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 111
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Mr. Greer was united in marriage with Miss Ethel McFee, a native of Los Angeles, the ceremony being solemnized at Bakersfield, on December 8, 1909. They have two children, Elinor and Pauline. Mrs. Greer's father, Wil- liam J. McFee, was born near St. John, N. B., where he followed railroading. In the early seventies he came to California and for more than thirty years was agent for the Southern Pacific Railroad, until he was retired on a pen-
wasver.
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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY
sion. He spent his last days in Coalinga, passing to the Great Beyond in 1908. His wife was Margaret Price, born in Fredericton, N. B., and at her death, in 1906, she left six children, Mrs. Greer being the youngest.
Fraternally, Mr. Greer was made a Mason in Welcome Lodge, No. 225, F. & A. M., at Lemoore, and is also a member of Coalinga Chapter, No. 114, R. A. M., Hanford Commandery K. T., and Los Angeles Consistory, Scot- tish Rite, and, with his wife is a member of Eschscholtzia Chapter No. 276, O. E. S., at Coalinga, of which Mrs. Greer is Past Matron. He is also a mem- ber of the Coalinga Lodge of Odd Fellows. He was active in the Coalinga, district in the various bond and war fund drives, and is a member of the Growlers Club.
CHARLES E. BARNUM .- Distinguished among those whose integrity, experience and enterprise have contributed much to advance the permanent interests of Fresno and its neighboring districts, is Charles E. Barnum, county auditor and a Native Son of the Golden West, proud indeed of the development of the great commonwealth where he first saw the light of day. His father, Horace E. Barnum, now deceased, (whose life story is given elsewhere in this historical work), farmed for a while on coming to the Coast; but moving to Fresno, he was elected county auditor and held that office, with signal ability and unusual distinction, for twenty years, relinquishing the responsibility only at his death on June 15, 1914. His mother, who was Mary E. Deering before her marriage, is still living.
Born in Tulare County, on August 16, 1887. Charles E. Barnum was educated at the public grammar and high schools. When he laid aside his school books in 1908, he entered the county auditor's office as a deputy to his father; and he continued to assist him until the latter's death, when he was appointed auditor by the Board of Supervisors. He took up the work of his father and was a candidate for election, and at the primaries he was elected over all candidates by a majority of some 6,000 votes. In 1918, he was again a candidate and was elected, this time by a majority of over 12,000 votes, to hold office till January, 1923, showing the confidence his fellow- citizens repose in him.
Mr. Barnum was married in Fresno to Miss Hazel M. Alexander, a native of Seattle, but who was reared in Fresno, and who enjoys here the admiration and good will of a wide circle of friends.
A Republican, always active in politics, Mr. Barnum has never per- mitted party affiliation to stand in his way of supporting the best local meas- ures, while he has always conducted the official affairs entrusted to him in the broadest and most vigorous spirit.
Besides these qualifications which have fitted him especially for exact- ing public responsibility, Mr. Barnum enjoys personal traits which render him popular socially. He is a familiar figure in the Elks, the Native Sons and the Independent Order of Foresters, a member of the Baptist Church, and both a live wire and a level-headed leader in the Commercial Club.
J. A. JOHNSON .- California owes much to its experienced and wisely conservative men of finance, for the money market must supply the sinews of trade, as of war, and there never has been a time, since the foundations were laid for our great Republic, when there has not been need for some one to look ahead and estimate costs and the wherewithal to meet them. This has been especially so in such new commonwealths as that of California, so that the financier, as well indeed as the commercial man of affairs, has come to play a most necessary and important part in everyday life, their operations and influence extending to practically everything and everybody.
J. A. Johnson, a native of Sweden, where he was born on August 18, 1871 but an American by choice, through and through, is one of those privileged to serve his fellowmen in this important field of finance. He early came to Oakland, and graduated from Heald's Business College at San Francisco.
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Then, to become familiar with the fruit industry, he joined the Hatch & Rock Orchard Company at Biggs, Butte County, where he was bookkeeper and superintendent from 1893 to 1902. Next he became head of the bookkeeping office of Miller & Lux at Los Banos, and in that capacity he was active until 1909.
The year 1910 brought Mr. Johnson and Kerman into lucky contact, and he was made assistant cashier of the bank of which he is now cashier. In 1914 Mr. Johnson became manager of the Fresno Irrigated Farms Company, which began operations in what is now the Kerman district, putting in its own irri- gation system. About 15,000 acres have been sold since Mr. Johnson came here. He is manager also of the Kerman Telephone Company and of the Kerman News; he likewise manages the California Stock Food Company and the Kerman Creamery.
While at Biggs, Mr. Johnson was married to Mae T. Snider, of a well- known pioneer family of Stockton; and they have three children: Marion Alfred, Merritt Eldred, and Eleanor.
Fond of mingling with and knowing his fellowmen, and therefore accus- tomed to come into such relations with others as best enables him to serve where he is needed, and to strengthen the interests of all he represents, Mr. Johnson is a member of the Kerman Lodge No. 420, F. & A. M., the Scottish Rite in Fresno, and Islam Temple in San Francisco; and of the Independent Order of Foresters in San Francisco. During the drives of the various Liberty Loans he was the chairman of the loan committee and carried his district "over the top" each time, and for the third and fourth, the Kerman district had the distinction of being the first in the state to go over.
AUGUST H. HALEMEIER .- A broad-minded, liberal-hearted and public-spirited citizen, who takes pleasure in his work as a progressive viticul- turist, and who by using the most up-to-date methods and the most approved apparatus, has been successful to a high degree, is August H. Halemeier, a native of Wallenbruck, Westphalia, Germany, where he was born December 18, 1886, the oldest child of August and Marie (Sickmann) Halemeier. They came to America and the Golden State; and while they were toiling here to make a competency, young August was left with an uncle, Henry Halemeier, who owned a farm at Wallenbruck. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Halemeier had no son, and did for him as they would for their own, giving him the advantages of the thorough German public schools. When, however, he had completed his schooling, and had reached the age of fourteen, he left Germany for the United States, and arrived in California in 1901. His uncle and aunt were naturally very loath to have him depart, but he was anxious to join his parents, who had become vineyardists in the Eggers Colony, Fresno County, and to their comfortable ranch he repaired as soon as he could. Entering the public school in the Temperance district, he began in the first grade; and as he had already received a good start. and was wanting mainly in the matter of English, he finished the course in two terms. His ambition was by no means satisfied, however, and he entered and graduated from the Chestnutwoods Business College. In spare moments, and at the end of the commercial course, he assisted his father, and so learned the intricate tasks of a viticulturist.
On the second of March, 1909, Mr. Halemeier started on a trip back to Germany, to visit his uncle and aunt, and to see the old home and former friends, going by way of Chicago, Washington and New York. His uncle and aunt both begged him to remain as their only son and heir; but the call of the new West was strong, and no inducement could shake him from his determination to return to his adopted country when he had concluded his visit. September, 1909, therefore, found him back in California, where he continued to assist his father; and in December, 1912, he was married at Fresno to Miss Sophia Albrecht, a native of San Jose and the daughter of
G.A. Stalemeier
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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY
Amos and Marie (Hoernicke) Albrecht, natives respectively of Germany and Indiana. Her father, a blacksmith, had resided for a while in Orange County ; while the mother, having come West, was reared there. The mother is dead, but the father, who took a vineyard when he came to Fresno, is . still residing here.
After marrying, Mr. Halemeier bought his present twenty-acre vineyard and moved there, and at the same time he bought forty acres of the adjoining farm of his father. After a while, he secured twenty acres more by purchase and still later bought forty acres more. He himself has set out fifty acres to a vineyard, and has also given generously of his time and support to the California Associated Raisin Company. He has eighty acres in one body and forty acres one mile west, and his shipping station is at Locan, on the corner of his home ranch, on the Sanger line of the Southern Pacific Railroad.
Three children, August, Marie and Walter, share the family and church life of their parents, the family attending the German Lutheran Church of Fresno, where Mr. Halemeier is a member of the board of trustees. He is a Republican in national politics, but never allows his party affiliations to inter- fere with his support of what he believes to be the best measures for his locality.
R. M. JONES, M. D .- California has a physician of exceptional ability and valuable experience in Dr. R. M. Jones of Fresno. Dr. Jones was born in Missouri, January 11, 1882, the son of R. M. and Amanda (Jackson) Jones. The father was a mechanic and is still living. R. M. Jones was educated in the public schools of Missouri, after which he took up a course in the Brook- lyn Hospital and became a graduate nurse.
Mr. Jones then worked as chief clerk in the bridge and building depart- ment for the Santa Fe for four years, following which he took a medical course in Vanderbilt University at Nashville, Tenn., and after graduating served his internship in the Lane Hospital in San Francisco. Dr. Jones then began the practice of medicine in Fresno.
Dr. Jones is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in Fresno ; he holds membership in the County Medical Society, and State and American Medical Associations; fraternally he is a Mason, a member of the Blue Lodge and the Eastern Star; and also belongs to the Knights of Pythias, Odd Fellows, Foresters, Maccabees, Woodmen of the World, Owls, Druids, Eagles, Redmen and the Fraternal Brotherhood. Having served in the Span- ish-American War in the Philippines, he is a member of the Spanish-Amer- ican War Veterans. He served also as surgeon in the California State Militia on the Mexican border during the late Mexican trouble and as Captain in present war, stationed at Ft. Riley, Kans. He is deeply interested in the county and its development, and owns a vineyard to which he gives the best of attention.
HENRY AGGERS .- One of the oldest oil men in this section, who is now engaged in dairying as proprietor of Aggers Dairy, is Henry Aggers, who was born in Sodom, eight miles from Pittsburg, Allegheny County, Pa., on August 8, 1844. His father, Christopher Aggers, a native of Germany, came to Pennsylvania when he was twenty-three years old and there followed farm- ing until his death in 1846. The mother was Hannah (Lutz) Aggers, who also died in Pennsylvania, aged sixty-three. The name was originally spelled Eggers, but Henry and a cousin, G. L. Aggers, changed their name to Aggers.
Henry Aggers was the second oldest of three children and was brought up on the farm in Sodom, Pa., receiving a good education in the public school. During the Civil War he volunteered, but was rejected because he was not tall enough. In September, 1862, he went to Oil City, Venango County, Pa., where he worked in the oil field from the bottom to driller and then to super- intendent. Later he became a producer, owning wells of his own in Butler County, and continued until he was frozen out by the larger oil companies. He
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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY
then resumed work as a driller, got a start, and again became a producer in Montpelier, Blackford County, Ind., where he had a production of $450 a day, but was again frozen out.
In 1899 he came to California and worked in the Los Angeles oil fields. Returning then to Pennsylvania, he continued there until 1904, when he came to Indian Territory and engaged in contract drilling for two years. He tlien came to the Kern River field in California, where he was a driller with the' Aztec Oil Company. In 1909 he came to Coalinga as driller for the Bricks Oil Company. Becoming interested in the Valley Oil Company, he sunk a well and struck oil, but through mismanagement it was a failure. Afterwards he was driller for the Standard Oil Company, and then for the Union Oil Com- pany until on account of his age he resigned and started Aggers Dairy in Coalinga, where he has a herd of good cows and has built up a nice business. His dairy is equipped with the most sanitary methods for caring for and feed- ing the cows, and treating the milk before it is retailed to customers.
In Pennsylvania occurred the marriage of Mr. Aggers and Elizabeth Guth- rie, who was a native of Clarion County, Pa. They have five children: Roy and Harry are oil superintendents in Oklahoma; Walter is with the K. T. & O. Oil Company at Coalinga; Frank is also an oil superintendent in Oklahoma; and Leonora is Mrs. Groundwater, of San Luis Obispo. Mr. Aggers has been a member of both the Knights of the Maccabees and the Elks. In national politics he is a Democrat.
JAMES WALLACE THOMPSON .- The son of a California pioneer of 1849, although born in Missouri, James Wallace Thompson has made a record for himself in Fresno County. He first saw the light of day July 22, 1855, in Cole County, where his father, Joseph Coe Thompson had settled in 1853.
The elder Thompson was a native of Tennessee, who crossed the plains in 1849, in the train of N. C. Bachman and in the same big train also came Governor Edwards. Mr. Thompson spent three years in the mining districts, then returned to his eastern home via Panama, and the following year took up his residence in Cole County, Mo. In young manhood he had married Elizabeth Jane Greenup, a native of Missouri. They farmed in Cole County until 1861, but the call of the West was too strong to be resisted any longer, and with his family, Mr. Thompson came to California via Panama, landing May 9, 1861, at the Daulton ranch in what is now Madera County, then owned by N. C. Bachman. Three years were spent on that ranch, during which time Mr. Thompson discovered the Ne Plus Ultra copper mine. In 1864 the fam- ily removed to the location where James Wallace Thompson now lives and where the father took up a homestead and preempted 320 acres of land upon which he raised hogs and cattle. He traded an interest in the copper mine to Henry Clay Daulton for a small band of sheep and from 1872 to 1886 was en- gaged successfully in raising sheep. The elder Thompson passed away on March 10, 1909; his wife had preceded him, on December 14, 1875. Both were devout members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South at Acad- emy. Their three children are: James Wallace, our subject; Mary E., who was the wife of G. P. Baley and who died at Tollhouse ; and Annie L., a na- tive daughter, born in Fresno County, who presides over her brother's home on the old Thompson ranch, of which she is part owner.
Jim Thompson, as he is familiarly known, was educated in the public school at Academy. From a lad he assisted his father on the farm and helped make the needed improvements. In 1886 they sold the sheep and began raising cattle, to which the ranch has since been devoted. It was in that year that Jim took charge of his father's place, and he has since given his attention to the cattle business. The property has been increased in acreage, until there are 640 acres in the home place at Academy, besides 1,200 acres of range land in the same vicinity.
Mr. Thompson owns 200 acres on Huntington Lake, near the foot of Mt. Kaiser, lying within the National Forest Reserve, where he has ranged
I.W. Thompson .
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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY
his cattle in the summer since 1886, and where he has built a summer home. He also runs some of his cattle on the Reserve near Trimmer. Mr. Thomp- son is a well-posted and successful cattleman. His operations have been on a large scale and his success has been in proportion.
From a boy Jim had a desire to play the violin and made violins from cigar-boxes. Prof. J. D. Collins, his teacher at Academy, on Jim's sixteenth birthday presented him with an excellent violin. The boy was delighted and by self-study he learned to play and read music, and before long his talent was in much demand at dances and parties. He still treasures the violin given him by his teacher.
Mr. Thompson is a Democrat in national politics, and his religious asso- ciation is with the Methodist Episcopal Church South. During the many years Mr. Thompson has lived in Fresno County he has won the esteem and good will of many friends.
FRANK T. BAILEY .- A representative of one of America's French- Canadian families, and an enthusiastic Californian who is a good booster of Laton and the Laguna de Tache, is Frank T. Bailey, a successful rancher who lives three-fourths of a mile east of Laton. He was born at Lancaster, Grant County, Wis., on January 21, 1862, the son of Antoin Bailey, who was originally called Bailant, after which he anglicized his name. He was born at Quebec, and he married Jemima Day, a native of Kentucky who came with her parents to Wisconsin when she was three years old. Her parents had been married at Lancaster, Pa., and the father was a farmer. After a while he sold his forty acres in Wisconsin and moved to Kansas, and this was in her eleventh year. He settled in Rice County, on the Little Arkansas River. There were five children, three boys and two girls, and our subject was the oldest. Rather recently the parents came to Los Angeles, and there they both ended their days, the father reaching his sixty-sixth year, the mother her sixty-fifth.
Frank was educated in part in Iowa, where the Baileys lived for two years after they left Wisconsin and before they went to Kansas, and in part in the latter state, where for a year he attended the Washburn College at Topeka, when he was a schoolmate of Senator John J. Ingall's son. In 1888 he went west to Hamilton County, Kans., and took up and homesteaded 160 acres of land, which he proved up; and while there he was married to Miss Tillie Carlyle, when they lived in a dugout. She also had come out to Hamil- ton County and taken up and preempted land, and she lived in the same vicinity. He contracted with her to bake bread for him, and that arrange- ment resulted in a life contract. She was born at Lawrenceville, in Lawrence County, Ill., and is a daughter of William and Elizabeth (Irwin) Carlyle. Her parents were both born in Ohio and married there, and they both died in Illinois when she was five years old. She had three brothers, and a sister who died when fourteen, and the children were put out in different families. She lived with her uncle, John Carlyle, for six years, and then being twelve, went to live at the home of Thomas Kirkwood at the town of Lawrenceville. Here she had a good home and was able to attend the public schools. She came out to Kansas with the same cousin's family, and decided to stay.
Five years after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Bailey proved up a home- stead, and soon after that they moved to Sedgwick County, Kans., where they lived on a farm south of Wichita. They farmed in that county until 1906, when they went to Los Angeles. Cal. Mr. Bailey there made some un- lucky business investments, through which he lost about all that he had. In 1911, however, he came to Laton and in February rented Charles Nowlin's ranch of 160 acres six miles north of Laton. The following December, he bought forty acres where he now lives. He has since bought forty acres more, and his son, Glenn, has also bought twenty acres, which lie directly between the two parcels of forty acres just referred to. The ranch is well irrigated, and he has two silos. At first, Mr. Bailey embarked in the raising of Percheron 107
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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY
horses, but this he has discontinued, and now he produces beef and pork. His ranch is called the Twin Oaks.
Mr. and Mrs. Bailey have four children: Alta M., the wife of Clark D. Long, who is employed by the Santa Fe Railroad at Hanford, and they have one child; Cora B., the wife of William Hebner, a plumber of Los Angeles, and they have two children: Glenn C., who is a partner in farming with his father and who married Rilla Vaughn, a native of Kansas and the daughter of J. W. and Mary (Montgomery) Vaughn, and they have one child, Velma ; and Paul H., who attended the Laton High School, and who is a trap-drummer in the First Aerial Band of the Twenty-sixth Aerial Squadron.
Mr. Bailey is a student of the social problems of the day, and votes for principles such as he believes the world is in need of, and for the best men. He favors the Progressive Republican platform, and also Prohibition. He belongs to the Knights of Pythias, Lodge No. 44, at Wichita, and to Laton Camp, Modern Woodmen of America. Mrs. Bailey is a member of the Meth- odist Church and a trustee.
MARVIN A. GALLAHER .- As merchant and postmaster at Squaw Valley, Fresno County, Marvin A. Gallaher enjoys to the fullest extent the confidence and respect of his community. Nestling among the foothills of the Sierras, Squaw Valley is one of the beautiful and picturesque spots so numerous in California, where people gather to enjoy the beauties and splendors of nature, with a healthful and invigorating climate as an added attraction.
Marvin Gallaher is a native of Tennessee, born in Decatur, Meigs County, March 15, 1881, and is the son of Dr. J. A. and Mary Gallaher, also natives of Tennessee. To Dr. Gallaher twelve children were born, by two marriages, five of whom are now residing in California, and two of these in Fresno County. Dr. Gallaher was a physician and surgeon of long and extensive practice, and studied under eminent professors. His death oc- curred December 6, 1898. Marvin Gallaher was reared and received a liberal education in his native state. He has followed clerical work since his school days, with some time given to agriculture. He migrated to California in 1901 and for six years worked as a ranch hand. In 1907 he engaged in the cigar and tobacco business, and also ran a pool-room and soda fountain in Porterville, Tulare County. He opened the first open-front cigar stand in town. He equipped and ran two of the best billiard and pool halls there, under the firm name of Gallaher & Coates. He bought Coates' interest and the firm became Gallaher & Breeden until 1917, when he came to Squaw Valley. In 1908 his marriage occurred, uniting him with Miss Susie Bree- den, the daughter of Dr. S. G. Breeden of Decatur, Tenn., and of this union four children have been born : Morrell T .; Austin R .; Ralph L .; and Clarence A. Mr. and Mrs. Gallaher are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
The postoffice at Squaw Valley is one of the oldest in Fresno County, and much of historical interest is attached to the place. In early days the Indians left their squaws in this beautiful spot while they went to do battle with the foe, and to gather meat from the hunt for the coming winter.
OSCAR F. BACON .- A worthy descendant of an honored pioneer settler of Antioch, Cal., Oscar F. Bacon, the enterprising and successful horticul- turist residing seven miles northeast of Sanger, was born near Tonganoxie, Kans., April 6, 1874. His father, James M. Bacon, was a native of Kentucky coming as a pioneer settler to Kansas, he was married to Nancy J. Skaggs, who was born in Iowa. She was the daughter of Andrew and Rachael (Howard) Skaggs, who migrated to California in 1875, locating at Antioch. J. M. Bacon was a farmer near Tonganoxie, and there his wife died in 1894. When he retired he came to California and died in Sanger. December 23, 1917, aged over eighty-one years. Nine children blessed this union, seven
Felix Herizer
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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY
of whom grew up: John; Ida; May, deceased; Oscar F .; Nilo; Albert; and Mrs. Mattie Edmiston.
In 1888, John Bacon migrated to California and by his glowing accounts of the wonderful California climate, and splendid opportunities for enter- prising young men to engage in ranching, or mercantile business, he eventually induced the rest of the family to locate in the Golden State.
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