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 15
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WILLIAM A. LOCKIE .- When the real history of the State of Cali- fornia comes to be written, and credit is given to the rank and file of those who laid the foundations of this great commonwealth. and especially to the few who had such foresight and courage that they naturally became leaders and had much to do with guiding the ship of state, then will the historian not fail to record the simple but eloquent story of the late William A. Lockie, whose life closed on March 8. 1918, in his seventy-second year. "Death has again invaded our community," wrote the local newspaper chronicler of that time, "taking one who has long resided here, who has witnessed a remarkable change in the growth and transformation of this section. and who now, in the sunset of his life, passes on, leaving a memory of kindly deeds and noble aspirations."
Mr. Lockie was born in Woodstock, Canada, on January 4, 1846, and when only nineteen years of age he was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Leithead, who was his constant, loving and devoted companion for forty-six years, when she was called to the bourne from which no traveler returns. The value of her life to him is best shown in the fact that, after her natural but still untimely death, on March 29, 1912, Mr. Lockie had suffered from inconsolable loneliness, and seemed to lose interest in earthly affairs. He suffered an attack of apoplexy a week previous to his demise from which he did not rally, for although he was apparently in robust health, the arteries had hardened, and his vitality was impaired. Nothing could be done to relieve him, and he yielded to Nature the great debt expected, sooner or later, from us all. This taking-off bereft especially the following sons and daughters: Thomas S .; Robert M .; John K .; Lillie I., Mrs. J. W. Pugh; William S .; Frank J .; Jessie M., Mrs. W. A. Wilkins ; Margaret B .; Laura I., Mrs. G. A. Rigby ; and Mattie A., Mrs. John Wilkins.
Mr. Lockie was long looked upon as an exemplary citizen, and the local chronicler already referred to reflected the sentiments of the neighbors and friends of the deceased when he further wrote: "During his residence of twenty-six years in Fowler community, Mr. Lockie had proven to be an hon- orable and upright man. highly respected by all who knew him, and a noble and indulgent father to his family of five sons and five daughters, all of whom survive him, together with sixteen grandchildren. The community has lost a man of sterling qualities in the death of Mr. Lockie."
After his marriage in Canada, Mr. Lockie came to California in 1870, settled in Solano County, where for several years he rented land, and then moved to Oregon. For seven years he raised sheep and stock in Lake County,
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and then he went into cotton culture in Texas, choosing Weatherford, thirty miles from Ft. Worth, as the most favorable ranch land. Returning to Cali- fornia in 1887, Mr. Lockie rented the Brown ranch, two miles north of Fowler, but after a year he bought the first instalment of his home ranch, now so widely known as a model farm. He began with twenty acres, but came to own nine times that area of highly-cultivated farm land. His fine residence, built in 1907, cost $6,000, and his ranch was made the more valu- able through a full complement of farm buildings.
SARAH FRANCES PUGH, D. O .- An osteopathic physician of un- usual ability, who has been successfully practicing her profession in Fresno since 1904, is Sarah Frances Pugh, the subject of this sketch. She is a de- scendant of a pioneer family of California, although a native of Lewis County, Mo.
When California caused the world to vibrate with the news of its wonder- ful wealth, and caravans of prairie schooners drawn by slow going oxen were crossing the trackless plains, in the "days of old, the days of gold, the days of '49," it was then that Jane Pugh, the grandmother of Dr. Pugh, accompanied by the doctor's two uncles. Aaron and John Pugh, and two aunts, Esther and Eleanor Pugh, made her advent into the state of Cali- fornia. Grandmother Pugh returned to her old home in Missouri in 1875, where she passed to her reward in 1881. Four sons of the above pioneer John Pugh, are now numbered among the prominent men of San Joaquin Valley. Sarah Frances Pugh is the daughter of Matthias and Hannah (Mc- Williams) Pugh, natives of Ohio and Kentucky, respectively, who were pioneers in Lewis Co., Mo. The father entered government land and re- sided on it till he died at the age of eighty-two and one-half years. His wife having preceded him several years, passed away at the age of sixty-five. Matthias Pugh served in a Missouri regiment in the Civil War.
Dr. Sarah F. Pugh received her early education in the common schools of Missouri, after the completion of which she became a teacher of in- strumental music. Being possessed of a kindly and sympathetic nature, she took up nursing the sick, which experience no doubt was a potent factor in leading her to the decision to become an osteopathic physician. Her first course in this interesting and helpful science, which has accomplished such wonderful and restorative results and alleviated the sufferings of humanity, was taken in Dr. Ward's School of Osteopathy at Kirksville, Mo. It was in this town that the late Dr. A. T. Still, the discoverer of the science, formerly resided. In 1902, Dr. Pugh graduated from Dr. S. S. Still's College of Osteopathy at Des Moines, Iowa. Later she pursued a course in bacteriol- ogy and gynecology. Before locating in Fresno, Dr. Pugh practiced her profession in St. Louis.
In 1916 Dr. Pugh took a post graduate course at Kansas City, Mo., in diagnosis and treatment of the eye, ear, nose, and throat; and in 1917 she supplemented her knowledge on these subjects by a course of study at Los Angeles, Cal. She is at present specializing on these treatments, for which she has been so thoroughly prepared. Dr. Pugh has built up a large practice in Fresno and other sections of the San Joaquin Valley. She is a member of the State and National Association of Osteopaths, also of the American Osteopathic Society of Ophthalmology and Oto Laryngology. Dr. Pugh is considered an expert on these subjects and is the author of several articles on these special treatments.
Dr. Sarah F. Pugh is fast winning an enviable reputation as a skilful and conscientious practitioner, and can look forward to a long and useful career.
Fraternally, she is a member of the Daughters of Veterans of the Civil War, and is Past Department President of California and Nevada. She is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star and belongs to the Baptist Church.
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JEFFERSON M. SHANNON .- When the great history of California shall have been written, in which men and women of note receive their true place in the high lights of a larger perspective according to real shadow that each casts, then will there loom large, as of commanding stature, the late Jefferson M. Shannon, a man of great foresight, executive power and sterling integrity, well-known in his day to Millerton and Fresno as an undersheriff and politician of high order. The Shannon family goes back to Ireland, and includes, in its various ramifications in this country, Wilson Shannon, the governor of Ohio and later of Kansas, and once United States Minister to Mexico : Effie Shannon, the actress, and James J. Shannon, the portrait paint- er long distinguished in the art circles of Europe. The earliest records of this particular branch of the Shannon family go back to the date of the birth of Nathaniel Shannon, Jefferson's grandfather, and these records, so very inter- esting, are found in the Shannon family Bible, which has been handed down from generation to generation, until it is now in the possession of Miss L. Danie Shannon, late of Palmyra, Mo., and now at Fresno. There is an entry, "Nathaniel Shannon was born 22nd Feby., 1763," and another, "Isabelle Shan- non, wife of N. Shannon, was born 22nd Febv., 1772"-a curious coincidence, by the way, as to Washington's Birthday. From the same records we learn that Nathaniel Shannon, Jr., the father of our subject, was born on December 31, 1800, in Kentucky, and that he there married Mary Nall. also a Kentuckian, after which he came out to Hannibal, Mo., the town destined to be made forever famous as the boyhood haunt of Mark Twain. Later. he settled near Palmyra on a farm of several hundred acres, where he brought up his family.
There were eight children, named Warren, Malctia, Jefferson Milam, Daniel Johnson, Cynthia Quinn, Martin Alexander, Isabella Lucy and Laura Dulcena, called L. Danie, the only child now living: and these, with their mother, Mr. Shannon left in Missouri, while he came overland with oxen in 1849, reaching Sacramento in the fall. He engaged in mining at Placerville or Hangtown as it was then called; but while butchering a beef accidentaly cut his hand so that he died from lock-jaw, on March 1, 1852, at Diamond Springs, Cal. Grandmother Shannon, who had remained in Missouri with her three daughters and two sons, eventually died in that state.
Jefferson Shannon, who was born on November 8, 1831, grew up in Missouri long enough to attend the common schools; but in the great year of the Argonauts, when he was eighteen years old, he engaged to drive a team across the great plains. The company he was with was detained on the Donner Trail, which proved impassable, and they were so badly delayed that they did not get through to Fort Sutter until the spring of 1850. He thus came to the Golden State at a somewhat later time than his intrepid father ; but like the latter, he mined, and also engaged in butchering, selling meat and groceries to the mining camps. He also took up farm work, spending a couple of years at Vacaville on the Wilson ranch.
He came to Millerton about 1859 and went into blacksmithing: and it was while he labored there at the forge that he became acquainted with Gil- lum Baley and his family, and married his daughter, Miss Rebecca Margaret Baley, who was the first school teacher at Millerton. At the time of his mar- riage, Mr. Shannon, besides being a blacksmith, was deputy sheriff of Fresno County, under the late Scott Ashman, his brother-in-law, and he served in that office of responsibility until 1867. Upon the advent of the first railroad to Fresno he became the first station agent.
Mr. Shannon early became acquainted with Leland Stanford. Collis P. Huntington, Mark Hopkins and Charles Crocker who were popularly known as the "Big Four" of the Central Pacific and the Southern Pacific railways, and through them, in the beginning of the seventies, was connected with the Pacific Improvement Co., the holding company of the Southern Pacific railway. He sold the town lots for the Pacific Improvement Company at about the time when the road was being built from Stockton to Fresno, the
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sales taking place in Fresno. In 1873 choice corner lots in the downtown business district sold for $500 each ; other lots sold at $125; while lots lying further out went for $62.50, and the residence portion was sold in blocks.
Through Mr. Shannon's influence with the Pacific Improvement Com- pany the Court House Park was donated by the company to the county, and so were the sites for the first Catholic Church at the corner of M and Fresno Streets, and of St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church, at the corner of L and Fresno Streets. In his capacity as representative of the land department of the Pacific Improvement Company, Mr. Shannon laid out and sold off sites of the various cities and towns on the Southern Pacific system throughout California and even into Arizona, being general townsite agent for the said Pacific Improvement Company from El Paso, Texas, to San Francisco.
As a proper reward for such years of strenuous and faithful service, Mr. Shannon became well-to-do. He owned eight lots in Fresno at the corner of J and Fresno Streets, between Fresno and Mariposa, and there he built the far-famed, if modest Shannon residence, whose hospitable doors swung open to high and low, rich and poor, and where children in particular were very welcome. There are still living those who will recall the pleasure of Mr. Shannon in handing out to the young folks watermelons and other fruit grown on his property now in the very heart of Fresno. He set out an orange grove, and the old Church Canal furnished water for irrigation, flowing down Fresno Street.
Mr. and Mrs. Shannon were married at old Fort Miller, and all of their four children were born at Millerton. The elder is Mary Idria, now the wife of W. E. Thoms, and resides at 1547 North N Street ; the second in the order of birth is Scott A., familiarly known as "Fred" Shannon, well-known in Fresno County ; Sidney J. is deputy United States Marshal at Fresno; and Leland Stanford Shannon, manager of the Shannon Bros. ranch. In 1888, Mr. Shannon moved to Alameda, and there the boys were schooled. Mr. Shannon became the owner of 480 acres four miles north of Selma, where he set out a vineyard of about ninety acres, mostly of malaga grapes, for he was a pio- neer planter of the malagas. In addition to their own four children, the worthy couple reared a niece, Miss Jane Eleanor Ashman, now Mrs. James Ferguson of Coalinga.
Mr. Shannon died at Alameda on June 8, 1902, and his good wife passed away there, also, on September 5, 1906. Both lie buried in the Mountain View Cemetery at Oakland.
ZANE POTTER .- Born in Pike County, Ill., August 28, 1860, Zane Potter is a descendant of pioneers of that county. His father, John Potter, of Irish descent, was an early settler there, and there his death occurred, at the age of sixty-six and one-half years. John Potter married Lucretia Cochran, born either in Ohio or Virginia, of German ancestry and to this pioneer couple eleven children were born, seven boys and four girls. Of these, four boys and three girls are living, and Zane Potter is the only one in California.
Zane Potter grew to manhood on his father's farm in Illinois, close to the small town of Baylis. In 1886 he came to Fresno County, from Missouri, and settled in Fresno, where he lived until 1890, after which he became fore- man of the A. Sach's vineyard of 160 acres, a position he held for four years. He then went to San Francisco and visited the Midwinter Fair, after which he went back to Illinois and Missouri to visit relatives. In 1895 he returned to California and again settled in Fresno County, buying forty acres of land in the Lone Star district, which he improved and planted, and finally sold. Later he bought forty acres of land again, upon which he erected a com- fortable home, and in 1908 added an adjoining ranch of twenty acres to his holdings, and now owns sixty acres with two sets of buildings. For five years he leased the ranch out and made his residence in Fresno, at 2815
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Madison Avenue. He prefers a ranch home to a city one, however, and moved back to his ranch in January, 1918.
On October 14, 1883, in Pike County, Ill., Mr. Potter was married to Martha A. Rutherford, and soon after their marriage they went to Pike County, Mo., where Mr. Potter rented a farm for two years, before coming to California. He attributes much of his success to his estimable wife, who is one of the best of mothers. They have had three children, but two of these have died, one at eleven years and five months, and the other at eight months. The daughter living is now the wife of A. N. Dillingham, jewelry salesman for A. S. Shaddow, of Fresno.
Since coming to Fresno County Mr. Potter has taken a place in the musical circles of this section as a singer in Walberg's Male Chorus. He taught singing in both Missouri and California, and ever since boyhood his voice has been heard in church choirs in the different communities where he has lived. Mr. Potter is a member of the Odd Fellows, and of the Raisin Growers' Association.
CLAUDE C. LAVAL .- In Claude C. Laval, expert commercial photog- rapher, Fresno possesses a citizen who stands in the front rank in the State of California in his chosen profession. He was born in New York City, November 8, 1882, and received his education in the schools of New York, Brooklyn and Chicago. He began to make his way in the world at the early age of fifteen, and was in the employ of the J. C. Barr Engineering Company at Pittsburgh, Pa., as architect and civil engineer. He was also foreman in charge of the steel mill erected at Monongahela, Pa., for the Cochocton Iron Works. In 1901, at the age of nineteen, he took up his life work of photography, being employed by the R. W. Johnston Studios of Pittsburgh, the second largest firm of its kind in the state. During the five years he was with the firm he devoted his entire time to the commercial branch of the business and received a thorough training in the art.
In October, 1906, Mr. Laval came to Fresno and was for a time in the employ of Dr. Chester Rowell. He then formed a partnership with C. H. Atkinson in the Angelus Studio, still devoting his time to commercial photography. After one year of partnership he started in business for him- self in that branch of the work, with his studio and developing room at 656 N. Van Ness Avenue. He is the pioneer in modern commercial photog- raphy in Fresno, brought the first circuit camera and the first smokeless flash apparatus to the city, and was also the first to successfully photograph banquet gatherings. He has been very successful in his chosen line of work and is probably the best-known and most expert outdoor commercial photographer in Central California. His reputation, indeed, has spread to all parts of the state. He was exclusively the photographer at the famous Jennie Crocker wedding, being specially called to San Francisco for that occasion, and took forty-two pictures of the affair in the pavilion and church. He was also called to San Francisco to photograph the meeting of the Federation of Woman's Clubs at the Cliff House. He holds the record in Fresno for taking flash-light pictures of a banquet, having brought back the finished picture in thirty minutes' time. He brought the first motion picture camera to Fresno, and took and developed 50,000 feet of films for the San Francisco and San Diego Fairs in 1915. He is the official photographer for the San Joaquin Valley Counties Association, which represents eight counties. He is the photographer for the Gaumont Weekly, taking motion pictures for it in the valley from Stockton to Bakersfield. These are shown at all the leading picture theaters in the country, and in doing this work he has been the means of giving much publicity to Fresno County, spreading its fame all over the world. He does all the commercial work for the California Raisin Association and the California Peach Growers' Associa- tion, and all of the Fresno Republican's work, photographing all fires and
3. F. Leollon
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accidents for that paper. He also specializes in making enlargements. Sixty-four of the largest enlargements on exhibition at the San Francisco fair in 1915 were made by him. These were forty inches by eight feet in size. His enlargements for a window display for the Wonder Store in Fresno attracted much attention; they were six feet by nine feet in size, the largest ever made in Fresno County. He has taken motion picture views in mountain and valley in the San Joaquin Valley and filmed pictures on the top of Mount Keyser, 10,300 feet above sea level. These were on ex- hibition at the San Francisco and San Diego fairs in 1915 as official pictures from Fresno County. He has also done the motion picture work for the Fresno County Horticultural Commission, photographing the grape leaf hopper and fig wasp, giving enlarged views of these pests that destroy the fruit and vine. This was his own idea.
In August, 1918, F. C. Ninnis became associated with Mr. Laval, the firm name becoming Laval and Ninnis. The latter has been engaged in commercial photography in California since 1895, and in Fresno County since 1904. The equipment of the laboratory of this enterprising firm is conceded to be the most modern and complete of its kind in the entire state.
Mr. Laval married Miss Sadie M. Cheesman, a native of Pennsylvania, and they are the parents of two children, Claude C., Jr., and Virginia May. Mr. Laval is a member of the Fresno Lodge of Knights of Pythias.
BENJAMIN F. COTTON .- A pioneer of Fresno County of 1881, B. F. Cotton has been very closely identified with the section now within the vicinity of Sanger and has won a place for himself in the esteem of the citi- zens of the county by his integrity of character and public spirit. He was born on July 31, 1862, near the town of Cottontown, Tenn., which place was named in honor of his ancestors, who were early settlers in Sumner County and were slave-owners. The family originally came from North Carolina. His parents were John and Patience (Edwards) Cotton, who had seven chil- dren, three of whom are now living: M. A., who came to California in 1875 and is now living in Visalia; W. C., still living near Cottontown, Tenn .; and B. F., of this review.
B. F. Cotton was educated in the grammar and high schools of his native state, and after his school days were over came to Fresno County, Cal., to join a brother who had pioneered it here since 1875. At that time there were but a few vineyards in the entire county, the area being given to grain-farm- ing, with little thought of the possibilities for viticultural development. He first located on some land three miles from what is now the site of Sanger, no thought having been given to the possibility of a town in this location at the time. He devoted himself to farming, and in 1887 was elected to the important office of justice of the peace, serving two years So closely has he been identified with the interests of this part of the county that he is properly considered a pioneer, having had to do with every project that has been put forth to build up the locality. The confidence of his friends was again expressed when he was recently elected to the office he had held in 1887, this time for a four-year term, which he is now serving, dealing out justice with the impartiality so characteristic of him.
On May 1, 1888, Judge Cotton was united in marriage with Miss Anna Cody, daughter of Truman and Mary Cody. Truman Cody is a cousin of the famed "Buffalo Bill" Cody of Wild West fame. Of this union of Mr. and Mrs. Cotton three children were born, two of whom are now living: William E., who married Anna Zinn, by whom he has a son, Elmer Thomas; and Mrs. Grace V. Brumbaugh, the mother of two children, Helen and Benjamin. The Judge is a member of Court Sanger, No. 617, I. O. O. F., at Sanger, and of the Sanger Chamber of Commerce. He is an active member of the Chris- tian Church, is a man who is considered one of the dependable citizens of the growing town of Sanger, and is esteemed by all who know him.
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GRANVILLE HARTMAN WALLEY .- Among the pioneer contrac- tors of Fresno, who, by far-reaching foresight, an unusual spirit of enterprise and the employment of only the most up-to-date methods and devices, have contributed much to the development of both Fresno and Central California, must be rated, in the first rank, George H. Walley, who was born near Valley Forge in Chester County, Pa., on January 6, 1850, and when only sixteen started to learn the carpenter's trade in Philadelphia. While work- ing there, he helped erect the Falmouth Market, long one of the notable landmarks in the City of Brotherly Love. In 1870 he removed to La Salle County, Ill., and for three years worked in Ottawa at his trade. He also owned a ranch of eighty acres in Iroquois County, and farmed the same himself. Catching the gold fever in 1876, he started with a party of thirteen on saddle horses and pack animals for the Black Hills; but before they reached the mines, they were attacked by Indians and several of the com- pany were killed. Mr. Walley himself, after a vigorous fight, was shot in the leg and so badly wounded that he was laid up for eight months. The party kept the Indians at bay and retreated for three days after he was wounded, making Deadwood in safety. It was very difficult in those days to get medical or surgical attention, and such as could be secured was none of the best; and the result was that the sick and wounded languished and suffered in a way that is but faintly realized by those who have come after and reaped the benefits of their pioneering.
In 1877 Mr. Walley went to Colorado and located in Denver, being employed at his trade; and in 1878 he went to Leadville, and mined for five years. He swung the pick in the Monarch Mine and at Bonanza Creek and suffered many hardships ; and later he worked at his trade in Maysville, Colo., where his cleverness in solving problems of the moment and incidental to the raw conditions of the times was much appreciated.
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