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 32
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Having been advised to seek a change of climate, Mr. Harman rented out his large ranch of 480 acres and moved down to Lompoc in Santa Bar- bara County, and then in 1905 he and his wife removed to Berkeley. There Mrs. Harman died on March 9, 1907, and Mr. Harman passed away on June 2, 1915. Both rounded out such careers of exceptional usefulness that it may truly be said of them-"their works do live even after they have departed; wherefore they have not gone, but in their works live on and on."
STEPHEN GULER .- It is no wonder that Stephen Guler likes Califor- nia, and the Barstow district of Fresno County in particular, for since coming here and getting well started, he has accomplished much both for himself and the state of his adoption, with which he first became associated over a decade ago. He was born at Monbiel. Graubunden, Switzerland, on March 21, 1877, the son of Hans Guler, an experienced farmer of that section who brought his wife and four sons to the United States in 1884. He located near New Rockford, Eddy County in the James River Valley, in what is now North Dakota, and homesteaded 160 acres which he devoted to grain- farming ; and assisted by his boys he attained such success that he bought more land, coming in time to own about 1,120 acres, all used for grain-farm- ing; and before Mr. Guler left the scenes of this world, he had the satisfac- tion of knowing that he had brought his farm to a high state of cultivation, and had thus enriched the country which had extended to him and his family a cordial welcome. Mrs. Guler, who was Catherine Grass before her marriage, and who also was born in Switzerland, still resides in North Dakota, the be- loved mother of six children, each of whom has "made good" in some field of activity.
The third oldest in the family, and the only one in California, Stephen Guler crossed the stormy Atlantic when he was seven years of age and soon after began his American schooling in Dakota. From a lad also he began to work on his father's farm, and he continued to break the prairie with the use of oxen until as late as 1893, when he and his neighbors used horses in- stead. In 1905, Mr. Guler dissolved partnership with his brothers and struck out for himself. He bought 320 acres in the same vicinity, three miles from New Rockford, the county seat, and worked hard to improve the land, devot- ing the ranch to grain and stock. He farmed there for four years, and in that time demonstrated what Swiss agriculture, under the favoring natural conditions, could do with American soil, seed, and cattle.
Curious as to the much talked-of Pacific, Mr. Guler in 1909 made a trip to California; and coming to Fresno County, with which he was fascinated from the beginning, he bought twenty acres in the Barstow Colony. The fall of that year found him a resident of the Golden State, and he was not long in buying twenty additional acres near by. He began to raise fruit, and for some years he ran a dairy, twelve miles from Fresno, and so he grew alfalfa for his own use. The balance of his land he laid out as an orchard and a vineyard, where he had ten acres set out with Thompson seedless grapes.
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seven acres planted to peaches, and four acres given up to apricots. He uses a team and a tractor, and has a fine pumping-plant, so that his ranch, which is under one of the best of California ditches, is very well irrigated. Scientific in his temperament and methods of farming, and possessing artistic taste, Mr. Guler has developed a ranch that many persons come to see and that certainly is model in more than one respect.
While in North Dakota, Mr. Guler was married to Miss Anna Christ, a native of that state, and the daughter of Joseph and Margaret (Kobel) Christ, born in Arcadia, Wis., and Switzerland, respectively; they were pioneer farmers in Eddy County, and the father died there, while the mother is still living. Mr. and Mrs. Guler have three children: Margaret, Elvin, and Nina, all favorites in the circles in which they move.
Those who know Mr. Guler find in him an affable, kindly man, filled with the social spirit. It is not surprising, therefore, that he is popular among the Odd Fellows, with whom he is affiliated through Lodge No. 343, I. O. O. F., at Fresno. He is also an ever welcome member of the Fraternal Brotherhood. In politics Mr. Guler is a Socialist, and with his keen interest in the welfare of society, he has served enthusiastically as trustee of the Barstow district. He belongs to the California Associated Raisin Company, and is a representative from the Barstow district. He is also a member of the California Peach Growers, Inc.
GEORGE CHRISTIAN .- Born at Tardekopfka, Russia, on September 22, 1865, George Christian is the son of Peter Christian, a farmer who died there. He had married Sophia Reinhart, also a native of that place, who is still living. She is the mother of six children, all living-three boys and three girls ; and our subject and one sister are the only ones in America.
The third in the order of birth, George was brought up at the old home, educated in the public schools, and from a boy learned farming. He also learned to speak, read and write the German and the Russian languages. When twenty he began work at the wagon-maker's trade, and a year later he entered the Russian Army. As a member of the 160th Infantry of the Fortieth Division, he served in Pense a year, and was honorably discharged.
Then he completed the trades of a wagon-maker and a cabinet-maker, and for a while worked alone at his trade. He next formed a partnership with his brother Gotfried in wagon-making, and at the same time engaged in farm- ing. They manufactured about forty wagons a year, and they also made buggies.
At his native place, Mr. Christian was married on January 30, 1886, to Miss Marie Bell, who was born there, a daughter of George and Alexandra (Wulf) Bell, farmer folk, both of whom are now dead. The fourth eldest in a family of seven children, she is the only one that came to America and the only one now living.
After awhile, feeling the irresistible lure of America, Mr. Christian sold out and brought his wife and two sons to Fresno, where he arrived on April 14, 1900. He started to work on a ranch, and then went into a brick yard; and in 1905 he commenced to learn the carpenter's trade, at which he worked under different contractors.
In 1904 Mr. Christian first undertook to contract and build in Fresno, and ever since that date he has here followed this line of activity, although twice he has been engaged in mercantile lines. For eighteen months he was a part- ner in Kohl & Christian, general merchandisers, when he sold out and re- turned to contracting ; and then he bought a store on F Street with Jack P. Christian, and together they set up as merchants. Later he bought out his partner and managed the store alone and then, in 1913, he sold to Fred Scheidt and George Hoepner. Returning to his trade, he has busied himself as a first- class contractor and builder to the present time. He draws his own plans, and thus more nearly succeeds in carrying out the exact ideas and wishes of
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those for whom he builds. As a Republican, he is influential in the councils of that party. In 1912 he made a trip back to his old home, visiting his mother and relatives and friends.
Three children of Mr. and Mrs. George Christian are still living. Jacob, a sergeant in the United States Army, is over-seas in France; he served for three years in the National Guard, was mustered out, and when war was declared, he hurried to enlist, and is now with the One Hundred Fifty-seventh Infantry. Fred Christian is at home, and Mollie is attending the high school. The family attend the Free Lutheran Cross Church, and Mr. Christian is president of the congregation.
LEANDER J. ARRANTS .- An inspiring story of enterprise, reverses, toil, sacrifice, and final, deserved reward is that of Leander J. Arrants, the popular and efficient superintendent of the Fowler Switch Canal and a repre- sentative of one of the substantial families of the South, who hails from Scotch ancestry, as his folks were among the earliest settlers of Eastern Ten- nessee, having first pitched their tents in what is now Sullivan County more than 125 years ago. His paternal grandfather, William Arrants, was born in Sullivan County in 1802 and lived to be eighty-two years old. His father was William Henderson Arrants, and his mother was Polly Ann (Reilly) Arrants. All of the Arrants were true to their native state during the troublous times of the Civil War, and his father fought in the Confederate Army throughout the Rebellion. Two children were born from the union of William Henderson and Polly Arrants: Leander J., the subject of our sketch, and Mollie, who is now the wife of G. L. Hicks, a farmer and stockman in Sullivan County, Tenn.
The husband of Leander's mother, before she married Mr. Arrants, was Andrew Geisler, who served in the same company with Leander's father, and fell in battle, leaving one child, a daughter, Hettie, now the wife of J. A. Bov, a school teacher and farmer in Sullivan County. After Mr. Geisler's death, Mrs. Geisler married Mr. Arrants, and she died when Leander was only three years old, and through a second marriage he has had nine children. Mrs. Maggie Arrants is still living and makes her home with her son Walter on the twenty-acre ranch three miles west of Selma.
The nine children are: Walter, just referred to; Myrtle, the wife of Walter Woods and living in Sullivan County, Tenn .; William, who resides in the same county; Samuel, living two and a half miles west of Selma; Conley, living four miles north of Selma; Addie, the wife of Mr. Dempsey, a farmer in Sullivan County ; Bessie, who is single and lives with her mother and Walter; Emily, the wife of Walter Huff, farming four miles north of Selma ; and Annie, the wife of Arthur Armstead, a teacher at Fresno.
Born in Sullivan County, Tenn., on August 19, 1870, Leander Arrants was reared on a farm in the eastern part of the State, and where the educa- tional advantages were so limited that he was able to attend school but three months in the year, during the winter. Being the oldest boy he had to work very hard, and so he remained at home until he was almost twenty-one. At that time a circumstance-the residence of a relative on the Pacific Coast- had a determining influence on his life and destiny. A third cousin, John G. S. Arrants, also a Confederate soldier in the Civil War, had become, as the pioneer grocer at Selma, a prosperous business man. He encouraged young Mr. Arrants to join him, and the latter arrived at Selma on April 21, 1891. He went to work on the ranch of H. H. Dewitt, and served there eight months at twenty-six dollars a month. All in all, he continued working out for others for three years.
Mr. Arrants then rented some forty acres planted to alfalfa, bought a team and some hogs. The hog cholera, however, took most of his herd. and then the price of pork fell to four cents, as against six cents when he bought. He had paid $400 cash rent, and at the end of the year had a team of horses. but with a good-sized debt hanging over him.
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He then took to teaming and rented from the Selma Bank another ranch of ninety acres, for $150 per year. He bought more hogs, continued his teaming, herded his hogs, cooked and batched, and worked sixteen hours per day, making two eight-hour shifts ; and he had an experience never to be forgotten.
Perhaps it was just that particular experience which caused him to think of getting married, for he needed help-help of the kind he was soon to secure. He rented an additional ranch of eighty acres, the J. A. McCleary place, upon which there was a house, with a forty-acre vineyard; and in the meantime, on May 30, 1897, he married Miss Sarah Stephens, the daughter of B. F. and Emily (Stapp) Stephens. The latter is now deceased, while the father lives with Mr. Arrants at Selma.
That year Mr. Arrants made some money, and with the proceeds he bought thirty-eight acres south of the Selma city limits, and also five acres of unimproved land, all of which he improved and disposed of to advantage. His next purchase was the twenty acres, all in trees and vines, to which he has added a beautiful family residence which he built in 1904-one of the finest in that section near Selma. He has bought the twenty-, sixty- and seventy-acre ranches in five different purchases, improved them, and owns them all to this time. The twenty acres where he lives was a tract of stubble when he bought it.
On the sixty-acre ranch, there are twenty acres of peach trees, most of which he has grubbed out on account of getting too old, and replanted to vines. On the seventy acres there were twenty-five acres in vines. All his lands are now in full bearing; and he has Emperor, muscat and Thompson seedless grapes, with the latter predominating, seventy-five acres in all being devoted to that variety. He also has three acres of prunes and eighteen acres of peaches. The two ranches nearest Selma are rented to his son; while the seventy-acre ranch is leased by a Japanese tenant.
Mr. Arrants is a member of the California Raisin Growers' Association, as well as of the company of California Peach Growers, Inc. He and his relative, the late G. S. Arrants, were among the prime movers for the better- ment of the fruit-growers of this valley. They were leaders in the first co- operative effort which resulted in the organization and establishment of the Cooperative Packing House at Selma, which, later became the Selma Fruit Company, Inc., with fifty or sixty stockholders, and which in time sold out to the California Raisin Growers' Association.
Eighteen years ago Mr. Arrants became canal tender for the Fowler Switch Ditch, and he has served acceptably ever since. This ditch has lately become a part of the property of the Consolidated Canal Company. The Consolidated Canal Company embraces the original Church system, the Fowler Switch Canal, and the Centerville & Kingsburg Canal. Mr. Arrants tends, therefore, about eighty miles of canals.
Mr. and Mrs. Arrants have been blessed with three children: Eugene is a single farmer who lives at home and rents the twenty- and sixty-acre ranches ; Maud graduated from Selma High School, class of 1918, and is now taking postgraduate work, and Ralph is in the grammar school. Mrs. Arrants is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, while Mr. Arrants belongs to the Woodmen of the World and the Foresters.
GEORGE F. BICKEL .- A highly-esteemed pioneer, who is also widely known in Fresno County because of his many years of successful enterprise here, is George F. Bickel, the efficient and popular superintendent of the Herndon Canal, owned and operated by the Fresno Irrigation and Land Company. On May 26, 1889, Mr. Bickel first came to Fresno County; nor has he at any time since regretted the step that he then took, which afforded him the privilege of helping to develop one of the fairest portions of one of the greatest of all these United States.
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Born at Troy, Mo., on February 9, 1865, a date made historic by the landing of the Federal forces at James Island, S. C., George enjoyed the usual public school education of that section and period; and having an aunt and a sister in California, he came west in his twenty-fourth year. Arriving in Central California, he entered the employ of his uncle, J. H. Clark, the vineyardist, and later took service with Messrs. Cook & Langley, working in their packing-house, where he became foreman of one of their depart- ments. He was next appointed by Mayor Cole to the Fresno Fire Depart- ment, as driver of Engine No. 2. when there were only three paid men in each house, and three different fire-houses, and there he continued from 1891 until 1893, or the close of the administration.
For ten years following Mr. Bickel engaged in the hack business, and had a stand in front of the Grand Central Hotel on Mariposa Street, but in 1902 he sold out, accepting a position for two years with the Fresno Traction Company as conductor. His prompt and willing service made him many friends, but when his present engagement was offered him, he could not do otherwise than resign to accept the advancement. For three years he was with the Fresno Canal and Irrigation Company, now the Fresno Canal and Land Company, in charge of their old Enterprise ditch. Resigning, he en- gaged in the butcher business at Wheatville, and when he sold out there, he removed to Oakland where he was with the wholesale drug house of O. P. Downing & Co. When he left this employ, it was to become a special officer for two and a half years for H. H. Hart.
On his return to Fresno, in 1911, Mr. Bickel again accepted an appoint- ment for canal work with the Fresno Canal and Land Company, at Barstow Colony, in charge of the Herndon Canal. He was made superintendent, and was given the considerable responsibility of the works from the Arizona Colony to Barstow, with all the numerous side ditches as well. Since then he has resided at Barstow, and so has naturally taken an interest in local educational affairs that led to his serving as school trustee there.
At Fresno, Mr. Bickel was married to Miss Mabel K. Bunney, who was born in Amador County, Cal., and they have one daughter, Esther L. He belongs to the Red Men of Fresno, and also to Fresno Lodge, No. 186, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is also a member of Manzanita Camp, No. 160, of the Woodmen of the World, of Fresno. In national politics Mr. Bickel is a Democrat, and in former years he was active in the county conventions.
WILLIAM F. BARNETT .- A dairyman who is a good judge of cows and in every respect thoroughly understands his business, and who is always interesting as a conversationalist, is William F. Barnett, who came to Fresno County soon after the middle of the nineties, and who has the honor of having sown the first alfalfa grown at Centerville. He was born in Georgia in 1860, the son of Rial Barnett, a native of Alabama who served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. When that unfortunate conflict was over, he removed to East Tennessee, and near Knoxville he became a very successful planter. In 1890 he removed to Oregon, to which state his son, W. F. Barnett, had already gone; and there, honored by all who knew him, he resided until he died. Mrs. Barnett was Nancy Patterson be- fore her marriage; she, too, was born in Alabama, and she died in Kansas.
The second youngest of seven children, and the only one now living, the subject of this sketch was brought up in Tennessee on a farm, and there he attended the public school. He remained home until he was seventeen years of age, and then, removing to Indiana, he accepted employment at Newport as a farm laborer. Later he engaged in agriculture on his own account, and in 1884 removed to Hutchinson, Kans., locating a preemption of 160 acres in Pratt County. He bought adjoining land until he had 480 acres, which he sold in 1888. He then settled in Multnomah County, Ore., and contracted to build bridges for a railroad company, but at the end of
W.J. Bamett Cura Barnett
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two years he located a homestead on the Nehalem River, Clatsop County, where he improved a farm and started a dairy. The same foresight and care that had always characterized Mr. Barnett's operations, here resulted in such continued success that his many friends were surprised when he again sold out.
In 1896, Mr. Barnett had come to Fresno County and, two years later, having disposed of his Oregon ranch, moved here permanently. The first year he had a vineyard and orchard east of Fresno, but in 1897 he located at Centerville and there formed a partnership with an aunt, Mrs. Darius Reese. While thus occupied, he sowed the first alfalfa seen at Center- ville; and having well irrigated the land, his labors were crowned with success. He started a dairy, developed it until he had ninety cows, and built a creamery-the first thereabouts-and otherwise expanded. During this time, he was one of the organizers of the Sanger Creamery ; he built the first creamery there, and was its first president.
Soon after Mr. Barnett dissolved partnership, he sold his holding and located in Fresno. Here he engaged in plumbing and pipe-fitting under the firm name of Barnett, Rock & Co .; but at the end of two years he disposed of that business to again take up farming. He leased a dairy ranch on East Avenue, and managed it, with some twenty cows. Out of this grew the Fresno Cooperative Stock and Dairy Company, of which Mr. Barnett was president and manager. They leased a ranch on the slough, twenty-three miles southwest of Fresno, and there they had nine sections of upland, with 700 acres in alfalfa. They milked 200 cows and raised high- grade cattle. This dairy business the company continued until 1911, when it sold out and dissolved the concern.
Mr. Barnett then came to Barstow and leased an alfalfa farm; and there for three years he engaged in the dairy business. In 1914, however, he saw the opportunity to buy his present place, and now he has thirty-two and a half acres near the Barstow school-house. He has three acres of peaches, and the balance planted to alfalfa, under the Herndon canal. He has a finely-appointed dairy of forty-seven milch cows, mostly of the Holstein breed. With eight others, Mr. Barnett organized the Fresno Coopera- tive Dairy Association for the purpose of running a truck to deliver their products in Fresno. Mr. Barnett owns the truck, and the venture has been successful.
In Kansas, Mr. Barnett was married on February 22, 1887, to Miss Cora Moorhead, a native of Indiana, the daughter of Henry D. and Elizabeth (La Rue) Moorhead. Mrs. Barnett's parents were natives of Ohio, who migrated to Indiana and farmed there; her father served in the Civil War in an Indiana Regiment. Mr. and Mrs. Barnett have a daughter, Bessie.
Mr. Barnett was a member of the local board of education in Kansas for a couple of terms, and was also twice constable. Popular everywhere, Mr. and Mrs. Barnett are especially so in the circles of the Fraternal Brother- hood, of which they are members.
S. W. WALTZ .- A successful, highly respected farmer and viticultur- ist, who has a fine ranch property and knows how to take good care of it, is S. W. Waltz, who came to Fresno County in the great boom year of 1887. Thirty years before, on February 20, he was born at Vevay, Switzerland County, Ind., the son of Joseph Waltz, a native of Pennsylvania, who settled in Indiana and grew to be one of the prosperous farmers there. He married Burry A. Courtney, a daughter of the Hoosier State, a woman of character and amiability, who became the mother of ten children, seven of whom are still living. Joseph Waltz died in 1885, and Mrs. Waltz died later.
The youngest in the family, and the only one in California, S. W. Waltz was brought up on a farm and attended the public school. When he was twelve years of age he began to do farm work in earnest, driving the teams
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and helping get in the harvest; and after the death of his father he continued to work on the home farm and to assist his mother, until she died.
Before coming to California, Mr. Waltz was married in Indiana to Miss Australia Chittenden, a native of that state, who had relatives here. On his arrival he went to work in the vineyards, and in 1891 he bought his present place of twenty acres in the Scandinavian Colony, six miles northeast of Fresno, which he improved in many ways. He built a residence and barn, set out a fine vineyard of Malaga, Thompson, Sultana and wine grapes, and planted some of the land to alfalfa. The ranch is under the Gould Ditch, and profits from almost perfect irrigation. Mr. Waltz takes a keen interest in all that pertains to his departments of agriculture, and is one of the livest members of the California Associated Raisin Company.
In February, 1892, Mr. Waltz' wife breathed her last. Later, Mr. Waltz married a second time, his bride on this occasion being Mrs. Nellie (Hender) Trevathan, a native daughter born near Solbyville, Merced County. By her Mr. Waltz has had two children-Harry Roy and Dorris. By her first mar- riage Mrs. Waltz had one child, Clifford Trevathan, who resides near Ker- man. Mr. Waltz belongs to Fresno Lodge, No. 186, I. O. O. F. He is also a member and Past Chief Patriarch of the Encampment and belongs to the Canton ; and both Mr. and Mrs. Waltz are members of the Rebekahs.
Public-spirited and ever interested in all that makes for the improve- ment of the neighborhood, and particularly for the advancement of the cause of education, Mr. Waltz has for three years served as a school trustee of the Scandinavian district. In national politics he is a Republican, but in local administration and civic improvements he knows no party lines and endorses and supports the right man for the right place.
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