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 139
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Mr. Garcia has been twice married, his first union being with Kate Erre- cart, a native daughter of California, who passed away in Los Angeles in 1914, leaving him three children: Marie, Frank and Albert. His second mar- riage took place in Stockton, where he was united with Miss Olga Swenson. a lady of culture and refinement, who ably assists him and encourages him in his ambitions. Mr. Garcia was made a citizen in Fresno County seven years ago, and is a stanch Republican.
CHARLES LEWIS WALTER .- A highly-honored pioneer of Fresno County, who has for years been active as a scientific, progressive horticulturist, and as an exponent of irrigation according to the latest and most approved methods, is C. L. Walter, a former resident of Fowler, where he planted and improved an extensive area, and now one of the esteemed citizens of Oakland. He is largely interested in the general merchandise firm of J. S. Manley & Co., Inc., and through his established interests here continues to identify himself, though indirectly, with the town of his early choice.
He was born in Mercer County, Ill., on July 16, 1850, the son of Silas Walter, a New Englander by birth and at one time a seafaring man, who rose to be a captain. As a young man, he came to Mercer County and took up govern- ment land, and farmed. He married a widow, Mrs. Evelyn (Decker) Groff, a na- tive of Muskingum County, Ohio, who removed to Illinois before her first marriage, and there had two daughters. Mary, now Mrs. E. P. Riply, resides at Spokane, Wash., and Dora is Mrs. Charles Brown of Viroqua, Wis. When our subject was only seven years of age, his father passed away; and three years later, he lost his mother. There were three boys in the family, Charles Lewis being the eldest, Benjamin coming next, and H. F. being the youngest. Benjamin died in Illinois in 1876, leaving a daughter; and H. F. has become the well-known physician and surgeon of San Francisco. Before he went East to study medicine, he was prin- cipal of a grammar school in Fresno, and became known for his participation in Fresno County educational work.
As a mere boy, Charles Lewis enlisted in Company C, Eleventh Illinois Vol- unteer Cavalry, at one time-1862-commanded by Col. Robert G. Ingersoll, and on his fifteenth birthday, he had been in the service six months and five days. He was then stationed at Memphis, Tenn., and as a cavalryman, did scout duty. He remained in the service until October 11, 1865, when he was honorably discharged at Camp Butler, Springfield, Ill. Returning to civil life, he went to the common schools in Mercer County, Ill., and also at Viroqua, Wis. After the war, with his two brothers he opened up the coal mines on his father's government land.
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In 1867, Mr. Walter came out to California, traveling by way of Nicaragua and landing at San Francisco in April. He sailed up from Greytown on the old steamship America, a side-wheeler which broke her shaft, and they had to worry along with only one wheel. As they were two weeks overdue when they arrived at the end of the journey, it is no wonder that the ship was reported lost, with all on board. He remained in California from 1867 until the completion of the rail- road, when he went back to Illinois, in 1869, and again took charge of his father's farm.
In 1871, he came out to California again and for a while mined at Liberty Hill, Nevada County, and at Dutch Flat, in Placer County. As he was well endowed with musical ability, he took to the violin, played for dances and other social functions of those days, and was popular as an amateur violinist. He went over to Nevada in 1876, and at a place in White Pine County then called Ward, he continued mining. When he left White Pine County, he moved North to Spokane, Washington, and bought railroad land before the advent of the Northern Pacific Railway; and coming South again, he went to Yuma County, Arizona, where he became foreman of the Red Cloud Mine, six miles from the Colorado River, fifty miles above Yuma.
Returning to California, Mr. Walter stopped off at Fowler to see some rela- tives, and became so interested in this locality that he bought a section of land, a part of the Philip Bert estate. Later he sold one-half of the section, keeping for himself the north half of section fourteen, known as the Walter Colony, which lies half a mile east of Fowler ; and leasing additional land, he put the whole into wheat and Egyptian corn. In a short time, he was farming extensively, and at one time he raised 11,000 sacks of wheat and shipped the first carloads of "Gyp" corn to the San Francisco market. In the early eighties Selma and Prairie school districts were the nearest to Fowler. With difficulty Mr. Walter secured the necessary signatures of parents representing fifteen children and established the Fowler school district, being one of the first trustees. Of the children, not one resided in what is now the town of Fowler. All were farmers' children.
He helped to build the Garfield ditch, and became a prime mover in the irri- gation systems in this part of Fresno County. One Sunday, in company with Wil- liam McCall and Frank Dusey, he went up the Kings River for the purpose of locating a site from which they could divert water for irrigation; and this led to the establishment of the Fowler Canal and the incorporation of the canal com- pany. They located the site for a dam and called a meeting of the settlers at the Frank Dusey Place, north of Selma, and there formed a corporation for the con- struction of the Fowler Canal. When they proceeded to construct the canal, however, in the early eighties, they discovered that the settlers had not much money, and arrangements were made whereby the latter could work out their shares. The engineers divided up the land into sections, and each settler along the line was given a certain portion to excavate. Each one was supposed to raise one hundred dollars in cash, and to work out $200 worth, and so to acquire a share worth $300. Mr. Walter in this way became one of the first directors in the canal, and later the canal superintendent.
He was also elected supervisor from the Fourth District, and served for four years. During his term, the water rights and litigation relative to the same occu- pied the attention of Mr. Walter to a great extent, and were the cause of frequent appeals to the courts. He bought stock in the First National Bank at Fresno and was a director there for twelve years; and he helped to organize the People's Savings Bank at Fresno. He later assisted in organizing the Union National Bank of Fresno, and was a director in it for several years, and he contributed to or- ganize the First National Bank of Fowler, and was a director in that for several years. He owned and operated the Belmont & Yosemite Railway, a horse-car line, the first in Fresno, and was both superintendent and manager; and later he sold out his holding, two-thirds of the capital stock, to Griffin Mckenzie. At one time, also, he was part owner of the Fresno Republican and was also actively interested in the Walter Colony, which he laid out and successfully colonized. He
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ran for State Senator against G. G. Goucher, but was defeated by 218 votes. In June, 1897, Mr. Walter being attracted by the Klondike excitement, journeyed to Alaska via the Chilcoot Pass. With four companions he experienced the thrill of passing through the Miles Canon and Whitehorse Rapids in an open boat. One year in Alaska convinced Mr. Walter that Fresno County was the real Eldorado, as subsequent developments have proven.
In 1902 Mr. Walter became interested in the firm of J. S. Manley & Co .. Inc., of Fowler, the leading dealers in general merchandise at that place; which firm has at its head a very able manager, also one of the earliest pioneers at Fowler, J. S. Manley, who resides at Fowler, and under whose able direction the firm has become one of the largest operators in Fresno County.
At Eureka, Nev., on December 18, 1876, Mr. Walter was married to Miss Meda L. Decker, a native daughter born in Solano County; she taught for a while at Napa and then moved to Ward, Nev. They have one adopted daughter, Miss Melba Virginia. In June, 1910, Mr. and Mrs. Walter moved to Oakland, and there they now reside in a beautiful home at 5658 Ocean View Drive. This re- moval to the bay city, however, has not diminished Mr. Walter's interest in Fowler or moderated his old-time devotion to her best phases, or to his Fowler friends.
JOHN CERINI .- A Californian who has generously supported the Gov- ernment in the Liberty Bond, Red Cross and other War drives, is John Cerini, financier, stockman and dairyman, who came to the Golden State when he was fifteen, began at the lowest round of the ladder, and by hard work has succeeded.
Mr. Cerini was born at Guimaglio, Canton Ticino, Switzerland, on Jan- uary 20, 1854, the son of John Cerini, a landowner, although a laborer. The latter went to Australia to mine gold and died there on July 4, 1863, leaving his wife, who was Marianna Puggi, a widow with five children. She lived to be eighty-five years of age.
John was the youngest child in his father's family, and was sent to the local public schools of Switzerland, which he left in the middle of his teens, when he decided that it was time to make his own way in the world. At first he secured employment on the farms in his neighborhood, and then he left the scenes of his childhood and sailed for the United States. He first shipped for Hull and Liverpool, England, and then for New York; and after that he traveled to San Francisco by way of the Panama Canal. For a month following his arrival on the Coast he went to school in Sonoma County, and then he obtained work on a dairy farm in Marin County, where he remained six months. At twenty he was a rancher working for himself.
Six years later Mr. Cerini married Miss Frances Calzalscia, also a native of Switzerland and they have become the parents of eight children. Mary is the wife of Frank Allison, the well-known rancher near Burrel; Lucy has become Mrs. Thomas Duffy, and resides in Fresno, where her husband is employed with the Valley Ice Company : Edith married Neil Beck, at Easton ; Rosa is Mrs. W. D. Lewis; John is in the navy; and Sadie, George and Ches- ter, the three youngest, are at home. Mrs. Cerini's parents were John and Mary (Pefferini) Calzalscia, and she has a brother and two sisters. She also was born in the Canton Ticino, and came to California when a girl, after which her father became a successful dairyman.
For twenty years Mr. Cerini ran a cheese factory, and sold his product in Fresno. Now, besides 850 acres of land in Sonoma County, he owns 3,000 acres near Riverdale, on which he raises beef cattle. His handsome, two- story house he built twelve years ago. He has become a man of affairs, as might be expected, and is a director in the Dairyman's (State) Bank at Val- ley Ford, in Sonoma County. At first he leased his land, then bought; and when the railway was built through here in 1893, he was one of the active promoters.
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JOHN FRANKLIN MAXWELL .- The oldest photographer now do- ing business in Fresno, who has by his years of careful and conscientious appli- cation to his art made a success and high standing for himself, is John Franklin Maxwell, born in St. George, Tucker County, W. Va., on February 16, 1867. His father, Rufus, a native of Weston, Lewis County, then old Virginia, was a sur- veyor by profession and surveyed much of that region; he also built and owned a grist and saw mill on Horse Shoe Run, a tributary of the Cheat River. The last ten years, he lived retired, in the enjoyment of competence. Mr. Maxwell's mother, Sarah Jane Bonnefield, also a native of Tucker County, comes of a prominent old Virginia family, the ancestors of which owned a farm on the Po- tomac where Washington, D. C. now stands.
Mr. Maxwell is the third youngest of ten children, who grew up, eight of whom are now living. He lived in St. George, until he was fourteen, then went to Weston, Lewis County with his Grandfather Maxwell, attended Weston Acad- emy, and then had one term at St. George Academy in St. George. He after- wards entered Northern Indiana State Normal at Valparaiso, where he was grad- uated in 1889, with the degree B. S. He then took a special course in art for one year.
On December 25, 1889, he arrived in Fresno, engaged in teaching for three terms in Fresno County, then worked for two years as reporter for the Fresno Expositor. After that he went back East and in Iowa, July 31, 1894, he was married to Iona V. Piper, born in Osceola, Iowa. After his marriage, he followed photography for one year at Valparaiso, Ind., and was in the same business in Parsons, W. Va., for one year. In 1896 he returned to Fresno and began his work as a photographer where he has conducted his studio ever since. In 1898 he took in A. C. Mudge as a partner and the business has been Maxwell & Mudge since that time. His excellent results show his efforts to please the public.
Aside from his art, he is interested in viticulture and horticulture and owns a fifteen-acre tract on Blackstone Avenue where he makes his home with his family. The death of his wife February 26, 1904, left him with five children: Harold, who served in the Aviation Section of the United States Army and is now attending the University of Pennsylvania ; Raymond, Hugh, Iona and Emma, twins.
Mr. Maxwell was married a second time on July 11, 1906, to Miss Ida Phillips, at Little Rock, Ark., she being a native of Little Rock. They have four children : Doris, Vivian, Edward, and John F., Jr.
Mr. Maxwell is a member of Central California Lodge No. 343, I. O. O. F. of which he is treasurer. He is also a member of the Fraternal Brotherhood, the Fresno Chamber of Commerce for the last twenty years, and belongs to the Photographers Association of America.
CHRISTOPH GERINGER .- A hard-working and successful farmer who is also a very fine cabinetmaker and woodworker, is Christoph Geringer, who came to Fresno in May, 1902. He was born at Iblonovka, near Volga, Russia, on August 3, 1877, and his father was also Christoph Geringer, a farmer, now retired in the neighborhood where he has lived eighty-six years. His wife was Catherine Keck before her marriage; and she died in 1898, the mother of five boys and two girls, all of whom save one of the sons are still living.
Christoph, Jr., was the youngest of all of these, and while he grew up on the farm, he attended the public school of the locality. At sixteen, accord- ing to Russian custom, he was apprenticed to a cabinetmaker for three years. Thereafter he engaged in the manufacture of furniture, and these he made by hand with such skill that he could sell far more than he could produce.
On December 27, 1899, Mr. Geringer married Miss Annie Elizabeth Rudolf, a native of the same locality from which he came, and the daughter of Rudolph Rudolph, a farmer. Her mother's maiden name was Maggie Forod, and both of these parents are living. Mrs. Geringer was the third oldest of six children.
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Three years after marriage Mr. and Mrs. Geringer decided to come to the United States; and on May 15, 1902, they arrived at Fresno. For a month Mr. Geringer was employed by the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, but attracted by better wages, he went to work in the Prescott Brickyard. When again he quit, it was to pick grapes; and after that he tried blasting hardpan, which he followed two winters, while in the summer time he worked on the hay press for Alexander Will.
In 1907 Mr. Geringer bought forty acres of the Balfour Guthrie Com- pany, situated twelve miles east of Fresno on Ventura Avenue; and later he sold ten acres and kept the remaining thirty. This tract he improved as a vineyard, and managed it until November 29, 1917, when he sold it at a profit.
It was then that Mr. Geringer located in Barstow Colony, where he bought forty acres of land fourteen miles from Fresno. Since then he has been engaged chiefly in raising Thompson seedless grapes. In 1918 he built himself a modern residence. Besides their own daughter, Elizabeth, they are raising a niece, Marie Geringer. The family attend the Lutheran Church at Highland.
Mr. Geringer is a member of the California Associated Raisin Company and also the California Peach Growers, Inc .; and whenever he can, he lends a helping hand to advance their aims. He also assists in advancing local interests generally, for both Mr. and Mrs. Geringer are proud of the country and county of their adoption.
ILHERO MARCEL .- Born in Basses-Pyrénées, France, on January 25, 1886, Ilhero Marcel was the son of farmers there, who still reside on the old home farm where Ilhero was reared. He received a good education in the local schools, and assisted his father on the farm until he entered the Twenty-fourth Regiment of Field Artillery in the French Army, where he served a period of two years. After receiving his honorable discharge, he spent about one year at Pau, and then concluded to cast in his lot on the Pacific Coast. His brother Simon had preceded him two years and was liv- ing in Fresno County ; so Ilhero came hither. For two seasons he was em- ployed in the sawmills at Hume and for two more in lumbering on Pine Ridge, while during the winters he was engaged in farming and stock- raising. Next he was employed in the Hector Bumess vineyard for eighteen months, and then for a short time in dairying with his brother at Kerman. In 1917 he entered the employ of J. Bidegaray, and since then has been one of the foremen on his ranch. He is a very reliable young man, conscientious and thorough in his work, and alert to protect the interests of his employer. He is a member of the French Hospital Association in San Francisco. Po- litically, he is a Republican.
CONRAD SCHNEIDER .- Fresno County has proven a "land of milk and honey" for the people of Samara, Russia, numbers of whom have made the journey here in the past twenty years and found a haven from the hard conditions at home. Among these, Conrad Schneider has been here since a lad of sixteen. Born in Gugges, Samara, March 19, 1886, his father, George, was a farmer in that country and brought his family to Fresno in 1902; he is still a resident of Fresno; the mother, Anna Barbara (Felzing) Schneider, died here in 1912.
Of their family, four boys and two girls are still living, and Conrad is the second youngest; he was raised on the farm in Russia till reaching the age of sixteen, receiving his education in the public schools there. Coming to Fresno in 1902 with his parents, he went to work to assist his father on his ranch on White's Bridge road. When reaching twenty-one years, he be- gan for himself, and for three years engaged in baling hay on contract with his brother George. He then did general teaming in Fresno, and finally ventured in ranch work for himself, leasing for one year, and then bought a twenty-acre ranch in Barstow near Biola; this he improved and set out to
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vineyard and alfalfa, sold it, and bought another ranch in Barstow, adjoining the first, of twenty acres. This was improved to Thompson seedless vineyard and he operated it four years, a splendid ranch, and also bought twenty acres near Shields Avenue in Empire, improved it and sold, and in 1918 bought a ranch of forty acres on Shields Avenue in Empire, fourteen miles north- west of Fresno, a Thompson seedless vineyard. This he traded in July, 1919, for forty acres in peaches on Ashlin Avenue, Biola district.
Mr. Schneider was married, in Fresno, on October 22, 1909, to Miss An- nie Huber, born in Zaucmora, Samara, Russia, a daughter of Henry Huber who brought his family here in 1900 and is a viticulturist in the Empire dis- trict; she was educated in the Fresno schools. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Schneider, Henry and Elsie. The family attends the Lutheran Church in Fresno. Mr. Schneider is a member of the California Associated Raisin Company and of the Peach Growers, Inc.
DOMINIQUE MARTINTO .- Born near Osses, Canton Bigory, Basses- Pyrenees, France, April 12, 1876, Dominique Martinto is the son of Michel Martinto, a farmer, stone-mason and builder. Dominique being next to the youngest of his eight children, he received a good education in the schools of his native place. When twenty-one he entered the French army, serving as man of ordnance in the Fourteenth Artillery Regiment for three years, when he received an honorable discharge.
In 1901, Mr. Martinto came to California, during the first year being employed at the lime kiln at Tehachapi. He then accepted employment in the lumber yards in San Pedro, where he continued for seven years, and during these years he purchased lots and built up a valuable residence prop- erty in San Pedro which he still owns.
Wishing to engage in ranching, Mr. Martinto removed, with his family, to Fresno County. He was for a time employed by Thompson Brothers, and he helped to set some of the trees on Kearney Boulevard. Next he ran a dairy in Parent Colony for two and a half years. In 1914 he bought his present place of forty acres, located on Washington Street, one mile south of Mal- aga. Here he is engaged in raising malagas, sultanas and Thompson seedless grapes, as well as figs and alfalfa. He also leases an additional thirty acres of vineyard, which he operates in connection with his own.
Mr. Martinto was married, in Tehachapi, to Miss Marie Amestoy, also born in Basses-Pyrenees, and who came to California in 1901. They have four children: Victor, Grace, Lyda, and Jeannette. The family are members of St. Alphonso's Church, Fresno. He is a member of the California Associated Raisin Company.
GEORGE SCHEIDT .- A well-informed rancher who, through persistent . efforts has finally acquired property and a well-earned competency, and who has "done his bit" towards developing the county concerning whose future he is so optimistic, is George Scheidt, who was born in Stepnoia, Samara, Russia, on June 5, 1867, the son of George Scheidt, a farmer there. In 1872 he removed with his family some 300 miles on the frontier from Stepnoia and followed farming where the stock or old tribe of Mohammed still lived ; but after two years he returned to Stepnoia and there followed agricultural pursuits until he died. His wife also died there, the mother of four boys and four girls, among whom the subject of this interesting review is the fifth in the order of birth.
From his fifth to his seventh year he lived on the frontier and so became familiar with scenes not known to many; and there he was educated in the public schools. At fifteen he was apprenticed to learn the shoemaker's trade, and later he was married to Miss Katie Schiebelhut, who was also born and reared at Stepnoia.
In 1891 he removed with his wife and one child to Persia, crossing the Caspian Sea en route ; and there he worked at his trade and also at horticul-
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ture and viticulture. However, he did not like the native people there, so he concluded to come back to Stepnoia where he worked at his trade. Early in 1896 he emigrated with his family to the United States, and on March 28 arrived in Cincinnati. He worked at his trade in shoe-manufacturing and other establishments until he decided to come to the Pacific Coast. He was employed by different contractors on the construction of buildings here and also in lumber yards and at planing mills, and at lumbering at Millwood; and while thus engaged he purchased forty acres in the Locan district, later sell- ing half. The twenty acres he retained he set out to vineyard, and erected a residence and the necessary outbuildings; and finally he sold it at a good profit. Then he was janitor of the Edgerly Building for five years and during this time he bought twenty acres in Highland Colony, between Jensen and Railroad avenues. This he set out as a vineyard of Thompson seedless and Muscats, and finally resigned from his place in Edgerly Building. He moved on to the ranch and built a modern residence, barns, and a pumping plant, and fenced in and otherwise improved the place; and after six years he sold it, in 1918, at a good profit.
Then he purchased his present modern bungalow residence on F Street where he resides with his family, and two months later he bought an orchard and vineyard of twenty acres on Olive and Mckinley avenues, northwest of Fresno, which he devotes to raising peaches, Thompson seedless and alfalfa.
Eight children are still living of this union. Louisa is Mrs. Henry Schie- belhut of Fresno; Henry is of the same city; Mollie is Mrs. Miller and lives in the Mckinley district; Paulina is Mrs. Howard of Fresno; while George, John, Lydia and Dora are still at home. Mr. Scheidt is a member of Zion Lutheran Church and is superintendent of the Sunday School.
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