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 117

Author: Vandor, Paul E., 1858-
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company
Number of Pages: 1424

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 117

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Returning from their last visit. to Denmark, Mr. and Mrs. Pilegard brought with them a daughter of Mrs. Pilegard's brother Magnus,-Martha Ovine Meyer, and she has been reared in their home. She is now a young lady of eighteen, and is still with them, and is practically regarded as an own child.

Mr. and Mrs. Pilegard are members of the Danish Lutheran Church and Mr. Pilegard stands high in the counsels of that denomination. He is chair- man of the Emmanuel Danish Lutheran Church at Easton. He is an influen- tial member of the Peach Growers Association, the California Associated Raisin Company, and the Danish Creamery at Fresno, all of which he assisted in getting established.

A naturalized citizen of the United States, in his political associations he affiliates with the Republican party.

NIELS HANSEN .- A progressive viticulturist, whose experience leads others to seek his counsel and services, is Niels Hansen, who came to Fresno soon after the beginning of this century. He was born near Odense, Fyen, Denmark, on December 6, 1872, the son of Rasmus Hansen, a farmer, who died there in 1914. His wife was Mariana Nielsen before her marriage, and she is also dead. Three children bearing this honored name still are living, and Niels is the second oldest, and the only one in the United States.

When a boy Niels attended the local schools, and at eighteen entered the Danish army, serving in 1891 with the dragoon regiment. At the end of the usual period he received his honorable discharge. He followed farming until 1902 and while in Denmark was married to Miss Martine Jensen, a woman of many accomplishments. When they reached the United States, Mr. Hansen was not long in getting to Fresno, for he had heard of this highly-favored section of the Golden State. He was soon employed on ranches and in vine- yards ; and he rapidly became acquainted with the spirit of the Golden West.

In 1904, Mr. Hansen bought twenty acres three miles north of Sanger ; but raisins were then selling low, and he did not realize the profit from his venture that he anticipated. In 1913 he sold the ranch, and returned to Denmark. During the previous May, Mrs. Hansen had died, leaving five children: Mabel, Arthur, Oscar, Victor, and Ella; and not long after, in New York City, Mr. Hansen married Miss Sophia Kyhl, a native of Copen- hagen and a member of an old family. Mr. and Mrs. Hansen attend the Danish Lutheran Church, and are active in church and other good works.

Having returned to Denmark at the time that he did, Mr. Hansen was in Copenhagen when the war broke out and witnessed the great excitement there. In 1916 he returned to the United States, glad to get back to what he felt was home, as soon as he reached New York. Of course he continued west to Fresno and since then has been following viticulture here, first on the L. F. Giffen place near Rolinda, until that was sold. Then in the spring of 1918 he leased the Bates place on Madera Avenue, a fine tract of orchard and vineyard comprising fifty-one acres. He is a member of the California Asso- ciated Raisin Company.

Florence In. Wilkins James PWilkini

2405

HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

JAMES P. WILKINS .- A self-made and unusually successful rancher in the Fowler district, who is joint owner, with his brother, of several val- uable ranches all of which they have acquired since coming to Fresno County, is James P. Wilkins, popularly known as Jim Wilkins, or "Big Jim," whose home northwest from Fowler is the center of a hospitality dispensed to friend and stranger. He was born in Halifax County, Va., near South Boston, the son of H. F. and Rebecca Jane (Hyte) Wilkins, the latter a woman of charm- ing and affectionate disposition, who, like her husband, was one of a line of old-time Virginians. At the time of her death, when James was only four years old, she was the mother of five children, one of whom died, and when the father married again, three more came into the family. Two of these died in infancy, and one grew up and is now with the father and stepmother in old Virginia. James Wilkins' grandfather was William A. Wilkins, a farmer and secretary and treasurer and half owner of a toll bridge across the Dan River at South Boston, in Virginia. Three brothers and a sister are in Cal- ifornia. W. S. Wilkins is a rancher southeast of Fowler. George F. Wilkins resides east of Fowler and is joint owner with James P. in two ranches-one a vineyard and orchard of 100 acres, one mile south of Fowler, and the other a ranch of 120 acres, known as the old Ducy ranch, on the North McCall road, six miles north of Selma.

James P. Wilkins was born on May 1, 1878, and as a boy grew up in Virginia, where he attended the common schools. Arriving in California when he was twenty-one he worked for wages for a year near Fowler. During the second year he rented land, and the third year he bought a ranch. In this way he has progressed steadily, and now occupies an enviable position of influence in his community.

At Fresno, on December 3, 1907, Mr. Wilkins was married to Miss Flor- ence M. Joy, daughter of Alexander Cartwright and Maria Louisa (Maxey) Joy, natives of Nantucket, Mass., and of Kentucky, respectively. Her father came to California, in 1853, as a whaler from Nantucket, having sailed around the Horn and through the Golden Gate; and settling in Amador County, he mined for gold. He was an engineer at a quartz mill there, and in that county he was married. He came to Fresno in 1883, and here Mrs. Wilkins was born. Mr. and Mrs. Joy had six children: Jessie J. became Mrs. Blade, and died leaving five children in Fresno County; Dr. Maxey Joy is a prominent physi- cian of Kansas City, Kans .; Letha Joy became Mrs. T. H. Mutton, of Fresno; Al. C. Joy is the sporting editor of the San Francisco Examiner, and resides in San Francisco; Florence Macy, now Mrs. Wilkins ; and Lila Miryck became the wife of E. A. Devereux, superintendent of the Fresno Traction Company. Four children have blessed the happy union of Mr. and Mrs. Wilkins : Kathryn Rose; Ralph Cartwright, the second in order of birth; a third child, who died in infancy ; and a fourth, named Miles Linwood, who also died an infant.

Mr. Wilkins is a booster for cooperative ranching and is a stockholder in the California Associated Raisin Company and California Peach Growers, Inc.

GEORGE RANDRUP .- An enterprising citizen who left railroading for agricultural pursuits in Fresno County, is George Randrup, born near Dalby, Denmark, on September 6, 1870, the son of Jorgen Randrup, a farmer, who had married Anna Vinfeldt. Both parents died where they had lived their honorable and useful lives. They had eight children, and six of these are now living.

Brought up on the farm at home, George, the oldest of those still alive, attended the public school and assisted his father until he was eighteen years of age. Then, in May, 1888, he started for the United States and settled at Laramie, Wyo., where he was employed at railroading on the Union Pacific. After twenty-three months he was made foreman of the section between Lar- amie and Fort Rawlins, and there he made an enviable record. In 1896 he resigned to return to Denmark, having previously been married in Laramie;

2-106

HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

and he bought a farm near his old Danish home, where he engaged in farm- ing and stock-raising. The wife he chose, in 1891, was Miss Gyda Ostergaard before her marriage, also a native of Denmark, and an especially helpful companion. He continued to farm in Denmark until 1908; and in November of that year he sold out and returned to the United States. He located at Ogden and returned to railroading under the same old roadmaster, John Mc- Entee of the Oregon Short Line, who made him foreman between Ogden and Salt Lake. For three years he resided at Kaysville and served the com- pany in his conscientious manner.

At the end of three years, attracted by the advantages of Fresno, he resigned and located here. He rented a ranch and engaged in the cattle business in Tulare County, near Dinuba. He also had a dairy and raised cattle. In February, 1914, he located in the Houghton district and leased two ranches- one a vineyard and orchard of eighty acres, owned by J. H. Hudson, and also forty acres planted to alfalfa. He had a dairy and also car- ried on horticulture and viticulture.

In 1917, Mr. Randrup bought the Owen & Kennedy ranch of eighty acres, and also a forty-acre alfalfa ranch, making his entire holding 120 acres, most of which is in alfalfa. He is raising hay and cattle and running one of the most sanitary and up-to-date dairies in California. His ranch is eleven miles northwest of Fresno, and a show-place it certainly is for those who would desire to study successful dairy-farming. He is a stockholder in the Danish Creamery Association, and a member of both the California Asso- ciated Raisin Company and the California Peach Growers, Inc., and also of the Danish Brotherhood.

Seven children are still living to bless Mr. and Mrs. Randrup: Carl is in the oil-field at Taft; John served in the United States Navy ; Jacob is assist- ing his father; and there are Andrew, James, Margaret and Mary-all of whom, like their excellent parents, have many friends.

WILLIAM O. MOLINE .- An exceptionally agreeable man is William Moline, who was born in Chicago on February 7, 1864. His father was Oliver Moline, a native of Sweden who came to Chicago when a young man, and having learned the trade of a carpenter, continued as a builder a few years after the great fire that destroyed that city. Then he engaged in the grocery business, and had a well-stocked store on Wells Street, where he built a brick block. In 1910 he sold his Illinois holdings, came out to California and located in Fresno County, purchasing a fifty-acre ranch in the Vinland dis- trict on the San Joaquin River, where he resided with his son William, who has charge of the place. He also cared for his aged parent, who was an invalid for about two years before his death, July 11, 1919, aged about ninety-three years. Mrs. Moline was Hannah Peterson before her marriage, and she also was a native of Sweden. She died in Evanston, Ill., the mother of nine chil- dren, among whom William is the fourth oldest and the only one living.

He was brought up in Chicago, where he was educated in the public schools and assisted his father in the store until he learned the carriage painter's trade, and followed it in Chicago. Then he entered the Wadsworth- Holland Paint Company's factory, where he was a paint maker for eighteen years, or until he quit them to come to California to continue to care for his aged father in a milder climate than that of Lake Michigan, with its frigid winters. Mr. Moline farms some fifty acres in the Vinland district on the San Joaquin River, and gives his time and efforts mostly to horticulture and stock-raising. He has a well-improved place, and gets some of the best results that encourage the Vinland ranchers.

At Milwaukee, Mr. Moline was married to Miss Anna Lake, a native of St. Louis, where she received a good education. They have one child, Marie Elizabeth. The family attend the Lutheran Church in Fresno, of which they are members.

2407

HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

FRENCH CAFE .- One of the noted poets has said that "civilized man cannot live without cooks." He can get along with about everything else left out, but cooks there must be, according to this writer. It is possible that with his experience, William Schurich, the present owner of the French Cafe, will agree.

Mr. Schurich purchased the French Cafe from Joe Maracci, September 17, 1918. It is without doubt the finest cafe in all Central California. It was fitted at a cost of $18,000 by Mr. Maracci, and is complete in all its details. The State Food Inspector said of it: "This restaurant keeps the best meats and has the cleanest and most systematic as well as sanitary appointments of any eating-place 'that I have ever inspected." Everything is modern and up-to-date. The linen is immaculately white and beautifully laundered; electrical machinery washes the dishes ; the coffee is of the best grades of Mocha and Java, served with prime, fresh cream. It has its own bakery where are made the bread, buns, cakes and pastry used in its service. It is provided with an ice-making and refrigerating plant where are kept the meats, vegetables, fruits, milk, cheese, fish and other articles of food. The dining-room is daily supplied with fresh flowers on the tables, and is further adorned by a flag nine by fifteen feet, and by a service flag with nineteen stars. The chef is a famous cook, and with the food so whole- somely prepared, its appointments so altogether superior, and with the personal and close attention of the proprietor himself, together with the loyalty and fidel- ity of some thirty employees, the French Cafe is one of the show-places of Fresno, and whether he is or not, Mr. Schurich certainly has reason to be proud of his success.

Mr. Schurich was married to Miss Antoinette Van der Knaap, a native of Amsterdam, Holland, the marriage taking place in Fresno in 1916. They have one child, who is named for her mother, Antoinette. Mr. Schurich is a patriotic man and in every bond drive he not only purchased bonds for himself, but en- couraged his employees to do likewise, even advancing the means to carry the bonds for any who wanted him to do so.

CHARLES GATEWOOD .- An energetic representative of a fine old family, whose traditions reach through the best periods and circles of the South back to historic Old England, is Charles Gatewood, the rancher near Rolinda, widely known for his pure-bred Poland-China hogs. He was born near Oskaloosa in Mahaska County, Iowa, in 1855, the son of William H. Gatewood, who was born in Bledsoe County, Tenn. He removed to Parke County, Ind., with his parents and then, about 1851, to Iowa, where he was a farmer. In 1880 he re- moved to Nebraska, and engaged in farming at Seward. The year 1910 found him at Elbert, Colo., and there he continued to live until his death on November 22, 1916, when he was more than ninety-three years old. Mrs. Gatewood was Nancy Lough before her marriage, and she was born in Preble County, Ohio. She removed to Indiana with her parents, where she grew up and was married, and she died in Elbert, Colo., aged eighty-six years, the mother of nine children, six of whom are still living.

1 As the second oldest in the family, Charles was brought up in Iowa and there attended the public schools, including the Oskaloosa High School; and at the age of about seventeen he got into saw-milling and followed that for thirty years. He bought a portable saw-mill and did a large business manufacturing lumber and timbers and tracking, particularly for the coal mines. Only when he had sawed up all the available timber in that section did he turn to agriculture.

He bought a farm and engaged in raising hogs, cattle, corn and alfalfa; and during these busy experimental years he spent three years in Nebraska, some time in Oklahoma, and several years at Ames, Iowa, having in mind the educa- tion of his children.

On January 8, 1912, Mr. Gatewood located in Fresno County, having come to California from Ames. He bought an eighty-acre ranch of raw land, the one drawback being the lack of water rights. He sunk two wells, therefore, and now

2408

HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

he has an abundance of water, which rises to within eleven feet of the surface. He installed a gas engine of twenty-five horsepower, and put in a centrifugal pump. This gives him a capacity of over 2,000 gallons a minute-over 200 miners' inches.

He leveled the land, sowed alfalfa, and engaged in raising hogs, choosing prize-bred Poland-Chinas; and when, in 1918, he exhibited at the State Fair in Sacramento, he won the Grand Champion prize with a Poland-China boar. Be- sides being the largest breeder hereabouts of this variety of hog, Mr. Gatewood raises about 300 tons of hay a year for the market.

While in Iowa, on December 24, 1882, Mr. Gatewood was married to Miss Hester A. Allgood, a native of Mahaska County, Iowa, and a daughter of John F. Allgood, a Kentuckian, and Eliza Jane Comstock, an Indianian, both pioneers of Iowa where they died, the former in 1883, and the latter in 1918, aged eighty- two. Mr. and Mrs. Gatewood have four children: Fred C., a graduate of the Oskaloosa High School is engaged in the breeding of Poland-China hogs on a farm adjoining that of our subject ; he has one daughter, Helen ; Ray, a graduate of the Ames Agricultural College in Iowa, was a teacher in the Manhattan State Agricultural College, Kans., where, for six years, he was professor of animal husbandry, and he is now in the cattle business in Oklahoma. He has one daugh- ter, Jane. Ethel is the wife of William H. Doherty, of Fresno, who served in the United States Army about fourteen months, thirteen months of the time over- seas ; and Harry assists his father.

Mr. Gatewood belongs to the Fresno County Poland-China Breeders Asso- ciation, and has one of the largest herd of pure-bred hogs in the state. He also belongs to the California Swine Breeders Association.

SANDOR KLEIN .- A prosperous rancher, who specializes in hog- raising is Sandor Klein, who was born at Beregszasz, Hungary, December 10, 1883, where his father, Moses Klein, was a farmer and merchant. After his school days were over Sandor was apprenticed and learned the cabinet maker's trade continuing to work at this calling in his native country until 1901 when he emigrated to New York City, where he followed his trade. In 1904 he came to St. Louis, Mo., remaining one year and then coming to San Francisco. Here he worked as a carpenter, then as a foreman carpenter, and later still engaged in contracting and building until 1910, when he came to Fresno County and homesteaded 160 acres in Huron district which he improved. He has installed a pumping plant for irrigating his alfalfa, and makes a specialty of raising hogs. He has prospered and now owns 480 acres of land. He also leases lands and has about 1,500 acres sown to grain each year.

He became a full citizen of the United States in San Francisco in 1913. In his party affiliations he is a Democrat.

JOHN HOLM .- One of the early settlers of Vinland is John Holm who was born near Karleby, Varsalan, Finland, May 1, 1858. He was raised in Fin- land, but enjoyed no school advantages ; but an elderly lady taught him the al- phabet. With this foundation he continued until he was able to read and write in four different languages. After completing his trade as a ship joiner he worked in different shipyards in Finland and Russia. He had a longing for the sea and in 1881, while on the ship Alex. Gibson, he touched at San Francisco while on the way to China via Liverpool and New York. In 1886 he came to San Francisco on a sailing vessel, the Oregon, on which he was engaged as ship's carpenter. He came around Cape Horn from New York, which he had rounded five times before this. He followed the sea for seven years and has been in all the impor- tant ports of the world.

In 1886 he quit the sea at San Francisco, and was employed by John Vance, Eureka, in the lumber woods. He remained with this firm for a time and then engaged with Mr. Bendixsen, with whom he stayed for eight years, and then came to Vinland, Cal., in 1904. He was one of the first to come to Vinland, as he had been here in 1903 and bought forty acres of land, moving upon it and

2409

HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

buying twenty acres more in 1904. In the improvement of his ranch he has experimented in planting until he satisfied himself that Thompson seedless is the best grape for him and the most profitable, for that vicinity. He has planted thirty-seven acres in Thompson seedless, three acres in apricots, an orchard of peaches and other fruits, and the whole sixty is under splendid cultivation.

Mr. Holm was married in Finland to Miss Sophia Johansen, who, like her husband, is a native of Finland, coming to this country in 1889. They are the parents of five children, four of whom are living: John Amil joined the colors November 3, 1917, served in Company F, Fifty-ninth Infantry, Fourth Division, trained at Camp Lewis four months, then Camp Green, N. C., then went over- seas and saw service through all the big battles ; was gassed at Argonne Forest, was discharged May 18, 1919, after eleven months in France and then came 'home to take up his work on the ranch; Eddie, a farmer in the Biola district ; Andrew, assisting his father on the ranch; Sena, at home.

Mr. Holm is a member of the Lutheran Church, and also of the California Peach Growers, Inc., and the California Associated Raisin Company. In the early days his ranch was the show place of the vicinity, and was used in demon- strating what could be done in production from the soil.

CHARLES E. VOICE .- The youngest fruit buyer, in point of years, in the San Joaquin Valley, and probably in the entire state of California, is Charles E. Voice. His wits have been pitted against those of some of the oldest and most experienced fruit buyers in the state, and he has held his own with them all. Fresno may well be proud of him, for he is one of her native sons, having been born in that city May 18, 1890.

He attended the grammar and high school at Fowler, supplementing this with a commercial course at Heald's Business College at Fresno and at San Jose. After leaving school he engaged in the fruit business, which he has followed ever since.

He has been in the employ of leading packing companies in Fresno County, and was bookkeeper and stenographer with the J. K. Armsby Company. He was also in the employ of J. F. Niswander at Malaga, and for a while was with the Earl Fruit Company, and also the Phoenix Raisin Company. In 1917, at the age of twenty-seven, he became buyer for the American Seedless Raisin Company, resigning in 1919; he is now with Rosenberg Brothers and Company, fruit packers.

For his life companion, Mr. Voice chose a native daughter of Fresno, who in maidenhood was Miss Edith Walker. Their union has been blessed by the birth of one child, a son, Edward Walker by name. Mr. Voice is a member of the Fraternal Brotherhood.

CHARLES HOMER BOUCHER .- Thrift and foresight, push and enter- prise were characteristics of the sturdy pioneers who came to California in the 'early years of its history. Among these was Charles H. Boucher, born October 19, 1845, of English parents in Elbridge, Onondaga County, N. Y. His father, George Boucher, a surveyor, and his mother, Mary Anne Protherole, were mar- ried in England before coming to this country. George Boucher, the father of five children, three boys and two girls, died when Charles H. Boucher was but six years of age. Young Charles attended the public schools of Onondaga County until he was fifteen years of age, working for others to earn the wherewith to pay for his board and schooling. He was sixteen years old when the Civil War began, and responding to the call for volunteers, was mustered into service as a private, August 28, 1862, with Company E, One Hundred Twenty-second New York Volunteers, organized at Syracuse, serving under Captain H. H. Walpole until mustered out in May, 1865. During those three years he was in twenty-six general engagements, among other, Gettysburg, Cold Harbor and Antietam. After leaving the army he heard the "call of the West" and came to California, working for a year on a dairy farm in Solano County, afterwards renting grain

2410

HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

land and working for himself. After three years he purchased 320 acres of land and continued to raise grain for fifteen years.

At Fairfield, Solano County, December 20, 1872, he was married to Martha M. Weaver, a native of Clark County, Mo., and a daughter of William M. and Sarah Ellen (Henton) Weaver, born in Kentucky and Virginia, respectively. Martha M. came to California with her father, a farmer, who located in San Joa- quin County in 1870. Four children blessed this union: Lottie May, Mrs. Wel- don of this county; Emily Florence, at home; George Thomas died at the age of sixteen, and Archie Homer was in United States Army and served overseas until mustered out and is back on the ranch.

In 1884 Mr. Boucher removed to Fresno County, purchasing the east half of section 16, the home place, upon which there was not even a shrub at the time, neither was there water with which to irrigate the land. At that time the present site of the attracive little own of Clovis was a vast grain field. Mr. Boucher con- tinued the occupation of grain raising in his new home, and, three years later purchased the west half of section 16. Seven years later he set a small acreage to vineyard, the venture proving lucrative, he continued to set out land to vineyard at intervals until he had sixty acres under cultivation, including five or six varie- ties of grapes.

Mr. Boucher passed away June 29, 1917. Since his death Mrs. Boucher makes her home in Fresno, looking after the interests left by her husband.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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 117

Author: Vandor, Paul E., 1858- Publication date: 1919 Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company Number of Pages: 1424

Author: Vandor, Paul E., 1858-
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company
Number of Pages: 1424