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 23

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 23

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Besides his large practice, Dr. Crawford has found time to devote to agricultural development in the county. He is the owner of a large dairy ranch at Caruthers, where he has a herd of pure-bred Holstein registered cattle. His bull is Segis Pontiac Count, registered, son of King Segis Pon- tiac Count. Two heifers, sisters of his bull, but owned in New York state, have taken world's records in more than a hundred different tests. He also has on his ranch fine blooded Duroc-Jersey hogs, and white leghorn chickens.

Fraternally Dr. Crawford is a Mason and has taken his Thirtieth degree ; he is a member of Las Palmas Lodge of Fresno. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias, and is Past Chancellor of that order, having passed all degrees in the order. Dr. Crawford's marriage united him with Annie L. Dickey, a native of Tennessee, and four children have been born to them : Edwin D., a member of the Aviation Corps of the U. S. A., and in partner- ship with his father ; Harriett ; James M., Jr., attending the Agricultural Col- lege at Corvallis, Ore .; and Ellen.

JAMES A. BURNS .- We do not know that the senior member of the well known law firm, Burns and Watkins, of Fresno, is any relation to the renowned poet, Bobby Burns, but he has a good old Scottish name that he may well be proud of.

James A. Burns is a native of Richville, Washington County, Ill., born August 12, 1852. Quiet, unostentatious, and of studious inclinations, he at- tended the Washington Seminary in his native city and followed the occupa- tion of a pedagogue in his native state and eastern Missouri, then, his inclina- tions leading in the direction of the law, he became a law student in the office of John M. Breeze at Richville, Ill., and was admitted to practice No- vember 6, 1880. Allured by California's charms and the possibilities of a future, in that state, in his chosen profession, on December 5, 1880, one month after his admission to the bar, he arrived at Lemoore, Kings County (then Tulare County), where he began the practice of law. He met with success, and after serving for two years in that place as Justice of the Peace, removed in 1884 to Hanford, where he continued the practice of his profession until 1886, when he came to the bustling town of Selma, in the center of the fruit section of Fresno County. In 1902 he removed to his present home, Fresno, and again opened a law office.

His marriage with Annie Lewis, a native of Kentucky, was consummated August 12, 1879, two children being the result of this union: Nannie, who is the wife of Mr. Burns' law partner, \V. J. Watkins ; and Robert, well known in Fresno musical circles as an excellent cornetist.

Fraternally Mr. Burns is a member of the B. P. O. Elks, and the Inde- pendent Order of Foresters. Mr. Burns has built up a large practice in the valley and is familiarly known among his intimate friends as "Jimmy" Burns. He has never aspired to any public office.

HORACE THORWALDSON .- The early scenes in the life of Fresno County's estimable ex-sheriff, Horace Thorwaldson, were set in the land of ice, snow and the reindeer-the outpost of Danish dominion in the Western Hemisphere. He was born at Dupivog, on the eastern coast of Iceland, Feb- ruary 4, 1869. His ancestors for the past thousand years were Norsemen of pure Scandinavian stock, speaking the old Norse language.

The success in life which Mr. Thorwaldson has attained, is due entirely to his unaided efforts, for he is, in the broadest meaning of the term, self- made, possessing the characteristic thrift and frugality of his Northern an- cestry, combined with unfaltering determination of purpose which has re- sulted in his becoming a prosperous citizen of the country.

He is the son of Thorwald and Vilborg Thorwaldson. His father was a farmer and died in Denmark when Horace was a lad eight years of age, leaving a widow with ten children. Three years after the death of the hus- band and father, the mother emigrated to the United States with her family,

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the oldest a boy twenty-one years of age, and the youngest aged four, going to North Dakota in territorial days. In the Red River Valley the family bought an ox team and wagon and going forty miles out upon the prairie located in Pembina County, September, 1880, where they squatted upon the virgin soil. The family was poor and lived in a log house, suffering the hardships that inevitably fall to the lot of pioneer families. Horace hired out at the age of twelve, breaking prairie land, barefooted, with a yoke of oxen, earning money in summer to enable him to attend school in winter in the log cabin school house. He acquired a common school education and in 1886, when sixteen years of age, in quest of a larger field of activity, sought his fortune farther west, going to Seattle, Wash., where he remained until 1891, learning in the meantime the saddler's trade. In 1893 he visited the World's Fair and various places and states, then returned to Seattle for a short time, going thence to San Francisco and finally locating, that year, at Watsonville, Santa Cruz County, Cal., where he conducted a saddle and harness business until December 29, 1898, when he located in Fresno and engaged in the same line of business, which he continued until January, 1910, when he sold and retired from commercial life. He then purchased 340 acres of land on Elkhorn Slough, west of Riverdale, which he still owns. He im- proved this land, and also engaged in stock raising. On January 1, 1911, he was appointed field deputy sheriff under and by Sheriff Walter S. McSwain, serving under him until 'Mr. McSwain's death, December 6, 1915, when by a unanimous vote of the supervisors he was appointed to succeed Mr. McSwain as sheriff of Fresno County. This, his first political office, was an unqualified success ; his term of office expired January 1, 1919.

At Watsonville, June 10, 1896, he was united in marriage with Miss Cornelia E. Peckham, a member of the well known pioneer family of Peck- hams, prominent early settlers of California. Two children were the result of this union; Wilma Abbie, born March 5, 1897, and Elis Oliver, born May 1, 1899.

In his religious views Mr. Thorwaldson is a Protestant. In his fraternal relations he is a member of several orders, namely: Fresno Lodge, No. 247, F. & A. M .; Fresno Lodge, No. 439, B. P. O. Elks ; the Eagles ; the Woodmen of the World; Fresno Lodge, No. 138, K. of P., and the Odd Fellows.

PROFESSOR ALBERT R. J. GRAEPP .- While Fresno has advanced with phenomenal strides in civic and commercial growth she has also kept pace in the cultivation of the arts and is most fortunate in numbering among her citizens Prof. Albert R. J. Graepp, teacher of music, whose studio is at his residence, 2747 Mariposa Street. Professor Graepp is a native of Germany, the country of renowned musicians whose names are recorded in the annals of fame, and was born June 11, 1859, in Pomerania, Northern Germany. Possessed of a naturally beautiful voice he sang alto in school before he could read, and at the age of eight years began studying the violin and pipe organ, also learning thoroughly the construction of the latter instru- ment. In his youth he attended the higher citizens' school, and in 1876, at the age of seventeen, crossed the water to America, finishing his education in this country. For two years he was a student at St. Jerome College, Kitchener, Ontario, where he continued his musical education. He next attended Thiel College at Greenville, Mercer County, Pa., and while there instructed the college band. He graduated from that institution with the degree of bachelor of arts, in 1882, afterwards locating in Philadelphia, Pa., where he took a course in theology and philology at the Evangelical Lutheran Theological Seminary, at that time located at Franklin Square, but later removed to Mount Airy. This institution was affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania. He graduated in 1885 with the degree of master of arts. He next took up missionary work in the churches of New Jersey and was afterward instructor of music in Ivy Hall Seminary, a school for girls, at

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Bridgeton, N. J., teaching piano and violin and instructing students from other academies who came to him. He then accepted a call to take charge of the musical department and assist in teaching the German language in his Alma Mater, Thiel University. Accepting the position he remained at the university until 1893, while there doing most excellent work in the musical department, among other things organizing a college band and college or- chestra. Afterwards he located near Halifax, Nova Scotia, and engaged in missionary work.

In 1897 he accepted a position as instructor of music in Sacred Heart College at Prairie du Chien, Wis. For five years he devoted his energies to building up the musical department of the college, doing a grand work. In the meantime organizing a band and teaching singing. In 1904 he received and accepted a call from Laramie, Wyo., to take charge of the choir and or- chestra work in the musical department of the University of Wyoming. Pro- fessor Graepp came to Fresno, Cal., March 8, 1906, where he is a very success- ful teacher of the piano, violin, and languages, standing at the head of his profession. He was also the founder of the Philharmonic Conservatory and the Italian Band of Fresno, is organist of the Emanuel Lutheran Church, and has had charge of the repair work and tuning of the pipe organ in St. John's Catholic Church, at Fresno. He is an expert in the construction of pipe organs and has repaired and rebuilt many.

Professor Graepp was twice married, his first wife being, in maidenhood, Miss Leonora Snyder, who is now deceased. His second wife, who is still living, was Mrs. Anna R. Coleman of Wisconsin, a widow with three chil- dren by her former husband, Charles Coleman, namely: Edna, Clarence, and Arthur. By his last union Mr. Graepp became the father of two children : Clara, who died at the age of three years, and Albert Frederick, a sophomore . at California Concordia College, at Oakland.

THOMAS L. BERG .- On the island of Fedje, off the north coast of Norway, near the city of Bergen, Mr. Berg was born November 2, 1870. His father, was Lars Sjurson, and his mother Breta Thompson. They owned a small place which they farmed, doing all the work by hand on account of the limited areas. Fishing at this place is excellent, and the father, in com- mon with the majority of the island inhabitants, depended mainly upon the products of their fisheries. This country would be a bleak Arctic waste were it not for the thermality of the great Gulf Stream, which not only tempers the climate of northern Norway, but carries with it elements of nutrition that sustain all kinds of aquatic life .. It was in such a world and under such conditions that Mr. Berg was born, and he inherited the qualities of physical and mental strength from the sturdy and honorable ancient Norse race.

Mr. Berg was educated in the public schools of his native land; as he grew up he helped his father fish and farm. Nicolina Koppen, his wife, was born upon the same island, where they were schoolmates. They were brought up in the Lutheran Church, and were both confirmed the same day. The wife's parents were the largest land owners on the island, her father like- wise following the occupation of fishing and farming.

When Mr. Berg reached his seventeenth year, he took to sailing before the mast, and for two years he sailed along the coast and in the North and Baltic seas. On one of his voyages to England he was taken severely ill and for weeks his life was despaired of while he was being nursed in the hospital at Cardiff. Upon his recovery he returned home and quit the sea. He resolved to try the United States, and at the age of twenty-two he came to America, reached Chicago April 30, 1893, and continued to his destination -Council Bluffs, Iowa. Here he found a condition of great industrial unrest and unemployment. One of the first sights that he saw was Coxey's Army in its march across the continent. No work could be had at more than $1.10 per day, and only half time at that. After working about two years in

Franzen Victor

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western Iowa, Mr. Berg came to San Francisco, arriving there June 15, 1895, he went down to the Leland Stanford Stock Farm at Palo Alto, and stayed about a month, then came to Fresno. Labor conditions were bad here, but Mr. Berg took work on a farm near Fresno at five dollars per month. He liked Fresno County from his first visit and he resolved to become a rancher, and when he could, in 1897, he bought the twenty-acre place that is now his home and began to cultivate and improve it. He was a bachelor here for three years; then in 1900 he went back to Norway, and on July 2, 1900, was married, and on July 4 started on their honeymoon for the land of his adop- tion and to the home he had prepared in Fresno County.

Mr. Berg is also the owner of three different ranches aggregating ninety acres in the neighborhood of Oleander-a splendid result of twenty-five years' work. His wife has been a good helpmate, and their holdings are the result of their own unaided efforts. In 1901 he bought a place of ten acres on South Maple Avenue, and after bringing it into bearing sold to good advantage in 1907; in 1908 he bought a place of twenty acres on Maple Avenue, near Oleander; in 1911 he bought ten acres on Lincoln Avenue, three-quarters of a mile from his home place and in 1915 he bought forty acres on Orange Avenue three-quarters of a mile southwest from his home place. He is raising raisin grapes and peaches. In 1908 Mr. Berg built a fine home at a cost of $5,000, and here himself and family are noted for their hospitality. There are eight children in the family: Lawrence, is a freshman in the Fresno high school; Thomas: Johanna; Bertha; Marie; Bjerney; Herald; Norma; all going to school. The family are members of the Danish Lutheran Church, and in politics are Republican though enthusiastic sup- porters of the present administration.

VICTOR FRANZEN .- To the man who makes a success of life, en- tirely unaided and with many obstacles to overcome in the struggle, much credit is due, and where he has helped in the development of a district, while building up his own fortunes, he can rest content in the knowledge that he has done his share in the interest of the commonwealth and that of his own family. Such a man is Victor Franzen, who came to Fresno County a poor young man, of foreign birth and language, with no other resources than a healthy body and the will to succeed. He is the son of Frans and Gustava Franzen, and was born in Sweden, March 10, 1869, the youngest in a family of six children. He received his early education in his native land, and when he reached his twentieth year, in 1889, he immigrated to the United States and first located in Iowa, remaining there three years, working as a farm hand.

In 1892, Mr. Franzen came to California and worked for wages five years, and then, deciding to settle here permanently, in 1897 he purchased forty acres of raw land in the Wahtoke district, Fresno County, and proceeded to cultivate it. He was obliged to work out in order to earn the money with which to buy food for himself and family, as well as to make improvements on his ranch, and in this way he succeeded in subduing the soil and com- pelling it to yield him returns for his labors. As time passed, his efforts were crowned with success, and he later purchased an additional twenty acres, and now owns one of the finest ranches in the Wahtoke district, and the handsomest dwelling house in his section of the county. His residence, which was completed in 1917, contains six rooms on the ground floor, and a room on the upper floor, and cost about $4,000. While the exterior is beautiful, the interior is surpassingly so. His ranch is set to white Adriatic and Calimyrna figs, twenty acres, and a vineyard of eighteen acres of muscats, the latter yielding him thirty tons.

The marriage of Mr. Franzen, which occurred in 1897, united him with Miss Frances Mayes, and five children were born to them, four of whom are living, as follows : Marion, who served about six months in the United States

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Marines : Annie, deceased; Carl; Stella ; and Cleta. Mrs. Franzen departed this life in 1915.

While kept well occupied with his agricultural duties, Mr. Franzen has never been too much so to take an interest in the welfare of his home county, and has been found ready to help in all projects for the advance- ment of his community. He has served as a trustee of Wahtoke School District for twenty years. Fraternally he belongs to the Court of Honor. In politics he is a Democrat. He is a member of the Fig and the Raisin Associations.

HUGH JAMES CARLING, JR .- Born in Dayton, Lyon County, Nev., September 7, 1886, Hugh James Carling, Jr., is a son of Hugh James Carling. a native of New Jersey, and of Nancy Jane (Newman) Carling, born in Iowa. The father came to Nevada in 1870, and there engaged in the cattle business. On coming to California, he located in Fresno, in 1892, and has since made this his home.

Hugh James Carling, Jr., came to Fresno with his parents, in 1892, and obtained his education here, attending the grammar and high schools. On completing his schooling, he worked as a reporter on the Fresno Republican, and engaged in other clerical work. In 1910, he entered the county recorder's office as deputy and one year later began reading law, first studying alone, and later he read law with Carl E. Lindsay, of Fresno.

Mr. Carling was admitted to the bar in San Francisco, in October, 1916. After seven years in the county recorder's office, he entered the office of the county clerk, as clerk in department one, of the Superior Court. In February, 1918, Mr. Carling was appointed deputy district attorney, which office he now holds, with credit to both himself and to the county in which he was reared. Fraternally, he is a member of Fresno Lodge, No. 185, I. O .O. F. He is also a member of Fresno Lodge, No. 138, K. of P., of which he is the present Chancellor Commander. Mr. Carling's marriage united him with Elnora E. Elder, a native of Fresno County, and daughter of a pioneer.

JOHN PAGE .- It requires not only a special aptness for the detailed and varied work of the industry, but years of steady application to scientific research and hard, troublesome labor to arrive at the enviable position of John Page, very properly regarded as one of the most experienced viticul- turists and wine-makers in all California, and whose exceptional ability has been recognized by the California Wine Association in their appointment of him as superintendent of their Fresno vineyard and winery.

John's father was James Page, a native of Fifeshire, Scotland, where he was a stonemason when he married Jane Hunter, also born in the land of Bobbie Burns. When he left for New Zealand, he was forced to travel nine months in a sailing ship; but once established in his new homeland, he en- gaged in contracting and building for many years. In this field he became prominent ; but having had enough of that enterprise, he bought and im- proved a farm, to which he eventually retired. There, too, he died, as did his devoted helpmate, the mother of eight children, six of whom are still living.

Born at Dunedin, New Zealand, in 1868, the sixth eldest in the family and the only one destined to come to California, John Page was brought up on a farm and attended the New Zealand grammar schools, finishing his studies at the Otago High School in Dunedin. On graduating, he entered the grocery trade, taking a clerkship in the spice department of a well-known establishment, where he remained for two years. It was not what he was really aiming at, but he put into practice there the rule of his life, to make a success of every work he undertook, and when he left the grocery trade there were good reasons for his remaining in it.

The lure of California began to attract him at that time, however, and in 1888, at about the top of the great boom, he landed at San Francisco. He was not yet satisfied, and shortly afterwards went to Oregon, where he en-

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tered the employ of a contractor engaged in building the breakwater at the Columbia River Bar. Oregon did something for John, and John did a lot for Oregon; but the longer he stayed there, the more he concluded that California was the place for him. He returned, therefore, to the Golden State, and came directly to Fresno; for he had sufficiently informed himself to judge of its superior attractions. He was lucky in securing some work on the best of acreage, and with that experience, he set out vineyards and went in for viticulture. He was also foreman for Captain Neville's vineyard, and then foreman of the Margherita Vineyard; and in discharging his duties in both of these places, he made his mark, first as a man with helpful insight into the problems peculiar to California wine-making, and secondly as a tireless worker accomplishing the maximum possible through the most approved methods.

In the spring of 1901 Mr. Page made a trip to the Klondyke, and spent a year and a half in the frozen North. He prospected out from Dawson and followed mining ; but not being over-infatuated with the country, he returned to California and Fresno. He entered the employ of the California Wine Association, serving that concern first in the Smith Mountain Winery and then in the Eisen Vineyard; and next he was made superintendent of the Fresno vineyard and winery, distinguished for its manufacture of sweet wines, especially sherry and port.

At San Francisco, on August 24, 1911, Mr. Page was married to Mrs. May (Roland) Cooper, a native of San Jose, where she was born the daughter of Irish parents-Patrick and Mary Fogarty-who early settled in California, and became prominent in Santa Clara Valley. Mr. Fogarty went in for farming and horticulture, and in that undertaking was eminently successful when he was killed in a runaway. His wife, aged seventy-nine years, makes her home with Mrs. Page. The latter was educated at the Notre Dame Acad- emy and the Academy of the Immaculate Heart at Hollister, from which institutions she graduated with honors. Her three children are: James Hun- ter, Jack Roland and Mary Jane Page. By her former marriage, Mrs. Page had one child, Claire Cooper, who attends the Fresno high school.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Page take a lively interest in national politics, he espousing the platform of the Republican party, and she the Democrats; but in local affairs, they are naturally very much devoted to the best interests of the section in which they live and so always vote for the best man and the best measure. thereby making for the best citizenship.

FRED EUGENE LINDSEY .- An enterprising old-timer in the Scan- dinavian Colony who has greatly improved a ranch and now owns valuable property is Fred Eugene Lindsey, a resident of Fresno County since the early nineties, who was born at Antigonish, Nova Scotia, on February 27, 1856. His father, Thomas S. Lindsey, was born on the Penobscot River, near Bangor, Me., where he was reared a member of a Massachusetts family. He married Mercy Longfellow, who could trace her lineage two hundred and fifty years back to William Longfellow; and after thus establishing him- self domestically, he removed to Nova Scotia, where he entered the stage business. He prospered until the advent of the railroad, and then the com- petition compelled him to retire and in 1868 he moved to Rockland, Me., where he was prominent as one of the investors and directors of the steamboat lines operating in that section, being general manager of the Rockland, Mt. Desert & Sullivan Steamboat Company. He died in Nova Scotia, at his summer resi- dence. Mrs. Lindsey also died in Nova Scotia, the mother of four children, three girls and one boy, three of whom are still living.

Fred, the only one in California, was educated at Rockland, Me., and after finishing with the public schools, attended Eastman's Business College at Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Thus equipped, he secured the position of purser on the steamer Ulysses, of the Rockland, Mt. Desert & Sullivan Steamboat Com-

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pany, an ill-fated vessel that was lost two years later. Next he officiated for a year on the steamer Mt. Desert; but resigning, he returned to Nova Scotia, where he associated himself in the general merchandise business with L. C. Archibald & Co. When that firm dissolved and divided its holdings, Mr. Lindsey took the Amherst, N. S., store, having a partner and doing business under the firm name of J. B. Gass & Company, and he remained there in busi- ness until 1892.

In that year he sold out and came to California; and on his arrival in Fresno County, he bought the forty acres he now owns in the Scandinavian Colony, and engaged in viticulture. A few years later he bought another forty acres adjoining ; eleven acres of which he set out with Calimyrna figs, and the balance with Zinfandels. His home place is devoted to muscat, feherzagos and Zinfandel grapes; and for years he superintended the work himself, leasing it out to others for the first time in 1917.

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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 23

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