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 29

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 29

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The occupants of the Nidiffer home are cultured and well informed, de- spite the fact that the boyhood days of its proprietor were passed under con- ditions of poverty and a general absence of educational advantages which in some portions of the South followed in the wake of the great Civil War.

James Murray Nidiffer was the eleventh child of a family of twelve chil- dren of whom six were boys and of whom eleven grew up to maturity. He was born in Carter County, Tenn., on May 13, 1857. His parents were John and Margaret (Jenkins) Nidiffer, both East Tennesseeans, who scorned the idea of slavery. When the father prayed "Give us this day our daily bread" his supplication went up to God, free from all desire to eat the "other fel- low's" bread, although the other's skin might be black. He worked and sweat at the forge, in the iron region of Tennessee, and in common with a majority of its mountaineers he resolved that this nation should not remain half slave and half free, and it must be said to the everlasting credit of Carter County that it remained loyal to the Union. But Tennessee as a state seceded, and the strifes, contentions and ravages of war, which obtained in that district, can be more easily imagined than described. The father died in 1863 and the courage and nobility of the mother in keeping together and rearing the fam- ily under these trying circumstances were commendable indeed. It goes with- out saying that our subject as a boy had to knuckle down to real work. His education was confined to the rudimentary schools of his district, for a short time during winters. It is only by wide reading and extensive business ex- periences, extending over many years, that he came to be the well-informed man that he is. Five of the Nidiffer brothers and sisters now live in Califor- nia. Besides the subject of this review, these are: Mrs. Eliza Hodgdon. a widow residing in Fresno; Mrs. Tilda Lewis, also a widow, residing on a ranch three and a half miles southeast of Lemoore; Perkins Nidiffer, a well-

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to-do rancher of the same place; and Mrs. Laura Hansen also a widow, who resides in Fresno.

While yet a boy, our subject moved with his mother to Council Grove, Morris County, Kans., and from nine to ten years of age rode the trail, driving cattle which had been brought up by Simcox-Terwilliger & Company, bank- ers and cattlemen, from Wichita, Kans., to Missouri. These cattle had been raised in the Indian Nation and were of the Spanish long-horn variety. He, therefore, lived the life of the real cowboy, and he there learned the business very thoroughly, an accomplishment which later was the means of securing him a good position on the Laguna de Tache Grant.

He received letters from some friends at Visalia, Cal., and in consequence was taken with the idea of coming to California. In company with his brother, Perkins Nidiffer, he came out and stepped off the train at Visalia, on April 16, 1875. He went to work immediately on a Tulare County ranch for $45 per month. Later he entered the employ of John Creighton who during the term of the employment sold 1,100 head of cattle to Granville Furnish, who was then the buyer for Poley Heilborn & Company, who at that time held the Laguna de Tache Grant under lease with the right to buy. Being an adept with the lariat, young Nidiffer was sent up, by Mr. Creighton, to "vent" the cattle,-a branding operation that served the practi- cal purposes of a bill of sale, with the additional advantage of a positive means of identification. Poley Heilbron & Company were so well pleased with him and his work that they engaged him in their employ on the Grant. This resulted in a fifteen years' engagement with the firm, and he was soon placed in full charge of their cattle department. He looked after the fences as well as the cattle. It is therefore safe to say that he knows all about the soil and other conditions of the great Laguna de Tache country, having been over every portion of it, before it was divided up. He well remembers the building of the stately "Grant House" which still raises its majestic two and a half stories, on Mount Whitney Avenue, about three miles west of Laton. It was built by Jeremiah Clark, in the year 1879.

During the time of his employment with Polev Heilbron & Company, Mr. Nidiffer was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Canaday, originally from Sedalia, Mo., where she was born and reared, the event being solem- nized on June 4, 1883.

Later on there were several transfers and changes in the ownership of the "Laguna" which we cannot go into in this review: but S. C. Lillis, after whom Lillis station was named, had become interested in the Poley Heilbron & Company concern, and in the early '90s, he and our subject secured a lease on 18,000 acres of the Grant and succeeded to the cattle business, and for the next eight years ran on an average of 6,000 head of cattle on the Laguna. Lillis and Nidiffer branched out, became the owners of 42,00 acres of range land, bought and sold cattle on a large scale, and became the third largest cattlemen on the Pacific coast at that time. After eight years of the Lillis- Nidiffer partnership, Mr. Nidiffer bought out Mr. Lillis' interest in the cattle and lease. He had just brought up 6,300 cattle for the firm, which he had bought in Nevada. He was really in very good financial circumstances at that time, having $115,000 in gold coin; a 320-acre stock ranch in Madera County, and other property. But four months after becoming the sole owner he met with a severe reverse. The dreaded cattle disease, known as "Anthrax" broke out and took the major portion of his herd. Of the number that survived the scourge he sold 1,600 head for $5 per head less than he had paid for them at Winnemucca, Nev., from six to nine months before. He suffered a loss of $63,000. He has remained in business and paid his debts, 100 cents on the dollar, but the loss was a severe blow.

In 1898, there were still other changes in the ownership and management of the Laguna de Tache. Nares and Saunders then became the selling agents for the great English syndicate which owned it. The cattle business was

Fbya k. S. Burkey mD.

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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

then dwindling before the oncoming agriculturist, dairyman and fruit-raiser on the small irrigated farm, and Mr. Nidiffer himself bought the sixty acres which now constitute his home-ranch. Later he bought forty acres two miles to the north, on Murphy Slough, which he still owns. In addition to this he is leasing fourteen sections of range, in the Coast Range section of Fresno County, a part of this being government range and a part deeded land. He is still conservatively engaged in the cattle business, owning 200 head at the present time, and has been in the cattle business on his own account ever since he bought out S. C. Lillis.

Few men have raised, bought, sold and handled as many cattle as has Mr. Nidiffer. Soon after the Anthrax epidemic he became a buyer for Miller & Lux, and for the next six years bought extensively in Western Texas, Old and New Mexico and Arizona. After that he bought for the J. G. James Com- pany. He has a very extensive acquaintance among cattlemen in Mexico, as well as in the mountain states and in California, especially in the states of Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico, where he and his former partner were ex- tensively interested.

Reviewing Mr. Nidiffer's career, one is forcefully reminded of Jacob of old, who according to sacred history, kept cattle on ten thousand Judean hills. It would be safe to assert that Mr. Nidiffer would run the revered patriarch a close second if indeed he would not excel him.

Mr. and Mrs. Nidiffer are exponents of the simple life. They observe the old rules and virtues and strive to keep up to the standard of the Golden Rule. They are consistent Republicans and stand for the square deal in busi- ness and politics.

FLOYD L. R. BURKS, M.D .- It would be a strange thing if the recent World War did not bring in its wake some decided blessings, and an indication of the advancement of science through human experience is afforded in the return from Europe and the fields of conflict of Dr. Floyd L. R. Burks, the physician of whose surgical skill Fresno had already been proud. His father was William Tillman Burks, a practicing physician well known to old-timers in Fresno, and from association with him the lad inherited his father's bent. Dr. William Burks had married Miss Annie Williams, daughter of Richard and Elizabeth (Cocking) Williams, natives of England who were early settlers of Fresno, and from her superior character the lad Floyd received the most ennobling impulses. He was born at Fresno, on August 4, 1883, and was educated at the local grammar and high schools.

After a pre-medical course of a very thorough nature in San Francisco, Mr. Burks entered Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia, from which he was graduated with the Class of '08, when he received his M. D. degree. Then he served as interne at the Fresno County Hospital. He joined the American Medical Association, the State Medical Association and the County Medical Society, and opened a suite of well-equipped offices in the Forsyth Building at Fresno, where his fast-increasing practice soon necessitated two skilled assistants. His previous experience for three years as Emergency Hospital surgeon had contributed to that public confidence essential for one wishing to stand as a specialist in such an important field as surgery.

In April, 1918, Dr. Burks made application for a commission in the medi- cal department of the United States Army, and reported for service on July 31. Then he was made lieutenant, and sent to Camp Kearney; after which he was ordered to Camp Shelby, in Mississippi, to join Evacuation Hospital No. 33. In September, he was promoted and commissioned captain, and was sent overseas in November. He was fortunate in having service at Rimau- court Base Hospital center, and then at Vichy. On completion of his services there, he requested his discharge in France; and this having been granted him by the authorities, he went to England to study at the leading hospitals, after which he returned to Fresno and resumed his practice.

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In San Francisco, Dr. Burks was married on September 2, 1911, to Miss Adelaide Granz, also a native daughter of Fresno, whose father was Herman Granz, a prominent viticulturist of the county. She and her husband are members of the Eastern Star. Dr. Burks was made a Mason in Fresno Lodge, No. 247, F. & A. M. when he was twenty-one; he belongs to the Fresno Chapter. R. A. M .; Fresno Commandery, Knights Templar; Fresno Consistory of the Scottish Rite; and Islam Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of San Francisco. His public-spirit and his interest in civic and social affairs have associated him with such organizations as the Commercial Club, the Chamber of Commerce, the University Club and the Sunnyside Country Club.

W. H. SHAFER .- Among the men who have been instrumental in the development of the county's irrigation projects, W. H. Shafer is known as a man who has ever had the best interests of the community at heart. Born at Stockton, San Joaquin County, Cal., March 15, 1861, he is a son of John Shafer, who was born in Bedford County, Pa. His grandfather, Abram Shaf- er, was a contractor on the old Government Pike, the military road from New York to Chicago, Ill., before the advent of the railway, and was identified with the development of the country west of the Alleghanies. He was a Pennsylvanian, as was also his great-grandfather. The Shafer family were German Lutherans who sought refuge in America from persecution under the benign wing of William Penn, because of their religious views and love of political freedom. Mr. Shafer's father, John Shafer, was among the influx to California in 1850, journeying down the Ohio River and up the Missouri River to St. Joseph, Mo., where he and four or five other sturdy young men outfitted and crossed the plains to California with ox teams; all the available mules and horses had been purchased by earlier argonauts. Arriving in Cali- fornia Mr. Shafer sought his fortune in the placer gold fields. Owing to ill health and failure to make a stake in mining he abandoned that business and became a wood contractor, taking contracts to furnish fuel for the steamers on the Sacramento River. He cleared the land, sold the wood and planted the cleared land to vegetables and orchard and soon established a good trade for his products. He built up a commercial business, established a fresh vege- table market at Stockton and continued to raise vegetables on his cleared land, selling his own produce and that of others.

Mr. Shafer was married at Stockton to Mrs. Matilda Fish, a native of Michigan, of English and Scotch ancestry. Her mother's maternal grand- father, Samuel Roundy, was born in Scotland; the Roundys were pioneers and saw-mill men in the East. In a family of four children Matilda was the oldest daughter. Mr. Shafer's father was a leader in establishing some of the early schools in California. He built the first school house near Isleton, Sacramento County, before the school district was organized; going down into his own pocket for the money, he purchased the lumber, worked himself and hired others, doing this to fill a much needed want, which was demon- strated at that period in California. He became a well-to-do business man of Stockton, and later resided in Sacramento County. In 1869 he removed with his family to Fresno County, Cal., and the family came to Selma in the fall of 1881. In May, 1894, Mrs. Shafer died and Mr. Shafer did not long survive her, for he died in December of that same year.

W. H. Shafer was one of the first schoolboys in Sacramento County ; his mother, who had a college education, gave her son his first lessons in reading and writing, and imparted to him a love for scientific knowledge. He was particularly fond of mathematics, civil engineering and surveying. While yet a boy he obtained a practical knowledge of the latter, as chain-boy under J. W. Prentice, surveyor of Sacramento County. He also caught in- spiration and enthusiasm from the late Will S. Green, surveyor general of California. Learning from his mother's instructions, attending the public schools, surveying, helping in and around his father's business, he shared the

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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

common experiences of the first generation of California youth and grew up and developed a great liking for the work of the irrigationist and surveyor. He entered Van der Nailen School of Engineering, 24 Post Street, San Fran- cisco, pursued a special course in civil engineering and at twenty was a civil engineer, and early established the old levee grades on the Sacramento River.

Locating at Selma, Mr. Shafer was employed by the directors of the Centerville and Kingsburg Canal. Becoming interested in irrigation here he was soon chosen to superintend the water distribution and the maintenance of the Centerville and Kingsburg Irrigation canal. The first ditch built in Fresno County was the Sweem Ditch; the Fresno Canal was the second ditch, and the Centerville and Kingsburg Irrigation Canal the third ditch. Work on this ditch commenced in the fall of 1877, and water was run as far as Selma in 1878. Mr. Shafer has been connected with some phase of irriga- tion since a young man, most of the time on the Centerville and Kingsburg Canal. The water right for this canal was obtained January 12, 1876; articles of incorporation were filed May 11, 1877 ; there were fifty original shares, five of them were paid for in cash and the others were worked out by their holders. This canal is now a part of the vast irrigation system known as the Consoli- dated Canal Company. Mr. Shafer is resident engineer and has charge of the ditches for Selma and vicinity, his work extending to the laying out, survey- ing and maintenance of canals, with a supervising oversight and management of the actual work of irrigating the adjacent land. He personally superin- tends 150 miles of the 220 miles comprised in the Consolidated Canal Com- pany's system. The water for irrigation costs not over seventy-five cents per acre per annum, and is the cheapest irrigation water in the San Joaquin Valley. Mr. Shafer has made this his life work, has attended most of the important irrigation conventions, has appeared before the Legislature and done much committee work in regard to the improvement of irrigation facilities for this section of California. He is an earnest advocate of the Pine Flat project.

It is due largely to Mr. Shafer's efforts that Selma has an excellent high school with artistically grouped buildings and ample playgrounds. He was chairman of the board of High School Trustees during the erection of the Selma high school building. He is the owner of a well-improved seventy- eight acre ranch adjoining Selma on the northwest, upon which he has built substantial buildings including a commodious residence. In his political sen -. timents Mr. Shafer is a Progressive. He attended the first meeting at Sacra- mento, September, 1907, of California Progressives and assisted in organiz- ing the Lincoln Roosevelt League. He is a firm friend and stanch supporter of Senator Hiram W. Johnson.

HANS MONSON .- To those who have succeeded in life solely by their own efforts, much credit is due, and of such Hans Monson is an example worthy in every way of the success which has come to him through years of continuous work and persistent efforts to attain his goal, which he has accomplished without help from others.

Hans Monson first saw the light of day on September 25, 1867, on a farm, in the southern part of Sweden. At the very early age of seven years he began working, in the summer time, on a farm where he herded sheep and through all his life time he has never had an idle day. In 1887 he emigrated to the United States and worked on his uncle's farm in Missouri, for nine months. On January 27, 1888, he arrived in Fresno with but fifteen cents as his cash assets, but possessed with a strong constitution, reliable charac- ter and a determination to succeed. He soon found work in the vineyards, his first employer being Hector Burness, later he worked for Benjamin Wood- ward on the Las Palmas Ranch, and afterwards for F. M. Russell.

For a number of years after coming to Fresno he sent a part of his earnings each month to his father and brothers in Sweden. On June 15, 1891, Mr. Monson started to work on the Helm Ranch, located east of Fresno,

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and continued in the employment of the Helm family for twenty-five years, serving as foreman of the ranch during the latter years. While employed on the Helm ranch he planted over 800 acres to vines and for five years con- tracted for harvesting the crop of grapes. Later he purchased eighty acres of raw land in the Helm tract, which he improved by planting to vines, and in 1917 he traded forty acres of this vineyard for his fine new two-story resi- dence, located at 475 Glenn Avenue, Fresno. Mr. Monson still owns forty acres of full bearing grapes.

When Frank M. Helm started his modern dairy in Kearney Park, con- sisting of registered Holstein cows, Hans Monson took charge of the dairy, in addition to his other duties.

Mr. Monson is a very progressive citizen and greatly interested in all movements that have as their aim the upbuilding of the best interests of the county. It was but natural, therefore, that Robert Lockhead appointed him, in 1916, as road superintendent of his district, which position he still retains. During his term of office he has been instrumental in having a number of cement bridges built as well as several miles of new road.

On February 15, 1895, Hans Monson was united in marriage with Sophia Lindberg, of Fresno, and this happy union has been blessed with five chil- dren: Alice, a teacher of music in Fresno and a talented pianist ; Oscar, Lillian, Alma, and Harold, who are at home. Mrs. Monson was born at Otvidaberg, Sweden, and is a daughter of Gustav and Charlotte (Odahl) Lindberg. The father died when Mrs. Monson was only fifteen years old. Of twelve children eleven are still living, Mrs. Monson being the sixth child.

Fraternally Mr. Monson is an Odd Fellow, and he is also interested greatly in educational matters, having been clerk of the school board of the Scandinavian Colony for five years.

DAVID CARMI McCLARTY .- One of the old pioneers of the Parlier section, who settled in the country before the Santa Fe built its branch through Reedley and Sanger to Fresno, and who helped in the grading and building of the road, is D. C. McClarty. Public-spirited in the most com- prehensive sense of the term, he has taken great interest in the building of the ditches and laterals for irrigation purposes and has watched with intense interest the development of the raisin industry since Mr. I. N. Parlier planted the first large eighty-acre vineyard in this section in 1880. Mr. McClarty championed cooperative marketing and was an able second to such men as Theodore Kearney and Messrs. Butler and Forsythe, in laying the foundation for such efficient agencies of present-day cooperation as the California Raisin Association and the Prune, Peach and Apricot Associations.

Mr. McClarty was born in the Province of Quebec, sixty-five miles east of Montreal, December 23, 1853. His father, David, a brick and stonemason by trade, and the owner of a farm in Canada, was a native of Ireland of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and his mother, Jane (Longeway) McClarty, was born in Canada of French and German extraction. The Longeways were one of the early French families of the Province of Quebec. The family was well- to-do, and his parents lived, married and died in Canada. David Carmi was the youngest child in a family of five children. Nicholas, the eldest, came to the United States and served in the Civil War. George, James Augustus and Jane Augusta, twins, were the other children of the family.

David Carmi's efforts in obtaining a limited schooling were arduous in the extreme. In the rigors of that northern country he frequently walked the two miles to school waist deep in snow. He worked on his father's farm until seventeen years of age, plowing and harrowing with oxen. When seventeen he sought to better his condition, and removed to Salem, Wash- ington County, N. Y., where he worked by the month on a farm for six years.

Chen + Mers LD to Millarty

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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

During this time Mr. McClarty returned to the Province of Quebec and in 1875 was united in marriage with his betrothed, Miss Annie Niblock, daughter of Alexander and Agnes (Wilson) Niblock. Mr. Niblock was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and when his daughter Annie was an infant six months of age her mother died. Four years later Mr. Niblock married again. Mrs. McClarty had five own brothers and sisters, and three half brothers and sis- ters. She married at the age of seventeen.

In 1880, Mr. McClarty came to California, locating in Sonora, Tuolumne County, where he worked in the lumber woods and around the saw mills, his wife and children remaining in Canada and joining him later at Sonora, the mining camp. In 1884 he came to Modesto. He was foreman of the G. W. Hopper three-section grain-ranch during the year 1884-85. In 1886 he came to Fresno and purchased his first piece of land from M. J. Church-twenty acres with one acre of peaches on the place. He owned the place a year and sold it in 1887, and then came to his present place, one and one-half miles west and one-half mile south of Parlier. While in Fresno, Mrs. McClarty worked in the old Meade packing-house, the first packing-house built in Fresno. Mr. McClarty's ranch is planted to twenty acres of muscats, five acres to Thompson's Seedless and four acres to orchard. The rest of the property is in yards and raw land.

Mr. and Mrs. McClarty are the parents of two children: Gertrude is the wife of J. P. Hughes, the owner of a forty-acre ranch near Parlier, and they have three children, Emery, Raymond and Ona. Jasper married Dolly Venter, a native of Missouri. He is the owner of a ten-acre ranch four miles south of Parlier and he and his wife have four children, Fay, Jessie, Hazel and David.

In his political views Mr. McClarty inclines to the Republican party, but votes for the man best fitted for the office and whose principles are correct, regardless of party affiliation. He is a loyal supporter of the administration.

In 1918, Mr. and Mrs. McClarty retired to Selma, where Mr. McClarty purchased a place on Washington Avenue, which he immediately proceeded to improve by building a comfortable bungalow where they now live and where the latch-string continues to hang out and to welcome their many old-time friends and neighbors. They are there enjoying the fruits of use- ful and well-spent lives, and have the satisfaction of knowing that Fresno County is far better fitted for the abode of man than it was when they first came here, and that they have had a worthy part in so making it.

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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 29

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