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 64

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 64

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Mr. Stone was married in Minneapolis, February 5, 1882, to Miss Helma Dorothea de Wahl, to whom he was engaged before leaving his native land. They moved to Ishpeming, Mich., in the fall of that same year, where he resumed his old trade, working in the blacksmith shop of the Burch Com- pany, iron manufacturers. In 1884 they returned to Minnesota and became interested in land in Sherburne County, where his family lived while he pursued his business as a contract builder in Minneapolis.

On June 7, 1889, Mr. Stone and his family arrived at Oakland, Cal., where he continued in the business of contractor and builder until 1897, when the family moved to Kingsburg. He first purchased forty acres of land near Selma, living on it about four years, improving the land. He then sold, and bought 160 acres, only partially improved, near Kingsburg, which he further improved, building on it a two-story brick residence, one of the finest country residences in this vicinity, and a landmark. He gave twenty acres of this land to each of two sons, and sold the balance at a fair profit.

The town owes many of its fine buildings to Mr. Stone. He has built a good many of the brick buildings on Draper Street, Kingsburg's main thor- oughfare. In 1912 he built the Kingsburg Hotel, a fine, two-story, brick hotel, 100 by 125 feet, in which his son, Fred, was a partner in the con- struction and ownership, and which later they sold. In 1917 he built the new Ford Garage, one of the finest in the Valley, a one-story, terra cotta build- ing, 50x150 ft., now occupied as a Ford Agency and garage by S. Tucker.

Mr. Stone bought out the packing plant of the old Kingsburg Packing Company, in Block One, Riston Addition. He later sold out to the North Ontario Packing Company. Later he became actively interested in the organization of the California Associated Raisin Company, to which he gives his hearty support.

To Mr. and Mrs. Stone seven children have been born, of whom six are living: Naima Elizabeth, now the wife of Raymond Nelson, a rancher near Kingsburg, and who is a son of Presiding Elder Martinus Nelson of the Norwegian Methodist Episcopal Church, residing at Eureka, Cal .; Carl Gott- fried, a rancher near Clark's Bridge in Tulare County; Lydia Maria, a twin- sister of Carl Gottfried, who died when six years old; Knudt Gabriel, who

1904

HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

served in the Philippines, is a bricklayer and rancher; John Fritjof, who married Miss Judith Lindstrom, and is a rancher; Lillie Ruth, who married Clarence Nelson, a bookkeeper in the Kingsburg Bank; and Albert William, who was for two years a clerk in the First National Bank at Kingsburg, later worked one year in the Farmer's Bank of Fresno, trained at Camp Kearney, and is now an automobile salesman.

During his busy life, Mr. Stone has found time to develop his musical talents, and had become an organist and choir leader in his native country. He has been an active member of the Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church of Kingsburg, serving as choir leader, steward, trustee and Sunday School superintendent. Mr. Stone has also given time to the duties of public office, having served one term as deputy assessor, and on the grand and trial juries. He is a strong anti-saloon worker, and stands firmly for right principles. In politics he is a Democrat.

GUS OLSON .- An exceptionally fine man as both citizen and neighbor is Gus Olson, who was born in Vermland, Sweden, in 1874, the son of a prosperous farmer, who is still living. His good wife was Mary Nelson before her marriage, and she became the mother of seven children, all of whom are living. Gus is the oldest of the family, and was brought up on a farm while he attended the public schools. At the age of nineteen he started for Cali- fornia and arrived at Eureka in 1893, where he was employed by Mr. Minor at lumbering on Mad River for a couple of years. In 1895 he came south to Fresno County and was busy for five seasons lumbering for the Sanger Lumber Company. In the summer-time he went to the woods, and in. the winters he worked on the ranches. For six years following he rented a vineyard north of Sanger.

In 1905, Mr. Olson bought his present ranch. It consists of 100 acres at the corner of Braly and Olive Streets, and is one of the most desirable of local farm-properties. In 1907 he located on it and began improvements. Later he sold forty acres to his brother, and now he has sixty acres which he has developed into a choice tract. He set aside seventeen acres as a peach orchard, and has about forty acres in vineyard. He has peaches of several varieties, and Thompson, sultanas, muscats and malaga grapes. He also owns five acres of alfalfa south of Olive Avenue. He leveled the whole tract, it being quite a task as it was hog-wallow. It is under the Herndon canal but he has also installed a pumping-plant which affords him ample water for irrigation. In 1907 he erected a commodious residence, and his whole place shows the industry and thrift of the owner. He is a member and stockholder of the California Peach Growers, Inc., and also of the California Associated Raisin Company, having always favored cooperation.

Mr. Olson was married at Fresno on December 22, 1906, to Miss Mary Nelson, a native of Vermland, Sweden, and who came to Fresno in 1905, and they have one child, Arthur. They are members of the Swedish Lutheran Church in Fresno, and Mr. Olson is a trustee in the congregation. He also belongs to Manzanita Camp, No. 160, Woodmen of the World, in Fresno. In national politics, Mr. Olson is a Republican, but he heartily supports all non- partisan endeavors for local improvement.

AUBREY WILSON .- A gentleman of personal qualities such as would spell success in almost any field of endeavor, who is not only well-educated but well versed in the ways of the world, a good student of human nature and a man of upright character and sympathetic temperament, is Aubrey Wilson, a wide-awake and painstaking undertaker of Kingsburg, where he has opened one of the best equipped undertaking establishments in the town. He was born at Henderson, Ky., on September 14, 1881, and in that state at- tended the public schools as he grew to young manhood. He also studied at the University of Kentucky, at Lexington, where he took a theological course, graduating in 1905.

Cil Fortheamp

1907

HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

Having been ordained a minister of the Christian Church in 1906, in California, he held the pastorate of the Sunset Christian Church at San Fran- cisco and then of the First Christian Church at Richmond; and finally he ministered to the spiritual wants of the congregations at Clovis and Selma. In the latter town he found still another field in which he could serve his Maker by serving his fellow men; and so he began to work for J. M. Byrnes in his well-known undertaking establishment. He learned the business thor- oughly, from the scientific, aesthetic and religious standpoints, and gradually equipped himself to operate on his own responsibility.

Two years ago, as a licensed embalmer and undertaker, Mr. Wilson opened an undertaking establishment of his own. He has every needed ap- pointment, including a fine auto hearse and a small chapel that meets all local requirements. A loyal, broad-minded citizen, usually working under the ban- ners of the Democratic party, but also ready at any and all times to support every movement for the advancement of Kingsburg, Mr. Wilson is popular and widely respected.

During happy days at San Francisco he was married to Miss Gladys M. Brown, a graduate with honors from the San Francisco Polytechnic School ; and they have one child, Audra Nell. There being no Christian Church at Kingsburg, Mr. and Mrs. Wilson attend the Methodist Episcopal Church there ; and in this still following the straight and narrow path, he is reflecting honor on his good parents, W. S. Wilson, who is ex-chief of the police of Madisonville, Ky., and Samantha (Wise) Wilson, one of the noblest of South- ern housewives and mothers.

It is a matter of satisfaction to the community as well as to Mr. Wilson, that he chose Kingsburg as the location for his well-conducted and highly appreciated undertaking establishment.

ERNEST AUGUST FORTHCAMP .- The son of a prominent pioneer settler of Fresno County, Ernest August Forthcamp is worthily following in the footsteps of his father, John D. Forthcamp, who was born in Hanover, Germany, and as a young man emigrated to America. Later, in 1870, he came to California, and after serving about two years in the regular army, began the stock business and was soon recognized as a pioneer sheep man of the San Joaquin Valley. In 1874 he came to Fresno County and ranged his flocks on the broad expanse of plain and desert where the flourishing city of Fresno now stands. This was at a time before any fence laws were put into force and there were but few small hamlets scattered throughout the length and breadth of the county. He took up government land near the present site of Sanger, proved up on it, and farmed successfully until his death. Mr. Forth- camp was a friend of the late Moses Church and from him bought twenty acres of land in what is now Temperance Colony, upon which he established his home and set out a vineyard, one of the first in the valley. He was also su- perintendent for different large land companies, setting out their vineyards; among them the Henrietta Vineyard, Margherita Vineyard, and the Weihe Vineyards. He was engaged in the sheep business for many years, and the returns received therefrom were the nucleus of the large fortune he made in land at a later period. He farmed on rented land and on his home placé, com- prising sixty acres now in the heart of the city of Fresno, and also engaged in stock-raising on a large scale in early days. When Fresno began to grow, he platted his home place, laying it out in small tracts, cut a street through the center and named it Forthcamp Avenue, which today is the finest resi- dence portion of Fresno and which is fringed with fine homes of modern de- sign. Since then, as stated later in this article, his son, Ernest A., has laid out the balance of the tract.

The father, John D., was married first to a daughter of Moses Church. She died, leaving one daughter, Mrs. Henrietta Webb, who resides in New- castle, Placer County. His second wife was Lena Panneman, a native of Ger-

1908

HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

many, who came to Fresno County and here married Mr. Forthcamp. Of this union one child, Ernest A. Forthcamp, was born. John D. Forthcamp died in 1886, aged forty-two years. Some years afterward his widow married H. F. Ehlert, an old time friend and partner of Mr. Forthcamp. After their marriage Mr. Ehlert continued the stock business some years, then bought a tract of one hundred acres in Temperance Colony, under irrigation, and developed a fine property. He passed away in 1896. The Forthcamp prop- erty was later divided, one-third going to Mrs. Webb, who sold her share many years ago; one-third to the widow of Mr. Forthcamp, who also sold out ; and the balance going to Ernest A., who still retains this portion of the property, where he lives with his mother.

Ernest A. Forthcamp was born August 19, 1884, and when but five years old came to live on the place which he now owns. He attended the school in Temperance Colony, the Fresno High School, and the Chestnutwood Business College in Fresno, meantime growing up on the ranch and learning to look after the vineyard and assisting his mother. Since he was eighteen he has operated the place himself, and has reset and planted all but one acre of the tract, raising the vines from cuttings. As he prospered he added to his holdings and there are now 140 acres in this vineyard. Mr. Forthcamp ships his own product. As soon as his malaga and emperors came into bear- ing he established a packing plant in the Forthcamp Vineyards. The green fruit packing-shed is located on the line of the Interurban Railroad, and here he packs his table grapes under his own brand, "The Gobbler." and which he consigns and ships direct to eastern markets. He also owns 160 acres two miles north of Sanger, which is improved with alfalfa and a ten-acre vineyard. Lately fifty acres of this tract were sold at a good figure. Mr. Forthcamp laid out Forthcamp Addition No. 2. a tract of fifteen acres, into city lots, most of which have been sold and improved. The home place is eight miles from Fresno and, with the fine highways and motor transporta- tion, is easy of access to the city.

Mr. Forthcamp has in his possession the oldest safe in Fresno County. It is a safe that was brought from Millerton to Fresno, later was used by Otto Froelich in his store until his business outgrew it, then J. D. Forthcamp became owner of it and when he died it came into the possession of our sub- ject and he treasures it as one of the old relics of early days in the county.

Mr. Forthcamp is a member of the Lutheran Church, the Fraternal Broth- erhood, and of the California Associated Raisin Company. During his life- long connection with Fresno County, Ernest A. Forthcamp has always been associated with the enterprises that have for their aim the upbuilding of the county, and the advancement of the general welfare of its citizens.

JAMES MARION YOAKEM .- A successful orchardist and dairyman, who early realized the possibilities of Fresno County soil, and who has made a specialty of peaches with which he has repeatedly taken prizes, is James Marion Yoakem, one of the most hopeful of American patriots. He first came to California in January, 1907, and ever since he really settled here, he has been laboring for the advancement of the Golden State.

He was born in Philippi, Barbour County, W. Va., on February 24, 1847, the son of John Yoakem, who was born in Randolph County, that state, where he also lived as a farmer, and died in Barbour County. John Yoakem had married Melinda Kirkendall, and she died there, the mother of five chil- dren, among whom James Marion was the second youngest. He was reared on a farm, attended the public schools and remained home until he was twenty-one years of age. He also taught school for two years in his home county.

J. M. Yoakem followed farming, and in 1868 came to Allen County, Kans., and after a while he bought eighty acres there, with which he en- gaged in general farming and stock-raising. About 1885 he moved to Chase

1909

HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

County and bought 320 acres. He broke the soil and raised corn and stock. He gave and still gives particular attention to the breeding of thoroughbred Poland-China hogs, both for breeding purposes and for market.

During this period he also engaged in the real estate business at Home- stead, and while handling and selling farm-lands, he became interested in California and its realty. He was the representative, in his locality in Kansas, for the Irrigated Farms Company. At the beginning of 1907 he came to New- man, and after that he made several trips back and forth. He made Newman his headquarters for a year, during which time he investigated the lands in the Kerman district. In 1908 he bought his present place on Shields and Yoakem Avenues, paying seventy-five dollars for the raw land, of which there were forty acres; and he was thus one of the first to settle there and make improvements. He set out an orchard and also vines, and then sold ten acres, so that he still has thirty acres in peaches and alfalfa. He has taken first and second prizes on peaches at the Fresno County Fair, his fruit being famous for both size and flavor. He has a fine dairy and his herd is one of the best, and he is still raising pure-bred Poland-Chinas. Such were his losses by fire and through cattle-disease in Kansas that when he came to California he had scarcely $800, but through his foresight and hard labor, he is now worth considerably over $25,000. He belongs to the California Peach Growers, Inc., the San Joaquin Valley Milk Producers Association ; he was one of the organizers of the Kerman Telephone Company and was a leader in organizing the Kerman Creamery. Since he has permanently located here, he has, by advice and a helping hand, induced many to settle in this district and become home-makers.

While in West Virginia, Mr. Yoakem was married to Miss Anzina Elizabeth Wilmoth, who is now the mother of six children, four of whom are living: Laura, who became Mrs. B. Olson of Newman ; Charles, a rancher of Chase County, Kans .; Eugene, in South America ; and Ada, the wife of George Jackson, who is serving his country in an engineer's corps as a soldier in France. The family attends the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Yoakem is a Republican and works for Republican ideals, but he is non-partisan in work for the communities in which he has lived, and among his public services may be mentioned six years as school trustee in the Dakota district. which he helped organize.

HENRY THOMAS WILSON .- An industrious, prosperous viticulturist, and a citizen with high ideals, who has been blessed with a fine family interested, like himself, in the preservation of local history, is Henry Thomas Wilson, who was born in Noble County, Ohio, on December 10, 1862. the son of John B. Wilson, also a native of Ohio and a farmer there. In 1869 he moved to Pike County, Mo., where he bought a farm and greatly im- proved it, following agriculture until he died, in 1881. Mrs. Wilson, who was Elizabeth Mendenhall before her marriage, and a native daughter of Ohio, passed away in Missouri, the mother of three sons and three daughters, all still living. The three boys are all in California, Reuben having taken up viticulture in Lone Star; James W., horticulture at Del Rey ; while Henry Thomas, the fourth eldest in the order of birth and the youngest son, is a ranchman on Coalinga road, ten miles west of Fresno.

Henry T. Wilson was reared on the farm in Missouri from his seventh year, and there attended the public school, remaining at home until his father died. He really continued on the farm, in order to assist his mother, until he was married, on February 28, 1886, near Bowling Green, Mo., to Miss Oda L. Van Noy, who had been born at Van Noy's Mills, near there, the daughter of Nathan D. Van Noy, a native of that section, and the grand- daughter of Dr. Nathan, whose birthplace was in North Carolina and who became an early pioneer of Pike County. He was the founder of Van Noy's Mills, and built there the first grist and saw mill, and also had the post office

1910

HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

there. The mill was run by water-power from Indian Creek; and the old stone burr still lies near the stream. He was a physician and surgeon; his parents came from Holland to North Carolina, members of the old Knicker- bocker stock: and he was married in Tennessee to Miss Mary McMichael, who was born in Ireland and came to Tennessee. Mrs. Wilson's father was a farmer, and as a youth served in the Civil War. He farmed in Missouri until 1902, and then he located in Fresno, where he lived retired, and died in 1916. His wife, who was Julia A. Henton before she married, a native of Pike County, Mo., and the daughter of David Henton, who was born of English descent in Lincoln County, Mo., now resides in Fresno, the mother of ten children, seven of whom are living, and among whom Mrs. Wilson is the oldest.

After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Wilson engaged in farming in Missouri, but in 1906 they came to Fresno, where the brother Reuben was already living and prospering. He leased the latter's vineyard of twenty acres and ran it; and he also leased other vineyards and engaged in viti- culture on rather an extensive scale. At one time, in fact, he managed as many as eighty acres. He took care of the place until 1918.

In July, 1918, Mr. Wilson bought his present place of forty acres on Coalinga road, and within a few months took active possession. Since then he has devoted the land to alfalfa and a vineyard in which he has ten acres of Thompson seedless grapes. He uses two electric pumping-plants, with four-inch pumps, having one for domestic purposes and the other for irrigation.

Mr. and Mrs. Wilson have nine children: Mattie A., who is the wife of Lee Bollinger, a rancher adjoining the Wilsons; Bessie, who married Joseph Burford of Pike County, and resides in the old Wilson home; John B., a rancher in Lone Star; Cynthia, Mrs. Ward Bollinger of Chowchilla; and George, Nathan, Lowell, Reuben and Harold. Mr. Wilson belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America of Fresno: he holds consistently to the doc- trines of the Christian Church ; and is a Republican in national politics.

LAWRENCE WILLIAM CHRISTENSEN .- An enterprising and successful young man, who is known for his honesty of purpose and stand for what is right, is Lawrence William Christensen, who was born near Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie County, Iowa, on October 3, 1880, the son of P. N. Christensen, whose sketch is also given elsewhere in this volume. He was the third oldest of seven children, and was brought up on a farm in . Iowa, while he attended the local schools there.

At the age of sixteen he came to California and Fresno County, and con- tinued his schooling in Fresno, while he assisted his father on their home farm. When he was twenty-two, however, he began to do for himself. and it was then that he bought thirty acres on White's Bridge Road where he set out a vineyard and planted alfalfa. This he ran for three years and then sold it at a profit. For a while he located in Clovis, where he bought a ranch of thirty-seven acres to the north of the town, set out an orchard and planted alfalfa. And at the end of two years, he disposed of it at a profit.

In 1905, Mr. Christensen bought his present place of eighty acres on Coalinga Avenue, between White's Bridge Road and Belmont; and this he improved in his characteristically thorough manner. Since then he has disposed of sixty acres, keeping twenty acres of the most improved part for the site of a residence. He has good alfalfa, and well-bearing Thompson seedless vines. With his sister, Mr. Christensen also has another land invest- ment; together they own twenty acres on Belmont-Avenue, on which they grow alfalfa, and cultivate raisins.

At Fresno, Mr. Christensen was married to Miss Sarah Morton, who was born near Coalinga, the daughter of A. C. Morton, a Central California pioneer. He was a blacksmith and stockman, and has the distinction of

comes darlinga

1913

HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY .

having built one of the first houses on White's Bridge Road. Four children resulted from this union: Wallace, Ruel, Willetta, and Douglass, and each has brought cheer to the Christensen hearth. They attend the Seventh Day Adventist Church at Rolinda, for Mr. Christensen was one of the organizers, and has been a trustee from the start. He was treasurer of the church and was on the building committee also. He is chairman of the church school board, and with his good wife never tires in God's appointed work. He be- longs to both the California Associated Raisin Company and the California Peach Growers, Inc., in which he is a stockholder ; and he vigorously supports their policies for the advancement and protection of California husbandry.

JAMES FARLINGER .- A most estimable man of forceful character, who went through great hardships in life yet always met them bravely and without complaint, was James Farlinger, now deceased, who was born on March 1, 1848, in New York State. He received but a limited education, for his mother died when he was a child, and a disagreeable step-mother made his life at home unpleasant for him. At fifteen, therefore, he left to paddle his own canoe. He made his way to Saginaw, Mich., not without hardships and worries, and through resolute perseverance.

His first employment was in the Salt Works at Saginaw, and later he went into the lumber woods, and thence on to Duluth. While lumbering, he met with several accidents, coming out of the camp with one arm broken : and at different times he had his legs broken, on the last occasion being laid up most of the time for three years. He was headed towards the Coast and finally arrived at Lewiston, Idaho.

Determining to locate on government land, he went into Whitman County, Wash., in what is now known as the Palouse country, near the pres- ent Uniontown, southeast of Colfax, the county seat; and there he took a homestead, and at the same time a preemption and timber claim. This was in 1877, when conditions were as yet so raw that there were no roads, no bridges, only an overland trail through the country. He pioneered in the truest sense ; broke the soil never tilled before, built a rude house, and made other improvements.

On May 31, 1892, Mr. Farlinger was married at Moscow, Idaho, to Miss Ada Marlatt, a native of Vienna, Ontario, and the daughter of George Mar- latt, who was born near St. Thomas, Canada, and became a carpenter and builder. Her mother was Betsy A. Corless, also a native of Ontario. The father spent his last days in Ontario, and there the mother still lives. There, too, Mrs. Farlinger was reared and educated. In 1892 she came to Union- town, Wash., where she had a sister living, and there she met Mr. Farlinger; and the acquaintance, so agreeable to both parties, ripened into marriage. The happy couple continued on the farm and were successful, but when their children began to grow up and they wished better school advantages for them, they purchased a farm of 217 acres about three-fourths of a mile from Uniontown, making a holding altogether of some 740 acres; and this they also improved with a set of excellent buildings and still own. They also built a large comfortable brick residence on each farm, and other desirable buildings, Mr. Farlinger always being in favor of building up and improving. He also purchased lots in the business district of Uniontown and built a large brick store which has ever since been rented for the chief mercantile establishment of the town.

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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 64

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