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 129

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 129

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C. B. Mccutcheon, with but a meager beginning, has by perseverance, thrift and industrious efforts succeeded in making, practically from virgin land, a most productive ranch, and in building a delightful home which is surrounded by modern conveniences. He has owned his present ranch since 1905, and it is devoted to raisins, peaches and other fruit. He belongs to the California Associated Raisin Company.

ANDRES C. HANSEN .- Among Fresno County's enterprising and progressive Danish-American citizens is A. C. Hansen, who lives on his ninety-acre ranch located on McKinley Avenue, fourteen miles west of Fresno. He was born in Sjaelland, Denmark, in 1859, and is the son of a car- penter and shipbuilder. He is the only member of his family in America. Brought up on the farm and educated in the public schools of Denmark, until the age of fourteen, Andres C. was then apprenticed to the blacksmith trade for three years. He afterwards returned to the farm and engaged in farm work until nineteen years of age, when he enlisted in the Danish army. After serving the required time he was honorably discharged, when twenty- two years old. In 1881 he removed to Skane, Sweden, where he continued the occupation of farming. He went thence to Smoland, Sweden, and en- gaged in the same vocation, but not meeting with success, after five and one-half years spent in Sweden he returned to his native country where he was employed in Copenhagen until he came to the United States.

In 1890, Mr. Hansen came to Fresno County, Cal., and went to work on a ranch near Selma, afterward working at Fowler. He spent eighteen months in the two places, then became foreman of the Briggs ranch near Kearney Park, retaining the position for two years. In 1893 he located in the Empire district, and purchased twenty acres of land, a part of his present place. He made all the improvements on the place, leveled the land, checked it, sowed it to alfalfa and engaged in dairying. He also rented land and raised grain. He was not successful in grain-raising, but his dairy paid out all the losses he incurred in grain-farming. He also set out an orchard and vineyard, still continuing the dairy business. He purchased more land and is now the owner of ninety acres all in a body, thirty acres of which are planted to

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Thompson's seedless vines and fifteen acres are in peaches; the remainder is planted to alfalfa and grain.

Mr. Hansen was married in Denmark to Anna Sorensen, a native of that country, and their union has been blessed with the birth of three chil- dren : Christian, who died at the age of four; Ernest S. T., a prominent rancher and horticulturist at Empire ; and Mary, the wife of J. P. I. Black, a large rancher at Empire.

Mrs. Hansen was an experienced buttermaker before she came to this country, and she and her husband established a creamery in the Kerman section. She was employed by the largest creameries in Denmark and was the highest salaried buttermaker in that country, holding the medal for the best butter in the English market at that time. She was repeatedly offered positions in her line of work from creameries in the United States and Russia. She started one of the first cooperative creameries in Denmark and also tried one of the first De Laval separators when they were introduced in that country. In 1896 she established a creamery on their ranch in Empire and made butter, purchasing milk from the Sycamore ranch. She first handled milk from thirty cows, and in 1905, when they discontinued the creamery, they were handling the milk from 150 cows. She deserves great credit for her enterprise and public spirit. and much food has been produced, as well as a great deal of wealth created, from the establishment by her of the Em- pire Creamery, the first creamery in the Kerman section.

Mr. and Mrs. Hansen made a trip to Denmark in 1910, also visiting Sweden and Norway during their eleven months' absence from their Cali- fornia home. Mr. Hansen was one of the first stockholders of the Kerman Telephone Company that built telephone lines in the farming sections of Empire and Kerman, and he was trustee of the Empire school district for several years. In his political affiliations he is a Republican. He is a member of the California Peach Growers, Inc., the California Associated Raisin Com- pany, and the San Joaquin Milk Producers Association. He and his wife are highly respected and enjoy the friendship of a large circle of acquaintances.

GRANT D. G. SAY .- The representative of a family which settled in Fresno County fifty years ago, Grant D. G. Say is a native son of California and was born in Mendocino County, September 24, 1866. His father, the late James H. Say, was born in Venango County, Pa., February 14, 1834, and when only eighteen years of age landed in San Francisco. He went to the mines in Placer County and later engaged in the hotel business as pro- prietor of the Nine Mile House, on the road to Placerville. He was married in 1863 to Laura J. Coates, who was born in Platteville, Wis., a daughter of George I. Coates. a well-to-do miller of that place. In 1862, with his wife, formerly Loretta Jones, two sons and six daughters, Mr. Coates crossed the plains to California and made this his home the remainder of his days. One son, Henry, came west after having served in the Civil War.

After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Say conducted the hotel for a few months, then sold out and moved to Mendocino County, where Mr. Say worked at the carpenter's trade and farmed for nine years. In 1872 the family settled in Fresno County, then almost a desert country. Here Mr. Say home- steaded 160 acres of land and later took up a timber claim of a like amount, proved up on both and held them awhile and then sold at a fair profit. He bought 160 acres of railroad land in the Parlier district, improved a good ranch and was one of the pioneers in setting out vines and trees. He sold off eighty acres of the land, retaining the other eighty, of which fifty-five acres are set to vines and trees. In 1884 he erected the Renfro House in Selma and ran it several years, living in town to give his children the advantages of the good schools for which Selma has always been noted. Here he died on October 15, 1902, leaving a widow, who still makes her home in Selma, and six children : William H., a prosperous rancher of Fresno County; Grant

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D. G., of this review; Elenora, wife of William Matlock, of Selma; Luther, a fruit-grower in the Parlier district; Maude, Mrs. George Fred Otis, of Oakland; and James Holton, a rancher near Selma.

Grant Say was but a child of six when his parents came to Fresno County to make their home. He attended the school in the Parlier district and fin- ished his education in the Selma High School. He grew to manhood on the ranch and became familiar with horticultural pursuits at an early age. This interest has developed and today he is one of the prosperous fruit-growers and alfalfa-raisers of the county where the greater part of his life has been spent. He has watched with growing interest the progress made towards bringing Fresno County to the van of California's counties and firmly be- lieves that this is the best section of the state in which to make money. In 1890 he started out for himself and now owns eighty acres of the old home place near Parlier, which is planted to vineyard and orchard; the former pro- duced, in 1917, an average of two and one-half tons of grapes to the acre. He owns a section of land south of Kerman which is being developed into a fine alfalfa ranch, over 120 acres already having been planted. Mr. Say also owns 320 acres of land sixteen miles south of Fresno, and four and a half miles southeast of Caruthers, and this is being developed, 100 acres now being in vines and thirty acres in alfalfa. This activity shows what can be accomplished by a man who sets out with the determination to succeed.

When called upon to aid projects for the betterment of conditions of the citizens or the advancement of the prosperity of the county, Mr. Say readily responds with his time and means, for he realizes that contented home-builders are the bulwarks of the future, and they must have encour- agement to succeed. Mr. Say is a self-made man and holds the respect and good will of all with whom he has had business or social intercourse. He has four interesting children: Gladys Leonora, Elgie, Marvin, and Ferol.

W. C. BEATY .- Midway between Sanger and Del Rey, on a sixty-acre ranch of rich and productive soil devoted to peaches and grapes, resides the subject of this review, W. C. Beaty, a well-known and highly respected citizen of Fresno County. He is a native of Missouri, where he first saw the light of day on January 24, 1857, his parents being William and Martha (Templeman) Beaty, also natives of Missouri, who were the parents of five children, three of whom are now living: John W., Milisa, and W. C., the subject of this sketch and the only member of the family living in California.

IV. C. Beaty migrated to California in 1881, locating at first in Tulare County, where he rented ranches for ten years, and in 1891 removed to Fresno County, where he has since resided, having lived twenty-two years on his present ranch.

On February 13, 1879. W. C. Beaty, was united in marriage with Miss Mary E. Hottse, a native of Missouri, and the daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Clark) House. Mr. and Mrs. Beaty were blessed with seven children: Ida M., the wife of P. W. Carr : Lillie E., who is now Mrs. J. H. Williams: Joseph R .; William E .; Thomas E., who served his country in the World War for the liberty of all peoples as a member of Company F, Three Hundred Sixty- fourth Infantry, and saw active service abroad, going over the top three times : Eva G., the wife of James McPike : and Alice G .. now Mrs. Lee Cobb.

Thomas House, the father of Mrs. Beaty, was born in Edgar County, Ill., in 1823. He was twice married, his first wife having been Hannah Cole- man. For his second wife he chose Sarah A. Clark, and the ceremony was solemnized on September 12, 1854. This union was blessed with five children : George A .; Mary E., who is now Mrs. W. C. Beaty: Mrs. Fannie Ceaser ; Emeline, who is now Mrs. Rost; and Mrs. Caroline Daily. Thomas House served gallantly in the Civil War for four years as a member of Company D, Merrill's Horse, U. S. Army.

DA. SMSSwain

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William Beaty, the father of the subject of this sketch, also saw service in the Civil War; he was commissioned Captain of the Home Guards, and proved to be a very courageous and patriotic soldier. In 1864, during the sickness of one of his little children, he returned to his home to see the little one before it passed away, and while he was there the house was surrounded by rebels, who shot and killed him before he could make his escape.

W. C. Beaty's ranch consists of sixty acres of rich and productive soil, but when he purchased it, in 1891, the land was practically in its virgin state. Since then he has bestowed much labor and has expended considerable money upon the place, and has brought the land up to a high state of culti- vation. It is now devoted to grapes, peaches and alfalfa. Twenty-eight acres are set out to Muscats and twenty acres to Thompson's Seedless grapes, the average yield being one and one-half tons of the former and two and one-half tons of the latter variety.

Mr. and Mrs. Beaty are enjoying the afternoon of life in their pleasant and convenient home, surrounded by modern comforts and highly esteemed by a large circle of friends in the community where they have lived for the past twenty-two years.

WALTER S. McSWAIN .- A noble hearted and truly good man, a kindly and helpful neighbor, a patriotic and public-spirited citizen, and a conscientious, efficient officer who faithfully discharged the duties of his important office, was Walter S. McSwain of Fresno County. He was born on October 4, 1865, fourteen miles west of Merced, on the Merced River, the fifth in a family of ten children. His parents were A. C. and Sarah (Cox) McSwain, who had settled on a ranch on the river in 1854. when conditions were rather primitive in California. Few of the present day can fully appre- ciate the value of the work accomplished by the pioneers in building wisely and well in order to insure the present conditions by which we are sur- rounded. Such was the work done by this pioneer rancher and his good wife.

Walter S. McSwain spent his childhood on the ranch and grew up amidst the primitive conditions of the place and period. In 1876, when eleven years of age, he accompanied his parents to Tulare Lake, and there the father engaged in the sheep business. The next move made was to Huron, where, with the aid of Walter S., the father erected the first house in that town and became one of the prominent citizens until he removed to Lemoore. Still later the family resided at Selma, and in 1882 came to Fresno; and here the son, then twenty-one years of age, associated himself with John Zapp in the transfer business. On August 23, 1897, he was appointed a special patrolman on the Fresno police force, and a year later became a regular patrolman under Marshal M. L. Woy. On July 16, 1901, he was installed as a regular member of the police force, by Mayor Stephens.

While performing the duties of a patrolman, Mr. McSwain was severely wounded in September, 1901, by a Japanese murderer who had killed one of his countrymen in Chinatown. Mr. McSwain was pursuing the murderer when he turned very suddenly and shot the officer, the bullet passing through his hand, which he had thrown up for protection, into his chest, just grazing his lung. The bullet was later extracted from beneath the shoulder-blade. After lying near death's door for some time, Mr. McSwain finally recovered and returned to duty as a special officer. It should be added, in connection with the shooting, that officer Frank Nelson pursued the man who shot his brother officer, and shot and killed him within a few blocks of where Mr. McSwain fell.

On January 3, 1903. Sheriff J. D. Collins appointed Mr. McSwain as one of his deputies, and he served until 1906, when he was elected constable. In the fall of 1910, he was elected on the Democratic ticket to the high responsibility of sheriff of Fresno County, and he served with such satis- faction that he was reelected to the office in 1914. While discharging the

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duties of the office he died, on December 6, 1915, mourned by all who knew him. Mr. McSwain was a self-made and self-educated man. While his edu- cational advantages were somewhat limited, he was well-read and had a wide education in the hard and stern school of experience, which thoroughly fitted him for the strenuous and difficult work pertaining to the office he held. He acquired some valuable city property and a 200-acre ranch that is devoted to a vineyard and peach and lemon groves.

The marriage of Walter S. McSwain and Miss Susie Hartigan was cele- brated on December 2, 1892. She was born in Davis, Yolo County, a daughter of John and Ann (Traynor) Hartigan, who were among the worthy pioneers in Yolo County. Mr. Hartigan died on his ranch near Davis, and later the family moved to Fresno. One child, a daughter, Annie Irene, blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. McSwain. She is attending Miss Hamlin's School in San Francisco. Mr. McSwain was a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Woodmen of the World, the Odd Fellows, and the Native Sons of the Golden West. He was also a member of the Commercial Club in Fresno. In line of his office he was a member of the Sheriffs' Association of the State of California. At the first meeting of the association after Mr. Mc- Swain's death, the members passed resolutions of sympathy which were extended to the widow in her bereavement. These resolutions were inscribed in a handsomely bound volume and are prized very highly by Mrs. McSwain. Mr. McSwain was one of the volunteer firemen of the city, and in that service alone might be found the key to his idea of duty as a plain citizen. At every opportunity he performed his duty to the best of his ability. Since the death of her husband, Mrs. McSwain continues to reside in Fresno and look after the interests he left to her keeping. She is a cultured, refined woman. and is highly esteemed by her many friends. She is a member of the Native Daughters of the Golden West, the Degree of Honor, and the Ladies' Auxiliary of the Spanish War Veterans.

GEORGE FEAVER, SR .- Prominent among the highly intelligent and equally industrious horticulturists of Central California, who have become extensive owners of choice land and are now enjoying the rewards of their years of hard labor and fortunate foresight, must be mentioned the family of George Feaver, the early settler near Fowler and perhaps the wealthiest representative of his famed fatherland. Unlike many who came from across the ocean to cast their lot here, both Mr. and Mrs. Feaver were well-to-do in England and brought considerable means with them to Fresno County at a time when it was not over inviting here. the country then being much like a wilderness. Since coming here, however, they have worked hard to help develop the country, and much of the comforts of modern life now enjoyed must be credited to such pioneers as these.

Mr. Feaver was born in Somersetshire, England, the son of William Feaver, a free-holder and farmer, who lived and died in England, as did his wife, Ann Sealey, also of a well-known Somersetshire family. He first saw the light on April 16, 1836; and his boyhood was that of the typical English lad who enjoys many advantages, especially in regard to sport, not found perhaps in other countries. He was brought up in the Church of England, and is today a stanch Episcopalian. He remained on the farm of his father until he was twenty-six, when that beloved parent passed away, and then he farmed for himself. In 1867 he was married at Wells, in Somersetshire, to Miss Ellen Andrews of Wells : and he continued to farm there. In some way. he became interested in Texas and its land attractions, but through the efforts of the land department of the Southern Pacific Railway, his attention was diverted to California. Seeing the railway's advertisement, he went to Lon- don to meet the agent, and being assured that the products he saw did not grow under glass but flourished in the open, he bought forty acres of land

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without further ado-a tract that proved a part of M. J. Church's holdings.

Thereupon he sold his Somersetshire property and came on to California and Fresno County with his family. It may be imagined that the move was not easy to make on account of their ties to the Old World, for Mrs. Feaver's father was a distinguished English gentleman, and was known as Magistrate Albion Andrews of Wells. However, Mr. and Mrs. Feaver and all the eight children sailed from London to Antwerp and then went by French steamer to New Orleans, where they landed in May, 1884; and on the thirteenth of the same month they arrived at Fresno. Mr. Feaver at once commenced to farm ; and as the great task of clearing the way for the founding of an empire still remained to be done, it may well be said that he bore his share of the burden and heat of the day. Now it is a great satisfaction to their many friends that the pioneer is so bright and active despite his advanced age, and that both enjoy such widespread respect.

Mr. and Mrs. Feaver have had eleven children. George is a rancher near Fowler; Ethel is the wife of Frank Bennetts and resides at Monmouth ; Eleanor Ann died in England when she was a little girl; May is the wife of Charles Bennetts, a rancher at Bowles; Ernest is a rancher at Hanford ; and John has a farm near-by; Claude is also there following farm work, and Cecil, whose review is printed elsewhere, farms near Fowler; Maurice has a ranch near Cecil; Lillian, who married Ernest Hefflebower and lives at Dinuba ; and Helen K. is at home.

Mr. Feaver, who has entered into both the privileges and the responsi- bilities of citizenship in his adopted country, is a stanch Republican, but in local measures he knows no party lines. The Feavers have long been iden- tified with the best movements for advancing the community and common- wealth of which they are a part.

WILLIAM DAVID WRISTEN .- A pioneer of California who crossed the great plains with teams and became a man. of importance in the various places where he made his home was W. D. Wristen, a native of the Blue Grass State. He became a large grain and stock farmer near Davis, Yolo County, later removing to Oleander, Fresno County in 1881 where he con- tinued his chosen occupation. He dispensed a typical Southern hospitality at his residence for many years. Eventually he retired and moved to Los Angeles, where he died March 5. 1901. His wife was in maidenhood Agness Dew and she was a member of one of the prominent families of Virginia, where she was born. Mr. and Mrs. Wristen were members of the Methodist Church, South. The children now living who were born to this worthy pioneer couple are Mrs. O. B. Olufs, of Fresno : Josie, the wife of W. E. Cook. of Los Angeles; Elizabeth, wife of E. H. Bentley, also residing in Los Angeles ; Anita, wife of Theo. Schmidt, of Chicago; and William Lee, in California. Mrs. Mary Graham and Mrs. Nellie M. Waters, two other daughters, are deceased. Mrs. Wristen died in Los Angeles, January 3, 1913.

HANS JORGEN NIELSEN .- A hard-working, successful ranchman and an excellent citizen, of honest and upright character, is Hans Jorgen Nielsen, who has a fine home place of thirty acres one mile south of Del Rey. He was born at Jylland, Denmark, on March 21, 1860, attended the thorough Danish public schools, and was duly confirmed at the age of fourteen in the Danish Lutheran Church. Soon after reaching his majority, he sailed from Esberg, Denmark, on the Cunard line, and landed at Boston on Febru- ary 17, 1882. He had taken three days to cross the North Sea to Newcastle ; and having journeyed across England, he waited three days longer at Liver- pool before he could sail. His ticket read from Esberg to San Francisco; but Fresno County was from the first his point of destination, the fame of Central California having reached the Danish kingdom and had been the theme of many a chat by fireside and in the tavern.

As has often happened with those from foreign shores who have steered their way to America and been guided locally by the presence here, in ad-

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vance, of one or another near of kin, so the fact that he had two uncles in Fresno, established in the tailoring trade, conditioned to a great extent his coming hither. He reached Fresno on March 3, and soon found employment. His first engagement was with I. W. Byington, the foreman on the old Ex- positor office in Fresno; and on his ranch he worked for four years. In the fall of 1886, when the great boom was beginning to grow, he bought and again sold forty acres, at the same time continuing to work out. He next went to the Scandinavian Colony and there bought twenty acres, which he improved and sold, the following year, at a good profit. This successful oper- ation did not prevent him from accepting an offer from J. M. Shannon, who then lived in Alameda, and for whom he worked for four years, also in the Scandinavian Colony.

In 1890 Mr. Nielsen married Miss Louisa Nielsen, a native of Denmark, but in nowise related to him save by name. Three years later he bought his present choice place. For a time he continued with Mr. Shannon ; but since 1897 he has lived on his home place altogether. It was merely a wheat field and a marsh when he took hold of it; but he has so improved it, bringing it under the Garfield ditch, erecting buildings, and properly tilling the soil, that he now has sixteen acres of Thompson Seedless grapes, two acres of young Thompsons, one-fourth of an acre of sultanas, and two acres of mus- cats, while he devotes ten acres to the growing of alfalfa and to the purposes of an orchard, as well as for buildings and a yard.

Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Nielsen. Maren Chris- tine, is now the wife of George Jepsen and resides in Del Rey; Maria Louisa married George Madsen, and resides with him at Bowles; Henry F. was formerly the proficient bookkeeper of the Raisin Association at Fresno, hav- ing graduated with honors from Heald's Business College, and now he is an aviator in the service of his country, and is stationed at Camp Green, N. C .; while Theodore N., twenty years of age, is a successful rancher near Del Rey. Mr. Nielsen and family attend the Danish Lutheran Church, of which they are members, and Mr. Nielsen is the popular ex-president of the Danish Brotherhood. In politics he is progressive and aims only to support the best men and the best measures. Mr. and Mrs. Nielsen are, in their attitude as citizens, first, last and all the time American.

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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 129

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