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 68

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 68

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Young Frank grew up on his father's Westphalian farm of 120 acres, attended the common schools of his native country eight years, and was afterwards a student of agriculture in the Agricultural College at Holzmin- den, Germany, for two years. The first of his family to emigrate to the United States, he took "French leave" of the Fatherland after six months' unwilling military service, never again to return as long as German mili- tarism is in the ascendency. After an uneventful and pleasant voyage, he landed at New York and spent one day in the metropolis before taking the Southern Pacific System, via New Orleans, for California. He arrived in San Jose, Cal., October 28, 1887, and, aside from his cousin, Albert H. Nig- gemain of that city, had neither friend nor relative in America. For three years he was employed in the butcher business in San Jose, and afterwards spent two years working in the plastering and cement business.

In 1892 he came to Fresno County, and for three years worked on Eg- ger's 700-acre vineyard and about two sections of grain land, where he rose to the position of foreman. He then rented a ranch at Fowler, and after batching one year was united in marriage with Miss Winter, daughter of Gottlieb and Katerine (Karle) Winter, all natives of Russia. When fifteen years of age Mrs. Lanse had the misfortune to lose her mother who died while her daughter was quite a distance from home. When seventeen years old she came to California from her native country, her father, step-mother, three

Frank Lanse and Sourily.

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brothers, two half-sisters and two half-brothers having preceded her and settled on a ranch which they purchased at Del Rey.

In 1900, Mr. Lanse purchased twenty acres of land in Section 22, the nucleus of his home place, fifteen acres of which was planted to vines and peaches, ten acres of it being about equally set to Thompson Seedless and Sultanas, and five acres set to two-year-old peach trees. In 1911 he added to his acreage by the purchase of forty acres in Section 21, lying across the road west of the home place, twenty-eight acres being set to muscats, two acres to Zinfandels, eight acres to peaches and two acres to alfalfa. He is under the Consolidated Ditch Company's canals and can irrigate every foot of his land. However, with characteristic preparedness for every emergency, he has installed a pumping-plant (fifteen-horsepower distillate engine and five-inch centrifugal pump) for use in an exceptional dry spell.

Mr. and Mrs. Lanse have an interesting family of five children: Kather- ine, or Kate, is the wife of Henry Wirt, a rancher at Del Rey, and the mother of a daughter, Dorthea E. Frank is a freshman in the Selma high school, and his father has provided a Chevrolet car for his special use in going to and from school. Joseph L. and Bernice T. are students in the grammar school, and Gertrude M. is the youngest.

Mr. Lanse is a close observer and student of economic conditions in Fresno County, and a strong supporter of the Raisin and Peach Associations. In his party affiliations he is a Democrat and supports the administration loyally. He lives in and belongs to the Fruitvale school district. Mrs. Lanse is a member of the German Lutheran Church at Fresno.

C. O. R. CARLSON .- A tireless worker, and an unusually aggressive man, fortunate in the possession of foresight, insight, and rare executive ability, is C. O. R. Carlson, a Kingsburg Colony pioneer, who, considering the small beginning, has succeeded to an exceptional degree. He owns two fine ranches, has a beautiful new bungalow residence, with tank-house, barn, water, and all conveniences, and, besides having provided an exquisite piano and other beautiful things for his accomplished daughter, he drives an ele- gant Franklin car. And best of all, whatever Mr. Carlson possesses, he has gained through honest, hard work.

He was born at Gotland, a beautiful island of Sweden in the Baltic Sea, and there he grew up till the middle of his sixteenth year, when he left home and shipped as a common sailor. His father was Carl Gustav Carl- son, a farmer of good standing, who was killed in a runaway when sixty- five years of age. His mother, Louisa Regina Verilius before her marriage, came to Kingsburg in 1899 a widow, and here she died, in 1907, seventy- two years old, and beloved by many friends in her native and her adopted countries. The parents had four children, among whom the subject of our sketch was the eldest. Then came Ferdinand who died when he was seven- teen years old; Maria Carolina, now Mrs. Lindberg, who resides in Kings- burg; and Hjalmar, a farmer on the old homestead at Gotland.

Carl Oscar Reinhold's education was limited, and stopped with his fif- teenth year when he was confirmed in the Lutheran Church. Almost im- mediately thereafter he went to sea, and he followed the sea for years, sail- ing for the most part on Swedish vessels, and visiting among others, these countries and ports : Germany-Kiel, Danzig, Rostock and Luebeck: Brazil- Santos; Africa-Port Natal ; Australia-Melbourne ; West Indies-Porto Rico; Mexico-Vera Cruz; England-Falmouth, Gloucester and Barrow; Wales- Swansea and Cardiff; the United States-New Orleans and New York.

In 1885, Mr. Carlson landed at Galveston, and then and there took "French leave" of his vessel and enlisted in the United States Coast Guard Service and in the Life Saving Service at Galveston. While in this service, he chanced to read of Judge F. D. Rosendahl, who was then promoting the Kingsburg Colony ; and entering into correspondence with him, he sent him

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$250 for Lot 56 in the colony, trusting entirely to the Judge's honor and judg- ment in selecting a good piece of land. This lot comprises the twenty acres upon which Mr. Carlson has so long lived, labored and prospered. Judge Rosendahl gave him a perfectly square deal, and Mr. Carlson has ever since been one of the most aggressive "boosters" of Kingsburg Colony. In addi- tion to his twenty acres here, Mr. Carlson owns an additional forty acres, in full bearing, half a mile north of the Clay School. As a pioneer of the Colony, he was one who helped develop its irrigation.

When Mr. Carlson first came here, he camped out under wagons and underwent many inconveniences in order to get started; and now he lives in a beautiful bungalow built in 1915, with all modern conveniences, and looking back along the years to the day of his birth, December 12, 1858, he thanks his stars that fate eventually steered him to California and Fresno County as safe harbors. Mr. and Mrs. Carlson enjoy their home. the more so because of their talented daughter, Florence, who is a student in Heald's Business College at Fresno.

Although by birth a foreigner, no one could be more intelligently loyal as an American citizen than Mr. Carlson; and when the war brought its great burden to him with a home appeal, he never shirked, but came up to the line with a subscription for the first Liberty Loan amounting to $500, the total of his subscriptions being $2,000 of hard-earned money cheerfully placed at Uncle Sam's disposal. "For," says Carl Carlson, "Uncle Sam has got to have the stuff to win the war."

PHILLIP NILMEIER .- Among the very first of the Germans from the Volga River region in Russia who sought a greater opportunity in America and wisely chose Fresno County as the most promising section of California, is Phillip Nilmeier, who was born at Stepnoia, Samara, Russia, on December 7, 1850, the son of George Nilmeier, a farmer of that section. He had married Katie Horch, and they both died where they lived and labored. They had eleven children-nine boys and two girls; and of these three sons came to California. Phillip was the sixth oldest of the familv.

He attended the common schools of his land, and grew up to work on the home farm until he was married. Then, in 1872. he chose for his wife Miss Mary Folmer, who was born there and was also familiar with the en- vironment under which he had developed. He continued to farm at the old home until he came out to the New World.

Certain articles in a little booklet setting forth the attractions of Fresno County for working people, induced Mr. Nilmeier to break away from fa- miliar scenes, and on June 19, 1887, he brought his wife and six children to Fresno. The journey was made in safety; but, alas for human foresight! two of the children-George and Phillip-succumbed during the first month of the struggle here. All in all, they had a hard time, for as a stranger, Mr. Nilmeier was one of eight heads of families to come here from Russia at that time.

However, locating here he went to work, making the best use of his surplus capital of sixty dollars ; and for six years he was employed in town on the construction of buildings. During this time, he bought a lot and built a house.

He then bought from Mr. Ernst a livery stable and feed yard at the corner of G and Inyo Streets, and there he proved a successful business man. He was so fortunate, in fact, that he continued there until 1901, when he turned the business over to his son, Conrad, who ran it for some years.

He next built a brick building 33x100 feet in size, two stories high, that he leased for a laundry, and a brick garage 50x75 feet in size, which he sold, with the other property, about 1917 to his three sons, and is now occupied by a garage, blacksmith shop and laundry. He has also built and still owns three residences on Mono and E Streets.

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Mr. Nilmeier is a member of the German Lutheran Church having served as a trustee for some time. He was, in fact, a member and trustee when the church was built. In national political affairs, Mr. Nilmeier is a Democrat, but when it comes to local issues he knows no partisanship, and votes for the best men and the best measures.

Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Nilmeier four children came to further honor their good name: Peter, Conrad and Adam, all favorably known as members of the wide-awake firm of Nilmeier Bros .; and Marie, Mrs. Foin, makes her home in Fresno.

DU VAL P. GOLDSMITH .- Interesting representatives of good old Virginia and early New York stock are found in Mr. and Mrs. DuVal P. Goldsmith. Mr. Goldsmith is the operator at the Kings River Station for the San Joaquin Light & Power Company. He was born near Warrenton, Fauquier County, Va., on July 16, 1877, the son of John M. Goldsmith, a native of Essex County in that State. The grandfather, Rev. Jeremiah Gold- smith, was a minister of the Episcopal Church, and was honored with the degree of Doctor of Divinity; he went west as a missionary to Fort Dear- born, now Chicago, when there were only a few families living there. At that place he established a mission, and then went on to Davenport, Iowa, in 1843, and founded there another mission. He also settled there, purchased lots and entered into the great work of building up the city, becoming a very wealthy man. The Goldsmith family is of English descent, and includes Oliver Gold- smith, the English author.

John M. Goldsmith was a graduate of Brown College, in St. Mary's County, Md., and served throughout the Civil War in the Confederate Army. At the outbreak of hostilities he was commissioned captain and later rose to the rank of colonel; he was prominent in the blockade of the Potomac River with his cavalry, and did much, through the use of boats, to prevent provisions from reaching Washington. After the War he resided on his estate in St. Mary's County, and later removed to his estate at Warrenton, Va., where he devoted much time to literary work. He was a writer for the Baltimore Sun, contributing war stories. He died about 1901. The wife of John M. Gold- smith was Mary I. Skinker before her marriage. She was born at Huntly Estate, the home of her father, James Keith Skinker, a splendid farm of about 2,000 acres. The great-grandfather, William K. Skinker, was born at Spring Farm, and was a wealthy landowner, there having been originally about 7,000 acres in the Huntly Estate. Mrs. Goldsmith is still living, and is inter- ested in that property. She was the mother of nine children, among whom the subject of our review is the fourth oldest.

Du Val P. Goldsmith was brought up at Bellefield, an estate his mother owned, and received his education in the public school, finishing at the Poly- technic Institute, where he majored in electricity. He then went to Pitts- burg, Pa., and was in the employ of the Westinghouse Company, being ap- prenticed as an electrical engineer. Having completed his trade, he was placed in charge of the testing-room, but after five years he resigned, to go to Cincinnati as foreman of the high voltage testing. He continued there for seven years and rounded out a record of twelve years of testing high voltage. It was most dangerous work, and he had many serious accidents, but he always came out safely.

In 1901, Mr. Goldsmith was married near Albany, N. Y., to Miss Zada Russell, a native of Salem in that State, and the daughter of Solomon W. Russell, who was born at Greenwich, near Saratoga, in 1836. Mr. Russell was attending Union College, one of the best educational institutions in the Em- pire State, when he enlisted for service in the Civil War; he rose to the rank of Major, and was then breveted Major of the United States Army. He was also breveted Lieutenant-Colonel for gallantry before Petersburg. After the

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war, he studied law and was admitted to the bar. In 1866, Mr. Russell mar- ried Anna A. Dixon of Warrenton, Va., a member of one of the oldest and most prominent families in the Old Dominion. She was a cousin of General Robert E. Lee, and her father, Lucius Dixon, and Robert E. Lee were college mates. Lucius Dixon became a successful and prominent physician, and owned a large estate. On her mother's side, Mrs. Russell was of Welsh descent, a forbear, William Allison, having settled in Virginia and founded a place called North Wales, Fauquier County.

Solomon W. Russell became a prominent attorney of Salem, N. Y., and was for twenty-five years president of the village of Salem, and was also trus- tee of Washington College. He was active and prominent in the Grand Army of the Republic, and was State Department Commander of the New York Division. While attending the National Encampment at Boston at the age of eighty-one, he marched in line, took a severe cold, and contracted pneumonia, from which he died on October 18, 1917, his wife having died five years be- fore. He was not only prominent locally, but was known throughout the State and even the nation, and was honored as a man true to every trust and enjoy- ing an enviable reputation. They had a family of six girls and two boys, among whom Solomon W. Russell is City Attorney at Watervliet, N. Y. Mrs. Goldsmith spent much of her early life at Warrenton, Va., with her Grand- mother Dixon, and so it happened that she and DuVal Goldsmith were play- mates and friends, the friendship eventually resulting in their marriage. Meanwhile, she graduated from the Salem high school. In 1912, Mr. Goldsmith resigned his position with the Westinghouse people, and in November of that year moved to California. Here he accepted a position as electrical engineer on construction with the South Sierra Power Company, at San Bernardino, and continued with them for four months. When he resigned, in February, 1913, it was to take a similar position with Messrs. Stone & Webster, the well-known contractors on the Big Creek proj- ect, continuing with them as foreman .for eighteen months until the contract was completed.

In 1915, Mr. Goldsmith came to Fresno County as operator with the San Joaquin Light and Power Company, and now has charge of the Kings River Station, where he resides with his family. He has had a wide experience in electrical engineering, and is well-read and posted. He is a member of the Westinghouse Electrical Club, and of the Allis Chalmers Electrical Corpora- tion Club, of which he was at one time a director.

Mr. and Mrs. Goldsmith are both interested in horticulture and viticul- ture, and they own twenty acres in Round Mountain District, which they are improving, setting out emperor grapes and Calimyrna figs. They have five children : Zada Russell, Mary De Bellefield, DuVal Pope, Henry Dixon, and James Keith. Mr. Goldsmith was made a Mason in Moneta Lodge, No. 405, F. & A. M., at Los Angeles. Mrs. Goldsmith is a member of the Women's Relief Corps, at Salem, N. Y. The Goldsmith family belongs to and attends the Episcopal Church.

DAVID SANDBERG .- A splendid type of the hardy, industrious and frugal Swedish-American who, despite disadvantages, prospers and becomes successful, is David Sandberg, who had little to begin with save a cheerful, willing disposition and strong hands, and now, by self-denial and hard work, shared in by his noble wife and two excellent sons, owns three good ranches of ten, twenty and eighty acres, and in his more advanced years enjoys many home comforts. For nearly a quarter of a century he toiled to help build one of the gigantic mercantile enterprises of the Middle West, only to find him- self broken in health; and even after coming to the Golden State, with its many opportunities, he had to struggle desperately for the first five or six years, until his orchard and vineyard came into bearing. His life-story might well be used as an example of what man may do if man but wills.

8.8. 3 akus

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He was born at Jönköping Len, Sweden, on January 17, 1861, and there attended the public schools. He early began to work on farms, and so con- tinued until he was eighteen; and then he entered the employ of his uncle, August Johansen, who was a miller and owned both a flour and a saw mill, so that David was able to learn both trades. What he learned, he mastered thoroughly ; and this experience of doing everything well or not attempting it at all, proved of the greatest benefit when he ventured all beyond the seas.

At the age of twenty-two Mr. Sandberg came to America, and making his way west, settled in Chicago. There he entered the employ of Marshall Field & Company, and for twenty-four years was in their wholesale depart- ment, giving his best years to mercantile operations. During that time he was married to Augusta Sunberg, also a native of his home section in Sweden, and their married life has been a happy one. At the end of two decades and a half in Chicago, however, Mr. Sandberg found his health greatly impaired; and having saved about $4,000, he spent his vacation, in 1906, by coming to California to see for himself what was here. He visited Kingsburg, and decided to make it his permanent home.

On Thanksgiving of the same year, Mr. Sandberg came with his family to Kingsburg, and bought the twenty acres one mile west of Kingsburg where he now lives. He had no income to speak of for the first five years, but he picked grapes and worked in the packing-houses, and did anything honorable to earn a living. In this he was loyally assisted by his wife and their two children: William, who served his country at Waco, Texas, in the aviation department; and Eddie, who did his part in helping to make the farm register its highest yield.

Mr. Sandberg bought the twenty-acre farm twelve years ago; the ten- acre tract five years later; and the eighty acres in Tulare County, three years ago. Some of this valuable land is yielding a rich crop of alfalfa.

Mr. and Mrs. Sandberg are devout members of the Swedish-Baptist Church. Mr. Sandberg is a Republican, but votes for good men-or none. The Sandbergs are interested in the advancement of the community and are always ready to work for Kingsburg.

JAMES EDWARD BAKER .- Although the distinction of being a native son of California does not belong to James E. Baker, who was born in West Virginia, April 21, 1874, he has been a resident of the Golden State since 1876, or for more than forty-three years. His father was Reuben Baker, a native of Pennsylvania, and the Baker family consisted of six children, James being the second youngest. When J. E. Baker was old enough he began working on farms in California. In 1898, he came to Los Angeles where his brother, R. C. Baker, had located the year before. His first ex- perience in the oil field dates from 1898, when he and his brother formed a partnership for contracting oil drilling, for the Rex Oil Company, which business they followed for eighteen months. Afterwards they leased lots and sunk wells, their undertaking proved so very successful that they con- tinued in the producing business in the Los Angeles field until 1900. when they sold their wells.

J. E. Baker moved to Bakersfield where he contracted for drilling wells for the Mount Diablo Oil Company, in the Kern River field. He still retained his partnership with his brother, R. C. Baker, who went to Coalinga, where he engaged in contracting for drilling oil wells for Westlake & Rummel. Mr. Baker's next venture in the oil business was as a promoter of an oil company formed to prospect for oil at Springvalley, Uinta County, Wyo., where Mr. Baker went, and sunk not only a well, but, as is so frequently the case, his money too. Undaunted by his loss he returned to California, locating at Coalinga, where he followed contracting oil drilling for different oil companies.

In 1902, with others, he leased forty acres on Section 23, and organized the Coalinga Western Oil Company. Here he drilled seven wells, later on

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they consolidated with the St. Paul Oil Company as the St. Paul Consoli- dated. During this time he also contracted to drill oil wells on Section 6, for the Pleasant Valley Farms Company, putting down three wells in about eighteen months time, and, fortunately for them, obtained a producing well in each case. Another undertaking was the leasing of eighty acres, now known as the Coalinga Petroleum Oil Company, where he drilled eight wells, 700 feet deep, and all proved to be producers. By his close observa- tion and his extensive experience in the various oil fields of the state, he has acquired a thorough knowledge of the oil business and in 1904 became super- intendent of the Coalinga Petroleum Oil Company. He is one of the original stockholders of this company and is also a director in both the Coalinga Petroleum and the St. Paul Consolidated Oil Companies.

James E. Baker was united in marriage with Lillie M. Vestal, a native of Shasta County, Cal., the ceremony being solemnized at Redding, Cal. This happy union has been blessed with four children: Kern, Ardis, Dale and Helen. Mr. Baker is an enterprising citizen and has made a success in the oil business, an enterprise that demands energy, tact, quickness of de- cision and keen foresight and is numbered among the oldest oil men in the Coalinga district, being highly esteemed for his integrity and honesty of purpose.

A. P. CARLSON .- Described as being in truth "the salt of the earth," A. P. Carlson has become, with right-living and education as his ideals, a most successful ranchman and an exemplary citizen, who began, like most of his countrymen, with nothing, and in thirty years has brought his forty acres, a mere field of wheat stubble when he came, up to a high state of cultivation. Strictly speaking, he is a resident of Tulare County, but his business center is Kingsburg, and he has hundreds of warm personal friends in Fresno County. He has not reached out for every dollar that he could grasp ; but has endeavored rather to lead an honorable life useful to others. If all men were of Mr. Carlson's type, this old, stumbling world would soon take a turn for the better.

He was born in Sweden, on January 22, 1852, the second child in a family of six children, and his boyhood was passed there. His father was John M. Carlson, who married Annic Peterson; and both parents came to America in 1865, when they met the soldiers coming from the Civil War. They stopped in Alton, Ill., for three years and rented a farm there; and in 1868 they came to Iowa. At that time, the country was all prairie, and pioneer experiences were long to be remembered. In 1888, Mr. Carlson, accompanied by his wife and children-a son besides A. P. Carlson, for the only daughter died in Iowa-moved west to California and settled in Kingsburg, where the father died, at the age of eighty. Mrs. Carlson survived and reached her eighty-third year. Both were honored and esteemed by all who knew them.

Fortified by the experience gained to some extent in Boone County, Iowa, A. P. Carlson, who now lives on California Avenue, one-half mile east of the Harrison school, cleared out the stubble on his forty-acre tract and the next spring planted muscats. He has also grubbed up an old peach orchard and planted it to vines and trees.

On March 24, 1880, during his residence in Iowa, Mr. Carlson was mar- ried to Miss Kate Johnson, who was also born in Sweden, and by her he has had six children: Annie Ardina resides in Kingsburg, the wife of C. G. Lindquist, a rancher; John William is ranching; Ida C. is a trained nurse at Kingsburg; Willie is also a rancher; Emma is the wife of Percy Nord- strom, who rents a ranch near Kingsburg; and Elmer C. is an attorney at law at Bishop, Inyo County. He graduated from the law school of the Uni- versity of Michigan, a member of the class of 1916, and formed a partner- ship as a member of the law firm of Heogan & Carlson, at Bishop. In 1894, Mrs. Carlson died; and on March 10, 1914, Mr. Carlson married Mrs. Hilma

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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 68

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