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 140

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 140

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).

On reaching manhood. Mr. Fincher followed farming in Missouri for a time, but he was of too enterprising a spirit to remain there long, and in 1850 he came to California via Panama and here followed mining two years. At the end of that time he returned to Missouri and married Paulina Moore. born in Tennessee on February 18, 1830, a daughter of Patrick Moore of Virginia, a man of Scotch and Irish extraction, who took for his wife Sarah Elston of Frankfort, Va.

After his marriage Mr. Fincher lived in Missouri for a few years, then removed to Kansas, where he farmed. He again heard the call of the West, however, and returned to California, this time bringing a wife and five chil- dren across the plains in ox teams and wagons in 1862. On their arrival they located in Sacramento County, for about one year, then came to Stanis- laus County where he took up land near what is now Riverbank, and improved a farm of 320 acres. Here the family resided for twenty-five years. In the meantime Mr. Fincher bought land in Fresno County, and moved here in 1884. He purchased 800 acres for twenty-five dollars per acre, a quotation that goes to show the difference in land valuation between those early days and the present era. Besides these large holdings Mr. Fincher rented other land and became one of the large grain raisers of this section. He later laid

1099

HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

out Fincher Colony and intended to sell off small tracts but he was more farsighted than the majority of men at that time and the ranch remained as a whole until his death, in 1899. The wife and mother passed away in 1907. Mr. Fincher was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

To this most worthy pioneer couple twelve children were born: Mar- garet Alice, Mrs. Evans of San Diego ; Mary C., Mrs. G. D. Wooten of Santa Cruz ; Robert, of Hanford ; J. M., residing in Fresno ; Mamie, Mrs. J. B. High of Madera ; J. P., a viticulturist in Fincher Colony ; Letitia ; William Francis of Fresno; Elizabeth of Fresno; Vital; Bangs, viticulturist of Fincher Colony ; Tillie, of Fresno.

A truly good man and one whose memory is respected by all who came in contact with his wonderful personality, Levi Nelson Fincher as a pioneer of Fresno County was an example of the best fiber of California's growth. It is such men as he who have laid the foundation for the state's present remarkable standard, and Fresno County has exceeded in its quota of real upbuilders.

EDWARD D. VOGELSANG .- The success attained in life by E. D. Vogelsang, one of the leading ranchers and vineyardists of Fresno County, is due to efficiency, coupled with close application to business. He is a native Californian, born in Calaveras County, April 5, 1863, a son of Henry and Anna (Vennigerholz) Vogelsang, the former came to California in 1852 and the latter in 1856, making the journey via Panama. They were the parents of ten children : Henry, was killed in a railroad accident at Santa Barbara, he left a widow and four children; Charles A., is connected with the C. A. Hooper Lumber Company of San Francisco: Alexander T., is Assistant Secretary of the Interior at Washington, D. C .; Edward D .; Julius, was in the government civil engineering department and was killed in a landslide while on a tour of inspection. He left a widow and one child; Dorothy, is principal of one of the San Francisco schools; Carl Theodore, is a captain in the United States Navy. a graduate of Annapolis, now com- mander of the dreadnaught, Idaho; Nellie, is the wife of F. A. Eckstrom, of Stockton: Emma. is matron at the county hospital at Stockton; Anna, is the widow of William Bechtel and resides in San Francisco. The father died at the age of seventy-eight, and the mother aged sixty-four.

Until the age of thirteen Edward D. Vogelsang attended the country schools, and after finishing at the city schools in Stockton, engaged in the manufacture of paper in Stockton, using for the firm name the caption. The California Paper Mill Manufacturers of Newspaper and Wrapping Paper. He was also interested in the real estate and insurance business.

Since a young man twenty-four years of age, Fresno County has been the scene of his activities. In the year 1888 he located at Huron, Fresno County. where he erected a grain warehouse and engaged in buying and sell- ing grain, representing J. D. Peters of Stockton and the Eppinger Company of San Francisco, Cal. He also followed the insurance business, insuring crops, cattle, etc., and was constable of the Sixth Township. During this interval he was interested in raising grain and in buying and selling grain lands in that district. In those early days barley sold as low as forty-five cents and wheat sixty-eight cents per hundred.

In 1899 he came to Fresno to make his home and for eight years served as deputy sheriff under J. D. Collins. For the past twenty years E. J. Good- rich has been his partner in grain farming, and at present they are farming 3,000 acres of grain land. In 1907 Mr. Vogelsang left the sheriff's office and has devoted his time to grain farming on the west side. The mule power used in his work in the grain business in early days has been superseded by the caterpillar engine and tractor, with which he now does all his work. His recent record of seeding 4,500 acres of barley in sixty days is well known. Some years his barley crop has yielded as high as thirty-six sacks to an acre, and grain forty sacks to an acre. He is the owner of sixty acres on Chit-

1100

HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

tenden Avenue, twenty acres of which are planted to muscat grape-vines, twenty acres to Muir peaches, and twenty acres are a mixed orchard. He also owns 100 acres on Shields Avenue, twenty of which is in muscats and twenty in Muir peaches. Mr. Vogelsang was one of the original locaters of the Fresno Oil Company, in the Coalinga district in 1889, the first discovery of oil in the county. The venture was unsuccessful.

He married Eleanor Toomey, a native of San Joaquin County, Cal. Two children have blessed their union: Margaret and Edward, school children.

Fraternally Mr. Vogelsang is a member of the Woodmen of the World. A man of liberal views and generous impulses, he is noteworthy among the self-made, successful men of Fresno County.

JOHN LEVIS .- An experienced and successful ranch owner whose name is closely associated with the development of Fresno County is John Levis, who is residing on a fine ranch three miles southwest from Parlier. He is a progressive citizen and a .son of the late Mahlon Levis and his wife Mariah Elizabeth (Olden) Levis, well known in the Selma district as one of the representative pioneers.

He was born on January 22, 1878, grew to manhood on his father's ranch and from him learned the details of agriculture and since then has been engaged in agricultural and horticural pursuits in this county. His education was received in the common schools of the county and at the age of twenty-seven he was united in marriage with Marion Freeland, daughter of Mrs. James Freeland, who came from Scotland to California and settled first in Santa Cruz County. When Mr. Freeland died, his widow married Mr. Arrants, one of the pioneers of Selma district.

Mr. Levis received forty acres from his father's estate, which was dis- tributed among his children before he died, he retaining 100 acres for him- self. Five years after receiving his gift, he added to his holdings another twenty adjoining, buying the same from his father. He later added twenty acres after his father's demise, part of the original acreage. For the most part the land was used for grain raising when he first obtained it, but by hard labor he has transformed it into a fine tract of peaches, apricots and grapes. The ranch buildings are of the modern kind, equipped with the con- veniences of a city home. The ranch is well watered by the Kingsburg and Centerville ditches and a pumping-plant.

Mr. Levis' mother died in Selma when she was sixty-five. His father reached the age of ninety-two. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs Levis: Mary Elizabeth ; John; and Geraldine. Mrs. Levis is a Presby- terian. Of his ranch, Mr. Levis has rented out seventy acres and ten acres are worked by himself. In 1916 he moved into Selma where he bought prop- erty at 2504 Logan Street. This move was made in order to give the children the opportunity of the city schools.

ANTON LARSEN .- Among those who have made good on the Laguna de Tache Grant must be mentioned Anton Larsen, who, now seventy-three years old, owns a well-improved ten-acre home ranch on the south side of Mt. Whitney Avenue, a short distance west of Laton, where he now lives in comfort. He also owns another tract of fifty acres, which is partly covered with timber, but will in time with clearing and cultivation make fine alfalfa land. He persists in his habits of industry acquired in early life and he may be found any day busy at work. Any time that can be spared after attend- ing to the necessary work on his own holdings, is gladly given to helping out his neighbors, one of whom recently said: "Andy is more dependable and can do more hard work today, than the majority of young men." Anton Larsen comes by his unusual strength of body and mind honestly. His an- cestors were Danes, that industrious and hardy race, which has had so much to do with the establishment of political and economical freedom. He was born in Jutland, Denmark, November 11, 1846, was brought up in his native

Martha, A. Humplage.

1103

HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

.country where he was schooled and where by apprenticeship he learned the cooper's trade, after which he performed military service for one and one- half years in the Danish army. But his hopes for the future were in America, of which he had read and studied, and arriving at New York, he went up to Amsterdam, New York state, and became a farm laborer. From there he went out to the state of Iowa, where he worked on farms near Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. He then went to Milwaukee, Wis., and there found work as a cooper for three years, after which he went to New York City, engaging at his trade on Staten Island. He then made a three-month visit back to Denmark after which he again returned to New York City, engaging at his trade for another year. He then resolved to see the Golden State, and came out to San Francisco, where he worked at his trade for two and a half years, then returned East working as a journeyman cooper in New York. St. Paul, Minn., and in the Black Hills country, before coming back to San Francisco, after which he was variously engaged at Saint Inez and Lompoc, Santa Barbara County, going thence to Pine Ridge in Fresno County, where he engaged in a sawmill, and then came to the Laguna de Tache Grant, en- gaging as a wood chopper at first. This section appealed to Mr. Larsen and he has remained here ever since and invested his earnings in land and has attained a very fair degree of success. He is an excellent workman and a man of rigid honesty.

JOHN W. HUMPHREYS .- The California of early days is only a memory in the minds of a few of the old pioneers who are rapidly passing to their reward, but the pictures that hang on Memory's walls have been sketched by the pen of many writers, and other equally able settlers are from time to time adding to the invaluable collection. Fresno was not in existence in 1867. the year when John W. Humphreys, now deceased, settled in this county. He had been born in Athens, Ala., on January 11, 1830, and his father was Alexander Humphreys, a native of Kentucky.

He descended from an old Welsh family that came from England to Virginia in early Colonial days, and whose name was spelled "Home-fries" by the people of Wales, meaning householder, while in England it was Anglicized to Humphreys. From Virginia the family scattered into various Southern states. Alexander Humphreys moved to Arkansas in 1833, where he improved a farm, raised a family of twelve children and resided there until he followed his son to California, and spent his last days in Los Angeles.

John W. Humphreys received his education in the public schools and afterwards gained a richer knowledge in the fuller school of life, profiting thereby more than the average of men who have braved perils and hard- ships in the van of civilization ever marching toward the West. He came to California in the year 1852, then a young man twenty-two years of age, having crossed the plains with ox teams by way of Texas and going from San Diego to San Francisco by boat, and thence to the mines in Tuolumne County. In 1860 he went to Mariposa, where he engaged in the occupation he followed the greater portion of his life-the saw-mill business.

In the year 1863, Mr. Humphreys was married to Miss Martha Flinn, who was born in Cape Girardeau County, Mo., February 23, 1843, and also crossed the plains, in 1860, with her father, William E. Flinn. Ten children were born of this union, six of whom have survived: Emma is the wife of J. E. Paddock, the manager for the El Paso Milling Company at El Paso, Texas: Anna is Mrs. Hugh Maxwell, of Evanston, Ill .; John W., Jr., is an horticulturist near Fresno; Mrs. Clara B. Lehr is also living in this county ; Ray resides in Madera, and Miles O., whose life-story is given in greater detail elsewhere in this work, is the well-known real estate man of Fresno. Some of these children also have children, so that Mr. Humphreys' descend- ants number thirteen grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. The chil- dren who early passed away were: Elizabeth, who died when she was two years old ; Ernest, who succumbed at twelve; Mattie, whose career closed

1104

HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

in her twenty-first year, having just completed a course at the Stockton Business College; and Herbert, who was six years old.

In 1867, Mr. Humphreys moved his mill to Fresno County, and settled six miles from Tollhouse on Pine Ridge, where he lived until 1874. The coun- try was at that time very sparsely settled, the principal population being peacefully disposed Indians, whom he employed in the woods and mill. There were no schools and no white people nearer than the post office at Millerton, twenty-two miles away. Mrs. Humphreys and her sister, Mrs. Clara Mock, were the first white women in that neighborhood, and their ranch was nearly thirty miles from the nearest doctor, at Centerville. There were no roads. They cut the timber and made the roads when he pulled the machinery up the hills by ox teams. He helped build the Tollhouse grade which has since become famous as the scene of automobile hill-climbs and contests,-a rise of two thousand feet in two miles, the same grade he established. They sold their lumber to the settlers at Smith's Ferry on Kings River, who bought the lumber as fast as it was sawed. They made plenty of money, and died very well-to-do. And in the vicinity of their toil, their children were brought up and educated.

In 1874, Mr. Humphreys sold the mill to Henry Glass and Jeff Donahoo, and for two years he was out of the saw-mill business. Then, in partnership with Moses Mock, he again entered the field, building and operating three different mills in that locality, one of which, the Bonanza, he afterwards sold to C. D. Davis. This was located a mile south of the present site of Shaver. He continued this work until 1891. when they sold, and dissolved partner- ship. In 1892, in partnership with John Sage, he operated a saw mill one mile southeast of Ockenden, continuing there for two years, when he sold out and retired to his ranch-home at Tollhouse, where he owned a section of land and was engaged in stock-raising.

During his busy life Mr. Humphreys has owned several different ranches, one of 160 acres being at Wildflower, near Selma, and another of 160 acres at Kingston, both of which he improved to alfalfa. His family has continued to operate the home-ranch, and has increased the holdings to 1,400 acres.

At his Tollhouse ranch this venerable pioneer passed to his reward on March 20, 1900, mourned as an active and devout member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. His widow, aged seventy-six resides with her son, J. W. Humphreys, in Barstow Colony. She is well-posted on early history, and is always an interesting conversationalist, entertaining a guest most profitably.

CHARLES BERCHUM HARKNESS .- Among citizens of Scotch an- cestry who have for some years been identified with the growth and pros- perity of Fresno is Charles Berchum Harkness. His father Thomas was a native of Scotland. His mother, Catus V. (Allison) Harkness, was a native of Ohio. The father was one of the pioneers of California who crossed the plains with ox teams in forty-nine, coming to Placer County, where for a time he worked at mining; after which he engaged in grain farming and teaming in the Santa Clara Valley. Coming to Fresno County in 1877 he homesteaded 160 acres near what is now Sanger, upon which he raised mainly grain. He also owned eighty acres near by and in addition farmed rented land. Later in life he settled in Fresno where he retired from active life. He was a member of the Masonic order and died in 1911. He left three living children : Charles B., Mrs. G. P. Sisler and Mrs. H. J. Sisler.

Charles B. in early life attended the grammar schools in Sanger and later on spent two years in the Fresno Business College, after which he turned his attention to ranching. renting one-half section of land on the Kearney ranch west of Fresno. He also rented 160 acres of the Judge Camp- bell ranch at Lone Star. In addition he owned 160 acres of alfalfa and graz- ing land at Riverdale and also rented a vineyard at Malaga. He continued in this line of business for about ten years, when he sold out his interest and

1105

HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

became associated with the Fancher Creek Nursery Company. After four years he became superintendent of the company which position he held for twelve years, when he resigned and purchased an interest in the Fresno Nursery Company, becoming its vice-president and superintendent. After remaining with the Fresno Nursery Company for two years he sold his interest and became deputy sheriff under Walter McSwain, holding this position for three years and four months. Resigning his position as deputy sheriff he became manager of the Valley Fruit Growers Association. This association serves 4,000 growers in the San Joaquin Valley, covering four counties. In 1917 he was the means of securing 3,500 answers to help har- vest crops, many coming from the eastern states. The association employs white labor exclusively. The officers and directors of the association are: S. Flanders Setchel, president; Wiley M. Giffen, vice-president ; C. B. Hark- ness, secretary ; S. P. Frisselle, treasurer : Frank Malcolm; P. H. McGarry; George C. Roeding and M. F. Vapley. Mr. Harkness was elected constable of the Third Judicial Township of Fresno County, November 5, 1918. On taking office January 1. 1919, he resigned his position as manager of the Valley Fruit Growers Association to give all of his attention to his office.

Mr. Harkness was married to Miss Emma J. Driver of Michigan. They have four children, Earl B .; Floyd J .; Margaret and Dorothy. Mr. Harkness is a Native Son, a member of the Woodmen of the World, a Forester and a member of Fresno Lodge, No. 186, I. O. O. F. He is justly entitled to the esteem in which he is held by his fellow citizens.

H. M. McLENNAN .- Among the early settlers here who deserve and who receive the highest esteem and good-will of their fellow-citizens, is the successful viticulturist, H. M. McLennan, well-known for his progressive methods, who is also overseer of the roads of his district. In both private and public affairs, Mr. McLennan has displayed rare business acumen. As a viticulturist, pointing the way to others as he blazes for himself, Mr. Mc- Lennan enjoys a prosperity none will gainsay ; while as an officeholder he has proven one of the most successful and acceptable Fresno County has had for many years.

Having arrived in California in 1878, Mr. McLennan settled at Quincy, Plumas County, where he completed his schooling ; and when the excitement concerning Tombstone broke out in 1879, he was not long in getting ready to visit the scene of new operations. In 1880 he made the trip from Tucson to Tombstone by stage, and reached there when the town was only nine months old. Even then it was as interesting as it was new, and for a while he prospected for himself. He also worked in the quartz mills. When he shifted, it was to continue as battery feeder, in the Tombstone Mill & Mining Company's mills at Charleston, nine miles from Tombstone.

In 1886 Mr. McLennan returned to California and settled in Fresno County. He bought his present place, then a tract of raw land, consisting of forty acres two miles west of Fresno, and at once settled upon it. He sunk a well, built himself a house, and made numerous improvements. He even had to construct a road over which he might haul the lumber needed for his operations, and he dug a mile and a half of ditch to bring water from the Houghton Canal with which to irrigate his place. Then he set out muscat vines and engaged in viticulture.

When the vines began to bear, he sold his 1889 crop for six and one-half cents a pound, and his second crop, the following year, at the same price. The price went down, however, to one cent, and a cent and a quarter a pound ; and once through a commission merchant, he shipped four tons to Buffalo and sold them there for a quarter of a cent a pound less than the cost of the freight. Mr. McLennan gave his heartiest support to the various raisin associations as they were projected, becoming finally both a member and a stockholder in the present California Associated Raisin Company which has done so much to help the rancher do for himself. He himself stuck to his vineyard, and for

1106

HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

years his vines have been growing and bearing well. Having a keen, scien- tific interest in husbandry, Mr. McLennan has also heartily supported, as a stockholder and member, the California Peach Growers, Inc.

In national affairs he is a Democrat, but a citizen who believes in sup- porting local issues, when good, irrespective of party lines. Mr. McLennan in 1907 became road overseer of his section under Chris Jorgensen. He has also demonstrated his interest in the course of education by serving accept- ably as a member of the board of trustees of the Madison School district for fourteen years, having been clerk of the board thirteen years of the time and helped build three different school houses in the district.

While at Tombstone, Mr. McLennan was married to Agnes J. Frazier ; and they are among the social favorites in the circles of the Woodmen of the World, of which Mr. McLennan is a member.

HUGH B. BISSELL .- A man who, by his indomitable energy, per- severance and business acumen, has risen to a place of prominence and afflu- ence in the affairs of Fresno County, is Hugh B. Bissell, who comes of sturdy old New England stock that had much to do with the shaping of the political and economical affairs of their times. When the Bissell family first became identified with the industrial development of America it was established in Connecticut, the progenitor of the family coming from England, in 1629. Various members of the family became prominent in church and state, as well as in the Colonial and Revolutionary Wars, and among these was Hugh B. Bissell's great-great-grandfather. Zebulon Bissell, a commissioned officer in the latter war.

Hugh B. Bissell was born near West Point, Lee County, Iowa, on April 23, 1850. His father was Ralph Bissell, a native of Litchfield. Conn., born September 17, 1816. The father followed farming and milling in Connecticut until 1838, when he removed to Lee County, Iowa, becoming one of the pioneers of that state. In that county he married Mrs. Jane (Brunson) South, who was born in Pennsylvania, November 4, 1820, and who passed away April 4, 1869, they having four children, three of whom are living: Hugh B., the eldest; Julia A., who is Mrs. Garrett, of Clovis; and Frank, viticulturist of Easton.

Ralph Bissell was a very successful farmer in Lee County, being well known and highly respected. In 1871 he was married again, to Sarah Stevens, and soon afterwards removed to Macon County, Mo., where he resided until 1886, when he joined his son in Fresno County, Cal. He became interested in farming in Easton, and resided there until his death, September 26, 1888. His wife still survives him and is making her home at Easton.

Hugh B. received a good education in the public schools of Iowa. From a lad he assisted his father on the Iowa farm and after his school days were over gave all of his time until twenty-one years of age, when he began farm- ing on his own account, making a specialty of growing corn, in which he was very successful. In 1871 he disposed of his farming interests in Iowa and removed to Callao, Macon County, Mo., and there, April 6, 1875, he was married to Missouri A. Paine, who was born in Mississippi, May 4, 1851. During his residence in Missouri he followed farming, as well as the livery business, at Carthage, Jasper County.

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 140

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