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 36

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 36

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It is sad to relate that Mr. Potter, now suffers from astigmatism of both eyes, and as far back as seven years ago was threatened with almost total blindness. This does not prevent him, however from doing his duty in civic matters. He was for years a stalwart Republican but is at present an equally resolute Progressive.

WILLIAM McINDOO and IVAN CARTER McINDOO .- Among the well known and enterprising families of Fresno County none have be- come better acquainted with the natural resources than the McIndoo family, represented by Ivan Carter and his father, William McIndoo, of Fresno. William McIndoo first came to the county in 1886, after having followed farming and the stock business in Ontario, Canada, for many years, to take up life's duties under different environments than found in the Province of Ontario, where he was born at Petersboro, on April 1, 1846, the oldest in a family of six boys and five girls, nine of whom reached maturity. The father was named Mathew McIndoo and he lived and died in Canada. His father was named William and he was an immigrant from Ireland to Canada in 1815. Mathew McIndoo married Mary Carter, who also spent her life in Canada. Besides William McIndoo, three of her sons located in Fresno County : Robert, Mathew and James, and they are still living.

William McIndoo was educated in the public schools and the military academy at Toronto, Canada. He assisted his father on their farm until he was twenty-one, then he started on his own responsibility and began farm- ing and raising stock, later he exported beef cattle to the markets in New York and Buffalo. In 1886 he came to California and followed prospecting and mining in Fresno County for a time but not meeting with the results he expected he went to Oakland and engaged in the restaurant business for about eighteen months. He was very much impressed with the resources of Fresno County, however, and decided he would make a permanent loca- tion here, accordingly in 1888 he was in the county engaged in the fruit com- mission business, from that he began the dairy business and made a decided success in that line of work, beginning with one cow, lie gradually increased his herd until he owned over 300 thoroughbred Jerseys and Holsteins and owned a ranch of 240 acres in alfalfa, besides operating land that he leased, all in the vicinity of Fresno. In February, 1913, the dairy business was in- corporated under the name of the Jersey Farm Dairy, with William McIndoo as president and manager. They ran five delivery wagons in Fresno and the balance of the milk was made into butter at their creamery. The dairy business was sold to Frank Helm in 1916, but the property, 240 acres, has been set to vines. Mr. McIndoo also owned eighty acres east of Fresno. He sold out and purchased 1,600 acres at Lindsay and this he put on the market as the Caledonia Colony, selling out in ten and twenty-acre tracts. He was one of three to organize and incorporate the Lindsay Independent Packing Company, Mr. McIndoo becoming vice-president. The company grow and

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pack their own fruit. Besides these properties the firm, known as Wm. McIndoo and Son, also own ranch properties in Stanislaus County and busi- ness property in Modesto.

William McIndoo married, near Wingham, Canada, Charlotte Graham, a daughter of James Graham, a blacksmith and carriage maker who lived in Fresno for many years. Mr. and Mrs. McIndoo had three children: Edith, Mrs. G. A. Manheim; Ivan Carter and Claribel, Mrs. A. J. Dibert. Mr. Mc- Indoo is a Republican; a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church; a Royal Arch Mason; and is looked upon as one of the most substantial and public spirited men of the San Joaquin Valley where he is well and favorably known.

Ivan Carter McIndoo was born in Ontario, Canada, on January 21, 1883, and was educated in the public schools of Fresno, whither he was brought when he was a small child. After finishing his education he went to work in the First National Bank, later was employed by the Union Bank, spend- ing five years altogether, after which time he became associated with his father in the fruit business and has assisted in developing it to its present proportions. He is outside manager and gives his entire time to his work and has gained a thorough knowledge of the industry.

On January 19, 1911, Mr. McIndoo was united in marriage with Miss Maude Potts of Sacramento, and a lady of many accomplishments. They have two children to brighten their home circle: Carter G. and Mary J. Mr. McIndoo and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and are Republicans in politics. Mr. McIndoo is a Mason, holding member- ship in the Lodge, Chapter, Commandery and Shrine. He is deeply inter- ested in the development of Fresno County and is held in high esteem by all who have business or social relations with him.

JOHN T. S. CLARK .- A successful business man who has done much to advance the technical standards of plumbing in Central California, and who very worthily represents that large body of English pioneers who have done so much for the development of California, is John T. S. Clark, a mem- ber of the Sanger Plumbing Company, now recognized as one of the com- mercial and industrial enterprises of that town. He was born at Burton-on- Trent, England, on June 15, 1883, the son of John Clark, a detective who was one of the ablest of the famous Scotland Yard secret police of the United Kingdom. He used to make trips to the United States in pursuit of criminals, and one of the trips brought him to California in pioneer days.

John T. S. Clark was educated in the schools in the vicinity of his birth- place, and at the early age of sixteen came to the United States. He located in San Jose, but after two years of labor on Santa Clara County ranches, he went, in the spring of 1902, to Converse Basin and secured work with the Sanger Lumber Company. He proved apt and willing, and advanced rapidly through different stages of the work, and from loading cars he became chief engineer of the plant, and finally he was appointed to the superintendency of the mill, the highest post at the disposition of the concern. He never asked for promotion, but was always advanced as a recognition of his unquestioned and marked ability.

On December 17, 1914, in partnership with William F. Jones, Mr. Clark established the Sanger Plumbing Company at Sanger, an enterprise now rated among the most important of the town. The main business of the company is installing pumping and irrigating plants on near-by ranches and such has been the extent of their operations that in the past four years they have installed over 400 such outfits. Among the most important of these may be mentioned that of Dillon Bros., G. R. Hawk, August Schmidt, Pugh Bros., and J. R. Boyer. The company employs seven men and uses three automobiles.

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Mr. Clark is eminently fitted for his work, as he has had many years of very valuable experience in the mechanical line. He was one of the organizers and president of the Kings River-Hume Auto Service Company, and man- aged very ably a chain of freight trucks carrying goods into and out of the mountains.

Recognized as a leader and as one whose experience makes his coopera- tion valuable, Mr. Clark has been welcomed in the work of the Sanger Cham- ber of Commerce. He belongs to Sanger Lodge, No. 316, F. & A. M., and Perfection Lodge No. 6 of Fresno, Scottish Rite Masons. One of his business transactions was the purchase of a fine ranch at Tracy, which he improved and then sold at a handsome profit.

In 1906, Mr. Clark was married at San Jose to May Bryant, a native daughter and the child of one of the early pioneers who twice crossed the plains with ox-teams. They have two attractive children, Jack Bryant and Ashley Oliver. Both Mr. and Mrs. Bryant are interested in all movements for the betterment of society.

JAMES G. FERGUSON .- A business man of exceptional initiative and executive ability, a gentleman of rare personal accomplishments and splendid attainments, a citizen glad that he is living under the Stars and the Stripes and within the varied landscape of the Golden State, but proud also that he represents by a worthy inheritance one of the oldest and most renowned clans of Scotland-such is James G. Ferguson, so well and favorably known in Fresno. His father, James Ferguson, was born in Perth and for many years was with the Cunard Steamship Line, having his headquarters and residence in Liverpool. The Ferguson family is traceable back to Stirlingshire, Scot- land, and has always played an important and honorable part in that storm- tossed but romantic country. Mrs. Ferguson was Helen Kerr Fead, also Scotch, and a native of Dumfreshire. Both parents died in Liverpool. The father had been married, as a matter of fact, twice, and by his first marriage he had four daughters and a son. Rather curiously, his second wife, Catherine Hilton, became the mother of four girls and a boy, all of whom are living. The girls are in Los Angeles, and the boy, Robert Hilton Ferguson, is an electrical engineer serving his country at the front in the war.

Born at Liverpool, the third eldest child by the first Mrs. Ferguson, James G. was educated in the Northern Institute of that great harbor city, leading on to the Liverpool College and, at the age of only fourteen, passing the ex- aminations for the entrance to the University. Instead of commencing studies there, however, he took up an apprenticeship in the Bank of Liverpool; and realizing that he was highly favored with such a prospect, he remained there six years, during which time he passed through each department satisfactorily. He served with James H. Simpson, now at the head and general manager of the Bank of Liverpool, and there are few pleasanter memories of the old days than those associated with this famous leader. Owing to close application to his exacting duties, Mr. Ferguson's health became impaired, and his phy- sician advised a long sea-voyage. He therefore shipped to Australia on a sailer, and in that milder climate he roamed about and took his ease, until he could note an improvement. Then he engaged in the shipping business in Sydney, and it would have been strange if, with such a background of experience and valuable preparation, he had not succeeded, as he did.

While there, in January, 1886, Mr. Ferguson was married to Miss Ada Florence Bond, a native of Ballarat, Australia, and the daughter of Thomas Rhodes Bond, of Cornwall. England, a pioneer miner at Ballarat. She had been reared from childhood with care and every possible advantage at Syd- ney, grew to be just such a helpmate as a man of Mr. Ferguson's experience and activities would desire.

The same year, Mr. Ferguson crossed the ocean with his wife to San Francisco, but instead of trying his fortune in the large city of keen competi-

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tion, he continued his journey to Humboldt County, and located at Arcata, where he found employment with Harpst & Spring, shingle manufacturers, as head accountant. Eight months later he accepted a position with the Russ Lumber Company, to perform the same responsible work at the San Diego branch owned by C. A. Hooper & Company of San Francisco. This was in 1887, and when he reached San Diego, he found it aflame with the great boom. He held that post until 1889, when he was sent by Pope & Talbot of San Francisco to their mills on Puget Sound ; and he remained manager at Utsa- lady until 1891 when his merit was further recognized by the Puget Sound Lumber Company which offered him a position with the old San Joaquin Lumber Company at Fresno, his duties to be those of head accountant.

It was now evident that James Ferguson was permanently identified with the West, and that it was only a question of this or that development of in- terests for him to be in general demand. When the Fresno Flume Company was organized in 1894, he was offered the management of the office at Clovis ; and he accepted, taking charge in May of that year, and holding the position ever since. In 1912, when the old company sold to the Fresno Flume Com- pany of Nevada, Mr. Ferguson was elected secretary and treasurer of the corporation, and this position he has also held ever since, Clovis being the headquarters of the company, of which he is still the office manager.

One child, Ada H., blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson, and later attended the Dominican College at San Rafael. Now she is the wife of Luther William Bahney, late professor of mining at Stanford University, later hold- ing the same position at Yale College and now head of the Scoville Plant at Waterbury, Conn. They have two little girls, Elizabeth Ruth and Harriet Ada.

Mr. Ferguson is a member of Fresno Lodge, No. 439. B. P. O. E., and has been connected with that organization about twenty years. He was made a Mason in Clovis Lodge, No. 417. F. & A. M., where he has served as treas- urer. He is also a member of Fresno Chapter. No. 67, R. A. M., and is a mem- ber of the Fresno Consistory, thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Masons. He belongs to Islam Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of San Francisco, and is a mem- ber of the Woodmen of the World, being a charter member of Manzanita Camp, Fresno, 1894, and having been its first manager. He also belongs to the Fraternal Brotherhood. the St. Andrew's Society of Fresno, the Hoo Hoo's, the Episcopal Church, and the Republican party, having served the latter as a member of the county central committee. Few men in Fresno County have such an interesting record.

H. M. LITTLE .- A native Minnesotan who came here in the eighties, at the time of the great boom, H. M. Little is now a resident of Tivy Valley, one of the most picturesque and delightful spots to be found in the foot- hills of the great Sierras. This valley is easy of access, with but little elevation, and yet possesses all the grandeur of the nobler mountains with their varied scenery.

Mr. Little owns a beautiful home site, with all the buildings necessary and suitable for the ordinary ranch. In addition to his valley land he owns a large grazing range for his stock, in all 427 acres, which give him ample room for his herds; and he has a hennery of the best strain of White Leg- horns, to the number of 600 or more. He has been operating this ranch intensively since 1916, and besides the above-mentioned property, he has holdings in Riverside County, an orange ranch at La Habra, Orange County, and town property in Los Angeles County. On his home ranch he devotes himself to stock and poultry exclusively.

Mr. Little was born in McLeod County, Minn., in 1860, and is the son of David and Sarah Little of Pennsylvania, who were the parents of nine children, four of whom are still living. Two of these are in California, and the names of the four are: Wilbur, who lives in South Dakota; George H., a resident of Iowa; Samuel G., whose home is at Point Richmond; and

If Betzold

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H. M., the subject of our interesting review. One other came to California, Flaville, a sister who died at La Habra.

In early life Mr. Little learned the blacksmith trade, and this he followed continuously until 1903, never wanting for patronage, for he was a good smith of the old school. He came to California in 1887 and did well at Rivera for nine years, and from there he went to La Habra where he con- tinued his trade, and in time he accumulated the various properties already mentioned.

In 1885 Mr. Little was married to Miss Flora Curtis, a native of Maine ; and, as a result of this happy union, three children were born: Merritt, now deceased ; an infant also deceased, and Herbert, who lives at La Habra, and who is married and has two children. Mrs. Little came to California in 1888, and has since become associated with its social life and charities.

Mr. and Mrs. Little are estimable citizens, participating in whatever makes for the elevation of American life. They aim to inform themselves on the issues of the day, to endorse only the best measures and to vote for those who are above reproach.

JOHN J. BETZOLD .- John J. Betzold was born in Morrison County, at North Prairie on Two Rivers, about twenty miles northwest of St. Cloud, Minn., on November 11, 1870. When two years of age his parents moved to Brainerd, Minn., where he was brought up and educated, and where he remained until nineteen years of age. In 1889 he left his Minnesota home for the Western Coast and sojourned for a time in Seattle and Tacoma; in the latter place becoming a student in the public library. Studious in his tastes, he spent eight years in research work, intending to make literature his life profession. With this thoughit in mind he made a special study of physics, Shakespeare, economics and philosophy, the result of his study being six books of unpublished manuscript. His health failing, in 1899 he came to California and engaged in picking fruit in Los Gatos and San Jose, and in the fall of that year came to Fresno. Here he started making hominy and horseradish, which he peddled from house to house. From this small beginning his present new, modern, sanitary pickle factory was evolved. The building is 50 by 103 feet, with concrete floor, and is fully equipped with all modern appliances for the manufacture of the twenty-five varieties of condiments he has on the market, among which are olives, olive oil, dill pickles, Mexican hot chili, mustard relish, chow-chow, and malt vinegar. He employs five men in the factory the year round, increasing the number from ten to fifteen during the busy season. He has several inventions to his credit, among them being a water-filter and hominy cooking machine.

Mr. Betzold has been prominent in the development of Fresno and is a citizen of whom she may justly be proud. His success in life is due solely to his individual efforts. His estimable companion, who before her mar- riage to Mr. Betzold was Miss Jennie M. Staton, of Beloit, Wis., is an able assistant to her husband in his growing business. In his political views Mr. Betzold is a Socialist.

PETER BERING .- A well-to-do farmer and gentleman of attractive personality, who enjoys the proud distinction, as a descendant of Vitus Bering, the distinguished Danish navigator, of being related to the great scientist whom Peter the Great in 1728 sent on an expedition to the North when he discovered the Strait now bearing his name, is Peter Bering who came to California early in the nineties. He was born in Denmark, at Horsen, in Jutland, October 8, 1871, the son of Henry Bering, a farmer, and so came to be raised on a farm, while he was educated at the local public schools. After a practical apprenticeship in agriculture he spent five years in Schleswig, Germany, in an interesting town called Gramm, and after that he served for a year in the infantry of the Danish Army, receiving an honorable discharge.

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While in Denmark, Mr. Bering was married to Miss Caroline Hansen, a native of that country. He was next employed in a factory, and in time was put in charge of the receiving department of the concern. Such was the quality of the service that he rendered and the compensation for his labor that he remained in that position of responsibility for eight years, and left it only to come to California.

Mr. Bering's decision to come to the Pacific Coast was doubtless arrived at through the fact that he had a brother-in-law in Fresno County to whom he came on June 14, 1903. For three years he farmed, and then for a couple of years he worked at the carpenter's trade in Rolinda. Then he bought twenty acres of land there, and set them out as vineyards. He set out the Thompson seedless and he planted alfalfa ; he built a fine residence and use- ful buildings, and he bought the ten adjoining acres, making thirty acres in all. He operated this until November, 1916, when he disposed of it at a good profit.

It was then that Mr. Bering came to Eggers Colony and bought the twenty acres that he now calls his own. He cared for the place, and con- tinued in business. He has four acres of Thompson seedless and three acres of Malaga and muscat grapes. He leases the adjoining twenty acres, using the same for a vineyard, and has five acres of muscats and fifteen acres of wine grapes. He belongs to the California Associated Raisin Company and to the Melvin Grape Growers' Association.

Mr. and Mrs. Bering have had four children: Henry and Vitus assist their father ; Marie, in Fresno, and Clara is at home. Mr. Bering belongs to the Danish Brotherhood, serving as president of the lodge for two terms, and in national politics he is a Democrat. He never loses an opportunity to encourage local movements for the public weal.

M. A. AND L. P. IPSEN .- A fine old Danish family with traditions reaching far back into the heroic history of that brave little country, and having present-day representatives who are rated among the successful and influential men of affairs, is that of the two brothers, Marcus A. and Louis P. Ipsen, ranchers, dairymen and stockmen, who compose the firm of M. A. & L. P. Ipsen so widely known among California agriculturists and financiers. They reside on their fine, large and well-improved dairy ranch three miles southeast of Burrel, on the Elkhorn Grade Road. They are also extensively engaged in grain-growing on the West Side, where they own a fine tract of 320 acres, ten miles north of Huron, in Fresno County. The home ranch consists of 1321/2 acres, and there they have planted trees, built commodious barns, milk house and a comfortable residence, laid out large, clean yards, and put up strong fences, feeding-racks and other contrivances designed to expedite the work of the day, all presenting a very pleasant sight to the aesthetic eye. Self-made, hard-working, it is no wonder that nowhere may a more ideally-arranged, or better-kept dairy be found.

Both of these gentlemen were born, the sons of Jeppe H. Ipsen, on the beautiful island of Bornholm, a Danish province in the Baltic Sea, from which on a clear day both the shores of Sweden and Denmark can be spied with the aid of a field-glass. The mother had been Karen Maria Dam before her marriage, and both father and mother first saw the light on the same island. There they married and lived, and the father died, on a small farm, although the father relied for a living for himself and family mainly on his work as a brick-layer, contractor and builder, working with an older brother. in that business. The mother is still living in the village of Ronne, enjoying life at the advanced age of seventy-five. The father died in 1884 at the age of forty-one, as the result of lifting too large a rock.

The good mother kept the family together, although they were in such poor circumstances that all the children had to work. There were eight children in the family, and all are living: Signe married Andrew Lindstrom,

Marcus a Speseno

Nena Spesen

Louis P. Ipsen

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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

a county commissioner and rancher in Summit County, Colo., and there she assists her husband in stock-raising; Louis P. is the second in the order of birth ; Jens Christian is a sea-captain at Ronne, Denmark; then came Marcus A .; Hans J. is a farmer in his native land; John M. is a tailor in Sjaelland, Denmark; Anna Maria is married and lives at Ronne; and Otto L. is an electrician in the same place.

Louis P., who was born on May 29, 1868, came to Pontiac, Ill., twenty years later, and in time wrote to his brother, Marcus, to join him in the New World. The latter, who was born on March 27, 1873, had learned, however, enough about Fresno County to center his anticipations here, and arriving in America, after a voyage begun in March, 1891, he came straight to Cen- tral California, arriving in Fresno in April. He began to work by the month as a farm-laborer and continued for six years. In 1889 Louis also came to Fresno. Louis was the first to rent a farm, but he quit when he could not do as well, and went back to working by the month.

The Ipsen Bros. started as a firm in renting a section of land near Caruthers, and the firm has been busy, constantly developing its connections and increasing its activities, ever since. They bought 1321/2 acres here in the fall of 1903, when it was salt grass without any improvements, and soon had seventy high-grade Holstein cows. In 1912 they bought 320 acres of land near Huron, then wild, and under their management it came to tell a dif- ferent and a more attractive story.

Marcus A., who is still a bachelor, took a trip back to Denmark in 1910, while Louis looked in upon his native land thirteen years before. At Dillon, in Summit County, Colo., on November 16, 1903, the latter was married to Miss Nina Jensen, from the city of Ronne, in the island of Bornholm, Den- mark, and they have become the parents of three children: Marvin Archie, Viola Maria, and Louis Marcus. The family attends the United Brethren Church at Riverdale. A member of the Republican party and public-spirited to a high degree, Mr. Ipsen, as well as his brother, worked hard to get the railway through this section, and also helped organize the Riverdale Coop- erative Creamery, which, as a first class establishment encouraging local industry has proven of great benefit to this section. Both brothers are mem- bers of the Alfalfa Growers Association.

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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 36

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