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 125

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 125

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George W. received a good education in the public schools and when school days were over he learned the blacksmith trade under his father and then he served an apprenticeship as a machinist, learning the trade thor- oughly and becoming as well a draftsman and patternmaker, showing much mechanical aptitude, continuing at the machinist's trade in Illinois until 1875, when he came to San Francisco, Cal., where he secured work as a machinist, in time becoming foreman for the Byron Jackson Machine Works, a position he filled for nine years. Mr. Bonds was more than a machinist, for if given the idea he could make the drawing, then make the pattern, and complete the invention. It was during this time that the Byron Jackson pump was perfected, and later on when Mr. Bonds was manufacturing the Bonds gas engine in Fresno he introduced the Byron Jackson pump, using it in connection with the Bonds gas engine when installing pumping-plants.

In 1889, Mr. Bonds came to Fresno County, locating at Selma, where for a time he followed his trade and then moved to Fresno and established a machine shop, which he built up under the name of Bonds Machine Works, located on Mono near I. Here he manufactured the first gas engine made on the Coast, and here also was built the largest gas engine (a forty-five horse- power) ever built in the county. He put in the first pumping plant for irriga- tion in Fresno County, using his engine and a Byron Jackson pump, and showed it to be a success, thus introducing the system of irrigating from wells in the county, a thing that has been of the utmost importance in the building up of Fresno County, resulting in its present wonderful state of development.

While in Fresno he met his future wife, Miss Lena Sophia Backer, born at Eureka, Sierra County, Cal. She is a daughter of Henry H. and Augusta (Busch) Backer, both pioneers of the state. Henry H. Backer was born in Holland and was a sailor. He came as a young man to California, a Forty- niner, and early pioneer miner of Sierra County, operating mines in that sec- tion. In 1878 he came to Fresno County and bought land in Church Colony, now known as Temperance Colony. Locating his family here on a sixty-acre ranch, he returned to Sierra County to settle up his affairs, and while there he took pneumonia and died, in April, 1879, aged fifty-six. He was a member

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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

of the Masonic Lodge. The mother, as Augusta Busch, came to New York with her mother, and thence to California with a brother, to Sierra County. After her husband's death, Mrs. Backer continued to reside on the ranch in Temperance Colony and with the help of her children improved the property to vineyards. They added to their acreage, and at the time of her death, September 1, 1904, the family owned 160 acres. Mr. and Mrs. Backer were the parents of six children: Lena, Mrs. Bonds; Hilca, Mrs. Hagerty, de- ceased; August H .; Henry H .; Dora W .; and George W., all residing in Fresno County. After the mother's death, the heirs incorporated their hold- ings as the Backer Vineyard Company, and now own, besides the home property, 800 acres at Sanger. Mrs. Bonds was reared in Sierra County until fourteen years of age, coming with her parents, in 1879, to Fresno County. On completing her education here she assisted her mother until her marriage to Mr. Bonds, which took place on December 27, 1896. After their marriage, Mr. Bonds continued his machine-shop for a few years, and they then re- moved to San Francisco, where he worked as a machinist for nine years. At the end of that period they returned to Fresno, to the old home ranch, Mr. Bonds taking charge of the work there and followed viticulture until 1918. when they gave it up and returned to Oakland to reside. Of their union two children were born, one of whom is living, Elwin, who was attending the Oakland high school when he enlisted in the United States Army and is now serving over-seas: Mr. Bonds had six children by a former marriage, four of whom are living: Harry, proprietor of the I Street Garage in Fresno ; George, a machinist in San Francisco; Milton, a machinist in Mare Island Navy Yard; and Lambert C., in the United States Customs House, San Francisco.

Mr. and Mrs. Bonds are members of the Fraternal Brotherhood. Too much credit cannot be given men like Mr. Bonds, who has given his years of experience and his best energy and efforts to utilize the natural resources of this great commonwealth by aiding in the development of intensive farm- ing. His faith in Fresno County's future greatness has never been shaken.

EDWARD A. WILLIAMS .- Owing to a long period of residence in Fresno County, and close identification with its legal interests, Edward A. Williams, the successful attorney of Fresno, is well and favorably known throughout this section of the state. His life began in Virginia City, Nev., on July 17, 1874, but since five years of age his home has been in Fresno County, where he received his preliminary education. Having chosen the practice of the law as his life work, he entered the office of attorneys Sayle and Caldwell, in Fresno County. Being intensely interested in the study of jurisprudence, he made rapid advancement, and in 1895 was admitted to the bar. His comprehensive knowledge of the law and his energetic application to its practice soon gained for him ready recognition, and for four years he occupied the responsible post of deputy district attorney of Fresno County, under Alva E. Snow. Preferring to establish the private practice of his pro- fession, he relinquished public office and began to specialize on corporation law. The high degree of confidence reposed in Mr. Williams as a wise coun- selor is best understood when one realizes that he is the attorney for fifty- two corporations in California. When the Webb alien land bill became a law in this state, it was E. A. Williams who suggested the idea of organiz- ing into corporations the Japanese engaged in farming the San Joaquin Valley, which he accomplished.

Mr. Williams has acquired local appreciation and prominence in literary work, having written short stories and poetical works that have elicited favorable comment, and given much enjoyment to his many friends and ac- quaintances. He has been honored by being elected to many important posts, among which are: President of the Commercial Club; president of the Ar- menian Relief Association ; director of the Raisin Day Festival Association ; president of the Boy Scouts of America, Fresno Division. Fraternally, he is

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a member of the Odd Fellows and for the past ten years has been Regent of the Royal Arcanum. He also holds membership in the Sunnyside Country Club.

Edward A. Williams was twice married. His first wife was Mary E. Lynn of California. She passed away in 1910. This union was blessed by one son, Edward A., Jr., who is a student at the University of California, and during seven months of the war was an Instructor of Military Law in the Aviation School at the University of California, at Berkeley. In 1913 Mr. Williams was united in marriage with Catherine E. Fenstermacher, a native of Pennsylvania. By a former marriage she was the mother of a son, Lieut. Earl J. Fenstermacher, and a daughter, Dorcas, whom Mr. Williams adopted. Lieutenant Fenstermacher is serving over seas in Company No. 348. Ninety-first Division, Light Field Artillery.

Mr. Williams had charge of "putting over" the Smileage campaign in Fresno County, and was a regularly enlisted "four-minute man," he served on the law committee of the draft board, and assisted in organizing the Girls' War Welfare League. In fact there was not a local movement started for the aid and successful prosecution of the war, in which he did not take an active part.

LLEWELYN ARTHUR NARES .- An interesting revelation of the extent to which British brains, experience and capital have assisted in the steady, peaceful and permanent development of California, reclaiming great areas of waste land, representing thousands of fertile acres, and bidding colon- ists from all over the globe welcome to the Golden State, is afforded in the story of Llewelyn Arthur Nares, the well-known director of realty enter- prises, who is a native of Haverford West, Pembrokeshire, England, where he was born on July 19, 1860. His father was Owen Alexander Nares, who married Emily Margaret Lewellin, and through their appreciation of educa- tion, he attended the fine public schools at Haverford, later topping off his studies at Godolphin School in London, where he remained until 1876.

In that year he returned to Haverford and engaged with the National Provincial Bank ; but after a couple of years he went back to London, and for a year was in the employ of the Delhi & London Bank. In 1879 he came out to Montreal, Canada, and took a position of responsibility with the Bank of British North America; and with the extensive operations of that great house of finance he was identified until 1881.

He then moved to Winnipeg, where he followed surveying, for a short time, in the Canadian Rockies, first becoming acquainted with field work in land manipulation, and then he entered the service of the Merchants Bank of Canada. Later he became the financial representative for English capital- ists in Northwestern Canada, and finally, equipped with a most valuable ex- perience, he organized the firm of Nares, Robinson & Black, which was well and favorably known, from the middle nineties, as one of the most reliable and aggressive forces for the development of Canadian interests in all the Dominion.

Continuing in the same field of activity, Mr. Nares first came to the United States as the representative of English interests, and now his opera- tions extend all over the western and southern part of the United States. These interests had made their initial investment in California as early as 1881, but they had not progressed far until he took charge of their projects. Since then they have acquired ninety-five per cent. of all the irrigation canals on the north side of Kings River, and the area irrigated has increased in this period from eighty to more than 400,000 acres.

Under Mr. Nares' direction, in fact, lands acquired by the companies about the time he took hold have been greatly developed and colonized ; and subsequent land purchases by these and other interests have been splendidly developed and form part of one of the most extensive and successful coloni- zation projects in the United States. The various colonization enterprises

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extend for seventy miles along Kings River, and a veritable garden of the richest land, of which the Laguna de Tache grant, alone comprising about 68,000 acres, was the first principal part, has been reclaimed and thrown open to settlement.

It is but natural that scientifically directed energy, of the kind that Mr. Nares demonstrates, should take tangible form, and it is not surprising to find him president of the Fresno Canal & Irrigation Company, the Consoli- dated Canal Company, the Summit Lake Investment Company ; while he is also managing director of the Laguna Lands, Ltd.

On January 26, 1909, Mr. Nares was married at Los Angeles to Kathryn Evans, a woman of intellectual attractiveness and social charm. He is a member of the Union League Club of San Francisco, the Fresno Sequoia and Commercial Clubs, and the Sunnyside Country Club of Fresno, of which he is also a director.

ALEXANDER CAMPBELL FINE .- From boyhood until the present time A. C. Fine has been a resident of the Golden State. He came with his parents when he was a lad of ten years and from that time to now he has been interested in ranching pursuits of one kind or another, and as a rancher he has gained an independent footing and won recognition among his fellow citizens.

A. C. Fine was born in Lafayette County, Mo., June 20, 1839, a son of Morgan and Louise (Belt) Fine, natives of Tennessee and Kentucky, respec- tively, the former born in 1800, and the latter in 1809, near the Mammoth Cave. This worthy couple had six children, the first five being born in Missouri ; they are: Liggerd B., deceased ; Alexander C .; Dr. Andrew, also deceased ; Mrs. Maria Riche; and Amanda. John, the sixth and youngest, was born in California in 1852. Morgan Fine, with his family, left Lafayette County, Mo., in the spring of 1849, in a company of one hundred persons bound for California. The train consisted of thirty wagons drawn by ox teams and it was six months ere they reached the end of their journey. The trip was without incident, no Indian troubles worried the party, although they were continually on the lookout for a surprise attack. The lack of water was their greatest hardship. En route the party heard about the Humboldt hot springs, and their supply of water running low for their stock, Mr. Fine rode ahead two days and dipped the water from the hot springs and poured it into holes in the ground to cool so it could be drunk by the oxen when they should arrive. Mrs. Fine fastened a ham to a wire and dipped it into the spring and cooked it, also made coffee with the water. Arriving in California, the party made a short stop in Sonoma County, then came on down to Santa Clara County. Mrs. Fine had brought a good supply of baking soda among her other supplies and her surplus she readily disposed of at one dollar per pound in San Jose. Anxious to secure a home for his family. Morgan Fine took up a government claim of 160 acres, two miles from San Jose and near what is now known as College Park. In that early day the Spanish Grants were difficult of transfer on account of insecure title, and it was twenty-five years before Mr. Fine could obtain a deed. He farmed and raised stock, and later specialized in hogs, which proved very profitable. This good man died July 17, 1878, and his wife lived until Decem- ber 22, 1891. They were of that sturdy pioneer stock that laid the foundation of California's greatness, and at their passing were mourned by many friends who knew them for the good they had done.

A. C. Fine, although but ten years of age when he came across the wide plains to California, well remembers the long journey; he enjoyed the trip and thought nothing of the hardships. He was reared and educated in Cali- fornia and from his earliest days has been interested in agriculture. After leaving home he went to Santa Cruz County, bought a quarter section of land and farmed for a time with considerable success. When he sold out it was to come to Fresno County and cast in his lot with the pioneers of the Parlier

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section, although there was no sign of a town in the vicinity then. His thirty acres, named the "Quieta Rancho," lying two miles north of the town, are devoted to a vineyard and peach orchard. He developed the place out of a stubble field, beginning in 1892, and today his little ranch is one of the most valuable in the entire district and all the improvements seen are the result of his hard work and good management. In order to pay for his prop- erty he worked for others on salary till such a time as he could move onto his own property. In all his discouragements and rejoicings he has had the encouragement and help of his good wife, who shares with him the esteem of all who know them.

In 1876, Mr. Fine and Miss Eva J. Burrows were married. She was born at Carson, Cal .. December 25, 1854, a daughter of Phillip and Sarah (Knight) Burrows, pioneers of California that same year, having come by the way of Panama. Mrs. Burrows was the only white woman in the mining camp for about two years. Mr. Burrows engaged in mining for a time, but like many others he found that vocation very uncertain. He concluded that it was necessary to have considerable capital to make mining a success, and, although he was more fortunate than the average, he lost it again trying to make more. He had an extensive knowledge of the manufacture of woolens and was engaged by various companies to install the machinery used in their manufacture, and was the first to start in the industry in this state. Subsequently he bought 160 acres of land in Santa Cruz County, farmed for twenty years, sold out and bought the same amount near San Miguel, San Luis Obispo County, which he farmed. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Burrows were: Mrs. Eva J. Fine; Phillip, at Cupertino, Cal .; Mrs. Lulu Wooster, of San Jose ; William, of Fresno ; Stephen, living in the San Joaquin Valley: Annie died at the age of eight years, and Mary Louise died, aged two. An historic incident in connection with the death of this child is worthy of mention here. She died while the parents were living at Murphy in Calaveras County, and on the day of burial, and after the body had been carried to the church, the town caught on fire and was entirely wiped off the map, all houses and buildings, except the Burrows' home. This was saved by cutting the reservoir, letting the water run over the ground and thus saving the house. Mrs. Burrows, being left at the church with the body of her child when the male population went to fight the fire, took the coffin and, with her daughter, Eva J., went into the Catholic burying-ground some distance away and remained there until twelve that night, when she was found, and the burial took place at one o'clock in the morning by the light of torches. Mrs. Burrows died in San Jose, December 2, 1902, aged sixty-eight, and Mr. Burrows passed away at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Fine, in 1905, at the age of eighty-one.

When Mr. and Mrs. Fine settled in Fresno County they developed their ranch to its present high state of productiveness. It was a frequent happening for horses, and even people, to mire down in the boggy soil, so deep often that it was necessary to dig them out. One did not dare get off the beaten roads in those days, particularly in rainy seasons. Mrs. Fine was often called upon to care for the bodies of the neighbors who died, there being no under- taker available, and she was soon known as the community undertaker. Mr. Fine has always been ready to aid in all movements for the benefit of the settlers, and he supported the raisin associations and now is a stockholder in the present company, also in the Peach Growers, Inc.

Not having had any children of their own, Mr. and Mrs. Fine adopted a daughter, Ina May, to whom they have given the love and care as to one of their own blood. She is married to Charles Forsyth and has two chil- dren, Orafino and Charles, and with her little family makes her home at Selma. Now in the evening of their days, this young old couple, for they have kept young in spite of the hardships undergone, live at peace with their fellow citizens, and maintain the true Californian hospitality.

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HON. F. E. WELLS .- Among the most public-spirited men of Central California, no one bids fair to be more honored, both for ability and con- scientious application to duty, and especially for unselfish devotion to the best interests of the town in which he lives, than F. E. Wells, the diplomatic and genial chairman of the Board of Trustees of the City of Fowler, who has dis- tinguished himself as mayor, and is the brother of Supervisor Charles Wells, whose sketch is to be found elsewhere in this volume. He was born at Osceola, Iowa, on October 12, 1869, a member of a virile family and the son of Abra- ham Wells, a native of Columbus, Ohio, who married Mary Jane Ray, of Niles, Mich., in which state the marriage ceremony took place.

After completing his studies at the pleasantly-situated Baptist college at Kalamazoo, the father served four years in the Civil War, although he was married, as a member of the Twenty-fifth Michigan Infantry, and at the con- clusion of the dreadful struggle was ordained a Baptist minister. During the war he had acted as chaplain but he carried a gun, also, and with true muscu- lar Christianity did what he could to preserve the Union. Then, with his wife and two children, he moved to Illinois, where two more children made their advent in the family; and having gone to Iowa to preach, the family was enlarged by another twain, still another child being added later at Hastings, Nebr .. to the group. Reaching California in 1891, and settling at Selma, he took up the work of the Christian Church, having changed to that ministry, and remained faithful to his new trust, until his death in 1905. As was his custom, he had supported himself from his farm a couple of miles northeast of Selma, and so gave his services as a minister of the Gospel quite free, closing his three-score and ten years with an enviable record of which anvone might justly be proud. At the age of eighty-four, his good wife is still living.

F. E. Wells was only three years old when his parents moved to Nebraska. and he grew up at Webster and Adams in that state, attending the public schools there, and afterward studied at the college at Hastings. While there, his father met with financial reverses and his health failed, so that the son was obliged at once to become a bread-winner.

Mr. Wells therefore took the examinations for teaching, and taught three years in Nebraska. This was before he came to California, and he was the last of the family to remove here. Abraham Wells first settled in Madera County, but soon removed to Selma, where he purchased some land. In this up-hill step, he has assisted our subject, and it is ever a matter of modest sat- isfaction to him that he was thus able to help the one who had so devotedly helped him. F. E. Wells came to California in 1891, and for a year taught school near Oroville, in Butte County. He found teaching too slow, however, as a means of material progress, and so he bought thirty acres of land, two and a half miles northeast of Selma, which he improved. He planted vines, set out trees, and erected thereon the necessary buildings, and in time it became one of the attractive ranches of the neighborhood.

On December 25, 1892, Mr. Wells was married to Miss Nannie Flint, a native of Missouri, who had become a resident of Selma. She grew up in Nebraska and for a term taught school there, being popularly known as the gifted daughter of J. L. and Mary Flint, now of Fowler, who have had four children. The happy young couple made the thirty-acre ranch near Selma their home until 1911, when they also moved to Fowler. Mr. Wells built a large house, barns, fences, etc., and sunk wells, and now he owns two fruit- ranches-one a forty-acre farm near Fowler, which he bought already im- proved. He has prospered wonderfully, and these two fine farm properties are worth more than $50,000.

Mr. and Mrs. Wells have three children: Lyal Logan, a member of the Class of 1918 at the State Normal School at Fresno, and who was a student at Berkeley for a while, and graduated from the Fowler High: Alta, who is a senior in the Fowler high school: and Adna, who has just finished the gram- mar school here.

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Mr. and Mrs. Wells are members of the Christian Church at Fowler, of which Mr. Wells is also a trustee, and both are exemplary citizens. Especially as a city official, applying business methods to the administration of public trusts, is Mr. Wells honored, and no wonder, for he takes great pride in the civic affairs of Fowler, and rejoices in its growth and progress as one of the wide-awake and growing towns of Fresno County. He helped to incorporate the city in 1909, and also to root out the saloons and questionable resorts, so that the Fowler of today is a clean and wholesome community, with ten churches and excellent schools and business houses, as well as fruit-packing concerns and warehouses-a part of the natural equipment of Fowler as a center of a great fruit district. He favors temperance and the adoption of a national prohibition amendment.

Mr. Wells places principle and men of principle and public spirit above party considerations; and it is not surprising that, with such sentiments in- fluencing his official life, Fowler now owns its water-works system. It has also its own sewer system, and the telephone system is a cooperative, share- holding affair. The city is also contemplating the acquisition of its electric- lighting plant, as well as other municipal and public utilities, and, with this awakened public spirit, Fowler will grow very rapidly. The city's bonded indebtedness is small: it has an abundance of the best water for domestic, fire and irrigation purposes ; it has, in fact, better and cheaper water than any other city in Fresno County, a minimum of only one dollar per month being charged, allowing the householder to use 4,000 cubic feet.

FRANK M. ROMAIN .- How much of the prosperity of a great business concern depends on the make-up of its leaders, and especially on the person- ality, as well as the varied capacity of those actually managing the details, may be deduced from the perusal of the biography of Frank M. Romain. at this writing manager of the California Packing Corporation. He is a Canadian who has helped to swell the vast number from over the border and among the most enterprising developers of California and her countless interests.

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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 125

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