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 156

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 156

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JOSEPH R. LE BLANC .- The varied and extended ocean trips .which mark the career of Joseph R. Le Blanc, a successful horticulturist of Mc- Kinley Avenue, Fresno, have given him a broad and interesting knowledge of the various ports of the world, and his friends enjoy hearing about his interesting experiences. He is a native son of California, born at Lodi, San Joaquin County, April 13, 1869, a son of Pery and Sarah (Hough) Le Blanc. The father, a native of Louisiana, saw service in the Civil War in the Con- federate Army, being a member of a Louisiana regiment. The mother was a native of Mississippi, and accompanied her husband and one son to Cal- ifornia in 1866, coming by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and locating at Lodi, San Joaquin County, where he bought a ranch. In 1876, Mr. Le Blanc located in Fresno County on the Kings River above Centerville, where he engaged in stock-raising until 1878. Afterwards he removed to Fresno and was engaged in the sheep business, running the sheep on the plains. Later he became deputy constable and marshal in Fresno County, retaining these important offices until he retired. He passed away in Fresno at the age of sixty-four years. His widow, who is now in her seventy-eighth year, resides with her son, J. R. Le Blanc, the subject of this review. Mr. and Mrs. Pery Le Blanc were the parents of five children, four of whom grew to maturity : Robert, who lives in Bakersfield, is in the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company : Joseph R., the subject of this sketch ; Thomas, a lieuten- ant in the United States Army, stationed at Ft. Mason; and Albert, a musician, and who has a music store in Fresno.

J. R. Le Blanc has been a resident of the city of Fresno since 1878, and after attending the public school there was apprenticed to Barrett & Hicks, the well known plumbers, to learn the trade, and was the first boy to learn the business with this firm. After finishing his apprenticeship he remained with them as a journeyman plumber for three years. His next business enter- prise was as the proprietor of the Fresno Bakery, in which undertaking he suffered loss by fire and afterwards located in Paso Robles, where in com- pany with two others he opened a hardware store, of which he was the man- ager, the firm being known as Bennett, Shackelford & Le Blanc. After six- teen months he sold his interest to his partners and returned to Fresno.

In 1891. Mr. Le Blanc realizing the value of a business education, entered the Ramsey Business College, at Stockton, from which institution he was graduated. Desiring to see the world and to broaden his knowledge of navi- gation, J. R. Le Blanc entered the United States Navy, in January, 1892, and was assigned to the Mohican as navigator's writer, in which position he spent one year, when he was transferred to the captain's office. In August. 1894. he was transferred to the Petrel where he was Chief Yeoman, and while in China reenlisted in the service. Mr. Le Blanc was next transferred to the Battleship Oregon, at the time she was first commissioned into service, in 1896; she afterwards became famous for her important service during the Spanish-American War. In January, 1898, J. R. Le Blanc was paid off at Bremerton, Wash., and upon leaving the navy he returned to Fresno.

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Mr. Le Blanc then opened a plumbing business on Fresno Street, where he continued for one year. After selling out he entered the merchant marine, sailing from San Francisco to Queenstown, via Cape Horn, on the Eurasia, and after reaching his destination he was paid off at Limerick, when he pro- ceeded to Liverpool. From this great English maritime center, Mr. Le Blanc sailed on a Holland steamer to Buenos Ayres, and from the metropolis of Argentina proceeded to Rosario, a town in the Province of Santa Fe. Argen- tina, on the Parana River, 230 miles from Buenos Ayres. After remaining there for two months he sailed on the windjammer Egeria, for Cape Town, South Africa, and was in that country during the Boer War. Later he returned on the same ship to the West Indies and from there sailed for New York City. After arriving in his native land once more, he sailed for California via the Isthmus of Panama and after crossing the Isthmus took the steamer Newport for San Francisco, where he arrived September 9, 1902. Upon reaching the Golden State, Mr. Le Blanc returned to Fresno where he was employed again by Barrett & Hicks, continuing with them in the plumbing business until June, 1916, when he resigned to look after his peach ranch. In 1907, he had purchased forty acres on McKinley Avenue, which he had improved by planting twenty acres to cling and twenty to Muir peaches. In the operation of his ranch he uses up-to-date methods and equipment.

In September, 1906, J. R. Le Blanc was united in marriage with Mrs. Mary (Wilson) Young, a native of Elkhart, Ind., who came to California with her parents about 1888. Mr. and Mrs. Le Blanc are the parents of one child : Georgie. Fraternally, Mr. Le Blanc is a member of the Foresters of America and is a stockholder in and a member of the California Peach Growers, Inc.

MARIUS L. KOLLER .- No influence has been more potent in the de- velopment of Fresno County than that exerted by the pioneers of viticulture and horticulture, and to these enterprising and far-seeing men, who overcame many obstacles before attaining their goal, great credit is due for the present prosperous condition of the county. Among these is Marius L. Koller, the subject of this review, a native of Denmark, born October 19, 1858, on the Island of Bornholm, in the Baltic Sea. His father owned a farm on the island and he was known as Peter Kjoller, but, for the sake of convenience in business, Marius changed the spelling of his name to Koller. His mother was, in maidenhood, Annetta Kofoed, and both of his parents are now de- ceased. Mr. and Mrs. Peter Kjoller were the parents of four children, two of whom grew to maturity: Anton, who makes his home on the old home place on the Island of Bornholm : and Marius, the subject of this sketch, who is the youngest.

Marius L. was reared on the farm and attended both grammar and high school in Denmark. He served the required time in the Danish army, being a member of the First Regiment of Artillery. Desiring to seek his fortune in America, he left his native land for the United States, April 8. 1880, and upon arrival continued his journey westward until he reached the Golden State, in May, 1880, locating at Merced, where he was employed on a ranch by William Applegarth. He continued there until 1882, when he accom- panied Mr. Applegarth to Fresno County and worked for him on the con- struction of the canal that runs in front of his present ranch, but at that time he never dreamed he would own a ranch in that vicinity. In 1884, Mr. Koller again came to Fresno County, to help in harvesting, but when the work was completed he returned to Merced where he engaged in grain- farming during the season of 1884-85, continuing there until 1886, when he moved to Fresno County and rented land in the Madison district and engaged in raising grain.

It was in 1890 that Mr. Koller purchased his present ranch of forty acres on California and Polk Streets, five miles west of Fresno. The ranch at that time was in wheat but after ploughing it under he set thirty acres to muscat

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vines, five to alfalfa, and five acres were devoted to a peach orchard. Owing to sub-irrigation the soil proved too wet for the vines, so in after years Mr. Koller dug up the vineyard and planted the acreage to alfalfa. Mr. Koller recalls how he sold raisins as low as one and a quarter cents per pound. He is a member of the California Associated Raisin Company and has been a member of all of the various raisin associations since the first one organized by M. Theo. Kearney. By industry and economy Mr. Koller has prospered in his undertakings, and in 1914 he bought twenty acres adjoining his ranch, making a total of sixty acres. In addition to raising alfalfa and peaches, Mr. Koller conducts a dairy and since the organization of the Danish Cream- ery Association he has been a stockholder.

On December 10, 1891, Marius L. Koller was united in marriage, at Fresno, with Miss Margaret Enemark, born in Slesvig. This happy union has been blessed with four children: Thorvald, who is helping his father on the ranch ; Agnethe, now Mrs. Sorensen, of Vallejo: Harold, who was raised in Fresno County, educated in the schools, and was leading man at Baypoint Navy Yard when he died from the Spanish influenza, January 13, 1919; and Anton, who is assisting his father. Mr. and Mrs. Koller are members of the Lutheran Church, and he is a Republican in national politics and a member of the California Peach Growers, Inc.

R. C. BAKER .- Conspicuous among the wide-awake men of affairs of bustling and progressive Coalinga must be rated R. C. Baker, who was born at Chester, Va., on July 18, 1872, and has since then led a many-sided, active and successful life, while no one today places a higher value on education, and few are more interested in the preservation of Californian historical data. His father, Reuben, was a native of the Keystone State and came to California in the Centennial year. At first he located in Shasta County, until he joined his son Reuben C., who had located in Los Angeles, and has since been assisting his son looking after his farming and horticultural enterprise at Sanger and other Central California points.

R. C. Baker. the subject of this review, started out for himself at the age of twenty-one and located in Los Angeles at the very time when the oil boom excited that city. He, too, was enthused by the sight of the oil wells being sunk within the city limits, and from that time he has been identified with the oil business, but in a large way. In 1899, Mr. Baker came to the Coalinga district as a contractor, first starting to drill a well on Sec. 21-14, three miles west of town. This was before a depot was built and there were no oil wells in sight of the town, the only oil wells being at Oil City, nine miles to the north of Coalinga. In 1900 he went to the Kern River oil field at Bakersfield, drilling some fifteen or twenty wells for the Mount Diablo Oil, Mining and Development Company, in which he was financially interested and a director. At the same time he was interested in the Midway district, being one of the locators and promotors of the Bay City Oil Com- pany, the first company to get oil in the Midway district. He was also one of the organizers of the Empire Oil Company which developed and produced the first light oil in the Midway field in 1901. In November, 1901, Mr. Baker went to Wyoming and drilled a well 1,500 feet deep on a contract for the Western Wyoming Oil Company, but they failed to strike oil. In 1902 Mr. Baker returned to the Coalinga district, and since then he has been in charge of many wells in that field. He had his home in the fields until 1909, but he has since made his residence in Coalinga.

With his brother, J. E. Baker, he owns a ranch of 160 acres near Sanger. It was raw land when they took hold of it, but they have developed sixty acres to White Adriatic figs and twenty in alfalfa. He is also interested in the Coalinga-Merced Syndicate, which owns three ranches in Merced County, consisting of some 2,900 acres, now being subdivided into smaller tracts. There are 1,076 acres in grain, partly barley, and 1,090 acres elsewhere in'

Minne Bakker.

Pl. Bakan

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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

grain. Individually he owns a ranch of 1,054 acres sixteen miles from Merced on the Merced River, which he is gradually improving to alfalfa and fruits, and where by putting in pumping-plants he has ample water for irrigation.

That Mr. Baker is not merely a successful theorist but a very practical workman is shown by the fact that he has invented fifteen different appli- ances in machinery used in the development of oil. The leading patent is known as the Baker Casing Shoe, and a factory was recently established in Coalinga for their manufacture, and also for the making of other oil-tool supplies, incorporated as the Baker Casing Shoe Company for $150,000 capi- tal, he being president, manager and principal owner of the company. This casing shoe has become a very valuable article in well-boring. It is a steel shoe put onto the bottom of the casing during the boring of a well, and greatly facilitates the work. This invention is now used all over the world where oil is developed, being used in far-away Russia, Rumania, India and South America. The invention was patented in 1907, and since then over two hundred thousand of the appliances have been made and are in use. They are made to sell from twenty dollars to $120 each, according to size. The company also makes a line of other useful patents and special tools used in oil operations, and to facilitate the supply he has arranged for different manu- facturers in various parts of the United States to manufacture his patents on a royalty.

In 1908 Mr. Baker helped organize the First National Bank of Coalinga, and he is today a director in the institution. He is also an organizer and president of the Coalinga Gas and Power Company. From the organization of the Coalinga Union High School he was president of its board of trustees until in 1918, when he refused to be a candidate for reelection on account of his time being taken up on the Exemption Board. During this time the splendid high school buildings were built. He was a member of District No. 1 of the Fresno County Exemption Board and served actively on it from start to finish, being appointed July 3, 1917, and continuing till the armistice was signed and to his credit and patriotism, and like his colleagues, did not even present a bill for expenses. For some years he was a member of the Coalinga Board of Trustees and Library Board. He is also an active member of the Coalinga Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. Baker married Miss Minnie Zumwalt, a native daughter born in Colusa County and a member of one of the best-known families of California pioneers ; and they have two children, J. R. Carlton and Thelma. Mrs. Baker is a member of the Presbyterian Church and the Coalinga Chapter of Red Cross. Few persons have had the opportunity to do for Coalinga what Mr. Baker has done, and no one has been more faithful to duty and privilege.

JEREMIAH HURLEY .- An interesting old-timer who has not only made a reputation for straightforward, square dealing, but is one of the pioneer dairymen and butter-makers of Central California, is Jeremiah Hur- ley, who had five sons on duty and one waiting the call, in the Great War, and deserves the esteem of every American for having sacrificed one of them in the cause of liberty. He first came to California in 1875, and on September 13, 1877, arrived in Fresno, the scene of so much of his subsequent success. He was born in Bantry, County Cork, Ireland, in 1848, and was reared on a farm, while he attended a private school. In 1873 he came to the United States, landing in New York on May 5, and from there he went to Boston, where he worked for two months. His next removal was to Hartford, Conn .. in the days when Mark Twain was a prominent and popular resident of that Yankee city, and there he worked at farming.

When Mr. Hurley luckily moved west to California, he set up a dairy at Petaluma, but unable to resist the attraction of Fresno County, he moved his establishment south. He located in the Central California Colony and bought twenty acres, which he improved by planting alfalfa and setting out an orchard and vines. After a while he bought twenty acres adjoining, and

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later he twice added twenty acres more. At one time he had eighty acres devoted to farming and also to dairying, for he established a first-class dairy. He was the first butter man who made rolls of butter and sold them in Fresno, and he also invented a churn of his own. He took a barrel of about forty- gallon capacity, which he hung in the long way, now so general, and which attracted much attention.

Later Mr. Hurley sold out in order to engage in stock-raising, and then he removed to Auberry Valley, where he traded for a ranch, upon which he settled. He bought land and took a preemption of 160 acres. The ranch is located on the North Fork of Little Dry Creek, and there he raises cattle, hogs and goats. He has a thousand acres of land in a body on the creek, and they are watered by ample springs. He is also raising wheat, barley and oats, and he has produced the largest crops of potatoes ever raised there. He has also built a residence, and suitable barns ; and he still runs his cattle on the ranch, under the brand JH (combined) branded on the left hip.

In 1900, Mr. Hurley bought his present home ranch of forty acres in the Perrin Colony No. 2, six and a half miles northwest of Fresno, and there he has his residence and headquarters. He was a school trustee in the Auberry Valley for many years and he was the oldest school trustee in the county when he resigned in 1917, and was a deputy under Sheriff McSwain.

In June, 1884, Mr. Hurley was married in Fresno County to Miss Kate Sweeney, a native of County Cork, Ireland, who came to San Francisco in 1876 and to Fresno County in 1880. They have had ten children: Julia, at home ; Cornelius Val answered the call and passed examination but was never drawn ; he assists the subject of our sketch to run the ranch ; Jeremiah Llew- ellyn was in the United States service over-seas and was wounded but re- covered and continued in service until honorably discharged, April, 1919; John Wellington served in the United States Army and has since been hon- orably discharged ; Margaret is at home ; Henry H. is serving in the United States Naval Reserve Force : George Dewey was in the Aviation Corps as a flier over-seas, and has been since honorably discharged ; and there are Mary J., and James Emmett. The fifth in the order of birth, Timothy Sarsfield, died at Williams Bridge, New York City, in April. 1918, while serving in the United States Army.

An interesting experience not afforded every rancher fell to the lot of Mr. Hurley some time ago. He was running a bunch of cattle near Mc- Mullen's, when a photographer took a picture of them among the alkali weeds. He heard nothing more of the matter until, to his surprise and satis- faction, he received an Agricultural Report from the Government at Wash- ington, containing as one of the embellishments to the volume, the photo- graphic study of his choice herd ; and later he was still more pleased to see the same picture used as an illustration in the school books designed for Young Californians.

HENRY SANTEN .- In the new and changed era that is upon us, poul- try-raising and egg-farming must be conducted upon a newer and broader basis than in vogue during past years, and Henry Santen of Conejo, on his two-acre poultry farm, has solved many perplexing questions in relation to this industry and has succeeded in reducing it to a science.

His system differs from Philo's or Weeks' or any other known system of egg-production, and is peculiarly adaptable to the conditions of soil, climate and environment obtaining at Conejo. Bolton Hall wrote, "Three acres and independence !"-but Hall's idea must yield to Henry Santen's actual demon- stration of "Two acres and a competency !" He has built up a twenty-five- hundred-dollar poultry-plant which he conducts along the line of his original ideas and methods.

Mr. Santen was born at St. Louis, Mo., August 31, 1867, and is of German extraction. His parents, John and Anne (Therhorst) Santen, were born in Germany. They came to Missouri and were married at St. Louis, Mo. The

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father was a teamster, a farmer, and the owner of a Missouri farm. Later he removed to Woodson County, Kans., where young Henry grew to maturity. Henry had a brother who died twenty-five years ago. He has four sisters who are all living in the Middle West. He received his education in the ex- cellent public schools of Kansas, and in 1889 went to Oregon, where he spent seven years. For several years he was connected with Mt. Angel College, at Mt. Angel, Ore., in the capacity of bookkeeper. Later he came to San Francisco, where he learned the barber trade and worked at barbering until after the earthquake in April, 1906. He received such a shock at that time that he resolved to get out of the earthquake belt, and accordingly came to Fresno in 1906. For two years he was employed at the Wild Flower Stock Farm, two miles southeast of Conejo, then came to Conejo in 1908, where he engaged in the barber business.

At that time the cattle-shipping town of Conejo was infested with three saloons and gambling dens, together with all appurtenances usually found in connection with such places. The good people of the community got to- gether and voted the town dry. Then an era of boot-legging and tin-horn gambling set in. Henry Santen became the leader of the dry forces and the decent element of the community. He received the appointment of humane officer, and in conducting his business had to make arrests of law-breaking boot-leggers. He stood courageously for law-enforcement and decency, and for this reason was singled out by the other element for punishment. He was threatened with lynching, shooting and personal violence, and it was sought to drive him out of the community. It took courage to remain in Conejo in the face of such prejudice, but Henry Santen remained at his post. The Women's Christian Temperance Union and the law-abiding citizens came to his aid, and by their united efforts Conejo is today an orderly dry town. In the columns of the Fresno Republican of October 6th and 7th, 1911. appeared articles headed : "Lone man is fighting liquor element at Conejo," and "Hot battle is raging in Conejo betwixt wets and drys .- Officer Santen charges District Attorney with indifference."

Mr. Santen continued to run his barber-shop at Conejo until 1913, when he engaged in the poultry business. He began operations in a small and ex- perimental way, first starting with Buff Orpingtons, and later tried others of the heavier breeds. He has come to the conclusion that White Leghorns are the best breed for egg-production. He buys baby-chicks and sells the cock- erels when large enough for broilers, keeping only layers. His net receipts for the eggs from 250 eight-months'-old Leghorn pullets, for the month of December, 1918, were $250, and his well arranged hen-houses, yards, self- feeders and watering system, designed after his own plåns, bear witness to the efficiency of his methods. He has studied, worked, observed, and grown with the business. He has an irrigation plant (well and six-horsepower engine) on the premises and raises the green food necessary for his flock. He is about to install an electrically heated brooding-plant, and will increase his flock of layers to 2,000 by January, 1920. He confidently looks forward to a competency on his little two-acre farm at Conejo. He understands the power and has the ability of concentration. He is a great reader and student and is well informed. He has read the Bible in English, German and Latin. He was brought up a Catholic, but is now an agnostic.

He is a careful student of political and economic questions, and aims always to vote for officials of correct principles and habits, and men of ability. He is a great admirer of Thomas Edison and other men of accomplishment. He has an up-to-date Edison phonograph of the best quality, and furnishes music for himself and his many friends and patrons of the Conejo Free Public Library, of which he is librarian. He furnishes the room for the Conejo branch of the Fresno County Library free of charge and keeps the Sunday Examiner on sale. He purchased freely of Liberty Bonds and was the leader in soliciting and gathering up Red Cross funds.

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PETER M. MORGAN .- A veteran of the Civil War, and one whose personality no less than his enviable official record has entitled him to the respect and best wishes of all who have been privileged to know him, is Peter MI. Morgan, who first came to California somewhat over a decade ago. He was born in Shelby County, Ohio, on May 7, 1844, the son of a farmer, Monfort Morgan, also a native of that state, the original family having been known as Monfort, and coming from French descent. Grandfather Morgan belonged to the Welsh family of Morgans that located in the Province of Jersey in the seventeenth century : and he was in the Revolutionary War. While in Ohio, Peter's father married Rebecca Mulford, a native of that State; and there the mother died. The father migrated to Kansas, went back to Ohio, returned to Kansas and died there. Eleven children bore the honored name; and there was also a half-brother. Aaron Morgan, who enlisted in the Civil War and served in the same regiment and company as did the subject of our sketch.

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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 156

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