the grave and exacting from the other the bitterest ordeal and sacrifice : and to what heights he may attain when, in the beginning, he has been blessed with a loving and devoted mother, and when, in addition, he has been fortu- nate in the selection of just the right helpmate for life, so that, having put behind himself the struggles of years, he finds himself honored as one of the earliest pioneers, one of the successful and conservative financiers, and one of the most public-spirited citizens,-is set forth in the interesting story of Thomas Bettis Matthews, the extensive farmer and banker who is still re- siding on the same property that he bought in 1879, before Selma was on the map.

His father, Ransom B. Matthews, was a native Kentuckian who came to Missouri while he was a young man. He died at an age of thirty-five, in Jan- uary, 1861, when Thomas B. was only two and one-half years old. The father had become the owner of a fine farm of 1,280 acres in Missouri, but during the war the records at the county seat as well as the deed itself, were all destroyed and they had to pay for their land a second time. Thus with all his property and striving the father had been unable to do anything financially for his baby-boy; but he had come of excellent lineage and in his blood he bequeathed a fortune such as many would envy. His mother also belonged to a pioneer family. Her maiden name was Burnette Anderson, and she was born, grew up and was married in Missouri. After her husband's untimely death, she proved her sterling character by devoting all her energies to keep- ing the family together. So great was her affection and fidelity in those try- ing hours, so much did she do for the children who needed her guidance and help, and to such an extent did she influence and mold the life of our subject that no memory is sweeter to him than that of his mother. There were seven children in the family, and four of these came to California with the mother.

It was really due to the second daughter that the Matthews family turned their gaze toward the Golden State. She was the first wife of M. Sides, pres- ident of the First National Bank of Selma, who came to Fresno County in 1875 and to Selma in November of the same year, and was thus one of its earliest pioneers. She urged her mother to make the move ; and, accompanied by her eldest daughter, then a widow, Mrs. V. Brewer, and her three children, and another younger daughter, Mrs. McCartney (whose husband had come out here three months before), and Thomas Bettis, then twenty years old, and the youngest daughter, Miss Hettie, arrived at Selma on January 10, 1879, by way of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railways.

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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

The party landed at Kingsburg, for there was then no station at Selma, and drove up to the place where Mr. Sides then lived.

For the first four years young Mr. Matthews worked day and night to provide and maintain a home to be presided over by his sainted mother, labor- ing on the Centerville and Kingsburg Canal, and buying 82.93 acres of rail- way land, the nucleus to his present home farm of 168 acres, the balance of which was purchased two or three years later. His mother kept house for him, as she had done in Missouri ; and aside from her hallowed associations, the place has historic interest from the fact that the owner has lived there continuously ever since, and is the only pioneer to reside for the same length of time on property hereabouts. On November 21. 1887, Mr. Matthews' mother died.

As might be expected, something worth while in the way of accession to the ranks of the pioneers came from the settling here of the Matthews fam- ily, which included seven sons and daughters. Jennie, the widow of V. Brewer, resides at Long Beach ; Cassandria was Mrs. M. Sides and died at Selma in 1894; Ama C., the widow of P. Baricklow, lives in Los Angeles : Sarah Jane, the wife of G. J. Nees, came west to Selma in 1884 and now lives at Fresno: Fannie L., the widow of W. S. McCartney, lives near her sister Ama ; Thomas Bettis, who married Miss Allari, resides on the home farm ; while the youngest sister married J. E. Longacre, one of the earliest business men of Selma, and now lives on an Imperial Valley ranch at Blythe, Riverside County.

Thomas Bettis was the only boy in the family. and the duty fell to him to remain at home and, from his tenth year, to work on his mother's farm. In that way he succeeded in paying off some liabilities due to the war, and great was his satisfaction. and that of the rest of the little circle, when he was able to do so. In 1882, at the suggestion of his mother, he went back to Missouri and sold his mother's farm, and then divided the proceeds between the children, share and share alike. The mother kept nothing for herself, but continued to reside with her son. This generosity on her part was typical of the high ideals which always animated her. As indeed a noble woman, she looked after the sick and the needy, and was to everybody the epitome of hu- man benevolence. She had never studied medicine, but long experience en- abled her to administer home remedies with great success. Though lonely and sometimes despondent on account of the loss of his mother, Thomas stuck bv his farm and thus continued the proprietorship which has now become historic.

Mr. Matthews was married, in 1888. to Miss Annie Allari, a native daughter who was born in San Francisco and grew up in the metropolis. Her father, Henry Allari, was a native of Geneva, Switzerland, but came from Parisian French blood. With his parents he crossed the ocean to New York, and there he studied navigation. Her mother had been Annie Haines Penney before her marriage, and she came of good old British ancestry, the Penneys being Scotch and the Haineses, English. Mr. Allari and Miss Pen- ney were married in New York, and their wedding tour was a trip to San Francisco by way of the Isthmus. The crossing was made in 1862, and when he arrived at San Francisco, he operated for a while a box and trunk factory. His main occupation became mining, he becoming interested in mines in Ari- zona, and Old Mexico, where, for a year and a half as a child, Mrs. Matthews lived. Her father could speak seven languages very fluently, and was in many respects a remarkable man. He finally died at Darwin, Invo County, while crossing Death Valley to reach his Arizona mine; after which Mrs. Matthews' mother continued to live in San Francisco until her daughter mar- ried, when she divided her time between the home of Mrs. Matthews and the other daughter, Mrs. W. T. Lyon, the wife of the founder of the Selma Irri- gator. Mrs. Allari died at the Matthews home on February 22, 1917, at the ripe age of seventy-five. Mrs. Matthews, who is an accomplished woman, was educated in the public schools of San Francisco and possesses knowledge

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and experience which have enabled her to assume most responsible positions in society and affairs.

Mr. Matthews enjoys the distinction of being the only person who is a. stockholder and director in all four of the banks at Selma, namely: the First National Bank, the Selma Savings Bank, the Selma National Bank and the Farmers Saving Bank. A large cattle ranch of 1.080 acres near Trimmer is owned and operated by Mr. Matthews and Douglass Sides, a son of Mr. M. Sides. Mr. Matthews is also largely interested in the Crescent Land and Cat- tle Company, Inc. ; while he is a director in the Wheatville Ranch Company of Fresno County, and has other agricultural interests ; he is heartily interested, also, in the California Raisin Association.

Mr. and Mrs. Matthews have had two children : Thomas A., who died when he was eighteen months old, and Ransom B. Matthews, now associated with his father. He is only twenty-three years of age, but he has already demon- strated his ability as a student and as a thorough machinist, a farmer and a business man, his liking for machinery aiding him materially in the compli- cated management of a ranch. Mrs. Matthews and her son are members of the Presbyterian Church at Selma. Mr. Matthews served on the building committee for the new church in 1917, he having donated funds to help put up three edifices on the same spot. His mother was a charter member of the Presbyterian Church of Selma, as were also his eldest and youngest sisters. In the erection of business buildings, also, Mr. Matthews has had a pioneer part. It was he who built the first brick store structure in Selma, which was burned three years ago; it was called the Matthews Block, and was an orna- ment to the town.

Although widely known for his public-spiritedness, Mr. Matthews has consistently declined public office. His first refusal was announced when friends had him appointed as the second postmaster of the town, but he de- clined to serve, and since then he has repeatedly refused honors of this kind.

The Matthews old home place is located about one mile northeast of Selma, and there he has a beautiful country home nicely furnished, its fine array of pictures in particular reflecting the exquisite taste of the lady of the house. Despite his struggles in early life, Mr. Matthews has been a real home- maker, and even in days of poverty and distress he took the pains to plant trees in regular Missouri style. These, now grown large and stately, adorn his yard and afford refreshing shade. When he was again in Missouri in 1882, Mr. Matthews brought with him from his old home several young seedling trees, and four of these are still living in this yard; two are Missouri black ash, one is a slippery elm, and the other is a wild Missouri persimmon. He also set out Italian cypress trees, Monterey cypress, and two beautiful sequoia trees which are now like the forest trees in Grant National Park, whence they came as tiny seedlings and were set out by Mr. Matthews' own hands.

The ranch of 280 acres which he maintains in partnership with his son, eleven miles southwest of Selma, is devoted to alfalfa and vines. One hundred acres are planted to raisin grapes, and sixty acres more have lately been plant- ed to Thompson seedless. Other properties attest the worldly prosperity of this man, who, overcoming material obstacles at the outset and keeping his eyes fixed on the high ideals he early set before him, has made good in a thousand ways, not only for himself but for others.

WILLIAM O. BLASINGAME .- The descendant of an honored and successful pioneer of Fresno County. W. O. Blasingame was born November 11, 1875, on the home place, five miles northwest of Academy. He is a son of the late J. A. Blasingame, who was a prosperous stockman and early banker of Fresno County, a more extended notice of whom will be found elsewhere in this history.

After completing his education, which included attendance at the gram- mar and high schools of Berkeley and Oakland, W. O. Blasingame entered upon the activities of a business life, selecting stock-raising as an occupation,

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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

one in which his father had achieved such splendid success. In 1898 he en- tered into partnership with his brother, J. A. Blasingame, Jr., in the cattle . business on the old Blasingame Estate ranch of 11,000 acres. As their herd and business increased they bought more land and now they own 5,000 acres adjoining the old place on which their cattle range. They use their father's old brand, B with bar underneath. W. O. Blasingame being very ambitious, began to improve 320 acres of raw land, which he owns on North Avenue, Kutner Colony. Here he set out vines and now has the entire acreage in a vineyard, under fine cultivation, and here he raises table and raisin grapes. He also owned 320 acres on Belmont Avenue, 120 acres of which he also improved to a vineyard and orchard, and after bringing it to a high state of cultivation sold out at a good profit. The success he has attained in cattle- raising and in viticulture and horticulture is attributed to his close attention to the details of his business, as well as to judicious management.

WV. O. Blasingame was united in marriage with Edna Leonard, a native daughter of California, born in Berkeley, where the ceremony occurred. Their marriage has been blessed with three children: Frank; Florence; and Billie. Mr. Blasingame is a member of the Sequoia Club and the Commercial Club in Fresno. A firm believer in cooperation for those engaged in the rais- ing of fruits and vines, he has been a supporter of every cooperative raisin association, and is a member and stockholder in the California Associated Raisin Company. As early as 1903, Mr. Blasingame erected a modern resi- .dence on his ranch and beautified the grounds with ornamental trees, among them an orange and lemon grove, and he has a border of figs around the ranch. The ranch is under the ditch, but he has installed four pumping plants, which furnish ample water for irrigation.

PHIL SCOTT .- Not many men have been able to close their eyes to the scenes of this world with greater satisfaction than that which doubtless soothed the last moments of the late Phil Scott, one of the prominent up- builders in his time of Fresno and Fresno County, who made an enviable record as Supervisor, and who was true to his trust so that his honesty and integrity were never questioned. In those eventful moments, he must also have been comforted with the thought of his faithful wife who was indeed a helpmate to him, for many years. A native daughter of California, she well knew Californian conditions and so could the better aid and encourage him; and today she recalls many an early experience, in a way both absorbingly entertaining and instructive.

Born at Joliet, Ill., on May 3, 1848, Phil Scott was the son of Jediah Hub- bard Scott, a native of New York State who was born on an island in the St. Lawrence River, in 1818. The father was a pioneer farmer in Will County, Ill., and in 1851 brought his wife and four boys to California, crossing the great plains with ox teams. In Sacramento County he became a farmer and stock-raiser, and in that field of activity he continued until he retired and spent his last days in Fresno County. He had married Miss Anna Chamberlain, a native of Canada, and she also died here, the mother of thirteen children, among whom Phil was the second oldest.

Phil Scott was a child of three years when his father crossed the plains in 1851, and he was reared on a farm three miles out of Sacramento. When seventeen years of age he entered the employ of the old Central Pacific, and was the seventh man hired by that company in the train department for work on the construction of its line. He was conductor of a construction train from the start, and for years continued with the company as conductor. As early as 1875 he came to Fresno while railroading, and he ran the overland passen- ger between Oakland and Bakersfield. While hunting quail in 1890, his left arm was accidentally shot off by a comrade, and when he recovered, he con- tinued as conductor on the Porterville branch.

He was always interested, as the result of the first favorable impressions that he received, in the growth and development of Fresno County, and in

Phil Scor

alice Scott.

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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

1893 he purchased in the Nevada Colony a vineyard of forty acres, which he improved and which is still owned by Mrs. Scott. In 1906 he and his brother, Jay Scott, the ex-sheriff, and son-in-law, J. C. Clark, bought 160 acres in Lone Star. They set out vineyards of malagas, emperors, muscats, Thompson seedless and other grapes, turning stubble-fields into model ranch- land, and together they operated their property. In 1893 he and his family located again on the ranch, but in 1895 he moved to Fresno.

Soon afterward he was elected supervisor of the Third Supervisorial District in Fresno County, to fill an unexpired term caused by the death of Supervisor Smith; and two years later he was reelected for a full term, and during that time was made chairman of the board. After he retired from the board, in 1904, at the close of his second term, he returned to the ranch of forty acres located on Lone Star and Las Palmas Avennes, which is de- voted to the culture of muscat and malaga grapes. In November, 1918, he moved to Fresno, where he purchased a comfortable home on Wishon Ave- nue, and there he died, on January 18, 1919, nearly seventy-one years of age. He was a member of the Fresno Lodge of Elks.

At Sacramento, on December 23. 1873, Mr. Scott was married to Miss Alice Leonard, a native of that city where she was born on August 11, 1852. Her father was Albert Leonard, a native of Springfield, Mass., and when he was twenty-one he joined others in buying a barque and sailing around Cape Horn, in 1849, to San Francisco. He was therefore a true Argonaut, and he mined for a short time, and then became one of the early insurance and real estate men of Sacramento, where he finally died. His wife was Miss Caroline Merrill before her marriage, and she was born in Conneaut, Ohio. Grandfather Isaac Merrill was a native of New York state, and with ox teams and wagons, he brought his family across the plains in 1849. When Caroline was sixteen, they located in Sacramento, and there she met Mr. Leonard. She also died in Sacramento, the mother of fifteen children, ten of whom are still living. Mrs. Scott. the eldest, was brought up in Sacra- mento, and well remembers the flood of 1861-62. The mother and children were in the house when the flood came, and they were deep in the water before a boat came to resctie them. Soon after they left the house, it toppled over. Mrs. Scott was educated at the Sacramento grammar and high schools. Four children blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Scott: William M., for years a conductor on the Southern Pacific, is now engaged in viticulture east of Fresno ; Jessie is the wife of P. B. Donahoo, of Fresno ; Nan C. is the wife . of Robert Barton, proprietor of the White Theater ; while Blanche, who died in March, 1906, became Mrs. J. C. Clark.

Mrs. Scott continues to reside in Fresno, surrounded by her children and friends, who love and esteem her for her splendid traits and amiable disposition. As a Christian Scientist she has ever been known as a benevolent Christian.

E. W. LINDSAY .- Fresno County is noted for its excellent school sys- tem, and its high standard is due to the efficiency of those in charge. From 1907 to 1919, E. W. Lindsay served as county superintendent of the schools and during that period the increase in efficiency has been marked.

Mr. Lindsay was born in Halifax County, Nova Scotia. April 8, 1861, the son of Alexander and Charlotte (Guild) Lindsay, farmer folk of the Dominion. Mrs. Lindsay passed to her reward in Canada, and soon after Mr. Lindsay removed to the United States and located in Colorado and there he lived until he answered the final summons. E. W. Lindsay received his early edu- cation in the country schools of Canada, later attending the Truro Normal School and Pictou Academy, and he taught school four years in Canada. Feeling that a greater field awaited him on the Pacific Coast, Mr. Lindsay came to California in 1888 and at once settled in Fresno. He soon took up his chosen profession and taught in the public schools of this city for a num- ber of years. His success as a teacher soon brought its reward and he was

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prevailed upon to accept the office of county superintendent of schools, taking charge in January, 1907. When he assumed the duties of the office there were but 124 districts in the county and the average daily attendance was 8.150 pupils. Ten years later there were 156 districts and an average daily attendance 15,140 pupils. There were ten high schools in the county in 1906, and their average daily attendance was 650 pupils. In the ten years there was an increase of four high schools and the attendance was 2,015. The corps of teachers increased from 287 to 541 in the ten years. To what extent the successful management of the office was due to the splendid system inau- gurated and supervised by Mr. Lindsay is well known to the citizens of the county and needs no recounting here. After diligently serving the public from 1907 until 1919, Mr. Lindsay declined to be a candidate for reelection, deciding that twelve years in office were sufficient for any man. His great endeavor while in office was to secure the best instructors available and he enthusiastically encouraged the consolidation of county schools. No incum- bent in the office ever worked more indefatigably for the upbuilding of the school system of the county than did he. Since leaving the office of county superintendent Mr. Lindsay has become associated with the Fresno State Normal School.

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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 119

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