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 55
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In 1906 the father removed with his family to Hanford, Cal., and in the fall of that year he came to Selma, later going to Academy, where for a year he was engaged in wheat raising. He then rented John Rorden's place of 160 acres, which he farmed successfully. In 1912 he bought a forty-acre dairy ranch two and one-half miles northeast of Conejo and ran it for one year. He sold it and bought another forty-acre ranch on the west side northeast of Burrel. He and his wife are the parents of seven children, five boys and two girls. The eldest, Joseph, who was born at St. George, January 1, 1884, came to America in 1906. He now assists his brother Ed in running the ranch. George the second son, is a river and bay captain and the owner of several tow boats. Henry, is in France with the Twenty-sixth Division of the United States Army. He fought in the trenches, was wounded and spent four months in the hospital, afterwards returning to his post. He was gassed in September, and after recovery took the position of cook in the army in October. Four years ago he and his brother Ed were engaged together in ranching in Tehama County, California. The fourth child, a daughter, May by name, is the wife of Joe Bettencort, a rancher four miles west of Mon- mouth. Lena, is the wife of Dan Soranno, who is in France. Ed J. provides a home for his parents on the ranch he rents, and Alfred, the youngest child is in France and was also gassed and wounded. He enlisted in the United States Army when seventeen, April 3, 1917, the first to enlist for war in Sacramento.
Before the war Ed and his brother Henry rented Frank Helm's large dairy ranch at Herndon. They milked 175 cows and were doing well, but the ranch was sold, and according to the terms of their lease they had to give it up. They went to Tehama County where they engaged extensively in the stock business, incurring a loss of a thousand dollars in this business venture. Ed then went to Sacramento and for three years assisted his brother George in running his two boats. In 1918 he rented the ranch which he is now operating successfully, assisted by his brother Joseph. The land is planted to peaches and vines.
Intelligent, industrious, generous and public-spirited, Ed Souza makes and holds friends. He is kind to his parents, brothers and sisters, with whom he is a favorite.
THOMAS E. RICHARDSON .- One of the largest stock-buyers and best informed stock-men of his section of Fresno County, is Thomas E. Richardson, a native son and a descendant of an honored pioneer that crossed the plains in the early days of California. He first saw the light of day on November 9, 1875, at Plymouth, Amador County, Cal., and was reared on a ranch. He received his early education in the public school of Amador County, and when eighteen years of age went to Angels Camp, Calaveras County, where he was engaged in mining.
Mr. Richardson is a lover of fine horses, and at one time was interested in racing and the breeding of standard-bred animals. In 1903 he located in Fresno and was the owner of the well-known stallion "Stamboulet" sired by Stam- boul, the latter sold for $50,000 to E. H. Harriman and had a world's record of 2:071/2. Stamboulet had a record of 2:1014 and was the sire of Strath- boule, who made a record of 2:1312. When the racing business subsided his inherent love for horses and animals naturally led him into the stock-buying business, which he conducted on a commission basis, and which occupation he has continued to follow ever since. Mr. Richardson is a very enterprising
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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY
and successful buyer, and his judgment in matters pertaining to values and conditions of live stock is very highly esteemed and much sought after. In 1916 he shipped 10,000 hogs to Kansas City for E. H. Myers, of Portland, Ore. During the same year he also shipped 1,800 head of cattle to B. C. Rogers, Omaha, Nebr. In 1917 Mr. Richardson shipped 450 head of cattle to C. L. Myers, Kansas City ; 950 head of cattle to J. WV. Goodwin, of Chow- chilla, Cal .; and 350 cows to Hunter & Lytton, Elko, Nev. During 1918 his shipments included 350 head of stock cattle to Crane Brothers, Merced ; 500 head to Paul Williamson, Stockton; and 400 'head of cattle to Thos. R. Carlysle Company, Squaw Valley. Mr. Richardson owns eighty acres near Kearney Park, which he uses for pasturing and fattening stock prior to shipping.
In Fresno, on March 4, 1908, Thomas E. Richardson was united in mar- riage with Miss Evelyn Mugg, born near Kokomo, Ind., who came with her parents, B. F. and Virginia Velaria (Lorts) Mugg. to Fresno in 1900, and now are viticulturists near Dinuba. Mr. and Mrs. Richardson reside at 159 Forthcamp Street, Fresno.
H. L. WARD .- So intimately has H. L. Ward, the president of the First National Bank of Laton, Cal., and well known civil engineer of Central Cal- ifornia, been associated with the development of this section of Fresno County, that it can be said that to him more than to any other individual, is due the wonderful development of the lands of the Laguna de Tache Grant and the building of the great irrigation system of that section.
Not alone is H. L. Ward a pioneer of California, but also of Fresno County. He was born in Merced County, near what is now Old Snelling, on June 28, 1865, the son of Isaac Newton Ward, an honored pioneer and 49er who crossed the plains with an ox team and mined for gold in Tuolumne County and where he also ran a ferry across the Tuolumne River, which was well known in early days as Ward's Ferry. Isaac Newton Ward was born in Virginia, the ancestors of the Ward family being traced back to England from whence they came to America in Colonial Days, settling in Virginia where the family was quite prominent, among the notables being General Ward, of the Revolutionary War. Isaac N. Ward became a prominent bus- iness man and was elected sheriff of Tuolumne County, also was honored by being a member of the State Assembly in 1854. He was married to Miss Elizabeth Birkhead, a member of a prominent family that came to California in 1850, the ceremony being solemnized near Snelling, Cal.
The Birkhead family settled at first near Visalia, and the Birkhead brothers were early settlers and pioneers near Friant, below Millerton, on the San Joaquin River, where they owned 5,000 acres, raised sheep and fol- lowed farming.
H. L. Ward's childhood was passed in that vicinity and when about five years of age he came with his parents to Fresno County and attended the first district school at Fresno Flats, now known as Oakhurst. His father was elected as a supervisor of Fresno County, where he farmed and raised stock.
In 1874. the mother passed away, and the next year was followed by the father, who left seven orphan children. H. L. Ward, the subject of this review, was the fourth child and was nine years of age when his father died. The children were reared in the home of their uncle, Mr. Birkhead, H. L. Ward remaining with him until he was seventeen or eighteen years of age. In the winter time he attended school and in the summer worked on farms and ranches. When seventeen he began to make his own way in the world and by the time he was twenty-one, he had. by a hard struggle succeeded in find- ing enough spare time for studying and reading to gain sufficient knowledge to enable him to take the examination for a school teacher, which he success- fully passed and received his certificate to teach; his first school being at Auberry Valley, in 1886. Mr. Ward continued to teach intermittently for
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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY
ten years ; in the meantime he was studying surveying and civil engineering, being his own teacher and instructor, but later on he attended the Vander- nailen School of Engineering, San Francisco, where he pursued a course in engineering. Mr. Ward became acquainted with Nares & Saunders, the sales agents of the great Laguna de Tache Grant, who engaged him to survey the extensive acreage. More than ten years before this he had become acquainted with I. Teilman, the well-known civil engineer of Fresno, having worked with Mr. Teilman for several years, and was associated also with him in the year 1899, in surveying the Laguna de Tache, but in 1900, Mr. Teilman with- drew and opened an office in Fresno, but Mr. Ward continued the work of surveying the grant for irrigation, extending and remodeling the Lillis sys- tem of irrigation. Not only did he survey the 68,000 acres in the Laguna de Tache Grant but 20,000 acres bought subsequently, making a total of 88,000 acres owned by this firm. Mr. Ward continued to work for Nares and Saun- ders from 1899. to 1908, then after one year of rest he engaged with Tom Patterson of Fresno, to survey and lay out the mains and laterals for irrigating the Patterson Tract, and to lay out the townsite of Patterson, Cal. Mr. Ward was engaged on this project from 1908 to 1911. During this time he resided at Laton, but in 1911 removed to Patterson, where for two years he was su- perintendent of the Patterson project, which included looking after the ranch as well as overseeing the irrigation and engineering work. On August 1, 1913, he returned to Laton, where his personal interests now require most of his time.
As a financier H. L. Ward has displayed great ability and was one of the organizers of the First National Bank, of Laton, which opened for business in 1910, when the former State Bank of Laton was merged into the First National Bank. The State Bank was organized in 1908 and in 1909 when it opened for business it had as its officers: W. E. G. Saunders, of Emmetsburg, Iowa, president; J. Q. Hancock, vice president; C. A. Smith, cashier.
The present officers of the First National Bank are: H. L. Ward, pres- ident; R. M. Bostwick, vice president; C. A. Smith, cashier ; A. E. Hudson, assistant cashier. The Board of Directors: R. M. Bostwick, Alice N. Corn- well and H. L. Ward. Mr. Ward is also a trustee of the Laton Library As- sociation.
Mr. Ward helped to build the Kerman branch of the Southern Pacific Railway and was material inspector of the road in 1891. He was also ma- terial man on the line of the Southern Pacific Railway from Bakersfield to the asphaltum beds on the West Side and at one time surveyed an irrigation project for the Santa Fe Railway in the Tulare Lake district, which, however, never materialized. In 1890-91 he was also material man for building the Pulaski railroad, now a part of the Southern Pacific system, about twenty miles in length running from Fresno to Pulaski, now Friant.
H. L. Ward was united in marriage with Miss Katherine B. Mckenzie, of Laton, Cal., the ceremony being solemnized in San Francisco, on Novem- ber 30, 1904. In 1908, he built his beautiful residence in Laton and, since August 1, 1913, has continued to make this town his home. Mr. Ward is an authority on irrigation and has been more than ordinarily successful in sub- dividing large tracts for disposition in small tracts to actual settlers. He is a man of resourcefulness and executive force and has by his unaided efforts succeeded in making a signal success in his chosen line and has always lived up to his high ideals of honor and lofty business principles.
JOHN W. ARMSTRONG .- The genial proprietor of the Pine Ridge Hotel and store is John W. Armstrong, who has been a resident of California for fifty years. He was born in Shelby County, I11., February 12, 1861 ; his parents Washington and Delilah (Renfrew) Armstrong; brought their family across the plains in an ox-team train in 1869, and located near Stockton, where they resided for ten years. then moved on to a ranch on Little Dry Creek, above Academy in Fresno County, and there they spent their last days.
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John W., then a lad of eight and the youngest of four children, well re- members the trip across the plains with the slow-moving ox-teams and wag- ons. His schooling was obtained in the district where they lived in San Joa- quin County. In 1879 he came to Little Dry Creek with his parents and soon started raising stock on his own account and in time purchased his father's farm and continued there for a few years. Then he sold and started in the livery business at the corner of L and Kern streets, the present site of the Auditorium. His brother James was in partnership with him and they oper- ated under the firm name of Armstrong Brothers, proprietors of the Club Stables. They continued in business for twenty years, when they sold out in 1907.
As early as 1903, Mr. Armstrong had purchased the Pine Ridge Hotel, and since 1907 has resided there and continued to run it as a first class hotel, and it has been a popular stopping place for stockmen and travelers. The hotel is a large two-story structure and was erected by Sam Jennings in an open space cleared from the pine and cedar timber. It is supplied by water from a mountain spring nearby. Mr. Armstrong also runs a general mer- chandise store, the building having been erected in 1877 by Gus Bernig. Mr. Armstrong has been postmaster of Pine Ridge postoffice for the past twelve years. The ranch comprises 400 acres upon which he raises cattle. There is also a full-bearing orchard of apples and pears, a delight to the travelers, as well as the mountain towns close by whose inhabitants appreciate the delicate flavor of the fruit.
Mr. Armstrong was married in Fresno, being united with Miss Leota Ingram, who came to California from her native state of Arkansas and they have one child, John W. Jr. Mr. Armstrong is a well-known and influential citizen and with his estimable wife is popular and well-liked.
HERMAN GRANZ .- A resident of the Golden State since 1869, a period of almost fifty years, during which time he has watched with a great deal of interest the progress of the upbuilding of the state and has done his share to help all worthy projects, Herman Granz of Fresno was born near Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany, August 1, 1841. His father was Samuel Granz, a descend- ant of an old Saxony family. A brother, Louis Granz, lived in San Francisco for many years and died there, in 1904. .
Reared on his father's farm, where he learned the rudiments of the vari- ous branches of agriculture as carried on in Germany, Herman Granz attended the public schools in his home locality, and, when he reached the age of six- teen, he was apprenticed to learn the cabinet-maker's trade. After he had thor- oughly mastered the business, young Granz set out as a journeyman and worked in Austria, Switzerland and France. He heard of the great country be- vond the sea, in the various places where he was employed and he made up his mind to come to the United States, and by 1868 he had made enough money to gratify his ambition. Upon arriving in New York City he worked at his trade one year in order to become used to the ways of the country and to learn the way business was conducted in this part of the world. California was the much talked-of state at that time and the account of its greater opportunities for young men decided this energetic young man to cast his fortunes with the newer state. He had saved enough money to bring him to California and he arrived in San Francisco via Panama.
Mr. Granz followed his trade in the western metropolis a short time, then started a furniture factory in Hayes Valley. Beginning on a small scale, his business increased so rapidly that he established a factory on Barry Street, and four years later erected a steam plant on Brannan Street. Here he made furniture of all kinds and had a trade throughout California and in Ore- gon, Washington, Arizona, Nevada, and in the Sandwich Islands, and em- ployed some seventy-five experienced workmen. He carried on this business successfully until 1887, when on account of ill health, caused by such close application to the business, he had to leave the city.
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In 1881, Mr. Granz had bought a tract of land in Fresno County adjoin- ing the Eisen vineyard; at that time it was raw and undeveloped, and from time to time he set out vines, and when the railroad (which paralleled his land) was completed to Clovis, he had a flourishing vineyard. In 1885 he built a winery and began making wine. In 1887 he left San Francisco and settled on his land and thereafter gave his attention to the manufacturing of high grade wines for which he had built up a good business. This was one of the pioneer wineries in Fresno County. The capacity of the plant was increased from time to time until it had a capacity of 250,000 gallons. Mr. Granz erected a large modern country home, beautified the grounds and in time his be- came one of the show places on Belmont Avenue, east of Fresno. His ex- ample was followed by others and soon the section became one of the most attractive and productive in the county. Later he acquired an eighty-acre vineyard and winery near Dinuba, which is now a part of the Granz estate. This winery has a capacity of 300.000 gallons and is modernly equipped. Op- timistic and a firm believer in the wonderful possibilities and future great- ness of the City of Fresno, Mr. Granz invested in city property, now owning four business blocks two of which he erected, besides having other business interests in various places. On June 17, 1913, all of the property was incor- porated as the Granz Estate, Mr. Granz being president.
The marriage uniting Herman Granz with Adelaide Bauhofer, a native of Austria, was celebrated in New York. To them have been born eight children : Carl T., vice-president of the Granz Estate and superintendent of the Dinuba Winery; Edward H., secretary of the estate and superintendent of the Fresno plant ; Emil, deceased ; O. J .; Mrs. Hermina Saier ; Mrs. Sophie Gilbert ; Adelaide, wife of Dr. F. L. R. Burks ; and Clara. Mr. Granz was be- reaved of his wife on April 3, 1919, and she was mourned by a wide circle of friends. Mr. Granz is a Republican, is a member of the Chamber of Com- merce, and as a man and citizen is an upbuilder and devoted to the interests of Fresno County and liberally supports all movements for its development. He often extends a helping hand to those less fortunate than himself, and has made and retains a large circle of friends.
CHESTER C. CRANE .- This sketch furnishes a splendid example of the business career of what is commonly termed "a self-made man." From a small beginning, C. C. Crane, the enterprising proprietor of the Eagle Laun- dry, of Fresno, has mounted the ladder of success, rung by rung, until today he has reached the top of the ladder in his chosen line, and has one of the largest and most modern steam laundries in the San Joaquin Valley ; employ- ing about fifty people inside and seven drivers of auto deliveries.
Chester C. Crane is a native of the City of Fresno, born December 30, 1881, on K Street ; son of Edgar Crane, a native of Illinois, who crossed the plains in the early 60's, locating at Fresno. He was a carpenter by trade and built the first modern house in Fresno; also the Cooper House and the Ackers Building on K Street. Mr. Edgar Crane died in Fresno aged sixty years ; his widow survived several years, dying when forty-two years old.
Chester C. Crane attended the public school of his native city, and as a boy assisted his father in the building business, later following the trade of a butcher. On October 7, 1895, he accepted a position in a laundry, and for five years worked in the Grand Central Laundry, which was located in the rear of the Grand Central Hotel, afterwards working in different laundries in Fresno, where he gained a thorough knowledge of the business in all its branches. In 1909 Mr. Crane started in business for himself, having built for the purpose, a small wooden building, twenty-four by fifty-five feet in size, in the rear of his home at 328 Thesta Street. As the business increased, he took in rooms from his home, until he added the entire house, using the front porch as an office. In the early days of the business Mr. Crane did all of the work, most of it being done by hand. In 1914 he
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erected a small brick building on the site of the old home, which was razed to make room for the expanding business. Since then he has been compelled to again enlarge his building, and now has one of the largest and most modern steam laundry plants in the San Joaquin Valley. He named his laundry after the Fraternal Order of the Eagles, of which organization he is an honored member. While Mr. Crane was working for wages, he decided in his mind if he ever was fortunate enough to get into business for himself, he would pay his help the highest wages and require the shortest number of hours for a day's work. His laundry is a "Union Shop" and to his interest in the welfare of his employees, together with good work and prompt service, he attributes his success in business. The Eagle Laundry has agencies estab- lished all through the valley. The sanitary conditions at the laundry are the highest, and the machinery of the plant new and modern.
Chester C. Crane was united in marriage with Anna Lindstrom, a native of Easton, Fresno County, and this happy union has been blessed with two children : Lester, born July 25, 1904, a graduate from the grammar school, March, 1919; and Lorine, born October 11, 1906, attending the public school. Through sheer industry and perseverance, Mr. Crane has achieved the success which he rightfully enjoys today.
GEORGE P. DYREBORG .- When the full history of the wonderful development of Central California shall have been written, few names will deserve more honorable mention than that of George P. Dyreborg, the prom- inent viticulturist, and influential member of the highly intelligent group of Danish-Americans, long among the most substantial citizens of our State. He was born in Bred-Funen, Denmark, March 7, 1870, and from his eleventh year made his own way in the world. He attended the public school until he was fourteen, at the same time he worked on a farm, and at sixteen years of age he started to learn the creamery business in the cooperative creamery. Then he came to Jutland and Horsensfjord, and completed his apprentice- ship at Bornholm. At the same time he studied English under a private teacher.
In 1891, Mr. Dyreborg crossed the Channel to England and went to Droitwich, Worcestershire, intending to learn the art of cheese-making, but was disappointed in the equipment of the place, and so he remained three or four months in the service of a horseman at the breeding stables. At the end of six months he left to learn gardening, and worked for Lord Hindlip for a year. Then he crossed the Atlantic for New York and made his way west to Chicago and the World's Fair; and after that he came west to Fresno, arriving on May 28, 1893.
Here he worked as a farmer and vineyardist in Washington Colony. south of Fresno, until the fall of 1893, when tiring of this, he went to the foothills in Madera County, where he prospected from place to place, and having made a somewhat precarious living he returned to Fresno in the spring of 1895. Times were hard and he worked on vineyards for as little as fifty cents a day and board. Later he was employed by the Southern Pacific Railroad for a time.
In the spring of 1896, Mr. Dyreborg rented a vineyard of twenty acres set out to muscat vines. This same year he was married, in Fairfield, Solano County, to Mrs. Maggie Johansen Bidstruc, a native of Bornholm, with whom he had been acquainted in Denmark. He continued to manage a vineyard in the Jefferson district, and he bought crops and made some money during the summer of 1896. He bought his present place of forty acres in the Enter .. prise Colony for $1,550, and soon after began to improve it, and moved onto it.
Having laid out the acreage, Mr. Dyreborg built his new residence in 1902, and now has eighteen acres of Malaga grapes, fourteen acres of mus- cats, and the balance of the tract in orchards and alfalfa, with a fine border
Two. P. Dyreborg
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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY
of fig trees. The ranch is under the Enterprise Canal, and the irrigation is practically perfect. In 1904 he commenced to ship his Malaga grapes and later he was both buying and shipping. He bought eighty-four acres in the Kutner Colony, which he improved with vines, setting out Emperors, mus- cat and wine grapes, and he has about twenty acres finely improved. He has always supported the various fruit associations, and now belongs to the California Associated Raisin Company. For nine years he was a member of the board of directors of the Fresno-Rochdale Company.
Mr. and Mrs. Dyreborg have three sons: Lewis B., who did his best to win the war; William Stanford and Vernon, all assisting their father. The eldest, Lewis B., served overseas in the Machine Gun Company of the Three Hundred Sixty-first Infantry, U. S. A., and was in the battles of St. Mihiel, Marne, Argonne Forest, Lys, and Scheldt, Belgium. He was honor- ably discharged as first sergeant.
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