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 95

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 95

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After his marriage Mr. St. John remained in the East, engaged in farm- ing and horticultural pursuits. He had conceived the idea of engaging in market gardening at some point convenient to the great cities of Philadelphia and New York, and in 1867 he had invested in twenty acres of land between Camden and Philadelphia, about thirty miles from the latter city. He im- proved this tract, and now the Government has the largest shipyards in the world there where fifty vessels can be built at one time. After three years in New Jersey, Mr. St. John returned to Michigan, where he became the owner of a 159-acre farm near Plymouth, Wayne County. This farm, which is

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well improved, he sold in the spring of 1888, to come to California. Arriving in this state he settled with his family within a half mile of Malaga and bought land from the Briggs estate, and also some town property in Malaga. He im- proved sixty acres, planting it to vines, principally muscats, and kept it until it came into bearing and for two or three years later, selling in 1892 at a good profit. While living at Malaga he became agent for the Briggs estate, and sold the most of the townsite at Malaga for this estate.

In the spring of 1902 Mr. St. John purchased his present ranch of forty acres, one mile south of Fresno, where he resides. This ranch, which is highly improved, is located on Cherry Avenue, in what is known as the Fresno Colony. He also owns forty acres of unimproved land in Tulare County.

Mr. St. John cast his first vote in Santa Barbara County, for Abraham Lincoln, in 1864. He is a Republican in politics, and takes a great interest in all that is going on in the world. He has been active in the Raisin Growers' Association and is much interested in the growth and development of Fresno and Fresno County. His home abounds with refinement and good cheer, with music, current periodicals, books, and literature of the day, all of which sat- isfy the cultured tastes of his accomplished daughters and family. He and his family belong to the First Baptist Church of Fresno. Mr. St. John was a friend of the late Dr. Rowell of Fresno.

LEWIS LEACH, M.D .- It has been truly said of a great man that "nothing in his life becomes him like the ending of it." Dr. Lewis Leach, county pioneer physician, died at his residence on K Street, Fresno, March 18. 1897, and at his passing the county lost one of its few remaining links between Fresno, the desert hamlet, and Fresno, the modern city. Dr. Leach died in harness. He might have retired many years ago with a competence, but his office in the Farmer's Bank building was open to patients up to the middle of the week prior to his death. He felt that his time had come and he quietly met the "grim reaper" and reverently bowed his head and awaited the change to a brighter and happier world.

Dr. Lewis Leach was born in Susquehanna County, N. Y., in 1823, and at the age of thirteen he removed to Binghamton, where he attended the public schools until in 1840, when he went to St. Louis, Mo., to study medi- cine and fit himself for the profession he was destined to follow to the end of his days. He graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1848, thoroughly equipped to hold his own among professional men of his time. He came at once to California, crossing the great plains and en route picked up thirteen families that had got lost, and by common consent he was made leader of the little party. After successfully battling the dangers and difficulties of the long and tiresome journey to California, the party arrived at the Mojave River, where they divided, some going on to Los Angeles and the rest cross- ing the Tejon Pass to the Kern River. Just a few days before the Doctor and his party arrived there, they successfully passed a band of Indians by carry- ing dummy guns, and as the brave little party arrived at the present site of Woodville they found the Indians had massacred a party there and left the bodies unburied, which sad duty was performed by the newcomers to California. The Doctor and his party were on their way to Millerton, Fresno County, but before they reached there they ran out of provisions and were in dire distress, having subsisted on acorns and such limited amount of meat as they could secure on their way. The party went on to the mines above Millerton, on the San Joaquin River, where they mined for gold for a time. The Doctor was about to return to the East when he learned of an interesting surgical case that demanded immediate attention. It was a young man who was threatened with death from blood poisoning from a badly treated wound. His professional instinct was at once aroused and he saved the patient's life by amputating the limb with a wood saw and a jack

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knife. After another night's skirmish with Indians, Dr. Leach was made surgeon of the local volunteer companies and established his hospital on the Fresno River, about fifty-four miles from the present site of Fresno City. After peace was restored with the Indians, Dr. Leach and Major Savage, of the volunteers, established a store on the Fresno River, with a branch at Millerton. Between the store and the practice of his profession the Doctor made money, and in 1860 he devoted his entire time to his practice and took charge of the county hospital at Millerton. On the transfer of the county seat to Fresno he came here and assumed charge of the county hospital in the new town and held the position for a number of years.

Dr. Lewis Leach married Miss Matilda Converse in 1865. In politics the Doctor was a Democrat of the strictest and best kind and was chairman of the county central committee for a number of years, resigning in 1886. In politics as in everything else the Doctor was an honest, upright and honor- able man. He was a good business man and established the first bank in Fresno, and later organized the Farmers Bank, of which he was the first president ; he also organized the gas company ; was interested in the street- car lines and in the fair grounds association. Among his many intellectual gifts was that of an artist, and the special paintings that hung in the Odd Fellows hall were executed by him. He was also a musician of more than ordinary ability.

To few communities comes the fate, to few the fortune, to honor and revere the memory of such men as Dr. Lewis Leach-as man, citizen, physi- cian, philanthropist and neighbor. God has given few men who have, with so much modesty, radiated blessing. happiness and sunshine all about them with less ostentation. To those of his friends who survive him is left his memory, and the impress upon his times which will serve for an inspiration long after monuments to his memory shall have crumbled. He passed into the presence of the Great Master, leaving those behind to say that "the elements were so in him mixed that all the world might stand up and say, 'This was a Man.'"

CHARLES FRANKLIN HART .- A man of forceful character and an energetic pioneer, who has done much to improve conditions in Fresno County, is C. F. Hart, a resident of California since 1886. He was born in Newark, N. J., in 1853, the son of Charles and Susan (Bigler) Hart, both natives of Germany. The father left his native land to get away from mili- tary oppression and came to New Jersey when a young man and followed the trades of cabinetmaking and carriage-making there. To better his con- dition he went to Missouri, lived for a time in Ashley, then in St. Louis, and while there he made the first carriage built in that city. In 1856 he removed to Louisiana, that state, continuing to work at his trade and owning his own shop, as he had done in the various places where he had lived. His next move took him to Curryville, Mo., and there he set up as a carriage- maker, finally taking up the blacksmith business as a requirement of the times. At the breaking out of the Civil War he entered the struggle as a member of a Missouri regiment, and at the end of hostilities he returned to civil life, settled at Vandalia, Mo., as a farmer, and erected and conducted the first blacksmith shop there, continuing the business for nine years, or until his death. His wife, to whom were born three children, two of whom are still living, also died in Missouri.

The oldest of the children, Charles F. Hart was reared in Missouri and there attended the public schools and the Curryville Seminary. While the father was serving in the army the family moved to Peoria, Ill., but when the war was over they returned to Curryville, only to find that everything they had owned was gone, and so they moved to Vandalia. At the age of eighteen young Hart went into the employ of the Chicago & Alton Railroad Company, where as foreman, he ran a tread-power wood-saw to turn out 39

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fuel for locomotives, with headquarters at Fulton. After that he worked as a brakeman four years, then as a conductor, first on freight trains and later on the passenger trains. In all he was with the road sixteen years.

Mr. Hart was united in marriage at Vandalia, Mo., March 29, 1878, with Miss Davidella Daniel, born in Yolo County, Cal., the daughter of James Daniel, who had come to California in an early day but had taken his family back to Missouri to make their home. Mrs. Hart was reared in California and educated in the public schools and Hesperian College at Woodland. She told Mr. Hart so much about California that he made up his mind he would come and see for himself, and on August 13, 1886, he arrived in Fresno. As soon as he could find a satisfactory location he was joined by his wife and daughter, five weeks later. He engaged in ranching on what is now known as the Grand Central farm and tilled the soil where the Columbia school now stands. He later entered into a partnership with his brother-in-law. J. N. Daniel, in leasing land west of what is now Rolinda, some three sections which they farmed together until the dry season "broke" Mr. Hart, and he had to make a new start. He went to work for J. G. James as superintendent of a large cattle-ranch in San Luis Obispo County ; later he was superintendent of a large raisin vineyard for Mrs. Briggs, the Raisin Queen, near Watsonville. Once more having gotten on his feet, Mr. Hart leased some land and a vineyard from M. Theo. Kearney, and made a suc- cess of the venture. In 1900 Mr. Hart purchased his present place of ten acres at the corner of Braly and Church Avenues, west of Fresno, and set out some of the choicest vines obtainable ; he erected the buildings and made all the other improvements on the place. He also bought forty acres on Blackstone Avenue, north of Fresno, and here he has fifteen acres in peaches, and raises berries and vegetables.

One child, a daughter, Pearl, blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Hart. She was born in Missouri, and is a graduate from the Vacaville (Cal.) High School, and is now a deputy in the office of the county assessor. The Harts belong to the Christian Church. Mr. Hart has been prominent in the circles of the Democratic party and has served as a member of the county central committee for years. He has been an advocate of good roads and for twelve years ran the road grader in his district. He is a member of Fresno Lodge, No. 186, I. O. O. F., and formerly was a member of the B. of L. F. and of the O. R. C., and has a host of friends in the county.

WILLIAM P. THOMPSON .- The transformation wrought in Califor- nia during the past thirty or forty years is due to the energy and perseverance of those men, who, leaving comfortable homes in the East, identified them- selves with the newer West and out of its crudity evolved the present-day prosperity. The life of William P. Thompson began in the town of Sun- bury, Pa., where he was born into the family of Newton and Susan (Drake) Thompson. He attended the grammar and high schools at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, whither his parents had moved when he was a small child, until he was fifteen. He then began to travel over the eastern states and worked in various places for three years, when he returned to Mt. Pleasant. He attended the Wesleyan University until 1871, then matriculated in Cornell University, from which he was graduated in 1874. For the next three years Mr. Thomp- son taught school in Pennsylvania, Illinois and Iowa, and in the mean- time he read law and was admitted to the bar in the spring of 1877. He went to Lake City, Colo., and practiced his profession two years, then went to Leadville, where he built up a large and lucrative clientele. In 1884 he came to California and for six months practiced in San Francisco, then went to Santa Rosa and spent six years as a lawyer.

We next find Mr. Thompson in Fresno, where he soon formed a partner- ship with Judge King, and, under the firm name of Thompson & King car- ried on a lucrative practice until 1892. He then became a member of the firm of Thompson & Prince, and for seventeen years this was one of the

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leading law firms of the San Joaquin Valley and handled many important cases. In 1909 Mr. Thompson withdrew from the firm and since then has been doing an independent business in the general practice of the law.

On August 18, 1879, Mr. Thompson married Miss Mary E. Harris, in Virginia City, Nev., and they have two children: Marguerite, who received a fine musical education and is now the wife of William Zorach, of New York City ; and Edith, who is at home. Mr. Thompson is a member of the University Club and is prominent in Democratic circles, but not an office seeker. He is liberal, public-spirited and enterprising and, at all times, is willing to do his part towards making Fresno a better place in which to live. He belongs to the local bar associations.

HARVEY W. SWIFT .- When Harvey W. Swift closed his eyes to the scenes of this world the State of California, and especially Fresno County, lost one of her most public-spirited citizens. He was manly, fearless, honor- able and liberal, always willing to back his judgment with his money, and to aid those who were less fortunate than himself to get a start in the world. A native of New York State, he was born at Penfield, May 21, 1853, and removed with his parents to Hillsdale, Mich., when he was sixteen and there assisted his father with his farm work until he was twenty years of age. He then became interested in the lumber industry, working in all branches of the business and, becoming familiar with all the details, soon erected a shingle mill at Edmore, that state. He was also engaged in the lumber busi- ness at Cheboygan with his brother, the late Lewis P. Swift, and when the latter sold his interest to a Mr. Clark, he continued the partnership under the name of Swift and Clark.

He came out to California many years ago and was one of the original owners and organizers of the Fresno Flume and Irrigation Company, but eventually sold out to his brother, Lewis P., who wanted to settle in Cali- fornia, whereupon Harvey W. returned east and entered into business. In 1901, upon the death of Lewis P., he returned to California and bought back his brother's interest in the above company and carried it on very success- fully, with his partner and brother-in-law, C. B. Shaver, then president of the company. When the latter died in 1907, Mr. Swift became president and general manager, serving until the business was sold, and he then turned his attention to other lines of business, particularly the oil industry. With others he sunk some wells, and he also became a stockholder in the Hicks- Hoffman Navigation Company. Mr. Swift became interested in the develop- ment of land, bought a half section of the Bullard tract, planted it to alfalfa, also bought sixty acres near Centerville and set that to oranges.

H. W. Swift was one of the best boosters Fresno County ever had. He was the means of bringing the Orpheum Circuit shows to this city ; was one of the promoters of the Fresno County Fair Association, and was one of the organizers of the good roads movement in the county. He gave freely to worthy charities, especially the Y. M. C. A. and the Y. W. C. A., the Sal- vation Army and kindred charities that had for their objective the better- ment of conditions for mankind.

Harvey WV. Swift was united in marriage at Blanchard, Mich., in 1884, with Miss Minnie K. Roberts, a native of Pennsylvania, who survives him, and who shared in the esteem and respect in which he was held by all who knew him throughout the state. Mr. Swift was an active member of the Sunnyside Country Club, was a Thirty-second degree Mason and a Shriner, and also a member of Fresno Lodge No. 439, B. P. O. Elks. He was beloved by all his fraternal brethren, with whom he mingled on all occasions when it was possible. In politics he was a stanch Republican. He died after an illness of but a few hours, April 11, 1915.

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AMOS AND ANTOINETTE HARRIS .- Admired, confided in, beloved and honored in his day, and now eminent in the history of the San Joaquin Valley as a successful farmer and an exemplary citizen, Amos Harris, the father of Howard A. Harris, is still remembered for traits and virtues of especial value in a society such as this used to be, largely in the forming. Born in Cayuga County, N. Y., on May 29, 1831, he was the son of Howard Harris, a native of Connecticut who migrated to New York about the be- ginning of the nineteenth century, there grew to manhood, and vigorously participated, like the true patriot that he was, in the War of 1812. There- after, he took up farming as a livelihood, and continued at it until he could work no longer. He died in Locke, Cayuga County. His wife, who had been Melinda Hurlburt, was also born in Connecticut, and died in New York state. Ten children blessed their union, six sons and four daughters; and Amos was the sixth in the order of birth.

Amos Harris attended the public schools, and in 1851, stirred by the gold excitement, he hurried off to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama. For six years, he tried his luck at mining in Placer and Nevada Counties, and having met with moderate success, he carried back to his eastern home a snug little fortune. In December of the same year he located at Jackson, Mich., and engaged in the mercantile business for three years. He had a keen eye to the wants of the public, a pleasing personality prompted by a kindly heart, and he never wanted for patrons of the most depend- able sort.

It was in Jackson that Mr. Harris met, wooed and won the lady who was thereafter to share his eventful life. She was Antoinette Pelham, a native of Clinton, Mich., where she was born on October 22, 1837, the fourth child in a family of six. Her father had died when the children were small, and much responsibility fell to the mother, who desired that Antoinette should receive the education she so craved. Before she was fifteen years old she was teaching her first spring term, and the next year she taught her first winter term of school. As soon as possible, she attended the Olivet College, and from there she went to the normal department of the State University at Ann Arbor. In 1857 she joined the Methodist Church, and two years later, on September 14, she was married to Mr. Harris at Jackson, the wedding being one of the social events of that year.

In 1860, Mr. and Mrs. Harris removed to Iowa where they stayed for a short time, but returning to New York State, Mr. Harris took up his resi- dence for a couple of years at the old Harris homestead. Fond as they were of New York, however, Michigan still had greater attractions, and in 1862 they shifted to Coldwater, and there Mr. Harris started farming. In 1864, he became a pioneer in Montana and mined at Virginia City. A few months satisfied him there, and then he moved on to Lawrence, Kans.

In 1874, Mr. Harris said good-bye to the "Garden of the West." and once again came to California, and spent three years in Marin, Sonoma and Men- docino Counties, and three years later Mrs. Harris and the children joined him, coming to Turlock. At first he engaged in farming in Stanislaus County on rented property ; and in that half-settled state he remained until 1881, when, on October 2, he came with his family to Fowler Switch. Mrs. Harris never forgot the first impressions of the district to which she had come, ex- pecting to found there a home and to find there something to cheer the home- maker. Instead of vineyards and orchards and pretty bungalows or cottages to greet her, she saw a sandy waste with not one spear of grass in sight, and only a turkey ranch and a sheep-shearing camp to break the line of the horizon.

Mr. Harris then purchased 320 acres of land, much of which he gradually sold off in small tracts, and retained eighty acres as a home farm, one mile southeast of Fowler ; and Mrs. Harris realizing only too well the significance of theirs being the only house near the railroad between Selma and Fresno,

antoinette P. Namis

arros Harris

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bravely set out to make the desert bloom as the rose. The result was that when the weary travelers stopped at her door and complained of this "God- forsaken country," she told of her vision of this desert as it was yet to be, and she lived to see her dream come true. Her home very naturally became a kind of community center in this new country, and here were held picnics for the schools, and parties and all kinds of old-fashioned social affairs.

As the years went by, Mr. Harris devoted twenty acres of his fine ranch to the cultivation of the raisin grape, ten acres to a fruitful orchard, and ten acres to alfalfa ; and little by little he improved the rest. He made a specialty of cultivating fruit, but he was also successfully interested in stock. In addi- tion to his Fowler property he came to own 160 acres in Kern County, and 320 acres in Kings County.

Mrs. Harris vied with her husband in a lively interest in civic matters -he having served as school director for many years, and acted as clerk of the board for two decades, or more, and taken an active part, as a Republican, in national politics-and she, as a charter member of the Fowler Improve- ment Association, was one of a group of women who set to work to make Fowler so good a place in which to live. As a friend, writing in tribute to her memory, has pointed out, in the records of this association we find that, twenty-six years ago, Mrs. Harris, with her associates, was planning to pur- chase Block Nine in the town of Fowler for a city park, and also to build a reading-room. To such an extent, in fact, did she even then enter into the spirit of sociological work for others, that she volunteered to spend each Thursday afternoon at the reading-room to entertain the children. And so her life went on, opening her home to the strangers who came from the East, working for the public good, planning entertainments, and in every way pos- sible trying to do good. She was one of the board of directors of the Fowler Improvement Association for many years, and was twice president of the club, in 1894-95 and in 1897-98.

She helped organize the first Sunday School held in Fowler in 1886, in the old school house, which was since burned down. She also organized a chapter of the King's Daughters and the Band of Hope. Her views and sympathies were very broad; she worked for many years in the Episcopal Guild, and in her last earthly year was one of the mission study class meet- ing once a week in the First Presbyterian Church. She was faithful in the work of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, and a life-long worker in the cause of temperance. At the age of fifty she took up the Chautauqua course of study and secured her diploma. Dearly beloved by all who really knew her, Mrs. Harris passed away on October 25, 1916, the day after she had presided at her club and recited Longfellow's "Psalm of Life."

Of this blessed union were born four children: Frank B., of Waverly ranch, and his twin-sister, Ella Belle, who became the wife of Edwin Bruce of Lawrence, Kans., and who died just one year after her marriage: Howard A., long the able editor and proprietor of the Fowler Ensign; and Robert, who died in infancy.

REUBEN G. HARRELL .- The old pioneers of Fresno County can best appreciate its gradual transition from a sterile spot on the landscape to its present floral wealth and luxuriance of plants, trees, and vines, which to- day greet the eye on every hand.

Reuben G. Harrell is one of the old pioneers and recalls shooting doves on the present site of the city of Fresno when the country was in its in- fancy. He is a native of Gallatin, Tenn., born December 20, 1845. Reared on a Sonthern plantation in ante-bellum days, he received a common school education, and as a lad of fifteen, at the outbreak of our great civil strife in 1861, enlisted, serving for one year as a scout on the Confederate side. In 1862 he entered the regular service in the Forest Command of Cavalry, Army of the Tennessee, under Gen. T. H. Bell. For two years he was assistant adjutant, and took part with the Army of the Tennessee in all the big bat-

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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 95

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