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 40

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 40

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John H. was reared in Denmark until he was fourteen years of age, dur- ing which time he attended the thorough Danish schools; but having two uncles in San Francisco, he left his native land, a mere boy, and crossed the ocean and the great American continent. Arrived in San Francisco, he resumed his schooling, but one day in the classroom proved enough for his nerves, and so he quit and made off for Sacramento. There he commenced to work out at different jobs, but he soon went to Virginia City, Nev., where he secured five dollars a day at mining in the Comstock and Yellow Jacket mines, on an eight-hour shift. Even at ten dollars a day, the wear and tear proved too much ; he broke down and had to quit. His next work was in Washoe upon a big flume, but there he contracted rheumatism. He then went to Unionville and Hot Springs and there recovered. Taking to stage- driving, he ran the mountain stage from Unionville to Winnemucca station, thirty-five miles, receiving for his services $125 a month. But again he was afflicted with rheumatism, and he was forced to return to San Francisco and resume doctoring. Fortunately, he found a physician who was able to effect relief and he recovered, in the meantime taking a trip to Honolulu.

In 1872, Mr. Funch came to the San Joaquin Valley, into what was then called Fresno, but is now Madera County. He worked on the Friedlander ranch for a year, and then helped to construct a flume to Madera. When this was completed, he engaged in farming, taking up a preemption claim near Borden ; then he bought land and raised grain. He built up a big agricul- tural enterprise, and had an extensive outfit. He bought additional land at $1.50 an acre, until he had four sections, of 640 acres each, or 2,560 acres. The first great crop he shipped to Contra Costa, but it had no sooner arrived

Jille Funch

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there than it was burned in a big warehouse fire, and he suffered a total loss. He therefore let the land go and abandoned farming. Then he came to Fresno and began to contract for leveling and ditching, along with Hank Horn. He also engaged in threshing and harvesting. He helped build the San Joaquin ditch, and took 240 acres for pay. When the Church Canal went through, it was located on his land, but the ditch did not pan out successfully, crops failed, and he lost out again.

On September 25, 1891, Mr. Funch married, at Fresno, Mary Bergman, who was born at Lulao Norlan, Sweden, and then he located on his present place, beginning with twenty acres in the Parent Colony No. 2. Mrs. Funch was the daughter of Adolph and Carrie (Hjemdal) Bergman, and her father was a sea-captain, who sailed in the coasting trade and on the Mediterranean, and who went down with his ship off the coast of Spain. The bereaved wife, her mother, still resides at the old home, the mother of three devoted children, of whom Mrs. Funch is the second oldest. In September, 1881, she came to Burlington, Iowa, to an uncle, then after a stay in Illinois, moved west to Nebraska. During the boom year she reached San Diego, and on April 10, 1891, came north to Fresno.

The land Mr. Funch bought was hogwallow, that had never been plowed, and he first plowed and later leveled it. He improved it as a vineyard and an orchard, and built a fine residence and the usual barns and outbuildings. Since then he bought other land adjoining. He had seventy acres, but he sold twenty, and now has fifty, five miles north of Fresno. About twenty acres are laid out as a vineyard, and eight acres as orchard, while the balance is given up to alfalfa and pasture. For a while he had a small dairy. He has a fine pumping-plant, as well as water from the Enterprise Ditch. Always keenly interested in everything that pertains to progress, Mr. Funch takes an active part in the California Associated Raisin Company.

Eight children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Funch: Helga is Mrs. Wilmath, and resides at Fresno; J. P. was in the United States Army, serving overseas in the Three Hundred Sixteenth Engineers Train, Ninety- first Division, being in the battles of Saint Mihiel, Meuse, Argonne and Lys; Mamie is a graduate of the Fresno State Normal, and is teaching in the Wolters school; Allen served in the aviation and signal corps of the United States Army; Edward and Fred are assisting in the ranch work; and there are Frank and William. The family is noted for its neighborliness and its genuine hospitality.

Mr. Funch has shown himself to be a public-spirited citizen, ever willing to serve his fellow citizens, for some years serving as school trustee in the Houghton district. In national politics, he is a Democrat, but he believes that in local affairs party lines should be disregarded, and he has done what he could to make a united community, wherein each is interested in its advancement.

It may not always be easy to get Mr. Funch to talk about the stirring events connected with himself and his adventurous father, but when he does, he always has a good story to tell. One of these is the stage-robbery that occurred when he was driving the bus. He recognized the robbers as Union- ville gamblers and promptly reported them; but political pull prevented their getting their just deserts. The gamblers then swore that they would "get" him on the next trip, and such a fate was averted only by the alertness of Mr. Benson, the Wells Fargo agent, and the post master, who started him out of town at midnight, hours in advance, so that he went through safely. Sad to relate, the driver who took his place the next day was killed on the run!

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BONIE BENJAMIN HERMAN .- A native son who has made an en- viable record in the stock-raising business is Bonie B. Herman, who is a native of Fresno City, born January 22, 1880. His father, Ezekiel Herman, was also a native son, born in Los Angeles, who, riding the range from a boy, became a well-posted and experienced stockman. He was in the employ of Miller and Lux, and afterwards of Jeff James, and is now with the San Joa- quin Farms Land Company. The mother of Bonie, Eliza Johnson before her marriage, was born in Stockton, and died at San Joaquin, leaving six children, of whom Bonie B. is the second oldest.

Bonie Benjamin Herman was reared in Riverdale and Caruthers, and received a good education in the public schools. While still a youth he began riding after cattle, on the Burrell estate. When thirteen years of age, in 1893, he entered the employ of Jeff James at San Joaquin, and has continued on the ranch ever since; and he has had no time off except two short leaves of absence. In due time he became foreman of stock under Mr. James, a position he held until Mr. James' death, continuing in the same capacity until the ranch was sold to B. F. Graham, who incorporated the San Joaquin Farms Land Company, and Mr. Herman has been foreman of the stock department ever since, having charge of about 5,000 head of cattle and a herd of horses that range over 35,000 acres.

Mr. Herman was married in Fresno to Miss Carrie Morano, born in Yuma, Ariz., but reared in Fresno County. They have four children : Flor- ence, Lottie, Maggie, and Ralph. Fraternally, Mr. Herman is a member of Fresno Lodge, No. 186, I. O. O. F.

T. H. FLINT .- This hard-working and eminently practical rancher, while most successfully developing his valuable property in one of the very best raisin sections in Fresno County, has introduced a method by which he can raise a good crop of alfalfa among his trees without lessening the pro- duction of fruit, thus maintaining more cows and stock and incidentally securing a greater supply of valuable fertilizer for his orchards. He owns 120 acres one mile south and one mile west of Del Rey, on Lincoln Avenue, where he has developed one of the show-places of Central California.

T. H. Flint was born in Davis County, Mo., on November 19, 1865, and when seven years of age was taken by his parents to Cass County, Nebr. His father, John L. Flint, who is now living in Fowler, farmed for two years in Nebraska and then removed with his family to Kansas, but only for a season, after which he went back to Nebraska, this time settling in Saline County, where he became a large landowner, having had at one time two large stock farms ; and here our subject grew up. His mother, whose maiden name was Mary Alley, and who was born in Indiana, as was his father, is also still living at Fowler. She is seventy-four years of age, and the father is two years older. Four children were born to these devoted parents, and all are still living. Thomas H. is sketched in this review; George M. was the second in the order of birth ; Minnie is the wife of F. E. Wells, the mayor of Fowler, whose life-story is elsewhere given; and the youngest is Merlie, who resides two miles northeast of Selma.

Thomas Flint had his first schooling in Missouri, at the public schools in Cass and Saline Counties, after which he conned his books in Nuckolls County, Nebr., and at Fairfield, in Clay County, of the same state. At the latter place he also attended the Christian College. He had worked a year at the carpenter business in Saline County, and then moved to Nuckolls County, where he lived for twelve years, working for three years at his trade. There, too, in 1887, he was married, and for some years he farmed rented land. His parents came to California in 1890, although two years after they came out to Brown's Madeira Colony they moved back to Ne- braska. They did not remain long in the Middle West, however, but sold their holdings, and in 1894 returned to the Pacific Coast. In 1897 Thomas

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decided to follow them West; and when he arrived here, he went to work near Selma. He teamed the first year; and then, in 1899, in Kings River Bottom, farmed corn on rented land.

In 1900 Mr. Flint moved onto his present place, which he at first rented for a year. It was wild with Johnson grass, and the orchard and vines had been badly neglected. Through painstaking and patient labor, he now has thirty-five acres planted to Thompson Seedless grapes, twenty acres to mus- cats, twenty-one acres in bearing peaches, ten acres in prunes and plums, five acres in young peaches, twenty acres in alfalfa, three acres in Kelsey Japan plums, and seven acres in prunes. In various ways, including his novel method of irrigating the alfalfa, Mr. Flint has made of his ranch a model farm.

Mr. and Mrs. Flint have been blessed with eight children. Fay is the wife of W. W. Frame, the rancher, who resides at Wild Flower, southwest of Selma ; Doris, the third in order of birth, married F. E. Thornton, the well- known rancher of Madera; Ora is a farmer at Wild Flower, and took for his wife Amada Giblin; Goldie and Carmon are at high school in Fresno; and Muriel is in college at Los Angeles. Royce, the second-born, passed away when he was at the promising age of seventeen; and Ivan also died young. The family attend the Christian Church at Fowler, and are active in that society's good works.

EDDIE A. JOHNSON .- An enterprising, progressive native son, wide- awake to every opportunity for advancement in business, and equally am- bitious for the righteousness of the community, Eddie A. Johnson enjoyed a pleasant and enviable popularity. He was born in the middle eighties, a son of Eric Johnson, who was born at Carlskoga, Vermlan, on December 6, 1846. When only seventeen, Eric Johnson came to the United States and prepared to settle in Illinois; but unable to resist the call of the Union, he enlisted in the Civil War as a member of an Illinois regiment, and served until the close of the struggle, when he received an honorable discharge. For six or seven years he continued to farm in Illinois, near Chicago, and then returned for a visit to Sweden. The stay in his native land lasted a couple of years, and at its conclusion he returned to Chicago. When California was being boomed in the East, incidental to the Philadelphia Centennial, he came West to San Francisco and hired out as a conductor on the old cable street-railway. Tiring at length of this occupation, and having saved a snug sum from his wages, five years later he looked about for the best opportunity of getting "back to the land." He came to Fresno County to buy land and settle; and after securing forty acres in the Scandinavian Colony, he set to work to improve the same. Later he sold his holding and bought the present Johnson place, taking possession in 1883. He began with twenty acres, and a year later added twenty more; and he set out all the tract as a vineyard, placing there muscat and Malaga vines. He also built himself a residence and the customary outbuildings, and set out a variety of choice trees. On September 26, 1885 he was married at Fresno to Miss Kate Peterson, a daughter of Sweden who was born near Carlstad, Vermlan. In 1882 she came to California and soon after, at Fresno, met Mr. Johnson. Four children blessed their union. The eldest is Eddie, the subject of our sketch; Paul and Hulda are on the home farm; while David died at the age of twelve.

The demise of Eric Johnson occurred on May 7, 1915, at which time the Swedish Mission Church of Fresno, of which he was both a member and an organizer, lost one of its most faithful supporters, he having continued a trustee or deacon until his death. Mr. Johnson was for some time a mem- ber of the G. A. R., and in politics was a Republican.

After her husband's death, Mrs. Johnson, aided by her children, con- tinued to manage the ranch of forty acres, to which they added twenty,

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making a very valuable tract of sixty acres, six miles north of Fresno. They have also improved and now own forty acres of the Colonial Helm tract. Mrs. Johnson and the family attend the Swedish Mission Church at Fresno. They have many friends, and the home is a center of hospitality.

Eddie Johnson was born in the old home on September 13, 1886, attended the public grammar schools of his district, and finally graduated from the Chestnutwood Business College. He enjoyed the advantages of every lad who has the good fortune to grow up in Central California, and from his boyhood was acquainted with the important details of vineyarding. In 1910 he located on the place, which his father had bought without any im- provements. He bought twenty acres of the estate, built himself a fine residence, and set and reset his vineyard, planting sultanas, Thompsons and wine grapes, and making a model vineyard; and he also leased his sister's place of twenty acres. Interested in the larger field of viticulture, he associ- ated himself with the California Associated Raisin Company, of which he was the local correspondent.

During a visit at Berkeley, Mr. Johnson was married to Miss Pauline Boquist, a native daughter of San Francisco, and now the mother of his three children-Eddie Leroy, Robert Adolph and a baby. Mrs. Johnson's father, Sven Boquist, was a native of Sweden, who came to California and here married Hilda Sophia Nordstrom. She was born in Helsingborg, Skam, Sweden, and came to Chicago and later to San Francisco, where she died, aged twenty-seven years, in 1888. Pauline was the only child, and after her mother's death she was reared by her aunt, Carrie Nordstrom, and was educated in the grammar and high schools. She learned the mil- liner's trade in San Francisco, which she followed there until her marriage. In religious work, Mr. Johnson's influence was widely felt as a deacon of the Swedish Mission Church in Fresno, while in politics he maintained an independent, public-spirited attitude toward the questions of the day, refusing to be bound by any party platform. He died December 19, 1918, a victim of influenza.

EDWARD COOPER SWIGART .- A varied experience in life, giving one a fair knowledge of human nature, becomes a valuable asset in anticipating and supplying the wants of a community, as is shown by the life-story of Edward Cooper Swigart, the well-known merchant at Academy, who has built up both his reputation and his fortune by plain, honest dealing in the face of the usual severe competition, which will, sooner or later, sift the chaff from the grain. He was luckily born, for he is a native son, having first seen the light near Tehachapi, Kern County, on August 18, 1878; and he came to Academy when he was six years of age, and until he was thirteen he attended school there.

Mr. Swigart at first went into farming and mining, and then became in- terested in stock-raising, after which he ranched for himself. In 1902 he was elected constable of the Tenth Judicial District, and he held the office two terms. During this period he sold his cattle, and in 1907 went into the general merchandise business, establishing himself at Letcher; and for six years he served as assistant postmaster.

In 1913, having purchased ten acres on the site of Academy, with its buildings, Mr. Swigart moved his stock of merchandise to that place and has since continued in business there. Aside from the store, he has a blacksmith shop and garage. He also owns sixty acres of land just above Academy where he is installing a pumping plant preparatory to setting out an orchard and vineyard. Since 1913 he has been the postmaster at Academy. There are postmasters and postmasters, but Mr. Swigart is of the sort that endeavors, while doing his full duty to the national government, to secure the very best service, and plenty of it, for the community in which he lives and thrives. He is a Democrat, has long held an enviable position in local democratic

C. Surgat

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councils, and has given an excellent administration of the office of deputy county clerk.

Mr. Swigart's general merchandise establishment, now so widely known for miles around, is the only establishment in the neighborhood aiming to carry such a stock, and to serve the community in that manner. Wide ex- perience, with both local needs and the best markets from which supplies are to come, is necessary to make a store of this kind a success ; and it is pleasing to learn that the efforts of this California merchant to place the best of every- thing before his customers, and at the lowest tariff that the various conditions will permit, have been so thoroughly appreciated by the citizens of Academy, and their patronage means that they intend to support a store that has always so well considered their future as well as their immediate necessities.

September 6, 1899, witnessed the marriage of Edward Cooper Swigart and Fannie L. Kirch, a union that has brought much happiness to both of the fortunate parties. The bride is a native of the city of Fresno, and as the daughter of well-known pioneers she will certainly always deserve the right hand of California fellowship. Two children, Ella May and Gloria Lucile, have come to bless the Swigart home and to share with the parents the cor- dial good-will of all. The former is a graduate of Heald's Business College and now the wife of W. R. Simpson who served overseas in the United States Army; they make their home at Academy.

Mr. Swigart is a member of the Fresno Lodge of Eagles. He was chair- man of the committees for the various war and Liberty Bond drives at Acad- emy. He is a board member and clerk of the Dry Creek school district and in every way does all he can to advance the welfare of his community.

BERTEL LAURITSEN .- A very progressive and successful young man, who began the great struggle for a place in the world as an ordinary farm laborer and today has a valuable improved ranch close to Del Rey, ornamented by a beautiful residence built on symmetrical and artistic lines is Bertel Lauritsen who was born at Fredericia, Denmark, on December 19, 1871, the son of Mogens Lauritsen, a mason and mechanic there, who, on his son's invitation, has come all the way to California, and is now living with him. The mother, whose maiden name was Marie Lauritsen, died twenty-two years ago in Denmark, after having borne twelve children, and brought up nine, six of whom are still living in Denmark, while three are in Fresno County. These latter are Bertel, or "Bert," as he is popularly called; Laura, the wife of Carl Schongaard, the rancher and butcher of Temperance Colony; and Betty, the wife of Clarence Cleary, the head of the seeding department of the Rosenburg Company in Fresno.

Having decided to come to America, Bertel Lauritsen sailed from Bremen on a Hamburg-American liner and landed at New York in June, 1890. Without much delay in the East, he made straight for Clifton, then only a post-office and one store, and now the wide-awake, go-ahead Del Rey, and immediately began work for J. M. Shannon, on what is now the Shan- non vineyards. He continued there for five years, and then began to operate for himself. First, he bought land from Mr. Shannon in the Shannon Colony, and improved twenty acres. He also bought and improved twenty acres on the E. F. Davis tract, and this, as well as the other lot, he sold at an advantage. Then he bought forty acres more on section nine, and planted and improved the same, after which he disposed of it at a good price; and next forty acres on section two, which he put into grain and sold.

His present fifty acres he bought from two different owners in 1911. Two acres had been planted at the time when he made the purchase, and fourteen he has since grubbed up and replanted. Now he has two acres in alfalfa, three in white Adriatic figs, thirty-four in Thompson Seedless grapes, ten acres in muscats, and one in flaming Tokays. All in all, it would be 79

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hard to find a trimmer and better cared-for ranch of the size. The ornate bungalow is as beautiful a modest home as anyone could wish for.

In March, 1897, Mr. Lauritsen was married to Miss Annie Hansen, a fair native daughter of Denmark who had previously come to Fresno, and by her he has had one child, Valborg. With their daughter the parents made a trip back to Denmark in 1906, and for eleven months revisited the once familiar and endearing scenes of the fatherland. Attractive, however, as the old country appeared to them again, both were glad to return to their Fresno home. As an American, Mr. Lauritsen delights in all that makes up the land of his adoption, and he keeps Old Glory flying all the time in his front yard. Members of the Danish Lutheran Church, eight miles west of Del Rey, Mr. and Mrs. Lauritsen maintain a live interest in all religious endeavor ; and they are always ready to "do their bit" in every movement for the uplift of their community.

RASMUS MADSEN .- Prominent among the large number of Danish- Americans, who have contributed to the permanent development of the resources of the Golden State, must be mentioned Rasmus Madsen, who came to Fresno County in the early nineties. He was born on the Island of Fyen. Wesenbjerg, on April 22, 1866, a son of Madsen Mortensen, who was also a native of the same locality and a prosperous farmer there. In early life the father married Miss Anna Catherine Olsen, by whom he had nine children. One of the sons, Karl, is a rancher, and now resides in the Gray Colony, Fresno. Both parents died in Denmark.

The third eldest in the family, Rasmus was reared on his father's farm, while he obtained a limited common-school education. As soon as he was old enough, he began assisting his father, and thus followed farming for the support of the family until 1885. Then he enlisted in the Danish heavy artillery and served as a soldier for the customary two years, receiving the coveted honorable discharge. Then for a couple of years he worked for different persons, saving his earnings, and when he had enough for a ticket to America, he crossed the wide ocean to the country fabled for its opportunities.

His first two years in the United States were spent on farms in Iowa, but the Middle West not being exactly what he was looking for, he left Clay County and came to the Pacific Coast. He had heard about Fresno and its expanding county, and after a few days at the Hotel Collins, then the old Ogle House in the little county seat, he went to work. He showed himself capable of managing a header, a harvester or a thresher; and at all-around farm labor he continued for a couple of years. Then he determined to have a place of his own and eventually leased a fruit ranch which he con- ducted until he had accumulated enough money to sell his lease and leave Oleander. Then he moved to the Lee place in the Gray Colony, and en- gaged in grain-raising. He had about 500 acres, which soon yielded bounti- fully, and which he ranched for three years.

In 1906, Mr. Madsen bought 480 acres of his present place in the Red Bank district, and there he located, making improvements and erecting such buildings as were necessary or desirable. He raised grain, leased more land, and continued his operations on an increasingly larger scale. He bought 689 acres adjoining, and after five years he sold the same at a profit. He leased other lands, and managed finally over 1,500 acres. At one time he had thirty mules or more for his work; now he has a seventy-five horsepower Holt caterpillar for plowing and putting in his crops, and he harvests with a combined harvester. Mr. Madsen also improved a forty-acre vineyard on the Reyburn tract which he cared for two years and then sold at a good profit.

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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 40

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