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 131

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 131

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In 1900, with a partner, he bought a flock of sheep and four years later bought his partner's interest, continuing the business, ranging his stock on the plains and in the mountains. Some years he had as many as 10,000 head and he met with the most satisfactory success. In 1910 he located his present ranch as a homestead of 160 acres about eight miles north of Huron. He has made improvements on the place with comfortable residence and substantial

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barns and other buildings. He purchased land adjoining and now owns 960 acres, being also engaged in raising grain, though stock-raising is his specialty. He is a thorough farmer and insists on keeping everything about the ranch in the best of shape so it is a satisfaction to see the order that prevails on his ranch. Being well posted and experienced in the sheep-raising industry, in 1907, Mr. Bidegaray was appointed, by the Secretary of Agriculture as Fed- eral Sheep Inspector, a position he filled with his customary zeal and ardor, traveling all over the San Joaquin Valley, giving it his time and best effort until 1917, when he resigned on account of the pressure of his other affairs. He is one of the original stockholders of the Union National Bank of Fresno, and is also one of the stockholders of the Fresno Savings Bank.

In Fresno, January 3, 1910, occurred the marriage of Domingo Bidegaray with Miss Juanita Eznoz, a native of Navarra, Spain, the daughter of Jose and Romona ( Larrea) Eznoz, farmer folk in that country. Juanita Eznoz came to Fresno in 1906, where she met Mr. Bidegaray, the acquaintance re- sulting in their marriage. They have three children, Micaela. Juanita and Joaquina, all attending St. John's Academy in Fresno. Mr. and Mrs. Bide- garay are conscientious and consistent Christians and try to do good whenever the opportunity arises. Of social dispositions, they are liberal with their hos- pitality and are ready and willing to help deserving people, as well as move- ments for the general good of the community. In national politics, Mr. Bide- garay is a Republican.

O. A. OLSEN .- A well-posted viticulturist, now in independent circum- stances, who is enjoying the rewards of hard labor and enterprise of such a nature that no one could possibly envy him his success, is O. A. Olsen. He was born at Flekkefjord. Norway, on May 1, 1879, the son of Ole Tönneson, a farmer having a farm and a fisherman who had his own vessel, the catching of fish being his chief industry. He used to make trips to the north coast of Norway and bring back his catch ; and he was locally famous for his experi- ence and prowess. He lived to a good old age, and died in the land of his birth. His wife was Tobnia Larsen before her marriage. When she died. she was the mother of seven children, among whom three, all sons, are now liv- ing: Thomas is in Fortuna, and Louis is in Loleta, Cal., the owner of the Loleta Lumber Yard ; while O. A. Olsen lives on his ranch twelve miles east of Fresno.

After finishing the courses at the public schools, the lad assisted his father until he was seventeen, and then he sailed from Norway for the United States.

In 1896, Mr. Olsen reached Fortuna, Humboldt County, and soon after, at Newburg. entered the employ of the Eel River Valley Lumber Company. Two months later he went to Scotia and began grading for the P. E. I. Co., after which he was a sawyer, running the big band saw. At the end of a year he resigned and went to Siskiyou County, and there, at La Moyne, he was sawyer for the La Moyne Lumber Company for another year. Typhoid fever drove him back to Fortuna, and in the spring of 1904 he came to Fresno County, where he entered on a service of two years as sawyer for the Sanger Lumber Company. Then he went to Loyalton, Sierra County, to work as sawyer for the Roberts Lumber Company and he continued with them for five years, or until they ran out of logs. He next shifted to the Marsh Lumber Company to perform the same service, and left them at the end of two years, only because that company also ran out of timber. Two years of hard. expert work as sawyer for the Davis Lumber Company completed a service as saw- yer of eleven years, and after one more ycar in the same capacity, with the Sugar Pine Lumber Company at Madera, he returned to Sanger to quit lumbering and take up the new field of farming.

For the last ten years Mr. Olsen has been engaged in viticulture, and gradually he has built up an enviable reputation for leadership in the most up-to-date methods. He bought twenty acres of vineyard near Sanger, ran

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it awhile, and then sold it at a good profit. He next bought forty acres of raw land on McCall and Ventura Avenues, improved the same and set out a vineyard; and two years later he sold it at a good profit. Once again he bought a vineyard, this time of thirty acres, near Sanger, for which he paid $6,500, kept it three years, and sold it at a fair profit. Then he bought ten acres near Sanger which he sold to his father-in-law in 1915, and associating himself with the Alexander Land Company of Fresno, he engaged in real estate for a year. About the same time he bought forty acres near Sanger, which he sold in two months at a good profit.

In the spring of 1916, he bought eighty acres near Sanger for $20,000, located on it, set out forty acres to vines, and planted the other forty to alfalfa, and in January, 1918, sold it at a big profit. He had taken off two crops worth $10,000, and he received $32,000 for the land. Before this he had bought his present place of twenty-six acres on Ventura Avenue, where he made his home, and also thirty-seven acres across the road, which he planted to grain. Well-posted on land values, Mr. Olsen knows when the price is right and how both to safeguard himself and to do justice by the purchaser ; and the result is that whoever does business with this enterprising rancher never fails to be satisfied. One of the original members of the California Associated Raisin Company, he was long correspondent and signed up every member in his section, besides securing outside district support; and he is also an active member of the California Peach Growers Association, Inc.

At Sanger, Mr. Olsen was married to Miss Sabina Garbick, a native of Galicia, Austria, who came here with her parents when she was a girl. Three children have blessed this happy union: Alfred Sigmund; Alice Sabina, and Herman Thomas. The family attends the Methodist Church at Sanger, and Mr. Olsen is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and of the Red Men.

While at Eureka, in 1901, Mr. Olsen was made a citizen of the United States. He has served his fellow citizens as trustee of the Granville School District.

G. B. GARBARINO .- A resident of California for over forty years, and numbered among the old and prosperous settlers of Fresno County, G. B. Garbarino has contributed his share to the development and improvement of the lands of the county. He is a native of Italy, born in Genoa, December 27, 1855, and when a babe only six days of age was left an orphan. Mr. Garbarino was reared to young manhood by his uncle Peter Garbarino, and remained on his uncle's farm until he reached his majority, when, being the only child, he came into possession of the estate left by his father.

In May, 1877, Mr. Garbarino left his native land for America, arriving in the Golden State in June of the same year. For a while he worked as a gar- dener in San Francisco, after which he engaged in mining in Mariposa County, and later followed lumbering. In 1882, he came to Fresno County, where he purchased a ranch, near Calloway, from Thomas Hughes. Here he followed gardening, but later on he set out the ranch to vines; he has retained this property ever since. For a number of years he owned and operated a ranch on the Kings River. Mr. Garbarino was the first man in Fresno County to irrigate crops by pumping water from a well. He installed a chain pump which he operated by horse-power, and in this manner he was enabled to raise enough water to irrigate his crop of vegetables.

It was in 1902 that Mr. Garbarino purchased his present place of twenty- five acres, situated between Thorne and Palm Avenues, and the following year he located there. He leveled and improved the place, engaged in garden- ing, and sold the products of his well-kept place in Fresno. The business finally grew to such an extent that it required five wagons to deliver the vegetables to his many patrons in the city. He has installed a modern pump- ing plant and also built a large and comfortable residence on his ranch. With his son-in-law, Fred Maglio, Mr. Garbarino has secured the contract for the

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Fresno New Scavenger, and for this business owns and operates four auto trucks.

G. B. Garbarino has been married three times, the first time to Serephina Garbarino, the ceremony being solemnized in Italy. She passed away, leaving one child, Joe, who died at the age of seven years and seven months. His second marriage occurred at Coulterville, Cal., when he was united with Mary Garbarino, who afterwards died on the Calloway ranch, leaving two children : Annie, who is now Mrs. Allen; and Aurelia, Mrs. Maglio, both of whom reside in Fresno. In 1901, Mr. Garbarino took a trip to Italy, and upon his return to California was united in marriage with Mrs. Ida Garbarino, a native of Italy. She passed away in August, 1911, leaving five children : Blanche, Joe, John, Ernest, and Eva. The last-named dying when seven months old. By a former marriage Mrs. Ida Garbarino was the mother of one child, Mary, who is now the wife of Jerry Lombardi.

Mr. Garbarino was made a citizen of the United States of America over thirty years ago, having received his naturalization papers at Fresno. In po- litical matters Mr. Garbarino supports the principles of the Republican party.

JOHN HILTON BALFE .- The resident superintendent of the famous "Margherita Vineyard," located on Ventura Avenue, five miles east of Fresno is John H. Balfe a native of the Empire State, born January 16, 1898, at Newburgh, N. Y., a son of Frederick C. and Bertha (Hilton) Balfe. His father, F. C. Balfe, is a well known capitalist of the state of New York and is treasurer of the Newburgh Savings Bank and is financially interested in the Newburgh Shipyards Incorporated, of Newburgh, N. Y., a large and im- portant industry. Both the Balfe and Hilton families are prominent in the financial and social circles of the state of New York and are favorably known in the nation's metropolis. Mr. and Mrs. F. C. Balfe are the parents of three children : Harriet ; John H., the subject of this review; and Frederick C. Jr.

John Hilton Balfe, received his early education in the public schools of Newburgh, afterwards going to Blair Academy, Blairstown, N. J., where he was preparing himself to enter Cornell University, planning to pursue the agricultural course, but was obliged to abandon his plans on account of eye trouble. He has always had a strong liking for the great "out-of-doors" life and during the summer after he left Blair Academy, he worked on the Borden Home Farm, in Orange County, N. Y. The Borden's were the first people in the United States to successfully manufacture evaporated milk and put it up in cans, their original farm being located near Newburgh, N. Y. On this famous farm Mr. Balfe learned dairying and the care of milch cows. Being strongly inclined to engage in agricultural pursuits, it was but natural that California, with its wonderful and diversified opportunities for such work, would attract the attention of Mr. Balfe. He arrived in the Golden State in 1917, and became the resident superintendent of the great "Margherita Vine- yard" which is owned by the East Side Development Company, a California corporation, of which his father. F. C. Balfe, is a large stockholder and Charles Teague, of Fresno, is the president. This vineyard was originally owned and developed by the late E. B. Rogers, who planted it to wine grapes; the varieties include the zinfandel, mission, feherzagos, oheoni, sultana, and the buchi. The property contains a large winery with ample machinery for the distillation of grape brandy. Most of the 1918 crop of grapes was sent to Fresno, where it found a ready sale as "table grapes." The shipping facilities of the "Margherita Vineyard" are most excellent as the Southern Pacific Railroad and the Fresno Traction Company both run near the property and have switches built into the vineyard thus making it possible to load and ship the grapes directly from the vineyard. This splendid property is abun- dantly sub-irrigated and the soil is very fertile, the vineyard being regarded the most valuable tract of land, devoted to viticulture in Fresno County. Palm Avenue, a very picturesque drive, bounds the property on the east. It is one

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mile in length and is bordered by gigantic Washington palms, many of the driveways being skirted by olive trees of unusual size.

Through the energetic and intelligent management of Mr. Balfe, the vineyard is kept up to a high state of development. Mr. Balfe is managing the famous "Margherita Vineyard" with great satisfaction to the company and with profit to the stockholders. He is more enthusiastic over farming and the out-of-door life since coming to California and is making good in his chosen work of agriculture, horticulture and viticulture and his friends predict for him a very successful business career. An uncle of his, Harry Balfe, is the head of the Austin Nichols Company, of New York City, the largest wholesale grocery in the world; another uncle, Thomas F. Balfe, of New York City, is a stockholder and president of the Newburgh Savings Bank.

FRED M. ROESSLER .- A man who has given his best efforts toward the improving and building-up of his section of Fresno County is Fred M. Roessler, who has been a resident of California since 1874. He was born in St. Martin, Rheinish Bavaria, Germany, August 24, 1857, his father George Roessler, being a viticulturist on the Rhine, so that while attending school as a boy Fred M. assisted in the vineyard on Wednesday and Saturday after- noons, as is the custom in that country, learning the care of the vineyard and the method of pruning the vines under his father's direction. After he had completed the grammar school he entered the high school at Edenkoben, continuing his studies until just before graduation.

His desire to see the world had become so strong that he left home and shipped aboard a vessel bound for New York City, arriving in 1873. Here he enlisted in the Nautical School Ship "St. Marys," taking a course in navi- gation, after which he shipped from Boston on the "Lathley Rich," sailing around Cape of Good Hope by way of Australia, Fiji Islands and Japan to China, visiting most of the important ports in the Orient. During the voyage they had many interesting experiences, some of which left an indelible impression on the young lad. At Hong Kong he decided to come to Cal- ifornia. Having read of the California grapes he had a longing to see this productive country, so he came on an English boat Margarite, with 1,100 coolies aboard, to San Francisco, arriving in July, 1874, not yet seventeen years of age-a stranger in a strange land.

Making his way to Monterey County, he worked on a ranch and learned to drive the big teams in the grain field, as-well-as to do general farm work. Reading much about Mexico his interest was aroused and in 1878 he went to Guaymas on the ship that carried the first two locomotives from San Francisco to Guaymas for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad then building from Guaymas to Benson, Ariz. He was employed on the construc- tion of the road until they reached Hermosillo, when he became ill with fever and returned to San Francisco via Carmen Island on a ship that car- ried a load of salt to San Francisco. In the fall of 1879 he visited his parents and on his return visited Napa and Santa Clara Counties, but found land values too high for him so he came to Fresno County having read of Eggers vineyard and cheap lands. Looking about he met a Mr. Downer, who wanted to sell out so Mr. Roessler purchased his forty acres with improvements for $1,600. This formed the nucleus of his present large vineyard. He imme- diately set about to improve it, and as he could, he purchased other lands from time to time until he has 180 acres in one body and improved to wine grapes. In 1892 he began making wine commercially, and in 1893 built his first winery. Later, as his needs required he completed the present large winery with a capacity of 500,000 gallons. He has beautified the place with a park which surrounds his residence, and which is set out with ornamental and shade trees and which is often referred to as one of the show places of the district.

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In San Francisco, May 3, 1890, occurred the marriage of F. M. Roessler with Miss Sina Johnson, who was born near Stavanger, Norway, and who came to Fresno in 1888; they have three children living .- Elsie, Mrs. Flynn of San Francisco: George and Alfred are caring for the Roessler vineyards. They also have an adopted son, Ludvig Roessler, who resides in San Fran- cisco.

Mr. Roessler was made a Mason in Salinas Lodge No. 247, F. & A. M., is now a member of Fresno Lodge. He is also a member of Fresno Consistory Scottish Rite and Islam Temple A. A. O. N. M. S., in San Francisco, as-well- as the Fresno Lodge of Elks. Mr. Roessler is very liberal and enterprising and can always be found on the side of development and public improve- ment. He is a contributor to all worthy projects for the betterment of the condition of the people, and always a supporter of The Fresno Chamber of Commerce. He believes in cooperation and is a stockholder and member of the California Associated Raisin Company. Politically, he performs his civic duties under the standard of the Republican platform.

FRED REBENSDORF .- Combining farsightedness with hard work and keeping the owning of his own ranch for his goal, Fred Rebensdorf has at- tained his objective and is now cultivating the second piece of property he has acquired since coming to Fresno County as a poor boy from his native Russia. Born on the River Volga, near Dinkel, Samara, November 12, 1877, he is a son of Fred and Mary (Schroeder) Rebensdorf, natives of Russia, and farmer folk there; the father passed to his reward in the old country, but the mother is rounding out her years in Fresno.

Of the six children born to his parents, Fred Rebensdorf is the youngest, and was raised on the home farm while attending the public schools of his na- tive province. He later served in the artillery of the Russian Army, and on re- ceiving his honorable discharge followed farming. His marriage occurred in Dinkel in 1902, and united him with Miss Mary Thompson, also born there. In 1903 the young people made the long journey to the United States, and for one year located in South Dakota; then, in 1904, they came to Fresno, and here Mr. Rebensdorf was for two years in the employ of the Santa Fe rail- road. The following two years he did ranch work; and then he felt able to buy his first property, consisting of twenty acres at Rolinda, on White's Bridge Road. This he improved to alfalfa and engaged in dairying. Four years later he sold the ranch at a good profit and in 1912 bought his present place of thirty acres in Barstow District, thirteen miles northwest of Fresno. This property he has improved to vineyards, putting in Thompson seedless grapes, and some of the acreage he devotes to alfalfa. Here he has built his residence and other buildings necessary to ranch work. Ten children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Rebensdorf: Annie; Fred Jr .; Peter ; Alexander ; Henry ; William ; Mollie ; Emma ; Jacob, and Walter all at home with their parents. The family attend the Lutheran Church in Fresno. Mr. Rebensdorf is a mem- ber of the California Associated Raisin Company, and in politics is a Re- publican.

DEUTA SULPRIZIO .- The Adriatic provinces are wonderfully attrac- tive to the traveler because of their picturesque old-time life, quaint towns, interesting and beautiful national costumes and extraordinary scenery. Among these provinces is Abruzzi, on Italy's eastern shore, where Deuta Sulprizio, the proprietor of Sulprizio's Auto Machine Shop, was born Novem- ber 2, 1884. He received a public school education, completing it in the high school in his native country, and at the age of sixteen, while still a school student, started in to learn the machinist's trade. From fifteen to eighteen years of age he followed bicycle and motorcycle racing, later becoming an expert automobile racer in England, France and Italy, winning a number of prizes in long-distance races. He worked at his trade of machinist in different cities of Italy until twenty years of age, when he entered the School of Me-

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chanical and Nautical Engineering, where he became an expert. One year after graduation he was foreman of a large shop in Italy. Later he worked in the navy yard shops at Naples as marine engineer. For three and one-half years he was foreman on construction. Part of the time he saw service on the sea as marine engineer on torpedo-boats and battleships, and took long trips on newly constructed gasoline launches, delivering them to battle-ships. His experience as marine engineer caused his services to be sought by L. A. Norris, of San Francisco, Cal., owner of the seagoing eighty-foot yacht Seafair, then in the bay of Naples, Italy. He was engineer on this yacht on a 30,000-mile trip from Naples to Malta, China, Japan, India and the Philippine Islands- a trip lasting nearly a year-finally sailing through the Golden Gate, San Francisco, November 25, 1911.

Since the date of his landing, Mr. Sulprizio has been actively engaged at his trade in California. He was employed in the garage of Waterman Brothers at Fresno for seven months, and then worked in Tulare, Modesto and Los Angeles. In 1914 he returned to Fresno and started a small machine repair shop on I Street. The gradual expansion of his business caused him to move to larger quarters on I and Merced Streets, and later to Inyo and I Streets. In April, 1918, he moved to his present shop at 507 I Street, where he has one of the most commodious and up-to-date places in Fresno, fully equipped with machinery for carrying on his steadily growing business. He does cylinder regrinding, carries special makes of pistons, and does general mechanical work, tractor repairing, etc.

MORTEN POULSEN .- A justly popular Danish-American in the vicin- ity of Parlier is Morten Poulsen. He owns twenty acres a mile and a half west of Parlier, where he has resided for six months. He was born at Ribe, in Denmark, on September 12, 1875, the son of Paul Poulsen, a farmer, who married Marie Sorensen, and after a very industrious life, died in his native land, aged fifty-four years. Mrs. Poulsen is still living at Ribe, the mother of ten children, who grew up, and little Marie, who died a child, in Denmark. These seven boys and three girls are as follows: Claus S., a farmer, married, in Denmark; and his twin brother, Morten, the subject of this interesting review ; Anna K., the wife of Jess Andersen ; Inga, the wife of Ben Tobiasen ; Soren J., a rancher living near Parlier ; Nils Marins, also a rancher; Anton M., a carpenter and single, who is doing a patriot's duty at Camp Lewis; Christina, the wife of William Kallerup, who is in the restaurant business at San Francisco; Knudt Einar, single, an infantryman at Camp Freeman ; Hans H., who was killed on July 28, 1917, in France.

After attending the excellent Danish schools until he was nineteen, Mor- ten went to sea, and for seven years coursed the briny deep on sailing vessels and steamships. He also put out from England for three years, when he worked for the Atlantic Transport Line. For this strennous activity he was well prepared, for before becoming a sailor he was a fisherman, and worked for three years on a fishing vessel hailing from Germany. He first came to America in 1903, when he sailed in the Coast-trade ships busy in transporting cotton. He had taken passage on a steamer from Southampton for New York, and having gotten his bearings in the American metropolis, he engaged with the Morgan line. After that he served for six months in laying and repairing the cable from Galveston to Vera Cruz; and he also helped repair the cable from Florida to Bermuda. During the years 1906-07, Mr. Poulsen was in the Danish Navy, cruising in the Mediterranean Sea, where he did duty as a marine. Before he went into the Danish Navy, he had sailed mostly in German and English ships. He doubled Cape Horn twice, and the Cape of Good Hope once; and so, through all these wide wanderings, in which he visited and sojourned in more lands than most people even read of in detail, he came to know much about life on the globe as a whole, and is therefore today wonderfully well informed.

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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 131

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