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 30

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 30

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LEW W. CLARK .- While too much praise cannot be given the pioneer settlers of the Golden State, the men who braved the trials and hardships incident to the life of the frontiersmen, and overcame seemingly insurmount- able obstacles in laying a sure foundation for the building of this great and glorious commonwealth, yet the citizens of California owe much to the native sons and daughters of these honored pioneers who have taken up the work of development, where their fathers laid their burdens down, and are building both wisely and well upon their sturdy foundations, and are making marvel- ous developments in all lines of industry, especially in Fresno County.

Lew WV. Clark is proud of the fact that he is a native son, having been born in Riverside County, August 8, 1887, a son of Peter T. and Elizabeth C. (Tune) Clark, natives of Ohio and Missouri, respectively, who migrated from Dent County, Mo., to California, in 1886, locating in San Jacinto Valley, Riverside County. P. T. Clark was an extensive stockraiser and agricultur- ist there for eighteen years, where he leased land. In 1904 he moved up into the San Joaquin Valley and eventually owned 4000 acres in Tulare County, where he was well known as a successful rancher with business-like methods. He met an accidental death, on his ranch east of Orosi, on June 3, 1919. The children of P. T. Clark were: Burt, who is a business man of Fresno; Porta Ethel, Mrs. J. H. Huntoon of Visalia; John, who is engaged in the stock

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and commission business in Visalia ; and Lew W., the subject of this review, who was reared and educated in Riverside County, where he attended the grammar and high school. After his school days were over he chose for his lifework the vocation of a rancher, a pursuit that, when successfully fol- lowed, usually brings independence and affords many opportunities for closer communion with nature, which no doubt Mr. Clark enjoys in the operation of his fine ranch of thirty-one acres, devoted to the growth of oranges and lemons, which he bought in March, 1916, his place being the original Reese ranch, which was one of the first fruit ranches to come into bearing in the Center- ville district in Fresno County. L. W. Clark is an up-to-date and successful rancher whose friends predict for him a still greater measure of prosperity in the future.

On October 14, 1916, Lew W. Clark was united in marriage with Miss Catherine R. Colvert, a daughter of William P. and Catherine (Tice) Col- vert. Fraternally, Mr. Clark is a member of Orangedale Lodge, No. 221 I. O. O. F., at Sanger, and Visalia Lodge, No. 1298. B. P. O. Elks.

LOUIS AUGUSTINE .- Louis Augustine was born in Peoria, I11., 1858, the second oldest of twelve children born to Aloise and Mary (Stiner) Augus- tine, natives of France, who were successful farmers, who when they retired moved to Los Angeles where the father died, the mother still making her home in that city.

Louis was reared on the farm in Peoria, Ill., and Franklin County, Mo., receiving a good education in the public schools. From Franklin County, he removed to Carroll County, Ark., engaging in farming. Next he went to In- dian Territory and in the Cherokee Nation, he followed stock raising until the opening of the Cherokee strip in Oklahoma. He made the run for a claim, and having been over the country he was desirous of obtaining a homestead on Black River with its rich bottom land, but he found even after an early start and swift horse that others already camped there and not caring for other locations, he returned to Arkansas, and there farmed until 1907 when he migrated to California, coming soon afterwards to Coalinga and began work in the oil fields. Later he leased the Coalinga Homestake which he operated successfully until the lease expired. Meantime he had purchased a ranch on Los Gatos Creek and after he quit the oil business he began cattle- raising on his ranch and is meeting with deserved success, his brand being the L. A. combined.

He has always been a Democrat and fraternally is a popular member of the Lodge of Eagles in Coalinga. Mr. Augustine is a very pleasing and af- fable gentleman who is well known and highly esteemed by a large circle of friends.

ALLEN EVERETT STUMP .- A prosperous viticulturist and one of the most highly respected and substantial citizens of Fresno County, who resides northeast of Parlier, is A. E. Stump. He is a native of Iowa, where he was born in 1869, the son of Jeremiah P. and Elmira (McCloskey) Stump, natives of Ohio and Pennsylvania, respectively.

Mr. and Mrs. Jeremiah Stump were the parents of seven children, five of whom are living, four being residents of Fresno County: Paul M .; Mrs. Sophie Zediker; Mrs. Fannie Vance; and A. E., the subject of this sketch. The Stump family migrated to California in 1881. Jeremiah Stump was a rancher of considerable means and ability.

A. E. Stump was reared in Iowa until he was about twelve years of age, when he accompanied the family to California. His education was received partly in Iowa and was finished in the public schools of California. Ever since March 18, 1881, A. E. Stump has been a resident of Fresno County, and has been identified with the ranching interests of the county for many years. He is an expert viticulturist and understands the scientific methods of pro- ducing an abundant yield of grapes. He is the owner of forty acres of highly

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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

improved land, where he has lived since 1904, and upon which he has made many expensive improvements, having set out all the trees and vines seen today. His splendid ranch is located one mile northeast of Parlier. Mr. Stump devotes his entire efforts to the one product, raisin grapes. That it pays to specialize is proved by the returns of one season, which netted him $6,200. His land yields from two and one-half to three tons of grapes per acre.

A. E. Stump was united in marriage with Miss Emma Zediker, on May 10, 1898. Mr. Stump is justly entitled to the high degree of success he enjoys as a prosperous rancher, which he has attained through untiring energy and the diligent study of the details of viticulture. He was one of the members of the original raisin association.

LOT HAMILTON .- The generous-hearted rancher, Lot Hamilton, en- joys with his faithful and hard-working wife a delightful home, where they dispense a liberal hospitality. He was born at Seneca, Crawford County, Wis., on November 13, 1868, the son of Henry Hamilton who had married Catherine Fairfield. His grandfather, Lot Hamilton, was born near Man- chester, in Lancashire, England; on the death of his wife he came out to America, obtained work in St. Louis, and then sent back to England for his two sons. These sons, Henry (the father of the subject of this sketch) and James were children by the grandfather's second wife; and being a widower when he came to the United States, he never remarried.

Having thus helped his two sons to come to America, he took up govern- ment land near Seneca, and there Henry Hamilton became a farmer. At the outbreak of the Civil War, James enlisted and died in the army service ; and later Henry, who married in Wisconsin, entered the Union Army in 1864, and served to the close of the war, after which he returned to Grand- father Hamilton's farm in Crawford County. Several years later Lot Hamil- ton traded for a larger acreage and at one time he farmed very extensively in Crawford County. In time he sold all his land and made his home with his son, Henry, with whom he was living when he died on January 15, 1905. He was born on March 21, 1812, and was therefore ninety-two years, nine months and twenty-five days old.

Henry Hamilton was born at Nutla in Lancashire, England, on February 3, 1840, and died at the general hospital in Madison, Wis., on July 24, 1915. He arrived in America in 1856 and settled near Seneca, Wis., and he became the father of eight children. The eldest was James, who is mentioned elsewhere in this historical work. Then came Hugh who migrated to Cali- fornia, went back to Wisconsin, and later made a trip to the gold fields in the Klondike; finally becoming a citizen of the Golden State, he married, and died at Newman, Cal., on June 6, 1916, leaving a widow and a step-son. Lot was the third in order of birth. Then came Stephen, a grain-farmer at Courtney, N. D., who married and has a large family. Henry, un- married, lives at Lot's home. Anson died at eighteen years of age; he was unloading hay on his father's farm in Wisconsin when a whiffletree broke and hit him in the side, and he died from the internal injuries received. Mary, the seventh child, became the wife of Mark Foley, a carpenter and builder of Los Angeles. Sylvia is the wife of Robert Felts and lives at Los Angeles with two children by a former husband, James Compton.

Growing up on the Wisconsin farm of his father, Lot Hamilton was early introduced to hard work, and at home at hard work he stuck until he was twenty-four. He never received a cent from his father's estate; and beginning to work out at the age referred to, he had saved out of his earn- ings, by the time he was twenty-nine, about $1,800. Half of this hard- earned money had to be paid out to a doctor for an operation on his right foot; yet eventually the member had to be amputated in 1898 at the West Side Hospital, in Chicago. When he recovered, he went to North Dakota and ran a traction engine for a threshing outfit, and in the fall of 1899 he

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removed to Day County, S. D., and there bought land. Prior to that, on July 26, he was married at Boscobel, in Grant County, Wis., to Miss Rose Young, daughter of Alonzo and Caroline (Byers) Young. She was born in Scott township, Crawford County, attended the Boscobel high school, and at eighteen became a teacher, and taught in Crawford County till she was married. She had been left an orphan, for her father died when she was three, and her mother died when she was six. She was then taken by her Grandmother Byers of Crawford County, and brought up. Her father left a farm, and J. R. Hurlburt of Scott Township became guardian to her and an only brother, Henderson Young, thirteen years older.

After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton bought a grain and stock farm near Webster, Day County, and later Lot Hamilton became a partner with his brother James, and the two brothers farmed on a very large scale, operating some 2,100 acres as a grain and stock farm. Fortune seemed to smile upon whatever our subject now undertook, as if to make amends for what had been previously denied him.

In February, 1910, Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton came out to California and bought a ranch of twenty acres at Parlier, which he improved and sold after four years at a handsome profit. In 1914, he removed to his present place and bought the home ranch of forty acres. This he has greatly improved, and in doing so has become a very successful farmer and raisin-grower. Twenty acres are given to muscats, three to Thompson seedless grapes, about three acres to apricots, four acres to Lovell peaches, three acres to Muir peaches, one and six-tenths acres to orange cling peaches, two and four-tenths acres to Wheatland peaches, and the same area to Elberta peaches. The balance of the acreage is dry ground and has been devoted to a building spot. For irrigation purposes alone Mr. Hamilton put in 800 feet of fourteen-inch pipe and now his ranch is unusually well supplied with water. Besides this ranch, one of the finest areas of forty acres to be seen anywhere for miles around, Mr. Hamilton owns other ranches, each of which reflects most creditably upon him and those associated with him in their management.

Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton are greatly respected by all who know them, and few men deserve more good will than this sturdy character. In Novem- ber, 1913, he was taken with appendicitis, but he was successfully operated upon at St. Joseph's Hospital in St. Paul, and the following February had sufficiently recovered that he was able to come back to Fresno County. That he was satisfied with what he saw is evident from the fact that he bought land at once, to make California his home.

CHARLES C. PHILLIPS .- In all sections of the world the pioneer is held in honor, but especially is this true in California, where the present generation realizes that the wonderful development of the Golden State, which are so much appreciated now, are due to the indefatigable determination of those brave souls that endured the hardships incident to the transformation of an unknown and sparsely settled region into one of the greatest common- wealths of the nation.

Charles C. Phillips is the son of an honored pioneer who crossed the Indian infested plains with the slow moving ox-cart, in that memorable vear, 1849. His father, Bonepart Phillips, was born in Tennessee, in about 1827, grew up there, and becoming enthused by interesting reports of the discovery of gold in California, decided to seek his fortune in the new Mecca. He made the long journey across the plains in an ox-drawn wagon, and after his ar- rival engaged in mining for a short time. Like many other men, however, he found mining unprofitable and the results uncertain, so he abandoned that occupation and engaged in ranching, locating in the vicinity of Hayward, Alameda County, where he owned and operated 800 acres of land devoted to general farming. Later he went to San Mateo County, and from there down

Segaray

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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

into Santa Cruz County. In 1860, he married, and six children blessed the union : Edward, and George, both deceased ; Jackson ; Charles C .; Minnie ; and Frank, all living in California. The father, Bonepart Phillips, died in 1895, aged about sixty-eight years ; the mother passed away in 1903.

Charles C. Phillips was born in Alameda County, November 29, 1869, but was reared and educated in Santa Cruz County, and had always con- fined his efforts to agricultural pursuits there until June, 1917, when he purchased his present ranch of 150 acres in the river bottom, east of Center- ville, Fresno County. It is very fertile land, having previously been a vege- table garden but now devoted to grain, alfalfa, prunes, summer crops and pasture. Mr. Phillips is an experienced California rancher and thoroughly understands the best methods of modern agriculture.

The marriage of Charles C. Phillips, in 1896, united him with Rosa V. Morehouse, also a native Californian, and this union has been blessed with seven children : William ; Roy ; Glenn ; Carrie ; Wayne ; Dick ; and Neva. Like all native sons, Mr. Phillips is a public spirited citizen and ready to assist in all worthy enterprises.

JOHN BIDEGARAY .- Through his native ability, perseverance and industry, John Bidegaray has achieved the success which he rightfully enjoys, as one of the leading business men and financiers of Fresno County. A native of France, he was born in the state of Basses Pyrenees, September 26, 1874, the son of Peter and Grace (Grenade) Bidegaray, to whom four children were born, of whom he is third in order of birth. Reared on a farm where hard work was the rule, there was neither time nor opportunity for schooling, al- though many were the lessons gained through observation and experience, which in after years were an aid to the study of conditions and men in a foreign country.

When but a youth of eighteen, Mr. Bidegaray determined to better his condition, so coming to the United States, and California, in 1892, he stopped first in Huron, Fresno County. From there he went to Coalinga, where he obtained employment on a stock farm. During the next seven years he worked for different stockmen, driving cattle and sheep all over the state. Not only did he gain knowledge of the country during this period, but he learned the possibilities in this line of industry, besides accumulating some capital through hard labor. He had $2,200 coming to him, but he was able to collect only $800 of it (the balance he lost), and with this he concluded to enter business for himself.

His first venture in 1899, was a small hotel and store located on the west side of the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks in Fresno. Later, he went into the live-stock business, making a specialty of buying sheep and wool for the San Francisco market. Besides engaging in general farming, Mr. Bidega- ray owns many thousand head of sheep, for which he rents thousands of acres of range land on the West Side as well as stubble fields around Fresno, where he ranges his flocks. In 1915 he bought 30,000 lambs for the San Francisco market, and each year since then has largely increased his purchases and sales in that line. He travels over a great portion of the state, buying stock and wool for the San Francisco and Los Angeles markets, and continues to increase and extend his stock industry, until at present he is one of the most extensive individual stockmen in the Valley. His years of experience have made him an exceptionally good judge of stock, and he has established a strong financial standing, being rated as one of the best payers in the Valley.

Aside from his extensive stock business, Mr. Bidegaray has a large gen- eral merchandise establishment on Tulare Street. He was the prime mover and organizer of the Growers National Bank of Fresno, of which he is pres- ident. He long saw the need of an institution that would make a specialty 75

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of taking care of stock-growers and large land owners, furnishing them funds until they sold their stock or crops. The bank was organized on September 8, 1919, with a capital stock of $220,000, and was opened for business at I and Tulare Streets that same month.

Mr. Bidegaray's first marriage was to Miss Grace Villanueva who left him one child, John Peter, attending school in San Francisco. His second marriage was to Miss Julia Larrea, a native of Spain, the ceremony occurring at San Jose, Cal. Of pleasing personality, Mr. Bidegaray has many friends who esteem him for his sterling worth, integrity and dependable qualities. A man of energy, enterprise and business ability, he is never idle and in his vigorous way drives his business. He has aided materially in the progress and development of the county and is held in the highest esteem by his fel- low citizens. It is to men of his stamp that Central California owes its pres- ent wonderful development.

The Growers National Bank of Fresno, of which Mr. Bidegaray was the principal organizer, was organized September 8, 1919, with a capital stock of $200,000, all paid in, and a surplus of $20,000, all paid in. Mr. Bidegaray pur- chased the furniture and fixtures in the former Bank of Italy, leased the quar- ters occupied by them at the corner of Tulare and I streets for ten years and there the new bank was opened for business on September 25, with Mr. Bide- garay as president.

Mr. Bidegaray has had a most interesting career, beginning at the lowest rung of the ladder he has steadily climbed to the top by his own efforts, ac- quiring property and stock and establishing a credit large enough to handle the large volume of business he has today. He has never abused this credit and is noted all over the State as the best pay of any stockman. He is very popular with all with whom he meets and has a large circle of friends among all classes with whom his word is as good as his bond. As a man of influence he stands very high.

WM. T. KIRKMAN, JR .- Established Kirkman Nurseries, Inc., in Fresno in year 1906.

Son of W. T. Kirkman, pioneer nurseryman, and Dora Akridge Kirkman. Family came to Merced from Arkansas in 1888.

Father and son both nurserymen from boyhood.

Parents now living retired life in Pasadena.

Son still at nursery business. Main office, corner O and Tulare Streets, Fresno City.

Mr. Frank P. South, formerly associated with Kirkman Nurseries, was secretary and treasurer of the organization from 1910 until his death in 1917.

F. A. CORTNER .- An excellent illustration of the rewards to be gained through a life of industry, economy, and good management, together with a definite goal in life, is found in the career of F. A. Cortner, the successful horticulturist and viticulturist, who owns and resides on a highly cultivated forty-acre ranch near Del Rey, Fresno County. He was born in Tennessee in 1863, and was reared and educated in his native state, his parents being Alexander and Mary Cortner, both natives of Tennessee. They were the parents of ten children, five of whom are living. F. A. Cortner, the only one who migrated to California, arrived in the Golden State in 1884. He secured employment with Alfred Baird and became the foreman of his 1,000-acre grain ranch, a position he filled satisfactorily for sixteen years. He spent six years working for other ranchers, and by economical habits and judicious management of his financial affairs in due time had saved enough money to purchase a ranch for himself, which he did in 1906. At

de . E. Folder

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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

the time he bought his present ranch of forty acres, the land was in its virgin state. By persistent and intelligent effort he has brought it up to a high state of cultivation and greatly enhanced its value. Nine acres are devoted to peaches, seven acres to muscat grapes, thirteen acres to Thomp- son's Seedless grapes, and five acres to alfalfa. The ranch is well kept and evidences the thrift and enterprise of its owner. It is conveniently located on the Santa Fe Railroad about five miles southwest of Sanger.

In 1887 F. A. Cortner was united in marriage with Miss Edith Brown, a native of Ohio, and of this union five children were born: Ella, Robert, Henry, May, and Ray. Mrs. Cortner is a member of the Seventh Day Ad- ventist Church. Mr. Cortner is energetic and progressive, a splendid ex- ample of what is commonly termed a self-made man, and is regarded as one of the successful and substantial ranchers of his section of Fresno County.

HARLAND E. ELDER .- A farmer blessed not only with a choice ranch of forty acres in the Prairie school district five miles northeast of Fowler, but also with a happy home, where goodness, refinement and good- will hold sway, is Harland E. Elder, popularly known as Hal Elder, who is also the efficient ditch-tender of the district. As a well-to-do agriculturist he lives on his well-improved ranch, and also serves as superintendent of the Malaga Extension of the Fowler Switch Ditch, now a part of the Consolidated.

He was born in Monroe County, Iowa, on August 23, 1863, the son of Alexander Elder, who had married Mary McKissick, the latter still living at Fowler, seventy-six years of age, although her husband died in 1918, almost eighty-one years old. Both grandfathers, that is John Elder and William McKissick, were born in the north of Ireland, and both grand- mothers, Esther Elder and Grandmother McKissick, were born in Scotland. Alexander Elder was an Ohioan, and his wife came from Indiana. They were married in Iowa, for Grandfather McKissick had moved out from In- diana to Monroe County, Iowa, before the Civil War, and the ceremony took place in that county just before the outbreak of the war. Alexander Elder farmed there and enlisted in Company A, Thirty-sixth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and served through the last two years of the war, being wounded at Mark's Mill, Ark. After the war he resumed farming in Iowa. In 1890 he moved with his family to Fowler, Cal.

Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Elder had six children, five boys and one girl. All are living except the third eldest, Perry Elder, who served as deputy sheriff under Jay Scott in Fresno County, and who died in Fowler, in 1901. The five living are: Thomas, a farmer of Holt County, Nebr .; Harland E .; Carrie, the wife of W. W. Hicks, of Orosi; J. F., who lives two miles north- west of Fowler; and Charles, who is southeast of that town.

Harland E. attended the common schools and Amity College, at Col- lege Springs, Iowa, and grew up in that state until he was twenty-one. Then he moved with his parents to Holt County, Nebr., and there for seven years raised stock. He went back to Tingley, Iowa, and married Miss Carrie Brown, a childhood companion. She is a daughter of the Rev. William Brown of the Presbyterian Church, and they remained near her home for a year.

In 1900, Mr. Elder came to Fresno County and rented a wheat-ranch at Caruthers, on which he farmed. Thence he moved to Kern County and raised stock for twelve years. When he came back to Fresno in 1903, he had only $500, and with that he made the initial payment on his home-place of forty acres.

Mr. and Mrs. Elder have had five children: Eula B., a graduate of the Fowler High School, died when she was twenty-three years old. Lucile is a graduate of the same institution and the Fresno State Normal, and she now teaches in the seventh grade in the Fowler grammar school. Hazel and Helen, twins, are both graduates of the Fowler High School, and Helen is a grad- uate of the Fresno Normal and is a teacher in the sixth grade of the Fowler

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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 30

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