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 142

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 142

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Reared in Iowa and Kansas, where he attended school in a log school- house, with slab benches, Mr. Keyser grew up in a country infested with Indians, and struggled, as has been narrated, against such forces of Nature as the all-devouring grasshoppers. He was fortunate, however, in finding in Fresno County those favoring conditions so desired by the ambitions man who is handicapped, and here also he was married on August 28. 1895, his bride being Miss Georgia Luce, a native of Massachusetts. She was the daughter of John J. and Louisa G. (Norton) Luce, the former an old sea- captain who settled in the Liberty district about 1874 and became a Fresno County pioneer ; so that both Mr. and Mrs. Keyser have interesting associa- tions with the growth and history of this state. They have two children, Helen A. and Katherine.

A Republican in national politics and a booster for all projects to better the community, Mr. Keyser is also a member of the California Associated Raisin Company and of the California Peach Growers, Inc., and in fraternal affiliations he is an Odd Fellow.

REV. CARL W. WOLTER .- Distinguished among the clergy of Fresno County, to whose untiring efforts society at large owes much, is the Rev. Carl W. Wolter, pastor of the Free Evangelical Lutheran Cross Church of Fresno. He was born at Belgard. Pomerania, Germany, on August 9, 1876, the son of Carl W. Wolter, who was paymaster in the German Army, and died in 1881. Wilhelmina Katherine Wolter was the good mother who brought the family of three children to the United States in 1892, and located in Dayton, Ohio, where she was married again to the Rev. J. Moeller, M.D., a minister in the United Brethren Church, who was also a physician and surgeon. By preference he followed clerical work, and the worthy couple both died in Cleveland.

Carl W., the oldest of the three children, was educated in the excellent public schools in Belgard, and then entered the gymnasium, from which he was graduated after finishing his classical studies. Immediately after this he came with his mother to Dayton and entered the United Brethren Sem- inary, taking the theological course and graduating in 1897. He then preached in the United Brethren Church at Cincinnati, and in 1900 was ordained to the ministry of that church.

After preaching for seven years in Cincinnati, Reverend Wolter came to Peoria, Ill., as pastor of the German Congregational Church, where he re- mained for six years. In 1910 he accepted a call to Parkston, S. D., as pastor of the Congregational Church, and he ministered to that congregation for three years. He was then elected financial secretary of Redfield College, S. D., filling the position until May 1, 1913, when he resigned to come to Fresno.

He had accepted a call to the Free Evangelical Lutheran Cross Church, and has ever since given his best efforts to build up the church, in which work he has been very successful. He has increased the membership from five hundred to over one thousand, and instead of the small building in the center of the block, there is a fine edifice at the corner. The building was commenced in May, 1914, and completed the following February. It is a large brick edifice at F and San Diego Streets, and has a seating capacity of

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1,600. It is the largest church structure and congregation in Fresno, and cost $50,000. There is a main auditorium, with galleries, a beautiful altar and pulpit, and a pipe organ costing $3,000. Their service flag numbers fifty-six stars, one of them being a gold star. The basement is fitted up for the Sunday School rooms. This congregation was started about twenty- five years ago, and was the first German congregation in this city. On com- ing to Fresno, the Reverend Wolter also built a large modern parsonage, which was completed in 1913.

His first marriage was at Dayton, Ohio, in 1897, when he was joined to Miss Annie Moeller, a native of Portsmouth, Ohio. She passed away in Peoria. about ten years after their marriage, leaving two children, Marie and William. He was married a second time, in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1908, to Miss Amalia Seitz, a native of that city, by whom he has had three children, Carl. Howard, and John.

The Reverend Wolter (who is also a graduate of the American Univer- sity, Chicago, from which he received the degree of D. C., in 1914) is a trustee of the Northern California Conference on the Congregational Church, with which the Free Evangelical Lutheran Cross Church is affiliated. He is editor of the Brothers Paper, a religious semi-monthly published in Chicago and devoted, as its name indicates, to the entire brotherhood of Churches in the United States and Canada.

GEORGE R. MATTHEWS .- A young, wide-awake manufacturer of foresight and marked general ability, who, while developing his own indus- trial interests, is helping to build up Fresno and vicinity along commercial and civic lines, is George R. Matthews, proprietor of the Novelty Iron Works. He was born near Louisville, Ky., on March 23, 1874, the son of Quincy M. Matthews, a native of Newburg, Ind., where he first saw the light on Febru- ary 26, 1849. Quincy's father, Aaron Matthews, was a native of Kentucky, and was taken to Indiana when he was two years of age. Growing up, he assumed the duties of citizenship, and was fife major in the home militia at Newburg. Quincy's grandfather was a contemporary of the famous Daniel Boone of Kentucky, and they served together as two pioneers renowned for their prowess in the Indian wars. Aaron Matthews was a butcher in Indiana, and he died at Hartford, Ky., aged eighty-seven years. George's grand- mother Matthews, who was Louisa Shaul before her marriage, was a native of Indiana and died in that state in 1863.

Quincy Matthews learned the machinist's trade in Louisville, and worked three years on the construction of the bridge across the Ohio River at Louis- ville. After that, he worked in the coal mines in Kentucky and Indiana. At Hendersonville, Ky., in 1876, with several associates he opened a coal mine that bid fair to yield large returns, but the panic came on and they lost all their investment. He next went to Coal Valley, near Rock Island, and later to Cable, Mercer County, Ill., where he engaged in the restaurant and grocery business, and in 1888 he established himself in the same line of trade at Lincoln, Nebr., enjoying there the same reputation for untiring service and honest dealing. In 1903 he came to California and settled at Fresno, and for six years he busied himself as a viticulturist, turning away from that field in 1909 to start again in the grocery business. He built a store at the corner of San Pablo and Mckenzie Streets, and having already become ex- perienced, attained a satisfactory degree of success. While at Carmel, Ind., Mr. Matthews had married Miss Lizzie Irwin, a native of that section, and by her he had six children: George R., the first-born, is the subject of our sketch: John M. is foreman for Guggenhime at Fresno; Henry L. is in Los Angeles : Winifred, with the gas company in Fresno; Mrs. Gail Parker resides at Fresno; and Ruth assists her father. Mrs. Matthews passed away here in 1915.

When five years of age, George removed with his folks to Cable, Ill., and until he was fifteen years old, he attended the public schools. Then he

Hof Backer.

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went to Lincoln, Nebr., and was apprenticed to the moulder's trade, more and more filling responsible positions with the Nebraska Iron Works. So well was he satisfied with his experience that after finishing the four years for which he was bound, he continued a couple of years more as a journey- man in the same establishment. Then, for a couple of years he traveled and worked in the middle states west of the Mississippi, moving from Galveston to Minneapolis, then to the Rockies and back to Lincoln, where he became foreman of the Lincoln Iron Works. With that firm he continued until the spring of 1903, when he came to the Pacific Coast and Fresno.

The day after his arrival here, he entered the service of the Fresno Agricultural Works, with which he continued as a moulder for eighteen months, leaving to take a year's service at the Novelty Iron Works. He was next foreman, for over a year, at the Burnett Iron Works, and for another vear with the Valley Foundry and Machine Works, and once more with the Novelty Iron Works, where he was made foreman and continued for a couple of years. In 1915, having well established his reputation as one of the best iron-masters in this vicinity, he bought of Mr. Halford the Novelty Iron Works, and continued to manufacture not only iron, but bronze, brass and aluminum casting. He has recently purchased six lots for a new site in Prather's Addition, on Railroad Avenue, where he plans a new foundry about 150x150 feet in size. He employs eleven men and with his up-to-date equipment makes all the castings for the Fresno Agricultural Works, as well as for many other concerns.

At Lincoln, Nebr., Mr. Matthews was married to Miss Lovana Robin- son, a native of Peoria, Ill., and the daughter of James K. Robinson, a master machinist. Two children have blessed their union: Cecil, a graduate of Heald's Business College and now with the Fresno Natatorium; and Percy, a moulder, who is assisting his father. Mr. Matthews owns nine lots on Washington Street at Fresno Heights, and has built a fine residence at 3665 Washington, where he has installed a good pumping-plant ; and he also has other residence property.

HENRY H. BACKER .- Nowhere are the advantages of a good, prac- tical business training better shown than in the phenomenal career of Henry H. Backer, the well-known rancher, who has devoted some of the best years of his life to work in several fields, where in each case his efforts have proven highly productive and successful. A man of strong character and original initiative, Mr. Backer believes in doing whatever is worth undertaking in a worthy manner and seeing it through to the finish in the best shape possible.

His father was named Henry Backer and, as a sturdy pioneer, settled in Sierra County, Cal., in 1859, when he engaged in mining, suffered the usual vicissitudes, and finally, in 1878, came to Fresno with his wife and five chil- dren. In that year, highly honored as a Californian builder, he died. Mrs. Backer was Miss Augusta Busch before her marriage; and she, also mourned by many, passed away on September 1, 1904.

Born near Downieville, Sierra County, Cal., October 27, 1872, Henry H. enjoyed the superior educational facilities of Fresno's school system, and later took a thorough course at Heald's Business College. But perhaps he received the most valuable preparation of all in the great school of life, where he had the rough corners smoothed down and learned both how to give and take a blow straight from the shoulder. Completing his studies, he worked for a year in San Francisco as a bookkeeper.

Viticulture made a stronger appeal to his capabilities, so Mr. Backer engaged in ranching with the other members of the family, adapting himself with wonderful facility to the new line of activity and easily demonstrating his claim to fitness in that line. Their products vie with the best of those produced in the vicinity, and he has made some reputation for his own inves- tigations and experiments.

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With the other members of his family. Mr. Backer incorporated as the Backer Vineyard Company, and they own and operate a very productive vineyard of 120 acres, eight miles east of Fresno. They are pioneers in the raising of all kinds of grapes, making a specialty of Emperors, and have a large vineyard of this variety now twenty-three years old, and are expert growers of table grapes. Their acreage contains thirty acres of Emperors, twenty of Malagas, ten of Cornishons, twenty acres of Servian Blue or Fresno Beauty, and forty acres of Muscats. The sharp competition with the Tokay grapes from Northern California in the Eastern markets led to the necessity of finding some means of packing their table grapes so they would keep in cold storage until the tokays were out of the market. Backer Bros. had shipped table grapes packed in crates in refrigerator cars to New York City but. finding a glutted market, placed the consignment in cold storage, which resulted in their spoiling, and they suffered a severe financial loss. Henry Backer, having made the journey to New York at the time, watched the suc- cess or failure of the cold storage experiment and while waiting around New York his attention was called to the splendid condition of the Spanish table grapes which had arrived packed in cork. Packing in cork being impracti- cable, if not absolutely impossible in California, Mr. Backer began thinking about substitutes. He broached his idea to his commission merchant, Charles Thurston, and they together sought the advice of the Viticultural Depart- ment at Washington as to substituting sawdust for cork in which to pack the grapes. This was in 1908. The government assisted Mr. Backer in 1909 in experimenting, shipping the grapes packed in various kinds of sawdust, but it proved a failure : the sawdust used was too fine, and also gave an un- pleasant flavor to the grapes and they would not keep. In 1910 they made further experiments with the sawdust from redwood trees and this led to fair results in 1911 and further experiments in 1912 until they developed a method of making and treating a coarse sawdust from the redwood, which now meets all practical wants and Fresno County table grapes are now being shipped to the great cold storage establisments, not only in the large cities of the United States but to important cities and ports all over the world, packed in this substitute for cork, and it has been found that grapes, when thus properly packed, will keep all winter.

After proving the packing and shipping of table grapes a success, the Backers readily and enthusiastically showed others the success of their ex- periment and this method of shipping became universal and has been the means of bringing great wealth to the state and probably no other enterprise did more to bring Fresno County to the fore and aid in bringing the price of Fresno County lands to the present high value and standard. So it is readily seen that in this Mr. Backer has rendered a valuable service. In ad- dition to his interest in the Backer Vineyard Company's 120 acres, they also own a splendid grain farm of 760 acres, eight miles north of Sanger.

Although coming of an old pioneer family with valuable social and other connections, Mr. Backer is still a bachelor, and as such is a very popular member of the Odd Fellows and the Elks. A loyal Democrat, he is even a more loyal American, and being brimful of civic pride, finds time for partici- pation in movements making for the public welfare.

EMIL PEARSON .- For the past quarter of a century Emil Pearson has been a well known figure in the Kingsburg Colony. He is known as a successful man in the vocation of his choice, that of horticulture and viti- culture, and his well kept ten-acre home place, as well as his ten-acre piece one and one-half miles further northeast, testify to the efficacious methods employed by their owner in their care.

Mr. Pearson was born in Sweden, April 1, 1864, received his education in the schools of the land of his birth, and was confirmed in the Lutheran Church. As a young man he followed the occupation of farming before

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coming to the United States. His parents, Per Nilson and Brita ( Eglund) Nilson, lived and died in Sweden where the father owned a small ten-acre farm and was also a carpenter. The father, who was married twice, had three children by his first wife. The eldest, Gustav Eden, was a tailor in London, where he died leaving three children, Oscar, Carl and Hedwick by name. The second child, Annie, is the wife of Nils Chelgren, a rancher in Washington Colony. Maria, is the widow of Mr. Bergrooth and lives in Kingsburg. The father's second wife bore him four children: The eldest, Tilda, is single and lives in Sweden. Augusta, or Jennie, is the wife of W. T. H. Martin, a rancher near Kingsburg. Alfred, was a storekeeper in Fresno, where he died. Emil is the youngest of the family, and as his parents grew old he assisted them.

In 1892, Emil left Sweden and came to Kingsburg, Fresno County, Cal., where he had a brother and sister living. At this time he had but sixty-five dollars. He worked out, carrying his blankets from place to place, and ex- perienced the vicissitudes that accompany hard times. It was difficult to get work owing to the financial stringency, but perseverance finally won the day, and in 1895 he bought his present ten acres, then practically unimproved. It had no house, barn, well or pump.

In April, 1898, he was united in marriage with Miss Lena Lindholm, a native of Sweden and daughter of Erik Person and Johanna (Johnson) Person. Mrs. Pearson's parents died in Sweden, where the father was a farmer and timber-worker. There were five children in the family: Lars, who died at Ishpeming, Mich. ; Louisa, the wife of Mr. C. G. Pahlm, a rancher of Kingsburg: Lena; Remhold, a farmer in Sweden; and Anna, the wife of Robert Thompson of Berkeley. Mrs. Pearson came to America and worked in Berkeley and San Francisco. While on a visit to her sister in Kingsburg she became acquainted with Mr. Pearson. They are the parents of two children : David, a farm laborer, nineteen years of age, and Paul. Their home is one and one-half miles northeast of Kingsburg, and they belong to the Kingsburg school district.

Mr. Pearson is a member of the Swedish Baptist Church at Kingsburg, and the family is held in high esteem.

EDWARD J. GOODRICH .- "Back to Nature" is the impelling slogan of the day. Whatever the needs, in the last analysis nature must supply them. They who study and cultivate nature in all its various moods are the people who are to provide the remedy for want. The sturdy farmer is the solution of humanity's problem.

Edward J. Goodrich's parents, Charles H. and Maggie (McCarthy) Good- rich, were from the great state of Maine. In 1856 they came to California, locating in Monterey and San Benito Counties where the mother died in 1878. Here they followed stock raising and farming until 1880, when they removed to Fresno County, leasing land in the Coalinga district, where. they engaged in sheep and cattle raising. Later they followed farming near Selma. They had four sons : Edward J., of 221 Coast avenue, Fresno; Charles F., and John A., of Tranquillity, and Leonard J., of Stockton. The father died in 1894 at Selma.

Edward J. Goodrich was born in San Juan, San Benito County, Cal., March 25, 1869. He finished his schooling in the Washington Colony school district, Fresno County. At the age of thirteen years he began working for wages and in 1891 he started into grain farming for himself on leased land near Selma, Caruthers and Wheatville. In 1898 a partnership was formed with Ed Vogelsang for the purpose of grain farming in the Huron district, Fresno County, on leased lands. They have been partners ever since in that district. Mr. Goodrich is the personal owner of a 200-acre tract of alfalfa in the Wheatville country, which he leases to others. He also owns 880 acres in the Huron district. In addition he is also farming 320 acres of leased land in grain for himself near Wheatville. This is aside from his partnership

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with Mr. Vogelsang. It will thus be seen that Mr. Goodrich has contributed largely to the supply of humanity's needs, and by a consistent and loyal devotion to the welfare of the community, has established for himself a high standing in the regard of his neighbors.

On October 30, 1892, Mr. Goodrich was married to Sadie Gingrich, a native of Pennsylvania, who came to California when a young woman. They are the parents of three girls : Gladys, now the wife of P. H. Drew, of Bakers- field; and Erma and Elsie Kathryn, school children. The girls are all members of the First Presbyterian Church.

GEORGE W. BARR .- It has been more than a quarter century since George W. Barr, the subject of this sketch, located in Fresno County, and during his long residence has witnessed wonderful changes and marvelous developments in both the city and country of Fresno. George W. Barr, is a Hoosier by birth, having first seen the light of day in Jennings County, Ind., March 27, 1842. When a small boy he left Indiana for Adams County Ill., and it was in this county that he attended the country school of his district and received his early education.

In 1864, George W. Barr accompanied a party across the plains to Cali- fornia, and in the caravan there were twenty-five wagons, horses and mules. While in the Platt River country the party met about five hundred Indians, and, contrary to their expectations, they found that the Indians were friendly, consequently their trip across the plains proved uneventful and the party arrived in the Golden State in safety.

After his arrival in California, George W. Barr secured work on a ranch in Solano County, where he remained three years, afterwards removing to San Bernardino County, later he went to Santa Ana, Orange County, where he engaged in farming and ran a threshing machine. In 1891, George W. Barr moved to Fresno County locating near Oleander, where he purchased twenty acres which he improved by setting out a vineyard and an orchard, residing there for fourteen years. After selling this property he bought forty acres of the Barton vineyard and lived there two years prior to moving to Fresno, afterwards purchasing twenty acres, north of the Mckinley school where he resided for four years. Mr. Barr's next purchase was twenty acres west of Caruthers which he continued to operate until June 1918, when he sold the place and moved to Fresno where he is now living retired from active business and is located at 306 Olive Avenue. An interesting fact connected with the place where he now resides is, that, in the early days of the city of Fresno, Mr. Barr threshed grain on this very spot.

George W. Barr was united in marriage with Mary A. Garner, a native of California, the ceremony being solemnized in San Bernardino County. This union was blessed with two children: Wallace L. Barr, and Mrs. Mabel Henderson.

ALBERT JULIUS OLSON .- A native of California, born in San Fran- cisco April 16, 1877, Albert Julius Olson is the son of Gustav Olson, who was a cooper by trade in his native place, Smälon, Sweden. Coming to the United States while yet a young man, the father worked at his trade in Boston, Mass., until he came to San Francisco via Panama, about 1870. He followed his trade in San Francisco until 1878, when he located in Fresno County. He was one of the first settlers in the Scandinavian Colony, where he purchased forty acres of land, which he had improved to vineyard while he followed his trade as a contractor of cooperage. He built the cooperage in the Barton Winery, reset the cooperage in the Fresno Winery after it was burned, and also installed the cooperage in the St. George and Margherita Wineries, as well as the Scandinavian and Eggers Wineries. He retired from active business two years before his death on April 30, 1893. Albert Olson's mother was Jennie Marie Hanson, who was born in Stock- holnı, Sweden. She died at her home in Fresno County in 1904. Seven

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children were born to this worthy couple, of whom five are living, Albert Julius being the second oldest.

Albert Julius Olson came to Fresno County with his parents during the first year of his existence. He received a good education in the local schools, after which he took up the work of a viticulturist and by study and close application mastered the cultivation of vines, so that when his father died he took charge of the vineyard, later adding forty acres to it. On this eighty acres he and his brother Charles O. built a winery and engaged in the making of wine. They added still another tract of sixty acres, operating the whole as well as the winery until 1914, when they sold out.

In 1900 Mr. Olson had purchased his present place of twenty acres in Helm Colony, which he had set to vineyard of Thompsons, sultanas, malagas, and wine grapes. In 1914 he moved onto this ranch, having com- pleted the building of his residence and farm buildings. He also owns twenty acres in National Colony.

The marriage of Mr. Olson occurred in Fresno, where he was united with Miss Carrie Louise Dauner, born in San Francisco, whose father, Frederick A. Dauner, was a pioneer of San Francisco and then, in 1878, located in Scandinavian Colony, Fresno County, where he improved a vine- yard, now the Roessler place. His wife is dead, and he now makes his home with Mr. and Mrs. Olson. Mr. and Mrs. Olson have two children, August Albert, attending Clovis High School, and Dorothy May. Mr. Olson is a Republican and protectionist. He is a member of the California Associated Raisin Company.

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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 142

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