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 21

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 21

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Mr. McGuire has dealt in unimproved land quite extensively, improving and selling the land, and has also dealt in Fresno real estate. He was the owner of a fifty-five acre ranch on Belmont Avenue, part of which is planted to peaches and apricots and is now producing.

Mrs. McGuire, before her marriage, was Miss Lucia Haber, a native of Fresno. Mr. and Mrs. McGuire are the parents of one child, a son named after his father, Luther Roy, Jr.

CHARLES M. CHALUP .- As an example of a self made man who has overcome insuperable difficulties and satisfactorily solved many of life's per- plexing problems, especial mention is made of Charles M. Chalup, the pro- prietor of one of Fresno's up-to-date groceries. He is a native of the Buckeye State, born in Cleveland, Ohio, September 3, 1873. He was educated in the very excellent public schools of his native city and had practical experience in his line of business through working in various groceries in Cleveland. In 1900, at the age of twenty-seven, he sought the advantages offered by the west to young men of enterprise and energy and tried his fortune in Nevada, in the occupation of mining for one year. Meeting with indifferent success he came to Fresno, Cal., in 1901, and secured employment in the grocery

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department of Einstein's department store, remaining with the firm for two and one-half years. While thus employed he decided to open a grocery of his own, selecting the west end of town, at the corner of Fresno and C Streets, as a suitable location for the venture.

At that time this section was quite in the country, surrounded by grain fields and sparsely inhabited. He purchased a shack twelve by twelve feet in dimension and a two room cottage adjoining on a lot thirty-seven by one hundred feet, for which he paid $675. Later he added twelve feet to the side of his store. In this small space he and his wife opened their first store on a capital of seventy-five dollars. For two years his faithful help-mate kept the store while he worked for Mr. Einstein. From this small beginning evolved their present up-to-date grocery in which they have made money and prospered beyond their most sanguine expectations, large credit for the success of the enterprise being due to Mrs. Chalup's good judgment and faithful efforts. Mr. Chalup has been very successful in buying and selling real estate, and also served for one year as city trustee under appointment by Mayor W. P. Lyon.

Mrs. Chalup, before her marriage, was Miss Ellen New, a native of Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Chalup are the parents of two interesting children, Mary Louise, and Alice Ellen both of whom were born in Fresno.

Mr. Chalup is a member of Fresno Lodge, No. 247, F. & A. M .; is a thirty-second degree Mason and Past Wise Master of Rose Croix, No. 8, of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Free Masonry. He is also a member of the Fresno Lodge of Eagles.

GEORGE E. PORTER, D. C .- Few in the practice of Chiropractic science have made such rapid strides towards success as has characterized the career of Dr. George E. Porter, of Fresno. He was born in Portage County, Ohio, June 21, 1885, the son of a miller and his education was ob- tained in the public schools of the town adjacent to their farm. After graduating from the Alliance high school, young Porter secured employment in the sales department of the Morgan Engineering Company at Alliance and remained with them for seven years. Then desiring to enter a new field he took up the study of chiropractic and was graduated from the Universal College of Chiropractic, at Davenport, Iowa, in June, 1912. The month following he was in Fresno, Cal., and had begun the practice of his pro- fession and since that time he has built up a wonderfully successful clientele. Dr. Porter is a member of the Federated Chiropractic Association of Califor- nia and is licensed to practice in California by the State Medical Board.

The marriage of Dr. Porter, at Warren, Ohio, June 17, 1908, united him with Willa B. Marshall, a native of Pennsylvania. The Doctor and Mrs. Porter are members of the First Methodist Church in Fresno. While kept unusually busy with his professional work, Dr. Porter has found time to take an active part in the social life of Fresno and to further the progress of his home city. He is a Thirty-second degree Mason and holds membership in Fresno Lodge, No. 247, F. & A. M .; he is a member and Past Chancellor of the Knights of Pythias, and possesses a jewel given him in recognition of services, by members of the order. He is also a member of the Stags of Fresno, and is physician for that order.

ARTHUR N. ALBRIGHT, D. D. S .- The state of Kansas claims Dr. A. N. Albright, as a native son, as it was at Hutchinson, that state, on June 17, 1888, that he first saw the light of this terrestial sphere. His early education was received in the grammar and high schools of his native city. Having decided upon a professional career, Arthur N. Albright, entered a dental college at Kansas City, Mo. where he carefully pursued the prescribed course in preparation for the practice of his chosen profession, and was graduated from this institution in 1911. Dr. Albright felt the call of the far West and, believing that the Golden State offered splendid opportunities for young men

He he Morosow

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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

possessed of good character, untiring energy, and a determination to succeed, and particularly to those who have specially equipped themselves for their life work, he migrated to California and in the fall of 1911 located at Fresno. Here he was associated with Dr. G. W. Gilbert in the practice of his pro- fession until the year 1914, when he opened an office for himself in the Rowell Building, where he is meeting with deserved success. His growing clientele is attributed to the able and careful treatment of his many patients coupled with his comprehensive knowledge of his profession. While attending college in Kansas City, Dr. Albright clerked in a drug store in order to earn suffi- cient funds to defray his expenses while in school. He is very fond of athletics and while attending college he was instrumental in organizing a base ball nine.

Arthur N. Albright, was united in marriage with Maybelle Hubbard, a native of Missouri. This union has been blessed with one son Richard Lloyd Albright. Dr. Albright is a member of The San Joaquin Valley Dental Asso- ciation and the California Dental Society. He manifested his patriotism by enlisting in the Dental Reserves of the United States Army, in which arm of the service he was commissioned a First Lieutenant, but was not called into active service.

HENRY A. MOMSON .- There are few, if any, more inspiring ex- amples of self-won success, in the history of Fresno County farmers, than that furnished by the career of Henry A. Momson, the pioneer rancher of the Summit Lake country, near Riverdale, and owner of 960 acres situated eight miles west of Riverdale. His ranch is regarded as one of the best and most highly improved in the west side district and is located within the Crescent Reclamation District, which embraces 6,000 acres of reclaimed swamp land, protected by levee. The land is very fertile and produces enormous crops of grain and alfalfa.

The owner of this splendid ranch, H. A. Momson, was born in Schleswig- Holstein, October 15, 1863. When but three years of age his father brought him to America and his boyhood days were spent in Clinton and Crawford counties, Iowa. At the early age of eleven he started to work, and in the spring of 1881 he accompanied his father to California. The father re- mained in Tulare and Kings Counties, and passed away in 1906, near Porter- ville.

Mr. Momson followed grain-farming near Hanford and Grangeville, where he rented land until 1888, when he located in the Summit Lake country, near Riverdale, Fresno County. For the first ten years he rented land, farming about 1,500 acres to grain. In 1897 he purchased his present ranch consisting of 960 acres, located eight miles west of Riverdale. Of this, 320 acres are devoted to alfalfa, the balance being sown to wheat and barley. The land is all under the Crescent Canal, the main canal being twenty- seven miles long, and 12,000 acres being irrigated by this company. His crop of alfalfa averages one ton to an acre and four cuttings a year; the wheat averages ten sacks to an acre and the barley twenty sacks, although during the season of 1917 some of the barley averaged forty sacks. The yearly total number of sacks is from six to seven thousand.

In 1906, Mr. Momson started a dairy and has at present sixty head of milch cows, including many pure Holsteins. The ranch is equipped with a large modern barn, 56 x 100 feet, and 24 feet in height. In addition to his dairy interests, he raises Poland-China hogs of a fine strain, having sold, during 1917, $4,200 worth of pork, he also sold that same year 150 head of beef cattle. Mr. Momson is regarded as one of the leading and most successful dairy and grain farmers on the west side of Fresno County. His home, comprising a half-acre lot, is located at 145 Glenn Avenue, Fresno, and in addition to this he owns other valuable real estate in Fresno.

Mr. Momson was united in marriage on September 4, 1888, with Emma Batty, a native of Iowa, and this happy union was blessed with three chil-

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dren: Christopher, who was in the aviation service of the United States Army returned home in December, 1918, having been honorably discharged; he was married in February, 1919, to Miss Elisa Hall of San Francisco, whom he met at the University of California, and he is now in charge of the farm. Eleanor is the wife of H. L. Daily, of Fresno and they have a son, Harry Lee. Dorothy graduated from the Fresno High School and is now a student of the California Art Institute of San Francisco, a department of the University of California. Mrs. Momson and the children are active members of the Presbyterian Church in Fresno.

Fraternally Mr. Momson is a Mason and member of Center Lodge, No. 465, F. & A. M., at Fresno, and is a Knight Templar. He is now a thirty- second degree Mason. He is also a member of the San Joaquin Milk Pro- ducers Association and the State Alfalfa Growers Association. He is highly esteemed in the community and always ready to give his aid to all move- ments for the advancement of Fresno County.

WILLIAM H. COX .- Born in Chattanooga, Tenn., June 20, 1882, Will- iam H. Cox was raised and educated in Dalton, Ga. He later returned to Chattanooga, and became an apprentice to the plumbing trade, with the firm of Williams & Wood, plumbers and steam fitters. After remaining in their employ several years, Mr. Cox came to California, in the spring of 1906, and first located in Sacramento. He worked for Henry Seiferman, the plumber, for three years, then formed a partnership with H. Dixon, under the firm name of Dixon & Cox, with a shop at Eighteenth and L Streets, specializ- ing in cottage and bungalow work. This partnership was dissolved in 1912, and Mr. Cox then went into business for himself at 516 K Street; among other work he installed the plumbing and heating in the dormitory building of the State University Farm at Davis, Yolo County ; in the Carnegie Public Library and the Placer Hotel at Auburn, Placer County ; also doing flat and residence work in Sacramento.

In the fall of 1914, Mr. Cox located in Fresno, and soon after his arrival here opened a plumbing shop at 2547 Tulare Street, and engaged in the plumbing and heating contracting business, and from the beginning met with the success due his experience and reputation for reliability, his field of operations extending over the entire San Joaquin Valley. He installed the plumbing in the Liberty Market, and the steam heating plant in the Liberty Theater ; the plumbing and heating in the Wormser Furniture Company Building ; in the new Warner Jewelry Store, on J Street ; the James Porteous Block at Tulare and P Streets. Mr. Cox has installed plumbing in over fifty cottages and bungalows in Fresno, many for the Fresno Home Builders, and homes in the Alta Vista tract. He also installed the gas plant, plumbing and heating in the Jacob Hansen ranch home; also supplied homes in Bar- stow and Perrin Colonies, Fresno County; installed the plumbing in the Manual Training School of Madera, and the Alpha grammar school at Alpha, Madera County; also in the Madera Municipal Swimming Baths, and the Cutler School at Cutler, Tulare County; also the plumbing and heating in the Newkirk School in the city of Fresno, and the swimming baths in the State Normal School at Fresno. Since January, 1919, his plumbing shop has been located at 2555 White Avenne, Fresno.

The marriage of Mr. Cox, which occurred in Sacramento, Cal., united him with Maude Pauline Clark, a native of Utah. and two children have been born to them: Clark, born in Sacramento, and Mary, born in Fresno. Mr. Cox is a member of the Master Plumbers' Association, and of the national, state and local plumbers' association. Fraternally, he is a Mason and a member of Center Lodge, No. 465, F. & A. M., of Fresno. A man of sterling character and with progress for his watchword, he has been an active par- ticipator in the growth and development of Fresno, city and county, and stands ready at all times to aid in advancing the county still further on its march toward prosperity.

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JAMES WILLIAM SIMPSON .- A very successful general contractor who is doing a large business is J. W. Simpson, who has the good fortune to have in his wife a person of real natural ability and pronounced energy. The couple are known for their hospitality, and they enjoy the esteem and good will of everyone.

Mr. Simpson was born in Coleman Valley, Sonoma County, Cal., on April 26, 1875, the son of J. F. Simpson, whose birthplace was Medora, Macoupin County, Il1. In 1852 the father crossed the great plains to California, driving an ox team, and here he first followed mining and then lumbering. He settled in Sonoma County, ran a dairy, and about 1876 went to Salinas Valley. In 1882 he came to Fresno City, then a small burg, and worked awhile as a farm hand. Later he engaged in farming on his own responsibility, and leased some of the Bank of California lands. He engaged in grain-farming on a large scale, and ran sixty head of mules and two combined harvesters and reapers. He raised and lost big crops, but later he succeeded in getting water onto his tract, and this saved him from disaster. It was while working with his father that J. W. Simpson helped to improve 580 acres of the Laguna De Tache Grant into an experimental muscat vineyard, the first one on the entire grant of 62,000 acres. Their next venture was the Little Sharon vineyard, 120 acres of the Sharon estate, twenty miles northwest from Fresno, into a muscat vineyard. After this endeavor the elder Simpson retired to private life and now resides on his home ranch, contented and happy in the thought that he has done his full share towards developing the resources of Fresno County. He owns a ranch of forty acres, five and a half miles south of Fresno, on Fig Avenue, known as the home place, which has been his residence for years. He has operated from this point, putting out vineyards on contract. He owns eighty acres in the Kerman district, and 160 acres on Summit Lake.

Mrs. J. F. Simpson was Margaret M. Frazer before her marriage, and she was a native of Illinois. She crossed the plains to California when she was a little girl; and with her husband she is still enjoying life. Six children blessed their union, and five of them are living.

James William was the second oldest of the family, and was brought up in Fresno County from his seventh year. He attended the public schools, and recalls with affection his first teacher, H. Hadsell, as well as the second. A. M. Drew. He was reared on a farm, and he learned to drive the big teams in the grain-fields. At the age of fourteen, he began to haul wood out of the fields to Fresno, using an eight-mule team. He remained with his father until he was twenty-three, and then he began for himself.

He began dry farming and summer-fallowing, first in 1900, on the site of Roeding Park; and then he cultivated the Bank of California lands, in the Kerman district, also according to the dry method. His results were varying and not always satisfactory, but when irrigation came, he at once began to make a success of his enterprises. This encouraged him to expand in contract- ing to improve lands; he leveled and checked, built ditches and graded, and later he gave up farming to give all his attention to contracting. He more and more built up a reputation that was capital in itself, and improved to a high degree thousands of acres, so that many ranchers were able to start successfully.

In the meantime Mr. Simpson bought forty acres on Jensen Avenue, thirteen miles west of Fresno, which he improved to alfalfa and where he established a good dairy. He set out Thompson seedless grapes and built for himself a nice residence. He undertook contracts all over Fresno County and throughout the San Joaquin Valley, and he even went into the Bay dis- trict around San Francisco. He accepted railroad contracts from the Ocean Shore Railroad Company and the San Francisco Railroad, and built the cop- per mine road from Gordon Switch. For about twenty years he was a general contractor in California, and was successful from the start. One large piece of development work undertaken by J. W. Simpson, in which he was asso-

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ciated with J. F. Kennedy, was that of improving 1,000 acres in what is now known as the Rolinda section. They leveled and checked and sowed alfalfa on the entire tract, and this tract was sold off in small holdings just twenty months from the time they began their important work. During the entire time that Mr. Simpson has been engaged in contracting he has farmed to grain, generally on a large scale. The last big venture was 4,000 acres of the Collins estate, six miles northeast of Clovis, where he raised grain.

At Hanford, Mr. Simpson was married to Miss Ellen Trabucco, a native of Mariposa County and the daughter of John Trabucco, who was also a native. Her grandfather was Louis Trabucco, a pioneer who very early came to Mariposa County, where he was one of the earliest miners and merchants. There, after being the proprietor for years of a well-known store, he died, re- spected by all who knew him. His wife is still living in Mariposa County. The father, John Trabucco, was educated at the public schools and married Nancy Choisser, who was born in Illinois, and came with her parents, when she was three years old, to Mariposa County; her father was engaged in farming and in the raising of stock, and they still reside in Bear Valley. Mrs. Simpson was the oldest of nine children, was educated at the public schools as a child, and later graduated from the Notre Dame College.

Mr. Simpson is a loyal Democrat, and few citizens work more intelli- gently and consistently to raise the standards of citizenship and to make the community more prosperous and the locality more attractive.

JOHN BALEY .- A farmer and dairyman with an intensely interesting family history, interwoven with the most stirring chapters in the formation of the Golden State, is John Baley, a native son who first saw the light at Visalia on June 29, 1864. His father was William Wright Baley, of Illinois, who was reared in Nodaway County, Mo., and crossed the plains in 1849 with two brothers, Caleb and Gillum. The latter was later a judge in Fresno County for fourteen years, while Caleb died in the mines on Feather River the same year that he came to California. After mining for three years, W. W. Baley returned to Missouri, where he had married, years before, Miss Nancy Funderburk, a native of Tennessee, who grew up in the Iron State. In 1859, in the same train with Rev. Joel Hedgepeth and his parents, W. W. Baley and his brother, Judge Baley, again crossed the plains with oxen and wagons. Along the Colorado River the Indians attacked them and killed and wounded many. Judge Baley killed the chief, but the Indians stole their cattle, or killed what they could not lead off. Captain Rose was in charge of the train ; the Rev. Hedgepeth as a lad was there ; and so was Mrs. McCardle, then Ellen Baley, who was lost but later was found. All the party, including the children, had to walk back to Albuquerque, a tramp of six weeks; and when they had sojourned there for ten months, recuperated and gathered together some stock, they continued their overland journey to Visalia.

For some time thereafter Mr. Baley was engaged in teaming from Stock- ton to Visalia, hauling provisions and supplying the wants of the settlers along the way; and in the fall of 1864 he came to Fresno County and located some land at Academy. He had been assisted in the work of teaming by his son Henry, and the latter now helped him in the raising of stock and grain after he had handsomely improved his property. Comfortably situated a mile from town, Mr. Baley continued there until he died, on November 18, 1882, aged sixty-two years. At the same place later Mrs. Baley passed away, on March 6, 1900, in her eightieth year.

Eleven children made up the interesting family of Mr. and Mrs. Baley, and seven of these grew to maturity: Sarah Margaret, who became Mrs. John G. Simpson, died at Exeter on May 3, 1918; Nancy Jane passed away at Visalia on August 6, 1861 ; Henry Gillum is in Fresno; Bertheney Eliza- beth, died on December 1, 1846; William Washington passed away in Exeter, on July 6, 1915; George Pierce died at Tollhouse, on June 3, 1913; Caleb died

John Baly

Flora. O. Baley

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at Sentinel, on August 8, 1912; Mary Patience passed away on the plains ; Benjamin Baxter bade good-bye to earthly scenes at Academy, on November 22, 1867, and he was the first person buried in the Academy cemetery ; John is the subject of this sketch; and Isabell Catherine, who was born at Acad- emy, is the wife of the Rev. J. M. Parker of the Methodist Church South, and resides at Corning in Tehama County.

Reared at Academy, John Baley attended the local public school there and at the same time served his apprenticeship at farming. He assisted his mother, and while having a good time, for a lad, learned all about raising grain and stock. When ready for the more serious responsibilities of life, he was married near Woodville, in Tulare County, on December 29, 1886, his bride being Miss Filora Odom, a native of Cass County, Ga. Her father was the Rev. Alex Odom, who was born in Forsyth County, that state, and who, having duly studied theology, entered the ministry of the Methodist Church South. Before taking holy orders, he joined the Confederate Army in the Civil War; and when he began to preach, in 1868, he first occupied the pulpit in Georgia. In 1874 he came to Fresno County as a pastor ; and while at Academy the following year, he organized St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church in Fresno. He also organized other churches throughout the state, from Shasta to Kern County. He was forty years in the ministry, and during that time he was for three years elder of Colusa district, when he made his headquarters at Chico. He spent his last years at Clovis, and died at the home of Mr. and Mrs. John Baley. Mrs. Odom was Elizabeth Fendley before her marriage, and she was born in Gordon County, Ga. Now she makes her home with Mrs. John Baley, and she is the honored mother of nine children, eight of whom grew up: S. Oscar is in Roseville; Filora is Mrs. Baley: Mary is Mrs. Moutrey of Oakland; George M. is in Clovis; William R. is in Fresno; Bessie is Mrs. Lester of Clovis; Ethel has become Mrs. Henry Ambrosia of Clovis; Atticus resides at Rutherford, Cal., and Maggie J., who died at the tender age of eight.

After his marriage, Mr. Baley continued farming, and operated the old homestead at Academy, where he had resided from the time he was six months old. For a while he leased lands from the Simpsons, utilizing as many as 600 acres ; and there he came to have some three thousand or more head of sheep. He also went in for grain-farming, and employed from two to eight horses in the work.

In 1915 Mr. Baley sold out and located at Barstow, where he engaged in raising alfalfa. He bought eighty acres eleven miles from Fresno, checked and leveled the land and prepared it for alfalfa of which he can get several crops a year. His land was under the Herndon canal, and having installed an electric pumping-plant, with a ten-horsepower motor, and a four-inch pump feeding into a reservoir of half an acre, he had the best of facilities for irriga- tion. He ran a dairy of twenty cows, and his two sons, William Odom and Thomas M., were associated with him in managing the farm. Having brought it to a high state of cultivation he sold it in 1919, and purchased eighty acres on Belmont Avenue, west of Madera Avenue-an alfalfa farm where he now resides. Aside from the canal he has two large pumping plants ample for irrigating the whole tract. It is his intention to set it to Thompson seedless.

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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 21

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