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 112
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Oscar F. Bacon came to California in 1897 and located in Fresno County, where he worked at farming, later going to Sonoma County where he was engineer for the Duncan Mills Land and Lumber Company and the Western Lumber Company. Returning to Fresno County in 1910, he purchased a ranch in Round Mountain district which contained sixty acres, this he im- proved and planted figs, prunes, peaches, grapes and oranges.
Mr. Bacon was married at Excelsior Springs, Mo., June 19, 1916, to Julia Gray, also a native of Tonganoxie, Kans., a daughter of Matthew Gray, who was born under the English flag on the sailer Glencairn, when his parents, Andrew and Margaret (Burns) Gray, migrated from Ayre, Scotland, to Canada ; later the family moved to Tonganoxie, where Mr. Gray is a suc- cessful farmer ; his wife is Cornelia Mayginnes, born in Shelby County, Ohio, in 1852, coming to Kansas when a girl, in 1864, and in 1875 she married Mr. Gray; she died March 23, 1918. Mrs. Bacon is the eldest of their two children and is a graduate from the course in Elocution in Campbell Uni- versity at Holton.
Fraternally, Mr. Bacon was made a Mason at Guerneville and is now a member of Sanger Lodge, No. 316; he is also a member of the Woodmen of the World. Mrs. Bacon is a member of Rinda Chapter, O. E. S., at Tonga- noxie.
FELIX HEINZER .- If Barstow Colony has a better hustler than Felix Heinzer, prince of good fellows and an expert dairyman, then no one has yet discovered it, for ever since he came to Fresno County about seven years ago, he has demonstrated one after another successful possibility which has made even the wideawake folks of Barstow sit up, look and listen. He was born in Mutterthal, Canton Schwyz, Switzerland, on March 9, 1876, the son of Anton Heinzer, a thrifty farmer of the region who died in 1896. He had led to the altar Agatha Gwerder, who proved to him a blessed helpmate, and she closed her eyes to this world just ten years later. She was the mother of five children, four of whom still live to honor the family name.
Felix, the third youngest, was brought up a farmer's boy in the high Alps. for his father's farm was above the timberland and subject to a mantle of deep snow for seven and sometimes eight months of the year. There he learned dairying according to true Swiss fashion, and while yet a lad was busied with cheese and butter-making. He attended the public schools, never- theless, and such was his filial feeling that he remained at home to help his parents until his father died. Then the family farm was rented, and Felix joined the Swiss army, becoming a non-commissioned officer in Battalion 86 of the Eighth Division.
In the fall of 1903, however, having bade good-bye to the scenes so familiar and so endearing, Mr. Heinzer came to San Francisco, where he se- cured employment in a dairy for a year, after which he moved about a little, going first to San Joaquin County, then to Marin County, then to Monterey County, back to San Francisco, and then to Sutter County. All this time he was engaged in dairying ; and as he found nothing to attract him permanently, he came back to San Francisco, then went to Ventura County, returned to the Bay Metropolis, and next moved to Monterey County again, where he was eighteen months in one dairy as butter-maker. After that he went to Fruitvale, then to San Mateo County, next to Santa Clara County, then to Madera, and four months later-in 1911-to Fresno.
Here, for a year and a half, he was in the service of the Big Four Ranch,
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and then he shifted to Coalinga where he leased a dairy for fourteen months. He called his business the Coalinga Dairy, and he established a milk route for that town. The Mckay dairy at Fresno, however, attracted him for nine months, then he spent a couple of months at Riverdale, and next was thirteen months at Burrel, then to Barstow, where he worked in a dairy for George Miller.
Three years ago Mr. Heinzer rented his present advantageous place of eighty acres in Barstow Colony, with an option to purchase. In the spring of 1919 he took advantage of his option and purchased the property. He is de- voting himself to dairying, and on such a scale that he milks some twenty- five cows. These are chiefly Holsteiners, and it goes without saying that the products of his dairy are only of the highest grade. He was also interested in the Cooperative Dairymen's Association, in which he was a director until it became a part of the San Joaquin Valley Milk Producers Association, of which he is an enthusiastic member. In addition, he is a moving spirit in the California Peach Growers, Inc. He is now preparing to set out a Thompson seedless vineyard on his ranch.
Few busy men enjoy life more than does Mr. Heinzer, who is influential and ever interesting, and who has won the esteem of many friends. He be- longs to the Fraternal Brotherhood at Barstow, to St. Alphonzo's Catholic Church at Fresno, and to the Republican party. The latter two organizations in particular afford Mr. Heinzer abundant opportunity for the expression of his religious and political preferences.
CARL KERNER .- An old-timer in Fresno County who has worked hard and conscientiously, and has acquired, as a reward, a comfortable competency, so that his many friends are happy to see him at last enjoying life, is Carl Kerner, who came to the county about the middle of the eighties. He was born in Skadofski, Samara, Russia, on September 22, 1855, the son of Carl Kerner, a farmer now eighty-three years old, who had married Kathrina Fuchs, and she died there, the mother of six children, all of whom are living.
Carl is the eldest, and was brought up on a farm, where he learned the wagon-maker's trade. He had attended the common schools, and in time served in the Russian army as a member of a regiment of infantry in the war with the Turks in 1877-78. He followed farming and had a wagon-shop; and while in Russia he married Elisa Rudolph, who was born there.
One day he read in the newspapers the wonderful story of Fresno as a new town and decided to come out here; and suiting the thought to action, he arrived in June, 1887, and was therefore one of the first settlers from Russia to come to Central California. He went to work in a planing mill and soon assisted to build the Hughes Hotel. He continued as a carpenter, and little by little worked in ranches and vineyards.
In 1893 he bought his present place, then all raw land. He improved ten acres of it with an orchard, but let it go back to the owner. He then con- tracted to build residences in Fresno, and in 1906 bought the property back again. Having dug out the orchard, he set out vines and now has a fine vine- yard and orchard of twenty-five acres on Mckinley Avenue. He has ten acres of Thompson seedless, and the balance in peaches. He built a residence and improved the property in many ways. Then he joined both the California Associated Raisin Company and the California Peach Growers, Inc., and took more and more interest in civic affairs as a Republican.
Six children have blessed Mr. and Mrs. Kerner: Samuel B., a shop fore- man with the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company at Fresno; Henry R., storekeeper for that concern; Anna, who is Mrs. Koroch, in Fresno; Eliza- beth, who has become Mrs. Holmes there; and Letha and Carl, who are at home. The Kerners also have an adopted child, Mollie Kruse, now ten years old. They worship at the Church of God in Fresno.
David Seacord
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DAVID SEACORD .- A pioneer of California who has taken a part in the development of the West Side in the San Joaquin Valley, having opened the first coal mine at Coalinga, is David Seacord, who was born in West Davenport, Delaware County, N. Y., October 15, 1847, the next to the young- est of six children of William and Mary (Eddy) Seacord, also natives of Delaware County. The father crossed the plains to California in 1849, en- gaging in mining in El Dorado County for some time, then returning east. He made a second trip to California but again returned to New York where he settled down to farming in Delaware County and there he and his wife passed away. David had a brother, Thomas, who served in an Illinois Regi- ment in the Civil War, until he died at Memphis, Tenn.
David Seacord spent his youth on the farm in the Catskill Mountains, in the Upper Susquehanna Valley, meanwhile attending the public schools. When thirteen years of age he went to Marietta, Washington County, Ohio, where he paddled his own canoe. In August, 1862, he responded to his coun- try's call, and enlisted for the Civil War, serving in the Thirty-ninth Ohio Regiment for about one year, when he was discharged on account of dis- ability. After recovering his health he again enlisted, this time in Company G, One Hundred Forty-eight Ohio Volunteer Infantry, seeing some hard ser- vice at Harper's Ferry and through the Shenandoah Valley, at Deep Bottom and in the siege of Petersburg, after which he did provost duty at Bermuda Hundred until he was mustered out and honorably discharged at Marietta, Ohio, in the fall of 1864. He was fortunate in never receiving a scratch and has never applied for nor received a pension.
After his discharge, Mr. Seacord spent four years as an engineer in the oil-fields of West Virginia and then came to Sullivan County, Mo., where he bought the patent right for a bee-hive in three Missouri counties. This he manufactured and sold for several years meeting with success, because it was a practical and splendid bee-hive. In 1873 he came to Colorado and was an engineer near Long's Peak, Colo., until 1876, when he came to Hollister, Cal., and there did carpentering and building. In the fall of 1877 he made a trip into the San Joaquin Valley and was working at Grangeville when he ran across Tom Beatty who engaged him to come to Coalinga and open his coal mine. This was August 15, 1877. He drove the first tunnel and mined the first coal, continuing until March, 1878, when he returned to Hollister and started out to hunt a bee range, finally buying a squatter's claim in Bear Canyon, Fresno County, but as he did not like it or find it suitable, he came to his present place in Warthan Canyon. There was no road, nor any sur- vey, but he and John Bray located squatters' claims and started an apiary, and when the land was open for settlement they located a homestead and pre- emption and also bought land which they cleared and improved. Mr. Bray had been a travelling salesman, so they opened a general merchandise estab- lishment in a store they built on the ranch and built up a large business, ex- tending into adjoining counties. Mr. Bray was postmaster and also deputy county clerk, a man of splendid attainments and fine personality, and they made a success of the business; Mr. Seacord took care of the ranch and the apiary. In 1884 they shipped seventy-five tons of honey which they hauled to Huron, the terminus of the railroad. In 1902 his partner died and Mr. Sea- cord purchased his interest from his heirs; he closed out the mercantile business and continued farming, horticulture and bee culture.
In early days, Mr. Seacord set out an orchard which has grown well and is bearing good fruit. The Seacord ranch is well improved and is at an alti- tude of 1.500 feet. The proprietor is well and favorably known, having done much to improve the district. He has been an indefatigable worker and is now in independent circumstances, enjoying the fruits of his labors, having the good will of a host of friends who esteem him for his genial nature and kindness.
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FLORENCE (GORDON) COWAN .- In matters of reform legislation and in the sphere of education women have always been avowed advocates. The State of California has been foremost in carrying out these principles, and among the women of the State to whom credit is due should be mentioned Mrs. Florence ( Gordon) Cowan, a native Californian, born in Davis, Yolo County. She is the daughter of William Y. Gordon, who was born in South Hero. Grand Isle County, Vt., and who came to California in 1852 via Panama, engaged in mining for two years, and then located a farm in Yolo County. He returned to the East via Panama, and in 1870 was married to Miss Jane Phelps, a native of Vermont. They came to California and he bought more land. having acquired 640 acres, and engaged in grain-farming. He died in 1915 in his eighty-fifth year, his death being caused by his team running away with him. The mother is still living, an honored member of Mrs. Cowan's home. There were five children of whom Mrs. Cowan is the youngest. She was reared in Yolo County.
Mrs. Cowan's life has been one-of varied experiences. She was educated in the Oakland schools, graduated from the Oakland High, entered the Uni- versity of California, studied social science and graduating in 1903 with the degree of B. L. She made application to the American Board of Foreign Missions of the Congregational Church, and was sent as teacher to Kobe College in Kobe. Japan, in 1906, and continued there for five years, teaching English history and science. During these five years she traveled over Japan and into Korea, laying up a store of knowledge that she has put to practical account. In 1911 she resigned her work with the Board, and returned to California. After a year's rest she located in Kerman and became one of the teachers in Kerman Union High School. and in 1914 was elected principal, a position she held until June, 1918. The school offers High School. Com- mercial and Agricultural Courses, and has a corps of seven teachers with an attendance of from eighty to ninety-six pupils; the grounds occupy twenty acres.
Mrs. Cowan owns an attractive home-place of twenty acres on Clinton Avenue, which is being improved and set to Thompson seedless grapes. She is greatly interested in the advancement of the community and in education, and was very successful as principal; she suggested the organization of the Civic Center and Teachers' Club. She is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and also of the California Teachers Association. Miss Gordon was united in marriage on July 9, 1918, with Alexander Cowan, born in Maybole, Ayrshire. Scotland, and who has been a resident of California since 1906. He is a building contractor, well known in Fresno County.
H. E. VERBLE .- An Illinois native developed to American manhood in Texas, who, by force of character and exceptional business and executive qualifications, has become one of Kingsburg's highly respected and influential citizens, is H. E. Verble, manager of the Valley Lumber Company's lumber yard at Kingsburg, clerk of the city and of the school board, and a leader in other organizations. He was born at Anna, Union County, Ill., on September 9, 1881, and attained his seventeenth year in that State. Then desiring to strike out for himself, he went to Northwestern Texas and for six years was a cowboy, riding the range in the Panhandle country. He worked for the Millirons, Roe Ranch, and X. I. T. cattle companies, and gained a reputation as an experienced and intrepid ranger.
Coming North to California, in 1904, Mr. Verble fortunately had his at- tention drawn to the exceptional business opportunities in Fresno ; and soon after he engaged in a grocery in that city. His early and late endeavors brought increased patronage, and he continued in that field from 1904 until 1906. In the latter year he entered the employ of the Pine Ridge Lumber Company, working for three summers in the woods and around the saw mills, and during the winters in the Valley Lumber Company's yards at
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Fresno. The great San Francisco earthquake happened at that time; and as Mr. Verble was a member of the National Guards at Fresno, he was sent to the metropolis and did patrol and rescue work for thirty days in the fire- stricken city.
By hard work and fidelity to his employers, Mr. Verble worked his way up as handler, grader, and foreman, and from 1907 to 1909 acquired that valuable experience which comes through actually doing things. Until August, 1910, he was manager at Bowles, Cal., and later he became manager for the Valley Lumber Company's yards at Kingsburg. This company deals in all kinds of lumber for building purposes and carries a complete line of builders' materials, having the largest lumber yard in Kingsburg.
While resident at Fresno, Mr. Verble was married to Miss Lucy McAfee of that city; they have two children: Hal E. Verble, Jr., and Kathryn. Mr. Verble finds delight in his home life ; he belongs to, Traver Lodge, No. 294, F. & A. M. Mr. and Mrs. Verble are both active members of the Eastern Star at Kingsburg, of which both are past officers. Mr. Verble is a Past Master, having served as Master of his lodge in 1916, and having been a delegate to the Grand Lodge in 1915. On January 1, 1919, he became Inspector of the Forty-seventh Masonic District which includes Selma, Kingsburg, Reedley, Dinuba and Arosa.
Preeminently public-spirited, it was Mr. Verble who organized, in 1912, the City of Kingsburg Fire Department, becoming its first chief. He is ac- tively interested in good roads, and did much to secure the State Highway for Kingsburg. He is a member of the Kingsburg Chamber of Commerce, and never fails to support whatever is for the advancement and growth of Kingsburg. He is the efficient clerk of the Board of Trustees of the City of Kingsburg, and has shown equal faithfulness as Clerk of the Board of Trus- tees of the Kingsburg Joint Union High School. It is a matter of satisfaction to Mr. Verble to note how Kingsburg is rapidly coming to the front. The city is planning an expenditure of $27,000 in extending its sewer system; and such strides forward are bound to attract many more desirable residents.
WILLIAM H. ALLEN .- A successful rancher, who started life under disadvantages but by industry and honest methods has risen to his present position, is William H. Allen, whose valuable farm property is six miles southwest of Laton, on the Laguna.
Mr. Allen was born in Person County, N. C., the son of William Gaston Allen, also a native of that state, and a planter. His grandfather was D. Allen, a soldier in the Mexican War. The Allens were cotton and tobacco growers in North Carolina for several generations; and Mr. Allen's mother was Martha Sanford, of the prominent Cavalier family of that name. Ten children were born to the estimable parents, five of whom grew to maturity; and all five came to California. Anna is now the wife of Louis Humphreys, and lives on a rented ranch one mile to the east; Thomas J .; William H., our subject ; Ella, the second-born, was married in North Carolina to W. A. Tuck, came out to California for her health eleven years ago and died here, leaving three boys and two girls, now married in North Carolina ; and Ola is the wife of Joe E. Woodworth, and dwells as a neighbor to William H.
William H. grew up on his father's plantation until his thirteenth year, when both parents died, within six months of each other; after which the children were separated. William lived with his cousin, until about eigh- teen ; then he began to work out for others, by the month, saved what he could, and at the age of twenty-five was married to Mrs. Emma Stokes, the widow of W. T. Stokes of Person County, a farmer by whom she had five children, who went to live with the wife's relatives in North Carolina, after the first wife's death in 1899. Mr. Allen had two children by her: Lennie, now the wife of John W. Richard, who resides at Hanford and has one child; and William G., now working on the pipe line for the Standard
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Oil Company. He was in the navy at San Pedro, having left the University of California where he was a Freshman when the war broke out. Mrs. Stokes was Emma Ramsey before her marriage, a member of another well- known North Carolina family, and she died in Person County.
Mr. Allen continued for six years a widower with two children, and in May, 1901, he brought them with him to California, arriving at length at Hanford. Two years later he bought twenty acres and began to make im- provements, and he still makes the place his home; he has added to it by purchase, and now he owns fifty acres.
On December 22, 1905, Mr. Allen married a second time, taking for his bride Miss Violet Ryder, a native of New Brunswick, Canada, the daughter of James Ryder, also of the same country, a hunter, trapper and huntsman's guide. Her mother, whose maiden name was Lydia Kierstad, was of Scotch and English blood, but born in New Brunswick. The Ryders came originally from England and settled in the Rhode Island Colony, while the mother's people settled in New York; and about the time of the Revolution they moved to New Brunswick. When fourteen years of age, Mrs. Allen came to New Bedford, Mass., and grew up there, attending the South Lancaster Academy, an Adventist school; and she was a student there when she came to California to visit some of her relatives, fully expecting to go back after a short time. She has since become the mother of six children: Ella, Del- bert, Merle, Lloyd, George Muroy, and Ellsworth Manchester.
As a rancher, Mr. Allen raises alfalfa and considerable corn, both In- dian and Egyptian, and his products are of the highest quality. Mrs. Allen is a director on the school board in the Adventist Church, and a director of the Laguna Adventist School, which has an attendance of twenty-five pupils.
ALFRED WICKLIFFE .- Since 1905 this gentleman has been a resi- dent of Fresno County and by his executive ability has held positions of trust and responsibility which have given him a standing among his fellows in Parlier and Del Rey vicinities. A native of Missouri, born in Benton County, October 1, 1882, Alfred Wickliffe is a son of Robert and Clara (Hughes) Wickliffe, and second in order of birth in a family of sixteen children, fourteen of whom reached maturity and are living. Four sons served their country in the World War, three entering the service from Missouri, Elmer R .; Ira W .; and Lewis H. Ira W. has been discharged but the others are with the army of occupation. Jerry. M. entered the service at Fresno. May 1, 1917, served in the Aviation Corps and for eighteen months was overseas. He was discharged May 16, 1919, and is now at Selma.
Alfred Wickliffe received his education in the public schools in Missouri, followed farming there till 1905, when he came to California and to Fresno County, where he had a brother. He worked in various places until January 1, 1917, when he became manager of the Fortuna Rancho, near Parlier. This ranch comprises 500 acres and is devoted to fruit and nuts and has been under cultivation about thirty years. During the busy season 175 persons were under the supervision of the manager, and in normal times there were twenty. One season's shipment included seven cars of prunes, one car dried peaches, seven cars fresh peaches, and one car English walnuts. This gives a better understanding of the responsibility that was Mr. Wickliffe's. He resigned this position and on May 15, 1919, accepted the position of superintendent of the Del Rio Rey Rancho, with duties of a similar nature as mentioned above. The 520 acres in the ranch are devoted to table and raisin grapes.
In 1912, Mr. Wickliffe was united in marriage with Miss Glenn Myers. daughter of Darius and Susie (Bedford) Myers, and two daughters blessed their union, Winifred C. and Wilma C. On April 14, 1915, Mrs. Wickliffe died and was mourned by her family and many friends. Mr. Wickliffe is a member of the Woodmen of the World and is popular wherever he is known.
Res Patrick Piese
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REV. PATRICK PIERSE .- Well does the student of California history know what the teeming thousands of its population, through many genera- tions, owe to the piety, scholarship, bravery and heroic endeavors of its saintly clergy who helped found and develop the great commonwealth, and the student of recent events will also know how the clergy of the same universal or Catholic Church have in more modern days helped to guide the ship of state, elevate society and so make mankind happier. Among the representa- tives of this great organization which Protestants, Jews and others not numbered in that fold delight to honor and cooperate with, is the Rev. Pat- rick Pierse, the rector of St. Paul's Catholic Church at Coalinga.
He was born in County Kerry, in Erin's green isle, on February 7, 1887, and first studied the classics, as the basis of the scholarship desired, at San Brendans Seminary. He then prepared for the Christian ministry at All Hallows College, Dublin, and at St. Patrick's College, in Carlow ; and within the sacred walls of the latter institution, so famed for its thorough and con- scientious work, he was ordained to the priesthood on May 26, 1912, for the Diocese of Monterey and Los Angeles, by Bishop Foley.
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