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 II > Part 100
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In 1905 he started a cleaning and pressing establishment on Front Street, but this soon gave way to the idea of a gents' furnishing goods store, new and up-to-date. For this purpose he borrowed $750 from his brother. In order to get a suitable location he purchased a building and lease for $685 cash, obtained credit and opened the Toggery. Later he took in as a partner, Louis Green who afterwards sold to a Mr. Martin, and the firm became Hali-
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burton & Martin. They moved into the May Block and later into the Amy Block, where they built up a large business. In 1912, Mr. Martin sold to his partner, and the business has been the exclusive property of Mr. Haliburton, and it is one of the finest stores in Coalinga. He owes his success to close application and keeping his credit good, always meeting his obligations promptly.
With Messrs. Clayton and Hancock as partners, Mr. Haliburton brought the first privately-owned airplane to Fresno County ; it is a Canadian-Curtiss J-N-4 Plane. They are using it commercially, as a passenger sight-seeing and advertising plane.
Mr. Haliburton was married in Coalinga to Miss Eva Buckalew, a native of Pennsylvania. They are the parents of two children, Emory and Richard.
Mr. Haliburton is a member of the Fresno Lodge of Elks, of the Coalinga Lodge of Eagles, and of the Chamber of Commerce. The success he has achieved is his own and no one begrudges it to himn.
A. E. HASLAM .- A hard working, progressive and excellent dairy farmer is A. E. Haslam, the rancher who owns 230 acres of superior land one mile southeast of Riverdale. He is the original butter maker in that town, and has the distinction of having first demonstrated the special advantages of this section for the butter industry. He is a stockholder in the Riverdale Co- operative Creamery.
Mr. Haslam was born in London, England, the son of William Haslam, who was a native of the world's metropolis and came to America when our subject was only a year old. He settled awhile in New York City and built up a large cigar manufacturing business, through which he became comfort- ably fixed. He had married Elizabeth Ford, also a native of England, the ceremony taking place in that country ; and they became the parents of four boys and a girl.
Growing up in New York City, Mr. Haslam read the New York Tribune and he heeded Horace Greeley's advice, "Young man, go West and grow up with the country." At twenty-five years of age he came to California and at first worked in San Luis Obispo County at grain farming. He farmed for himself and had a sad experience, for prices fell to such an extent that they broke him.
He then came to Riverdale and worked for Uncle Job Malsbury, who came to California in 1853 and located near Riverdale in 1885, and he was married to Miss Emma WV. Holton, a native of St. Andrew's, New Brunswick, Canada. She was a teacher in the public schools at Conejo, in Fresno County, and one child, Margery, eleven years of age, was born to this union. Mr. Haslam had been previously married in San Luis Obispo County to Miss Ida M. Turner, a daughter of James Turner, the well-known pioneer of River- dale who moved to this section with Mr. Haslam. She became ill and died during the first year of their residence, and she left two children. Willard married Mabel Baird and is a rancher owning eighty-six acres at Riverdale, and they have two children- May and Kenneth; Isabel, the wife of J. T. Hunter, a carpenter and builder, is the mother of four children-Dorothy, Edward, Marion and the baby.
Mr. Haslam bought his present place sixteen years ago from C. G. Mil- nes, and he donated a right of way to the Hanford & Summit Lake Railway. He also owns forty acres a mile to the west. He is the financial manager of the United Brethren Church of Riverdale-a living growing congregation, thanks largely to Mr. Haslam's excellent work. Mr. and Mrs. Haslam are consistent Christians, dwell in a fine ranch house which is one of the very best in Riverdale, and are patriotic citizens, always interested in advancing the welfare of the community.
Dagmar Peteren W.W.
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DR. DAGMAR PETERSEN .- Dr. Petersen, of Selma, comes from a family wherein learning and character always have been valued highly. Her father, Jens Peter Petersen, was born in Denmark, became a teacher and was prominent among the educators of Denmark, but since coming to Amer- ica he has turned to agriculture and has made good also in that field. He resided and farmed in Colorado and came to Fresno County in 1909; and so well has he prospered here, that he now owns a ranch near Selma. Her mother, who was Manna Trina Andersen before her marriage, and is a native of Denmark, is also resident here. Five sons and four daughters were . born to this hardy couple. Two of the youngest sons were in the army in France, and three are ranching in Colorado. Besides Dr. Dagmar Petersen, Dorothea is a trained nurse and was a Red Cross nurse in France for one year, and has just returned to Selma. Mary, who is a graduate of the Colo- rado State Normal and the University of California, is a teacher at the Sali- nas High School; and Agnes is a teacher in the high school at Grass Valley, where, as a graduate of the art department of the University of Southern California, she has been chosen to supervise the drawing.
Born at Hornsburg, near Akron, Colo., Miss Dagmar attended the public grammar and high schools in that state, and first came to California in 1907. Soon after her arrival, she matriculated in the branch department of the Medical School of the University of California at Los Angeles-now devoted exclusively to postgraduate work in connection with the State University; and after taking the regular four-year course, she was graduated with the Class of 1911. She then went to San Francisco to acquire practical experience and became an interne at the Children's Hospital, ably filling that responsible, if subordinate position during the winter of 1911-12.
Ready to start entirely on her own responsibility, Dr. Petersen began general practice at Patterson in Stanislaus County, and for a year she was with Dr. Hammer. Later, for a year and a half, she practiced at Arbuckle, Cal., and in April, 1915, she took the step, of such importance to Selma as well as to herself, and moved her office to Selma.
Naturally endowed with unusual gifts for her difficult work, and blessed with a personality which inspires confidence, Dr. Petersen is building up a lucrative practice and a large clientele. Her offices are located in the Dusaw Building, Rooms 9 and 10. She is particularly adept in the diagnosis and treatment of children's and women's diseases ; and as there never was a time when the specialist in these fields was more in demand, a career of useful service seems assured to this highly accomplished young woman.
HENRY RUDOLPH HALEMEIER .- An energetic native son, a pa- triotic citizen, and a good manager is Henry R. Halemeier, the son of Au- gust Halemeier, a native of Steinbeck, Westphalia, Germany, where he was reared on a farm. In 1886 he came to the United States and for eight months settled in Nebraska ; after which, stirred by the reports of greater prospects in the Golden State, he came to California. On January 10, 1887, he arrived in Fresno County and joined the Eggers Colony; and there he worked as wine maker in the Eggers winery. He was later wine maker in the Fresno, the Margherita and Barton wineries, and rounded out a record of seventeen years in that responsible position. In the meantime he bought twenty acres of land in the Eggers Colony, and set out a vineyard with Muscat vines, and built a residence.
In 1897 Mr. Halemeier purchased his present place of eighty acres of raw land, which he improved and set out with Muscat and wine grapes, adding Thompson seedless; afterward he reset the vineyard and changed it to its present form. With characteristic enterprise, he also secured valuable land in Merced County, to which from time to time he gave his personal attention.
In 1900 Mr. Halemeier quit making wine and devoted all his energies to his property in this section. He sold twenty acres and located on the balance
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of eighty acres, and there, in 1905, built a substantial residence. In 1916 he rented the place and now resides, with his wife, in Los Angeles. Mrs. Hale- meier was born in Germany, where she was christened Marie Seckmann. Three children were born to this worthy couple: August H., the viticulturist on Locan Avenue; Henny, now Mrs. Haeuser, of Whittier; and Henry Ru- dolph, the subject of our sketch.
Born on December 28, 1891, at Eggers Colony, nine miles east of Fresno, Henry R. attended the Temperance public school, and when thirteen came to this place, where he continued his schooling. He also went to Heald's Business College in Fresno, from which he graduated with honors in 1911. Then he returned home and assisted his father in the vineyard, having learned that business from the time he was a lad.
In 1916, Mr. Halemeier leased his father's ranch of eighty acres and en- gaged in viticulture and general ranching. With his brother he became in- terested in the management of a twenty-acre tract on Locan Avenue; and as both growers are rated among the enterprising vineyard proprietors in the county they are making a success of this undertaking. H. R. Halemeier is a member of the California Associated Raisin Company.
At Oakland, in 1916, Mr. Halemeier was married to Miss Bertha Stein- beck, a native of that city, her father being the well-known business man, H. C. W. Steinbeck. One child, Marion Elizabeth, has blessed the union. Both Mr. and Mrs. Halemeier take a live interest in anything making for the betterment of local society, being especially active in the German Lu- theran Church, as were Mr. and Mrs. Halemeier, Sr. In politics Hr. Hale- meier is a Republican.
ROY HEDRICK .- The popular. efficient and courageous deputy sheriff and constable at Laton, Cal., Roy Hedrick, is also the proprietor of the Laton Garage where he is building up a large and successful business in automobiles and motor trucks, being the general agent at Laton for the Chevrolet autos and trucks. He is a native of Shirley, Ind., where he was born May 7, 1883, a son of James and Mollie (Connor) Hedrick. His mother passed away when Roy was nine months old, after which he was reared in the home of his maternal step-grandparents, Hugh and Sarah Anderson, who were farmers near Shirley. Ind. Here he attended the public school of the district and, when old enough to help, assisted his grandfather with the work on his farm.
In 1903, when twenty years of age, Roy Hedrick decided to take a trip to California, where he had an uncle, David Hedrick, residing one and a half miles east of Laton, and who had encouraged his coming to the Golden State. At first he worked on farms in the vicinity and being enterprising and economical in his habits saved his money, and after a while bought a place near his uncle which he improved and later sold to his brother Charles Hed- rick. Afterwards Mr. Hedrick purchased seventeen acres of land located three-quarters of a mile east of Laton, which he still owns.
In 1916 he started in the automobile repair business, leasing from Dan- iels and Rutherford, former proprietors of the Laton Garage, and in 1919 bought the garage, the building being formerly owned by W. H. Daniels. When Mr. Hedrick took over the garage the business had run down, but soon afterwards, by his good management, Mr. Hedrick succeeded in build- ing up a prosperous and successful business. He employs a competent me- chanic all of the time and by thorough workmanship and prompt and efficient service he is making a name for his garage throughout this section of the county. Some idea of the magnitude to which his business has grown can be gathered from the fact that in the month of September, 1918. he sold seventeen Chevrolet touring cars. His business also includes the handling of Chevrolet motor trucks, of which he has sold several, and a general re- pairing business, as well as dealing in motor accessories, tires and gasoline During his fifteen years of residence at Laton, the course of his business life
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has been decidedly upward and during the past seven years Mr. Hedrick has held the office of constable and deputy sheriff at Laton, being elected to the former and appointed to the latter by the various sheriffs. Roy Hedrick is a large and powerful man physically and is especially endowed by nature for the position of a peace officer. He is courageous, intelligent, and possesses all other requisite qualities for the making of an ideal deputy sheriff.
In 1905, August 4, Roy Hedrick was united in marriage with Miss Susan McGuire, of Laton, and this happy union has been blessed by three children : Le Roy, Charlotte, and Naomi.
Fraternally, Mr. Hedrick is a member of Laton Lodge, No. 148, I. O. O. F., of Laton, Cal. He is the owner of seven residence lots in Laton and has built a comfortable home where he and his happy family reside.
JAMES H. A. JORGENSEN .- An industrious young man who has be- come manager of the Riverdale Cooperative Creamery Company is James H. A. Jorgensen, a Danish-American who served an apprenticeship in all the branches of milk production and the making of milk products, as practiced in Denmark. Such has been his success in butter and cheese making, condensing and evaporating, and the manufacture of casein, that his creamery has be- come one of the largest and finest in Central California, capable of handling the milk of from 3,000 to 5,000 cows,.or 75,000 pounds, including 6,000 pounds of butter, per day in the most scientific and sanitary manner.
Mr. Jorgensen was born in Denmark on August 6, 1886, and at fourteen years of age entered as an apprentice the creamery and cheese factory at Nyborg, after which he attended the Danish school for the science and art of handling milk products. Prior to his matriculation there, Mr. Jorgensen had four years of practical experience, and when he had finished his studies, he received the school's diploma certifying to his having completed the work with honor.
Once well-equipped for work in this highly-important field, Mr. Jorgen- sen resolved to come to America. He first served in the Danish Navy, spend- ing four months of his time in the waters at Iceland. He then returned home, bade his mother good-bye, and received his honorable discharge from the Government. His father, Hans, had died in 1900, aged sixty-four years, leav- ing a widow and seven children, of which he was the youngest. He left Co- penhagen on March 12, 1908, on the "Hellig Olav" of the Scandinavian-Amer- ican line. He traveled by way of Christiania, and landed at Ellis Island, New York, on March 28, 1908, after a very stormy voyage. He came West to Minnesota, and was soon busy demonstrating what he knew of dairying and the creamery business.
His first work was as a butter maker, for three months, at Round Prairie, in Todd County, and then he stayed a year at Alexandria in Douglass County, where he was employed as a butter maker for nine months for the North American Cold Storage Company. Leaving their service he came to Califor- nia and locating at Petaluma, worked for two and a half months in the Bloom- field Creamery. He next held a position as manager of the Salinas Creamery for two years, .and following that he was called to his present position, in 1911. This Riverdale Cooperative Creamery had been running just four months at that time, and Mr. Jorgensen has made an unqualified success since he took hold of the reins.
On November 18, 1911, Mr. Jorgensen was married at Fresno to Miss Mabel Menasco, who was born at Watsonville, the daughter of Joe Menasco, now a successful orchardist in Yolo County ; and from this union have sprung three children: Harold, Elizabeth and Beverly.
The Riverdale Cooperative Creamery employs eighteen men at present, including the manager, and is favored with an equipment of the very best type. This includes a full complement of first-class creamery, condensing and refrigerating machinery and utensils, two DeLaval cream separators of the
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largest size, a cream ripener and a new pasteurizer, two large curd vats, and a milk laboratory room with bacterial counts. The creamery has three boil- ers that furnish steam for condensing, and the machinery is run by electric power bought from the San Joaquin Light & Power Company. Electric light and power-sixty horsepower-are used throughout, and the old 25 horse- power steam engine is kept in reserve. Two Simplex churns of the large size are also used, and water is pumped from two wells on the premises of the company at Riverdale. There are condensery, refrigerator and packing de- partments, and cooling rooms, all thoroughly sanitary and up to date. En- largements are continually being made, although the building of concrete and brick is about 200 by 300 feet in size. Nine trucks are used in bringing in the cream, and one large truck transports the products, nicely boxed, and put up in pound bricks.
Condensed milk in bulk form is a new departure and is now being made here, as well as casein-two products derived from skimmed milk. As the name indicates, it is a cooperative industry, in which about 100 resident farmers and dairymen are stockholders and members. The company was incorporated under the laws of the State of California and in 1910 it erected the present building, which was enlarged in 1918. The brand of this creamery is "Challenge Butter" and has taken prizes wherever it has been exhibited.
The officers of the Riverdale Cooperative Creamery are: H. M. Hancock, Riverdale, President; J. B. Lewis, Fresno, Vice-President; C. H. Dewey, Riverdale, Secretary; the First National Bank, Riverdale, Treasurer; and James H. A. Jorgensen, Manager. John Clausen is the butter maker; and J. A. Bowen is bookkeeper. The directors are: A. J. Vancleef, F. A. Andrews, R. S. Gobby, H. L. Owen, and H. M. Hancock, Riverdale; J. B. Lewis, for- merly at Riverdale, now in Fresno; and C. H. Dewey, Riverdale.
Fond of social life and popular with all classes, Mr. Jorgensen is a mem- ber of the Odd Fellows' lodge at Riverdale, where he is a Past Grand and Past District Deputy Grand Master.
JUAN MIGUEL URRUTIA .- A rancher and stockman of wide experi- ence and unerring judgment and foresight is J. M. Urrutia, an extensive sheep- grower, landowner and farmer, who first saw the light at Mezquiriz, Navarra, Spain, on February 26, 1883. He is the son of Antonio Urrutia, an agricul- turist and stockman, who owned a large farm when he died, in 1893, while Juan was ten years of age. His wife was Manuella Yrigoyen, before her mar- riage, and she became the mother of eight children, among whom Juan was the fourth oldest. She was even a larger landowner, and she is still living. Juan, who is the only one of the family now in California, was brought up on a farm in Spain, where he enjoyed but very limited educational advan- tages, and from his tenth year he worked assisting and helping his mother. After he came to California, he saw the need of education ; and so he studied evenings, and gradually learned to read and to speak English. He was only seventeen when he determined to say farewell to his native land. Arriving in Fresno, January 2, 1901, three days later he found employment with a sheep- grower on the West Side, and with him he continued for fourteen months. Having somewhat mastered English, he moved to Coalinga, where he was engaged by Matias Erro. and six months thereafter, he shifted again, this time to Tehachapi, where he was busy in the same line for three months.
A fourteen months' contract to chop wood for the Union Lime Company followed, and after that, he went to the mines, for a short time, in Piute, Kern County, but he did not like the experience, and so accepted a position as engineer at the lime-kiln at Tehachapi, from which place he went to Bakers- field. He was again in the employ of a sheepraiser for a year, and this led him to get a flock of his own, which after six months on the range, he sold in Mono County. When he returned to Fresno, he bought another bunch of sheep, and for some years devoted himself to sheep-raising.
JM Urrutia
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Mr. Urrutia next bought a ranch at Huron, on the West Side, and set to work energetically to make improvements. He sunk a well and erected the necessary buildings ; and he raised grain while continuing in the sheep bus- iness. After selling his flock he found that he had made a good clean-up, so he concluded to continue in the business, and determined to enlarge his oper- ations and branch out; but he soon found that his lack of the necessary cap- ital was a hindrance. He then went to San Francisco and arranged with Messrs. George C. Alferetz & Co., establishing a credit with them; and as the years rolled by and his business grew to very large proportions, he drew heavily on them. He was careful, however, in all of his operations, never to abuse his credit, nor was their confidence in him misplaced. He con- tinued to use their credit until they closed their business house and retired from business in 1916.
Since Mr. Urrutia started raising grain in 1909, he has never farmed less than 2,000 acres a year, and some years he has had 3,000 acres in grain. For this purpose, he originally used horses and mules; but later he bought a sev- enty-five-horse-power C. L. Best Caterpillar for plowing and putting in the crops, as well as pulling the combined harvester.
While living on this ranch, Mr. Urrutia was married at San Francisco on November 10, 1913, when he took for his wife Miss Fermina Erro, a native of the same place from which Mr. Urrutia came, who settled in Fresno in 1910. Two children have blessed their union-Joseph and Beatrice.
Mr. Urrutia has met with unusual success in both farming and sheep- growing. By 1913 he had 15,000 head of sheep, although during the winter, 1913-14, he sold off 7,000 head in the market, and then by natural increase as well as purchase, he enlarged the number in his flocks so that in 1915 he sold 6,000 sheep in the market, and in 1916 he sold off another bunch of 9,000 head. He also sold his West Side ranch and all his holdings there, and moved to Herndon, where he purchased a ranch of fifty acres, all in alfalfa. There he resided with his family and made many improvements, putting in a pump- ing plant, run by a gas engine, and thus greatly enhancing the value of the property. He started a dairy there, while he continued his investment in sheep, and he still has 8,000 head. He runs them in four bands, leasing lands in both Madera and Fresno Counties. Mr. Urrutia raises grain in partnership with others, and devotes about 2,400 acres to wheat, barley and rye. Besides this, he also owns forty acres in Madera County, three and a half miles south of Madera, which he has set out and improved to vines, and a ranch of 160 acres near the San Joaquin River in Madera County, which he devotes to grain. He also owns 220 acres six miles south of Hanford, Kings County, devoted to grain and alfalfa and a twenty-five-acre full bearing peach orchard between Mckinley and Shields Avenues five miles northwest of Fresno.
In 1917 Mr. Urrutia purchased his residence at 810 S Street, Fresno, where he resides with his wife and two children, Joseph and Beatrice. He also owns other valuable property in Fresno, namely, a residence on R Street, and three lots on the corner of N and Fresno Streets, two business lots on Van Ness Avenue, close in ; and twelve large lots in the State Normal Addi- tion, two lots, numbers 28 and 29 on J Street, between Inyo and Ventura. In partnership with G. B. Frencheboy, he owns the Reedley Garage, which they run under the firm name of Urrutia & Frencheboy, and he and his part- ner act as agents for various high-class cars. With the same partner, in 1916, he purchased 173 acres of vineyard and orchard, seven miles northeast of Reedley, 120 acres is devoted to malaga, muscat and Thompson seedless vines, while the balance is in figs. The same firm also own twenty-two and a half acres of vineyard, three and a half miles northeast of Reedley. Seeing great possibilities in Lower California, Mr. Urrutia with others was one of the organizers of, and a large stockholder in the Chinn-Gribel Company, that purchased a large tract in that country. They have built a canal, taking water from the Colorado River, and already placed a large portion of their
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extensive holding under irrigation, and are planning to put water over the entire tract.
Mr. Urrutia has had many other interests, among them that of a stock- holder in the First National Bank of Lemoore and is an original stockholder in the Growers National Bank of Fresno. He and his family are members of St. John's Catholic Church, and he is a popular member of the Eagles. He is a member and a stockholder of both the California Associated Raisin Com- pany and the California Peach Growers, Inc., as well as of the old Danish Creamery Association, and he belongs to the California Wool-growers Asso- ciation. He is a stand-pat Republican. Mr. Urrutia has shown his patriotism in many ways, not only by enlarging his grain area, when the country wanted grain, but in liberally supporting all the bond and war drives.
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