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 127

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 127

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

974

HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

The marriage of Mr. McCreary took place June 4, 1889, when Miss Lottie Fairweather, daughter of John and Mary (Rippen) Fairweather, became his wife. She was born in England, April 28, 1871, was brought to the United States when a child and was reared in Ohio, where her education was ob- tained. She is the mother of six children: John Lorenzo, a rancher and the husband of Lucilla Belknap, by whom he has a daughter, Margaret Olive; Minnie Ethel, who married Alex Rankin, and is the mother of two daughters. Minnie and Marian; Elizabeth M., lives at home and is attending the Fresno State Normal school; Irma A., married C. E. Venard, a rancher, and they have a son, Charles William. These children are all residing in Fresno County, where they were born and raised. Minnie Ethel and Irma A. hold teachers' certificates from the State Normal. Two children, Naomi and Wil- liam Irvin, died at the ages of thirty months and seven months, respectively.

In politics Mr. McCreary is a Democrat in national affairs, but in local matters he supports men and measures regardless of party lines. He has served as a trustee in both the Hills Valley and Sand Creek school districts. He was one of the organizers and is a director of the Reedley branch of the Federal Farm Loan Bank Club of Berkeley, to supply home-makers with capital on long-term-payment plan. He is a member of the California . Associated Raisin Company and of the California Peach Growers, Inc. and believes in everything that is progressive. He is a member of the Woodmen of the World and of the Odd Fellows. He is sociably inclined. big-hearted and true, the maker of friends, and enjoys the confidence and esteem of all who know him, and with his good wife dispenses a true California hospitality at their home.

WILLIS D. WEAVER .- A pioneer of Fresno County, and also a pioneer in the line of business he still follows, that of fruit buying in the San Joaquin Valley, Willis D. Weaver is the representative of that business in this section of the state, and is now the highest salaried fruit buyer in the valley, as well as one of the best known and most successful. A native son of Califor- nia, he was born in Redwood City, March 23, 1868, a son of Jacob Weaver, a native of Pennsylvania, and Nancy (Squires) Weaver, a native of Missouri. The father crossed the plains to California by ox team in the days of Forty- nine, and ran a store and sawmill near Redwood City. He later engaged in coal mining in Sonoma County, near Mark West Springs, then returned to Redwood City, and in 1880 located in Fresno, his family joining him the following year. Here he bought three blocks on the edge of Fresno, and farmed on a small scale, later buying forty acres of land near Calwa, where he set out a vineyard. He retired, in Fresno, in later life, and died there, at the age of seventy-eight. To this pioneer couple were born nine children, viz .:- John F., now of Richmond, Cal .; Simon J., of Selma; James B., of San Luis Obispo; Mrs. Mary McDonald, now deceased ; Mrs. Emma Austin, deceased wife of J. R. Austin, of Fresno; Jacob, died early in life; Nannie, deceased wife of W. C. Guard, of Fresno; Willis D., of this review; and Walter Elmore, deceased.

Willis D. Weaver was educated in the Fresno schools, and then entered the employ of his brother, John F., who ran a hardware store in Fresno. In 1893 he began his career in the fruit packing business, and has since that date been engaged in this line. He first entered the employ of the Cutting Fruit Packing Company, and remained with them until 1898, when he went with the Golden West Fruit Packing Company. In 1899 he went with the Fresno Home Packing Company as fruit buyer; then was with the J. K. Armsby Company in that capacity, and now is with the California Packing Corporation, his territory extending from Bakersfield to Merced.

In the midst of his business activities, Mr. Weaver has found time to interest himself in public affairs, and served as a member of the Republican County Central Committee from 1896 to 1902. He was also one of the three members of the Horticultural Committee of Fresno for two years, from

975

HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

1900 to 1902, his experience and knowledge in that branch of the county's development making him an important factor in this work throughout the valley, and he stands ready at all times to give of his time and knowledge in promoting the resources of Fresno County.

The marriage of Mr. Weaver, on August 6, 1893, united him with Miss May Osborn, a native of Tennessee, and three children have been born to them :- Landis O., was a student at Stanford University at the time of his enlistment for service in the World War, January 3, 1918. He was sent to the Ordnance School at the University of California, at Berkeley, and after graduating from there was ordered to the special school at Benicia Bar- racks, and when he had graduated was sent to Tours, France, where he was assistant to the chief ordnance officer, in charge of the telegraph desk ; Helen Estelle, is a student in the University of California at Berkeley ; and Esther Leah, is attending Stanford University.

Fraternally Mr. Weaver is a member of Fresno Lodge No. 439, B. P. O. Elks, and of the Odd Fellows. It is to such men as Willis D. Weaver that Fresno County owes her phenomenal progress and development, men who have worked loyally and constantly for the advancement of their home county.

JOHN R. AUSTIN .- Among Fresno's retired pioneers is John R. Aus- tin, who came to California in his vigorous young manhood and who, in his declining years now enjoys the fruit of his industry. Of Southern extraction, he was born in Jackson County, Ala., February 7, 1851. He received his edt1- cation in private schools and as a young man followed the occupation of farming. Removing to western Missouri in 1868, he continued to farm, and in 1875, allured by the future possibilities of the great West, came to Cal- ifornia where he worked on grain ranches in Merced County. After two years he returned to Missouri, remaining there five months, but the call of the West was so strong that he again turned his face in that direction, this time driving across the plains with a team, making the journey in three months. He located in Walla Walla, Wash., and followed farming until December, 1879. when he came to Fresno and located. In 1882 he entered the grocery business in Fresno, continuing the business for several years. For many years he dealt extensively in Fresno real estate, buying and selling city property, and at one time was the owner of the land on which now stands the Republican building. He also owned the land where the Edgerly build- ing stands and was an extensive dealer in vineyard property south of Fresno.

John R. Austin was married in Stockton, Cal., September 5, 1890, to Emma Weaver, one of the fair daughters of Redwood City, Cal., who was born at that place February 28, 1862, and who died in Fresno, September 30, 1916. One son was the result of this union, Lloyd C., the well known dentist of Fresno.

While living in Missouri Mr. Austin was made a Mason and has been a member of that order for the past forty-two years. He belongs to the Fresno Las Palmas Lodge, No. 366, F. & A. M.

MILES WALLACE .- Some of the ablest attorneys in California are located in the enterprising city of Fresno. Among those who rank high in the estimation of their fellow members of the bar is Miles Wallace, a native of Tennessee, born in Murfreesboro, February 19, 1861, a son of William H. and Caroline (Miles) Wallace. Mr. W. H. Wallace, was a minister of the gospel, and in that capacity was often privileged to speak comforting words to the hearts of those sorely bereaved who were mourning the loss of a dearly beloved one who had been claimed by death, the common enemy of all mankind. In due time Mr. Wallace also passed into the land of the unknown. His beloved wife followed him later, perishing with so many other of Galveston's citizens in the great disaster which came upon that city a few years ago.

976

HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

Miles Wallace took an academic course at Russville, Kentucky, after- ward taking a special course at Bethel College in Russville, graduating in high honor in 1880. He then entered the journalistic field as newspaper correspondent, but after a few years experience in newspaper work, believing that the law offered greater opportunities for an ambitious young man, he entered the Cumberland University law school at Lebanon, Tenn., receiving his diploma from that institution June 1, 1882. Seeing, as he believed, a good opportunity for a hustling young lawyer in Palestine, Texas, he opened an office there, and the steady increase of his practice during his four years sojourn at that place proved that his judgment was correct. After settling his affairs in Palestine and turning over his clients to a fellow attorney, he returned to Murfreesboro, Tenn., the place of his birth, where he remained three years and again built up a large practice, but getting a severe attack of California fever, in February, 1889, he came to the Golden State and located at Fresno, where he again entered the practice of the law. In 1891 he removed to Madera where he was employed by the county preparing transcripts, and while there made many friends among the legal fraternity and the people generally, and was elected district attorney, holding that office until 1894, when he returned to Fresno, where he resided at 482 Glenn Street until his death February 24, 1917.

His widow was formerly Miss Anna Dickenson, to whom he was mar- ried December 16, 1894. Her father, J. J. Dickenson, was a California pioneer, crossing the plains in 1846 by the ox team route and settling in Fresno. Mr. and Mrs. Wallace have two children, Cuba and Lee.

Mr. Miles Wallace was an influential member of the Democratic party, was president of the Chamber of Commerce, and United States Commis- sioner, and always deeply interested in the development of Fresno.

JAMES W. SMITH .- One of the pioneer contractors of Fresno, James W. Smith was born at Kempt, Hants County, Nova Scotia, November 23, 1844. He learned the ship carpenter's trade, and worked as ship joiner at Windsor and Halifax, N. S. In 1867 he came to Boston, Mass., and there worked at ship building for F. H. Flynn and Kirby, the ship builders.

In 1868 Mr. Smith came to California, via the Isthmus of Panama, on the old side-wheeler steamer Sacramento, leaving New York on September 30 of that year and arriving in San Francisco just one month later. In San Francisco he followed carpenter work, in the shop of A. A. Snyder, and worked on the building of the Baldwin Hotel Annex, and other large build- ings being erected at that time. From there he went to Yuba County, and for seven years worked as carpenter for the Excelsior Water and Mining Company.

Mr. Smith first came to Fresno on August 3, 1880, and has since that date made his home here, becoming prominent in the business and social life of the city, and is still actively engaged as a contractor and builder at the age of seventy-four years. He bought twenty acres of land near town and for four years farmed this property to grain and alfalfa and vineyard. He later sold the property to O. J. Woodward and that twenty acres is now a part of the Woodward Addition, a real estate subdivision. In 1884 Mr. Smith erected his own home at 807 M Street, which location at that date was called "out in the country." In early days in Fresno Mr. Smith worked at the carpenter trade for Fred Banty and also for M. R. Madary in his planing mill, which had just started. He engaged in planing mill construction and ownership and built and ran the first Mechanics Planing Mill; this was de- stroyed by fire and he then built the second Mechanics Planing Mill and the California Planing Mill and operated both mills. Later he engaged in con- tracting and building in Fresno and among other work he built the Masonic Temple, Risley Block, First Presbyterian Church; First Methodist Church, Elm Street School and other buildings too numerous to mention. He also

Mrs. M. A. Bonnefield

979

HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

was foreman in the building of the Barton Opera House, in Fresno ; and built the Presbyterian Church at Fowler.

The marriage of Mr. Smith united him with Mary M. Murdock, a native of Nova Scotia, and six children were born to them, as follows: Laura F., the wife of Albert Alexander and mother of three children, the eldest son, George Alexander, now being in the United States Aviation Service in France, having joined General Pershing's forces soon after our entrance into the war, and was the first man to be picked from California for this service : Mrs. Lillian A. Scott; Herbert A., in the mill business at West- wood, Cal .: Ernest E., a sign painter of Fresno; Viola, wife of Herbert Collins and mother of two daughters; and James H.

While taking a prominent part in the development and upbuilding of Fresno's business interests, Mr. Smith has at the same time given of his time and interest to the fraternal organizations of the city. He is a Thirty- second degree Mason, being a member of Las Palmas Lodge, F. & A. M., of Fresno: also of the Fresno Chapter and Commandery; and of the Con- sistory and Shrine. He is also a member of the Fresno Lodge of Elks, and of the Odd Fellows.

MRS. REBECCA A. BONNIFIELD .- One of the very oldest settlers of the Round Mountain district in Fresno County, who can relate most inter- esting stories of early days, is Rebecca A. Bonnifield, who was Rebecca A. Parsons before her marriage. She was born in Tucker County, W. Va., on January 25, 1843, the daughter of Job and Sarah (Losh) Parsons, natives re- spectively of Randolph Countv. W. Va., and Rockingham County, Va. Job Parsons was born in 1789 and served in the War of 1812, and was a farmer in Tucker County, where he was also elected magistrate. He died in 1883, aged ninetv-four, while his wife passed away in 1903, in her ninetv-fifth year. Eight children came to bless this worthy couple, and among them Mrs. Bonni- field was the third in order of birth.

Her childhood was spent in Tucker County, where she attended school in the primitive log schoolhouse with its slab benches and puncheon floor, and on November 23, 1860, she married Thomas B. Rummell, a native of Ran- dolph County, WV. Va., who was an attorney at law. In April, 1861, he en- listed in a Virginia regiment, and served until he was captured while home on furlough. He afterwards took the oath of allegiance and went to Kansas City, where he resumed the practice of law, but he was soon shot down in cold blood.

Rebecca Parsons Rummell resided in Tucker County during the War, and went through all the hardships of those heartless days when crops were devastated and stock taken. She had many unpleasant as well as interesting experiences, among them that of saving the old family horse: it was the last left them and had been seized by a Buckeye Yankee boy, but he was choked and made to yield up his prize. She has other stories to tell, and being a good conversationalist, never wants for listeners.

In 1867, Mrs. Rummell married agajn, this time becoming the wife of Arnold T. Bonnifield, also a native of Tucker County, where he was reared until 1859. Then he came to California by way of Panama, but in 1866. he returned to Virginia. After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Bonnifield came to California, following the route of the Isthmus ; and after a short stay in Marin County, they removed to Napa County. In 1869, they came to Fresno County and located on Dry Creek, where they homesteaded and engaged in farming and stock-raising. The county seat was then at Millerton, on the Overland stage route, and provisions and freight were brought from Stockton. In the seventies, the Bonnifields sold out and purchased land in Round Mountain district, where they owned a ranch of 640 acres. It was then all range land, where cattle and antelope roamed-very different from the well-kept vine- yards and orchards of the district of today, a wonderful transformation having been effected in a short time.

980

HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

The Bonnifield family still owns (for Mr. Bonnifield died while on a visit in Texas), 300 acres, under irrigation from the Enterprise Canal, with orchards of peaches and figs, and vineyards of malagas, emperors and muscat grapes.

Of Mrs. Bonnifield's first union, two children were born: Garnetta, who died in infancy, and Icilina, now Mrs. Carlisle of Lemoore. By her marriage to Mr. Bonnifield, she had three children : Joseph Elliott died in his eighteenth vear ; Lizzie May is the wife of M. G. Vernon, who is a prominent rancher in the Round Mountain district. He is a native of Boone County, Iowa, and was left an orphan at twelve years of age. Nevertheless, he managed to reach California and Fresno in 1886, when he was eighteen. He married in 1889, and is now farming the Bonnifield lands. He is a member of the California Associated Raisin Company and the California Peach Growers, Inc. They have had ten children, nine living: Bonnie B., deceased ; Gladys, who is Mrs. Martin and has one child: Raymond G., a rancher and viticulturist in this district. as is Leroy T., who served in the United States Army during the late war ; Morris G., assisting his father on the home ranch ; Earl V., attending the University of California : Clinton B .; Charles Oliver; Milton Maxwell : and Robert Lee. Emma. the third child, was Mrs. Patton, and resided in Salinas until her death, in 1897, leaving three children: John Vernon, of Gilroy ; Fran- ces Irene, Mrs. Bubar, who has two children ; and Earl, who resides in Salinas.

Mrs. Bonnifield is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and a member of Kings River Rebekah Lodge, No. 51 ; is a Past Noble Grand and has been a delegate to the Grand Lodge. Since coming to California she has made two trips back to her old home in Tucker County, W. Va., in 1881, and in 1900, but each time on returning to California was more than ever pleased with her environment.

JAMES E. BURNS .- Born May 29, 1843, at Wellsburg, W. Va., James E. Burns was brought up in Morgan County, Mo .. where he attended the country schools and later at Versailles Academy, Missouri. At the beginning of our Civil War, with characteristic loyalty to his country and enthusiasm for the cause, he responded to the call for volunteers, enlisted August 18, 1861, in Company A, Thirty-ninth Indiana Volunteer Cavalry, and was mustered in at Indianapolis. He had the honor of taking part in the first skirmish in Kentucky at the beginning of the war and served with distinction up to the time of the firing of the last shot of the war in North Carolina. He had an unusual record in that in all the time of service he was never ill, wounded or captured. Mr. Burns was a member of the Army of the Cumberland and took part in the battles of Shiloh, Perryville, Stone River, Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge. In 1864 he was appointed military agent of the state of Indiana. He and an assistant had entrusted to their care the granting of fur- loughs to 27,000 soldiers. Later he was assigned to the headquarters of Gen. J. F. Miller, Post Commander at Nashville, and took part in the battle of Nashville. He was also with Sherman in his famous march to the sea, and participated in the battles of Bentonville and Averysboro, where his regiment suffered severe losses. During these eventful years he held the offices of cor- poral, sergeant and hospital steward and was mustered out at Indianapolis, Ind., August 8, 1865, after which he returned to his old Missouri home and became deputy county clerk under his father.

In 1868-70 Mr. Burns located at Iola, Kans. He also owned a farm in Wilson County of that state. In 1876 he entered the grocery business in Iola, Kans., and from 1880-82 was deputy clerk and deputy county treasurer of Allen County, Kans. In 1886 he was traveling salesman for a hardware and implement company and in 1888 became deputy county registrar of deeds.

In 1889 Mr. Burns removed to Oklahoma and on April 22, of that year, became city clerk of Kingfisher. He was privileged to take part in the ex- citing scenes attending the rush for government land in Oklahoma, and ob- tained a claim for 160 acres in Cimarron township, Kingfisher County, where he farmed for ten years and in January, 1898, was appointed officer in the

981

HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

United States Land Office at Kingfisher, serving eighteen months. After- wards he became salesman for the W. H. Mead Agricultural Implement Com- pany. In 1898 he was elected county clerk of Kingfisher County, and in 1900 reelected to the position, and again reelected in 1902 on the Republican ticket. He was also chairman of the Kingfisher County Republican Central Com- mittee. James E. Burns came to Fresno, November 1, 1906, and purchased a 20-acre ranch near Kerman, selling it after 112 years, and then retiring.

Mr. Burns is an active member of the G. A. R. Post, joining the organ- ization January, 1866, at Versailles, Mo. This Post was the fifth G. A. R. Post organized in the United States. He joined the McCook Post No. 51, at Iola, Kans., in 1880, and was also a member of the Kingfisher, Oklahoma G. A. R. Post, No. 8, of which he is Past Commander. In 1891 he was appointed Adjutant General of Department Territory of Oklahoma, and was later raised to the rank of colonel. He has been on the staff of two National Commanders of G. A. R. and was Department Commander of the Oklahoma Post in 1901-2.

In his domestic relations he was united in the bonds of holy matrimony, September 7, 1865, to Sarah A. Duff, a native of Miami County. Indiana. The children resulting from this union are: Rhoda, wife of L. C. Gould of Lassen County, Cal. ; Peter R., a commercial traveler of Canadian, Texas ; Sarah E., wife of F. D. Jenkins, a rancher in Roosevelt Colony, nine miles west of Fresno : James A., deceased ; and Elgie L., at home.

Mr. Burns is adjutant of Atlanta Post G. A. R. No. 92, of Fresno. This post was started in October, 1885, and the first commander was C. A. Fuller, who was appointed to serve until January 1, 1886, when Fred Banty was elected the First Commander. There are six charter members of this lodge living, namely: Henry Banty, Fred Banty, Frank P. Love, L. Kenepper and Frank Miller. The officers for 1918 are: John M. Ryan, Commander : G. W. Collins, Senior Vice Commander: F. M. Briggs, Junior Vice Commander : Leroy Taylor, Officer of the Day : F. P. Love, Quartermaster : William Freese, Clerk ; G. W. Clark, Officer of the Guard; J. E. Burns, Adjutant. The Post has a membership of eighty, and through their efforts have secured a modern breech-loading cannon from the United States Government, which they have placed in the new plot of the G. A. R. Cemetery. The Spanish War Veteran Lodge has received Atlanta Post No. 92 as honorary members.

Mrs. Burns is very active in the order of Ladies of the G. A. R. She is past president of the local circle of Fresno and past president of the Depart- ment circle of Oklahoma for two terms. She is at present patriotic instructor of the Ladies G. A. R. of Fresno. During her stay in Oklahoma she attended all the Department Conventions, eighteen in number, and has attended all of the Department Conventions in California but one.

The Ladies of the Fresno G. A. R. at present have eighty members. In order to become a member one must be either wife or blood relation of a veteran. The present officers for 1918 are: Mrs. Jennie Stevens, president : Mrs. Josephine Mackrill, senior vice president ; Mrs. Thomas F. Williams, junior vice president : Mrs. Hattie Richter, treasurer ; Mrs. Mary McDaniel, chaplain ; Mrs. Sarah A. Burns, patriotic instructor ; Miss Jennie Walganott, secretary ; Mrs. Lottie Pollar, conductor ; Mrs. L. Clark, assistant conductor ; Mrs. Eva Miller, guard ; Mrs. Bessie Jackson, assistant guard. The society has done grand work in conjunction with the male members of the G. A. R. Post in improving the G. A. R. cemetery. They raised $100 for a coping around the old plot, put an iron fence around the new plot, assisted in putting the cannon in position and have also worked for the Red Cross and organized a social club called the B. A. Custer Circle, No. 18.

In her church affiliations Mrs. Burns is a member of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Burns stands high in Masonry. He was a member of the Ver- sailles, Mo., Blue Lodge, No. 117, and is now a member of Oklahoma Blue Lodge, and also a member of the Chapter, the Commandery, the Consistory and Scottish Rite. He is a Shriner and a member of the Eastern Star.

982

HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

HENRY GRIES .- A successful horticulturist and viticulturist who had resided in Fresno County for more than thirty years, and who was one of the most prosperous and highly respected residents of the community south- west of Sanger, was Henry Gries, a native of Germany, where he first saw the light of day on August 10, 1846, a son of Claus Gries. His early boyhood days were spent in his native land where he received his education and re- mained until he attained the age of sixteen years, when he choose a sea- faring life and became a sailor, and while on one of his trips around Cape Horn journeyed as far north as San Francisco, making his advent into the Golden State in 1868, when about twenty-two years of age. For two years he served as a sailor on the revenue cutter Reliance which plied along the Pacific coast. After discontinuing the sea life, Mr. Gries made his home in San Francisco until 1886, where he was engaged in various pursuits for which he was by nature and education best fitted, and during this time he saved sufficient money to warrant an investment in land.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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 127

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