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 102
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Mr. Steitz is a member of the Free Cross Lutheran Church of Fresno, in which he has been a trustee. He is a member of the Eagles.
JOSEPH L. PRATHER .- Prominent among those identified with the agricultural development of California is Joseph L. Prather. He was born near Greensboro, N. C., on July 18, 1833, the son of Rev. Robert R. Prather, a planter, and a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Joseph's great-grandfather was born in England and crossed the ocean to North Caro- lina, where he became a planter. When the Civil War broke out, he served in the Confederate Army, defending the principles he believed to be right ; in 1862, he was married to Miss Mary Hedrick, who was born near Lexing- ton, N. C., in 1846, and was the daughter of Joseph Hedrick, a North Carolinian planter, whose father fought in the Revolutionary War. In the fall of 1865 Joseph Prather brought his family to Missouri, and in 1867 he took up his residence near Waco, Texas, where he was a farmer.
In June, 1872, the Prathers removed to California and Mr. Prather lo- cated a claim in the Mussel Slough country near Grangeville and also bought some railroad land. He helped build the canal and ditches, and gave an effective hand to opening up the country. However, he was fortunate in sell- ing out before the Mussel Slough troubles, after which he removed to Wild Flower in Fresno County. It was the time of the building of the emigrant ditch, and he speedily located a claim and improved it, selling out at the end of eight years. He removed to Orange County, and commenced to farm and raise stock near Santa Ana ; but eighteen months later he returned to Fresno County.
Then he located on 160 acres of railroad land thirteen miles south of Fresno that he had purchased, farmed and set out a vineyard; but the dry
Fore Hacebure Francisca Praceburu.
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year and low prices of 1893 caused such heavy losses that he had to sacrifice his place. Since then he and his wife live retired, making their home with their sons on the ranch near Prather Post Office in Auberry Valley, which beautiful region takes its name from this pioneer family. Mr. Prather is now eighty-five years old, while his wife is seventy-two years of age, the mother of eleven children, nine of whom have grown to maturity: Joseph Everette Prather, with his brother Fred, owns the Prather ranch in Auberry Valley, but he is employed as a driller in the oil fields. John N. runs the Prather Brothers Lodge ranch. Bessie is Mrs. Trautwein of Fresno. Birdie died at the age of twenty. Allie is Mrs. Webb of Oakland; Richard is a blacksmith in Waco; Robert resides in Fresno; Lonnie is Mrs. Chas. E., of Albuquerque, N. M .; Fred is in the aviation section of the United States Signal Corps. Joseph E. and Fred Prather came to Auberry Valley about seven years ago, and bought this ranch, and two years later they began their improvements. They were joined by their brother, John N., who now runs the place. The latter from a lad was brought up to understand viticulture; and he also spent some time in the oil fields and at McKittrick, where he became a stationary engineer. All the five brothers are good mechanics, two of them having specialized in the steam engine, and three with the gas engine.
The Prather Brothers ranch comprises 440 acres in Auberry Valley, is well improved with two bungalows and other farm buildings, and is known as the "Lodge." It is watered by the Big Sandy, and the post office is located on the ranch. There fruit culture and general farming are carried on. There is a fine commercial apple orchard of forty-five acres, and the boys are setting out other varieties. The family attend the Methodist Church South, and are factors in the social and religious development of the neighborhood.
JOE YRACEBURU .- A farmer and stockman who, with his partners, raised large quantities of grain and became prosperous and even well-to-do and who, because of his natural patriotism, thought there was no country equal to the land of the Stars and the Stripes, was Joe Yraceburu, a native of Uris, in Navarra, Spain, where he was born on February 21, 1880. His father, Joseph Yraceburu, was a farmer and grape and wine merchant who bought his grapes and wine in Spain and hauled them over the Pyrenees to Basses- Pyrenees, France, and there sold what he had. He had six boys and two girls; and just half of these came out to California.
Joe, the oldest, attended the public schools until he was fourteen, and then he drove a team for his father, and helped generally throughout his teens. For years he had heard reports from California, and when twenty he con- cluded to see for himself.
On October 16, 1900, he left home and eventually sailed from Havre for New York; and arriving on the Pacific Coast, he made his way to Coalinga, which he reached on November 6th. He worked for Matias Erro for two years, then a year for Antonio Urrutia, who made him foreman of stock, and having by that time saved some money, he determined to engage in business for himself. He bought a flock of yearlings, at four dollars a head and, with a partner, leased land from the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, somewhat north of Coalinga, and then for several years they operated in San Benito County with success. Having dissolved the partnership, he continued sheep- raising for himself.
Mr. Yraceburu next leased a ranch at Cantua, which he used for his sheep, his flocks including Merinos and Shropshires. He raised barley at Men- dota, and with two partners had over one thousand acres of flourishing grain. In partnership with M. Urrutia and his brother Santos, he engaged in raising grain in Madera County, and there he had 1,850 acres planted to wheat, barley and rye.
At Fresno, in 1906, Mr. Yraceburu was married to Miss Frances Erro, a fair daughter of Spain, who came to America, and to Fresno, in 1902, and she
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became the mother of their six children, four girls and two boys : Mary, Man- uelita, Helena, Manuel, Elisa, and Joe.
Mr. Yraceburu was a Republican in national politics, always working for the best measures for the nation, the state and the community; and in fra- ternal life he was a member of the Eagles. Mr. Yraceburu passed away on November 10, 1918, mourned by his family and friends. Since then his wife has bravely taken up his work and continues to carry on her husband's busi- ness according to his plans, in which she is aided by her husband's two broth- ers, Santos and Jose. So she is ably rearing their six children to whom she is giving the best educational advantages within her means.
ALEXANDER SIME .- A gentleman who has been in positions of trust ever since he was a young man, and whose valuable experience in the world was derived in part during three years spent in South America and many years in Iowa, where for several years he was the manager of a bonanza farm, is Alexander Sime, the well-known capitalist, rancher and business man of Laton.
Mr. Sime was born in the parish of Tannadice, County of Forfar, twenty- three miles northeast of Dundee, Scotland, on June 10, 1844, the son of James and Mary (Robbie) Sime, both of whom were highly esteemed for their good, old-fashioned virtues. His father was a farmer, who owned about eighty acres, all of which he brought to a very high state of cultivation. The couple had two children who reached maturity; and of these two, Alexander was the oldest. A sister, Mary Ann, died in Australia and left a husband and four children. Mr. Sime's mother died when he was twenty years old. The father married again and had four children-two sons and two daughters: Alice Maud lives near London and is the wife of John Fry ; Helen M. resides near Dundee ; Colin Dedrick, who was a carpenter and builder, died at Dundee and left two children ; and David Simpson is a military man, in the Govern- ment service, having been a captain in the Boer War, where he was popularly known as "young Kitchener."
Alexander attended the parochial schools in the Established or Presby- terian Church of Scotland, and in 1868, when he was nearly twenty-four years of age, he migrated to the Argentine Republic, where he helped to manage Ogilvy Brothers' sheep ranch. When he returned to Scotland in 1870 and sailed up the Mersey to Liverpool, he received the first news of the Franco- Prussian War. He stayed in Scotland .a couple of winters and then entered the office of the Caledonian Railway Company, in Glasgow, as bookkeeper.
In 1872, Mr. Sime came out to the United States and settled about nine miles north of Lincoln, Nebr., where he bought a piece of railway land, at the same time renting other acreage, which he farmed to corn and small grain. He continued there from 1872 to 1878, when he returned to Scotland.
On February 28. 1878, Mr. Sime was married to Miss Helen Brown Mc- Pherson, the youngest daughter of John McPherson, a sheep-farmer of Glen- prosen, who had married Annie Brown. They had nine children ; but Mrs. Sime is the only one living. She was educated for a while in the public schools; but in her ninth year was sent to a private academy at Dundee. where she received a first-class classical and vocal training.
After his marriage, Mr. Sime remained in Scotland for three years, run- ning traction engines and other portable and traction farm machinery. In 1881, however, Mr. and Mrs. Sime and their eight-months-old baby returned to America and settled in Palo Alto County, Iowa, on the Blairgowrie farm, near Emmetsburg. This farm was made up of several sections, in Palo Alto, Pocahontas, and Algona counties, and comprised some 30,000 acres owned by John Adamson of Careston Castle, Forfarshire, Scotland. It was originally railroad land bought by John Adamson in the late sixties, and owned by him until his death, when it was leased by his only child. William Shaw A. Adam- son, who made Capt. William E. G. Saunders his general agent with full
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power of attorney. He became one of the leading spirits in the settling up of the Laguna de Tache Ranch of 48,000 acres in the southern part of Fresno County, which he bought in partnership with L. A. Nares of Fresno in 1899.
Mr. Sime continued to manage the Blairgowrie farm in Iowa from 1881 to 1886; and in the latter year he bought an interest in a carriage factory at Emmetsburg, Iowa-the Skinner Manufacturing Company, of which he was secretary and treasurer. Two years later he sold out his interest and went south to Hall County, Texas, in the Panhandle country, where he engaged in the real estate business in partnership with N. C. Blanchard, now of Laton. In 1891 this partnership was dissolved, and then he began farming on his own section of land in Texas, continuing to manage it until 1903. In that year he came to Laton, and he has been here ever since, growing prosperous, influential, and helpful to the community.
In partnership with C. A. Smith, cashier of the First National Bank of Laton, Mr. Sime owns a farm of 140 acres one-half mile east of Laton, and this is managed by the subject as a stock and dairy ranch. He also owns a quarter interest in the Laton Lumber Company.
Mr. and Mrs. Sime live in a very comfortable home, which they built in 1904 on Mt. Whitney Avenue. They have been the parents of two children, one of whom, James, was brought to the United States when he was eight months old and died in Iowa in his fourth year. The other son, Edwin Spen- cer, was a foreman at the Montezuma Copper Mine in Mexico. He has been in Mexico for the past ten years engaged in mining during which time he has been home on a visit to see his father and mother three times. He be- came largely interested in mining in Mexico, and was driven out three times on account of revolutionary troubles. For three years of this time he held a very responsible position with the Montezuma Copper Mines, but resigned that position in order to engage in the cattle business in the state of Sonora. about January 1, 1919. Mr. Sime is a member of the Laton Lodge, No. 148, I. O. O. F., and has been through the chair. Mrs. Sime is a member of the Red Cross and a willing teacher of fancy knitting, since she knows all the intricate meshes of Scotland; she has recently received a certificate from the United States Government and a beautiful golden service-pin from co-workers in recognition of 2,235 hours' work in behalf of the Laton Branch of the Red Cross; the family partake of the Presbyterian communion.
E. R. SPEAR .- Among the successful business men of Coalinga is E. R. Spear, of the well known firm of Spear Brothers' Automobile Company. He is a man of ability, popular in automobile circles, and his friends predict for him a business future of even greater success. E. R. Spear was born in the Blue Grass State, August 26, 1886, at Tompkinsville, near Bowling Green, Ky., a son of L. D. and Virginia (Thompson) Spear, both natives of Ken- tucky, the father being the descendant of an old Virginia family, the mother of English ancestry. L. D. Spear was a farmer and stockman, and still re- sides in Kentucky, near Bowling Green. Mr. and Mrs. L. D. Spear were the parents of ten children, eight boys and two girls: E. R., the subject of this review; Thompson N., a partner with his brother E. R. in the automobile business, and who is serving in the United States Army ; Bert, a partner with E. R. in the automobile business at Hanford; Pearl, now Mrs. Dozier, who resides at Coalinga ; Benton and Mckinley, both in the United States Army ; and Beecham, Bennett, Susie, and Buster, with their parents in the "Old Kentucky Home.'
E. R. Spear received his early education in the public schools of Ken- tucky and remained at home assisting his father on the farm until he was twenty-one years of age, when he became possessed of a desire to see the great West. He first went to Indiana, then moved on to Illinois, and later went to Texas and New Mexico, seeking an advantageous location. In November, 1908, he came to Fresno County, where he and his brother Thompson secured
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employment on a ranch at Wheatville, where they remained until the spring of 1909, when they located at Coalinga. Both boys went to work in the oil- fields. Thompson became an oil-driller, remaining six years with the K.T.&O., which is now the Southern Pacific Oil Company; E. R. Spear continued in the oil-field until December, 1914, when he returned to Coalinga, and opened an automobile and garage business under the name of Spear Brothers Auto Company, the firm consisting of E. R. and his brother T. N. The first year's gross business amounted to seventy-five thousand dollars. So successfully did they conduct their business affairs, that in October, 1916, E. R. Spear, with his brothers T. N. and Bert, opened a salesroom and garage in Hanford. They are agents for Dodge, Buick, Chandler and Velie automobiles. Since Thompson Spear left to join the colors his interests in Hanford have been looked after by his brother Bert.
While E. R. Spear was still working in the oil-fields, he displayed his aptitude as a salesman by taking orders, at night, for made-to-order suits, representing S. H. Churchill and M. L. Obendorf, merchant tailors of Chi- cago, and during three years he sold 395 suits. During this time E. R. and Thompson Spear saved their money and purchased a farm of 367 acres lo- cated near Bowling Green, Ky., which place they still own and which is operated by their father.
E. R. Spear was united in marriage with Miss Pearl E. McCannon, a native of Pennsylvania, the ceremony occurring on October 15, 1913, at Fresno, Cal. Mr. Spear is a member of the Eagles and of the American Automobile Association.
DALE ROSE .- An unusually enterprising and public-spirited man, broad of view and kind and liberal in his impulses, is Dale Rose, the farmer and stockman, who was the first man in this part of the county to sow Soudan grass, and who has long been one of the most successful raisers of that val- uable commodity. He was born in Missouri City, Clay County, Mo., on May 8, 1872. His father, W. R. Rose, was a native of Wisconsin and moved to Missouri, where he married Isabelle Rose, a lady bearing the same name but of no relation prior to the marriage. He was a stockdealer and died two weeks after our subject was born.
Mrs. Rose married a second time, this time linking her fortunes with Byron D. Ballard of Iowa. He had crossed the plains in early days with ox teams, and for a while was engaged in the sheep business in Tulare County. Then he returned to Missouri, married and brought his wife, with Dale, the only child by the first marriage, to California in 1873. They came to Kern County, and making his headquarters at Bakersfield, Mr. Ballard engaged in the sheep business in Kern and Tulare Counties. Two children were born to them. When he died in the latter county, Mrs. Ballard moved to Bur- roughs Valley, Fresno County, where she continued stockraising; and later she came to Auberry Valley, where she married T. J. Patterson, a stockman of Tulare. She passed away in 1900.
Dale was reared in California and educated at the public schools in Kern and Tulare counties, and having completed his studies when he was fifteen, he took up the stock business, rode the range and learned to rope and brand cattle. After a while he engaged in teaming to Nevada and back, and at one time in Nevada he drove a team of eighteen mules.
Mr. Rose's next venture was mining and prospecting, and he was one of the first to work on the Laurel Diggings, near Summit, where he was so suc- cessful that he put in hydraulic power. Once more he rode the range, and for a year he was in the assay office at Fresno, where he formed a partner- ship with Charles Knepper, discoverer of the Copper King Mine.
Having married in 1898 at Madera, when he chose for his bride Miss Menga Marks, a native of Mariposa County, he rented a ranch in the Au- berry Valley and set himself up in the stock business, raising cattle and hay.
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He also engaged in teaming. In 1905 he purchased his present place on the Fresno and Auberry road, twenty-three miles northeast of Fresno ; and having added to it from time to time, he now has 480 acres in a body. On about 100 acres he raises wheat, making a specialty of the golden gamma, or dry land wheat; all of which he sells for seed. His range is the Jose Basin which has about 6,000 acres ; and for a brand he uses the novel device of a hat and an inverted hat, joined together on a level. Mr. Rose is an active member of the California Cattlemen's Association.
Three children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Rose. Isabelle Ruth is a graduate of Clovis High, now attending Heald's Business College ; Warren M., also a graduate of the high school at Clovis, is freighting with an auto truck; and Gilbert F. is in Clovis High. Mr. Rose himself has al- ways been a stanch advocate of better educational advantages for the major- ity, and for several terms he has been trustee of the Millerton school, in the oldest school district in the county. In national politics he is a Democrat.
JOHN T. CHAMBERS .- Few families have a more interesting pioneer history than that of the Chambers family, of which John T. is the son, born three miles from Olympia, Wash., March 16, 1862. His father, Thomas Jack- son Chambers, was born in Tennessee, in the same house where his cousin, ex-President Andrew Jackson, had lived, when twenty-one years of age. Thomas J. Chambers crossed the plains in 1845, with his father, Thomas C., a brother of David J., and a large party of friends and relatives; on the first stage of their journey they reached Spanish Hollow, Mo. While there other families joined them and the large party started across the plains to the Pa- cific Coast, Thomas J. Chambers being Captain of the train of fifteen wagons, with two yoke of cattle to each wagon, and other loose live stock. They forded every stream between the Missouri and Columbia Rivers, and saw many herds of buffalo en route. At Fort Hall those of the company going to Cali- fornia turned south and the others kept on the way north, via the Lewis and Clark trail. They arrived at The Dalles, Ore., October 27, 1845, and started down the Columbia River in boats. Later, they started for Puget Sound, in the fall of 1847, journeying down the Willamette River and stopping en route at Portland, which then consisted of six houses. At last they arrived at Olympia, Wash., where they found one log cabin. They later located at Chambers Prairie, three miles east of Olympia. The old linchpin emigrant wagon used by the Chambers family crossing the plains was exhibited at the ยท Alaska-Yukon Exposition in Seattle and is now in the Portland Museum. The Chambers family also brought the first hall-clock and dressing-table to the state of Washington.
In 1849 Thomas J. Chambers came to California and followed mining on the American River, later returning to Washington where he also located on Chambers Prairie, engaging in farming. He served in the Indian War in Washington. In 1867 he located at Yakima where he resided until his death in 1913, at eighty-six years of age. His wife was America McAllister, born in Kentucky ; she had crossed the plains with her parents in the pioneer days to Washington, where she resided until her death. Of their seven children, John T. is the youngest and was born on Chambers Prairie and educated in the public schools of Yakima, assisting his father at stock-raising.
At the age of seventeen, John T. Chambers began for himself, coming to California in 1879, and working on a ranch near Sutterville for a time. He next engaged in gold-mining on the San Joaquin River. In 1880 he came to Fresno and for one year drove a team, hauling freight to Pine Ridge. He then worked for Mr. Blasingame in the stock business, and later drove a ten-horse team over the mountains. From that he drifted into the cattle business and has been engaged in that line of business ever since. He owns 160 acres of graz- ing land near Sycamore, Fresno-County, and ranges about 400 head of cattle, turning off 125 head yearly. He has made his home in Fresno since 1914, having served for two years as constable, at Academy.
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Mr. Chambers' marriage, in 1884, united him with Jane Elizabeth Perry, a native of Fresno County, born in Centerville, a daughter of Peter and Amanda (Lowrey) Perry, the father being a native of North Carolina, and related to Commodore Perry, and the mother a native of Tennessee. Peter Perry was married in 1857 and crossed the plains to California with the party which was massacred at Mountain Meadow. The party was divided into two trains, each taking a different route, and he was the captain of the train which escaped the Indians. He settled on Kings River, near Centerville, Fresno County, and engaged in stock-raising. His death occurred in 1876, while his wife died at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Chambers in Fresno, on March 23, 1919.
Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Chambers seven children are now living, as follows : Wayne, ranching on Pine Ridge; Eleanor, the wife of H. A. Sav- age, an attorney of Fresno; Nellie, the wife of E. F. Brieger, of Tehachapi ; Annie Laurie is Mrs. Howard Perry, of Fresno; Belle Elizabeth, of Fresno : Ella, a graduate of Fresno High School, now attending Fresno State Normal School; and John, Jr., attending Fresno High School.
Fraternally, Mr. Chambers is a Woodman of the World. and an Odd Fellow. Mrs. Chambers recalls her childhood days in Fresno County, when. instead of the teeming city of Fresno, there was one vast plain over which roamed antelope and wild cattle.
CHARLES HENRY RICHARDSON .- A successful California dairy- man who once dwelt at the other end of the great American continent, where he was equally prosperous in raising potatoes in the fruitful fields of Aroos- took County, Maine, is Charles Henry Richardson. one of Fresno's prosperous ranchmen. He was born at Solon, Somerset County, on May 14, 1864, and his father was Levi G. Richardson, also a native of Solon, who came from a Yankee family extending generations back. The Richardsons came from Eng- land and settled at Woburn, Mass., taking a prominent part in the Revolu- tionary War. Levi Richardson was a school teacher, but about 1878 moved to Fort Fairfield. Aroostook County, Maine, there to engage in the raising of potatoes ; while there he continued to teach school. He died in that place in his sixty-fifth year.
Mrs. Levi G. Richardson was Elmira Jackson before her marriage, and she also was born at Solon, a member of one of the old Maine families. After a while she came to California ; but she spent less than a year here, and then she returned to Maine, where she now resides at the old homestead. She was the mother of three children, two girls and a boy; of whom Charles is the oldest and the only one in California.
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