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 69
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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY
Strand, a widow of Los Angeles, and the mother of two children, Harold and Elmer Strand, both of whom live with her.
Mr. Carlson is a steadfast Democrat and a loyal American citizen, and especially active for the advancement of Central California. This is well shown in the historic fact that he was the prime mover in establishing the Harrison School district, and in erecting the beautiful Harrison school- house which serves a district organized in 1900, partly in Tulare and partly in Fresno County. Mr. Carlson also helped organize the Kingsburg Union High School, which has one of the finest and most unique school structures in the county. He was chairman of the first Board of Trustees, and having served as trustee for seven years, he resigned, reasonably proud of his rec- ord, all told, of thirty years on various school boards.
In 1917, Mr. Carlson built a commodious country residence, equipped with modern conveniences, and here he and his family dwell, highly esteemed by all.
HARVEY P. CHANEY .- Every experience in life has it value, and Mr. Chaney has proven to be one who has made the best use of his experiences, and today he is a man of force and originality. He was born in Shawnee, Perry County, Ohio, August 23, 1876. His father, James H. Chaney, was born in Raleigh, N. C., and was a lieutenant in the Third Company, North Carolina Volunteers, in the Civil War. At its close he went to Ohio, where he was married to Miss Lillie A. Porter, who was born in McConnellsville, Ohio, of an old Virginia family. The father engaged in coal mining, sinking shafts and also being superintendent at Athens, Ohio, and then he superin- tended and prospected in the Hocking Valley, and became superintendent of mines there. He finally gave up coal-mining and engaged in the mercantile business at Linton, Ind. He now resides at Dewar, Okla. Both parents are living, and to them there were born twelve children, five of whom are still living.
Harvey Chaney is the oldest of the children. In his early days he attended the public schools in his native Ohio town, but when he was eighteen he was attacked by the wanderlust, and he started west first in Indiana, then successively to Illinois, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Missouri and into the Indian Territory, mining in the coal fields. He became foreman in the mines, and afterwards entered the employ of The Louisville Construction. Company in constructing the water works at Linton, Ind., and while here he became head foreman. In 1903 he came to Los Angeles and engaged as a sheet metal worker with Tallerday Manufacturing Company, now The American Steel Pipe and Tank Company. Here he became general foreman, in charge of work and construction. After a time he left this company to engage in the construction of tanks for the Los Angeles Tank & Steel Company. After this he became connected with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, and it was here that the opportunity came for him to show his best work. First he was a shipping clerk, and then was section storekeeper at the Division Store in Los Angeles. Other stores were given into his charge, until at one time he was overseer of five different stores. In 1910, Mr. Chaney was trans- ferred to the Coalinga field, as storekeeper for the Kern Trading and Oil Company, now the fuel-oil department of the Southern Pacific Company. At this time the store was under the superintendent, but with Mr. Chaney it was separated. He worked up and established a system of stock books, price books and classified the materials and supplies. In 1911 teaming and trucks were added to his department and he had charge of all of it. Coupled with this, in 1914 Mr. Chaney also looked after 1,200 acres of land which the com- pany farmed.
On May 17, 1917, he resigned to engage in business for himself in second- hand oil-well supplies. In addition to this he handles general machinery and automobiles, and interests himself in horses, buying and selling. He has brought the same kind of business methods into play that characterized his
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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY
work for others and he has been very successful in creating and carrying on a large and growing business.
Mr. Chaney was married in Linton, Ind., to Miss Grace Bennie, a native of Clay County, Ind., and a daughter of Cumming M. and Agnes (Davidson) Bennie, born in Kilwinning, Ayrshire, Scotland, and emigrating to Illinois and later to Clay County, Ind. Her father was a coal-miner till he retired ; both of her parents are now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Chaney have three children : Cumming Maxwell and Joannah in high school, and Harvey. Mr. and Mrs. Chaney are active members of the Coalinga Baptist Church, the latter being superintendent of the Primary Department of the Sunday School. Mr. Chaney is a member of the Red Men and Yeomen, and of the Employees' Mutual Benefit Association of the Southern Pacific.
ANDREW C. BOLANDER .- Fine types of the true Californian of to- day, Mr. and Mrs. Andrew C. Bolander dispense the old-time Californian hos- pitality, and they are the parents of an equally attractive family. Mr. Bolander was born in Sweden, near Sunsval, Helsingland, April 30, 1857, the son of Carl Johan Bolander, a farmer there, who married Catherine Anderson. In 1866, the elder Bolander brought his family of two children, and his wife, to the United States and settled at Moline, Ill., where he remained until 1869, when he migrated to South Dakota and homesteaded 160 acres near Ver- milion, Clay County, which he improved; and there both parents passed away.
Andrew C., the elder of the two children, attended the public schools of Illinois and South Dakota; and from a lad learned farming. In 1879 he moved to Leadville, Colo., and there he worked for eighteen months in the mines, after which he returned to his farm. In 1894, however, he sold his holding and removed to El Campo, Wharton County, Texas, where he bought land and resided; but finding that it was a bad adobe country, he sold out and went to Moscow, Idaho, where he engaged in ranching, still later trans- ferring his farming activities to the Palouse country in Washington. So well did he succeed there that he has raised as many as sixty-six bushels of wheat to the acre, but he has been compelled to sell for as low as forty-two cents a bushel.
After a year, Mr. Bolander went back to Dakota, and then to Idaho, and then to near Spokane, Wash., but having, in April, 1904, bought his present ranch without seeing it, he located on it in January, 1908. It was at first twenty acres of raw land; and this he improved, setting out vines, building a residence, and erecting other farm buildings. His house was burned in 1915, but he rebuilt it. Round about, he has some ten acres of peaches and five acres of Thompson seedless vines.
On July 4. 1887, at Dalesburg, S. D., Mr. Bolander was married to Miss Betsy Severson, a native of Newburg, Fillmore County, Minn., and the daugh- ter of Sever Severson Lakevold, who was born in Hallingdal, Norway, on March 14, 1833. Grandfather Sever Lakevold was the owner of the large farm named Lakevold; the son Sever came to Minnesota in 1853, and he dropped the latter part of his name. From Minnesota he moved to the Palouse Valley, Idaho; and he died at Moscow in that state on September 27. 1909. He had married Gure Roe, who was born in Hallingdal, Norway, and came to Minnesota when she was twenty years of age. Here she met and married Mr. Severson, and in 1904, in Idaho, she died. Mrs. Bolander was the oldest of their eight children living. Mr. and Mrs. Bolander have four children: Esther Catherine. Mabel Julia, Agnes Caroline, and Ruth Sophia, all well- educated and cultured. A son, Carl Gotfred, died in infancy.
They attend the Swedish Lutheran Church at Vinland. Mr. Bolander is a member of the California Associated Raisin Company, and the California Peach Growers, Inc. He is a stanch Republican, but knows no party lines in local projects for the betterment of the community.
Grant, G. Udane
1955
HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY
GRANT A. ADAMS .- It would be difficult to find a man more em- phatically in accord with the true western spirit of progress, or more heartily alive to the opportunities awaiting the industrious and intelligent man of affairs in Fresno County than is Grant A. Adams, who has here built up a far-reaching brick building business, and identified himself with the best undertakings in his district. Born in Livingston County, Ill., November 11, 1867, he was reared and educated there until reaching eighteen years of age, in 1885, when he came West to Los Angeles, Cal., and joined his father, Joseph F. Adams, who was a brick contractor in that city. The father was a member of the board of education in Los Angeles and erected many of the schoolhouses there in early days. Grant A. learned the trade of brick mason under his father, and in 1889 returned to Illinois and followed his trade in the Middle West, operating in Chicago, Springfield, St. Louis and other cities. For four years he was foreman of the Culver Construction Company of Springfield, Ill. One of the big jobs he superintended was the tearing down and rebuilding of the National Lincoln Monument at Spring- field.
In 1902 Mr. Adams came to San Francisco, as superintendent of con- struction for the Standard Oil Company, at Point Richmond. After re- maining in this position for a short time, he went to Lincoln, Cal., in the employ of the Gladding & McBean Manufacturing Company, manufac- turers of sewer-pipe, brick, and terra cotta work, remaining there one year. At the end of that time he came to Fresno, in 1903, and since that date has been a big factor in the upbuilding of the city and county, doing brick con- tracting on a large scale. Among the buildings erected by him are the fol- lowing: The Diamond Street, Longfellow, and C Street schools; the Fulton Hotel; San Joaquin Light and Power Company's block, on the northwest corner of H and Tulare Streets; the Larsen Blacksmith Shop; the Subway Livery Barn; the Jacob Richter Bottling Works; the Richter Block, corner of Blackstone and Belmont Streets: the First Christian Church; the in- cinerator for the Fresno Brick and Tile Company ; and the residences of Fred Dow, on Butter Ave., Frank Rehord, and D. S. Ewing. In Parlier, Porter- ville, Selma, Madera, and Reedley he has also been active; and built the $30,- 000 school in Modesto and the hospital, school and stores in Turlock.
In the midst of his many business interests Mr. Adams has found time to enter into the fraternal and social life of the community. He is a member of Central Lodge of Odd Fellows; of the Eagles Lodge; and of the B. P. O. Elks. He is a charter member of the Raisin City Gun Club, and of the Fresno Blue Rock Club. An expert shot, he has won medals in many tourna- ments. He took an active part in the Grand American Handicap at Chicago, in 1917; at the San Jose tournament, in 1916, he made a record of 195 hits out of 200 shots, outshooting the entire list of contestants; and in the San Jose tournament of 1918 he made a record which ranks him as the fifth best amateur trapshooter in the United States, his score being 758 hits out of 800 shots. He has a record of eighty-five straight hits without a miss.
Mr. Adams is the father of five children: Charles, Minnie, Glenn, Viola, and Verne.
REV. H. A. KARTOZIAN .- A man of God whose special mission has been to sow the seed of spiritual faith while tilling the rich and productive Central California soil, and who has also contributed considerably to the still further improvement of life in the Golden State, is the Rev. H. A. Kartozian, the resident pastor of the Armenian Congregational Church at Parlier. He was born in Sivas, near Harpoot, Armenia, October 31, 1876, the son of Abra- ham Kartozian, who was an expert stonecutter and owned a residence in his birthplace. His mother, Antaram Budgian, before her marriage, was born, married and died at Sivas. As he grew up he learned the shoemaker's trade, and he also learned the aesthetic attractions of the Gregorian Church, which he attended until he was seventeen. Then he was converted by American
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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY
missionaries, and joined the Evangelical Church and soon after attended the missionary school at Sivas. He later finished the high school course there, and then he went to Marsovan College and Theological School which was maintained by the board of the American Congregational Church.
A member of the Class of '03, Mr. Kartozian was graduated from Marso- van and was thereupon regularly ordained as a minister of the Congregational Church. He secured the pastorate at Tokat, and preached in Armenia for three years; and during this time he was married in the fall of 1903, to Miss Baidzar Gulian, a native of Samsoun, Armenia. Her father was Markan Gulian, a well-known bookseller, and her mother was Anna Tozlian.
In 1906, Mr. and Mrs. Kartozian took the momentous step of crossing the wide ocean for America, sailing from Samsoun, on the Black Sea, by way of Constantinople, the Bosphorus, the Marmora Sea, the Dardanelles, the Ægean Sea, the Mediterranean, the Straits of Gibraltar, and thence across the Atlantic ; landing at Brooklyn, N. Y., July 19, 1906. They had with them one child, Zabel, at that time a year and a half old, and they stayed in New York for eight months, during which time Mr. Kartozian was employed in the printing office of the Christian Herald.
By 1907 the Kartozians had reached Portland, Ore., where they lived for a couple of years ; and in 1909 the Rev. Kartozian removed to Spokane. Wash., where, in 1912, he became pastor of the West Side Congregational Church. The next year he resigned to take up the work of an evangelist, and with the singer, W. A. Elliott. he conducted revival meetings at Rochester, N. Y., for five months, and held evangelical services at various places in the middle states and farther West, until finally, in 1915, he reached the Pacific Coast again.
For a year Mr. Kartozian's family remained in Los Angeles while he continued to travel as an evangelist ; and on July 1, 1916, he received a call to his present pastorate, since which time he has been hard at work in Parlier. He lived in the town itself until November 1, 1917, when he bought the Eber- lien improved ranch of forty-three acres, to which he removed. He helps in the running of the ranch, for he is not afraid to roll up his sleeves and engage in manual labor when it is necessary ; and he keeps another man steadily em- ployed. There are fourteen acres of peaches, nine acres of muscats, and six- teen acres of Thompson's seedless; while the balance is devoted to yards, buildings, and alfalfa. The irrigation is effected by means of a twelve-horse- power distillate engine and a five-inch John Deere pump. Here the Rev. Kartozian and his wife live with their five children: Isabel, now fourteen years of age, who graduated from the Parlier grammar school: Annie, two years her junior ; Howard and Frank, twins, ten years old ; and George, eight years old. Their place was bought by a couple of their parishioners who ex- pended $5,000 in cash and hold the property in trust for our subject.
Like so many of his ambitious, intelligent and conscientious fellow countrymen, the Reverend Kartozian is "making good." Both he and his wife are numbered among the most successful reapers in the gospel field.
A. E. CHRISTENSEN .- The advantage of developing in the commu- nity where one is well-known is illustrated in the career of A. E. Christensen, the well-trained and broadly-experienced Postmaster at Selma, whose effi- cient administration of his office-the second postal station of importance in Fresno County-has made him more and more popular. He was born at Dell Rapids, Minnehaha County, S. D., on February 26, 1888, being a son of N. C. and Juliana Christensen, elsewhere sketched in this volume and now living retired on Keith Street in Selma. There were eight sons and daughters in the family, two of whom are deceased. Our subject is the seventh in the order of birth.
When only four years old, A. E. Christensen came with his parents to Selma, and soon after began to attend the public schools, passing on to the Selma Union High School, from which he was graduated with the Class of
1957
HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY
'06. Then he went to the University of California at Berkeley for a year, where he pursued a general course in history, mathematics and the sciences, after which he came back to Selma; and here, in 1909, he was married to Miss Lucy E. Sweet, a native of Kansas. Her father was Wilbur M. Sweet, and he married Miss Lucy E. Ranson, who died in Kansas when Mrs. Chris- tensen was only ten years old. When she was fourteen she came to Selma from Kansas with her father and two brothers and two sisters. While re- siding here at Selma Mr. Sweet was in the employ of the Santa Fe Railway, working from various points along the line of that great system. After years of meritorious service, he met with a sad accident in a fall, on account of which he was taken to the Santa Fe Hospital at Los Angeles; and there, about 1917, he died.
Mr. and Mrs. Christensen have three children: Ranson Neil, John Rob- ert, and Lucy E .- all favorites. The Christensens attend the First Baptist Church of Selma, of which Mr. Christensen is a deacon. He is also a member of the Blue Lodge of Masons at Selma.
For five years after his marriage, Mr. Christensen farmed near Selma, and in 1914 he came into town and entered the Selma Post Office under Walter Staley, the former postmaster. In course of time, he took the civil service examination for second-class postal service; and having passed very creditably, he was commissioned postmaster at Selma, on April 8, 1918, be- coming thereby a successor to his chief, Walter Staley. The Selma Post. Office has been for sometime an important one in the second class; but especially under Mr. Christensen's able administration, it has come to handle a large volume of business. The rural delivery has also been extended, and never was the city delivery in better shape.
MRS. ELIZABETH HOLE .- One of the oldest settlers of Watts Valley is Mrs. Elizabeth Hole, who was born in Mercer County, Ohio, January 10, 1841, the daughter of Sylvester and Catherine (Stephenson) Tilton, also natives of Mercer County, Ohio, who followed farming there until their deaths. They left two children, twins; the twin brother of Elizabeth was named John Tilton, who served in the Seventy-seventh Ohio Volunteer In- fantry in the Civil War, after which he was a farmer in Ohio until his death.
Elizabeth Tilton was left an orphan at three years of age, then she was reared in the home of her aunt, Mrs. Elizabeth Ushel, in Celina, Ohio, obtain- ing a good education in the public school. She was married in 1861 to John Hole, who was born in Darke County, Ohio, in 1840, and they engaged in general farming in Mercer County until 1864. They removed to Iowa where they again followed husbandry in Fremont County. In 1875 they came to Chico, Butte County, Cal., but soon removed to the Willamette Valley, Ore- gon, remaining for a period of eighteen months.
In 1877, Mr. Hole brought his family to Watts Valley, Fresno County, and took up a squatter's claim of 160 acres. He had but $5.00 left and a part of this was spent in the purchase of an axe with which to build his log cabin, and begin clearing and improving his place. He worked out for a time to obtain the necessary funds to care for his family. It was up-hill work for a time, but they succeeded by raising grain and stock. He improved the place well and when the land was surveyed by the government he obtained title to his homestead; he bought 160 acres adjoining, and it made a splendid farm, having about one-half of it plow-land. By irrigating from Watts Creek, he had ten acres in alfalfa. Here he followed the even tenor of his way until his death, September 4, 1915. He was one of the founders of Sycamore school district, and served as a trustee for many years and was highly respected for his worth and integrity. Since he died his son Theo. runs the ranch, thus relieving his mother of much care and worry. She continues to reside on the old home and is the mother of eight living children: Catherine, Mrs. Brandon of Sanger; Alpha, Mrs. Reed, resides near Sanger; Milo, a rancher near Fresno; Sydna, Mrs. Wolfe of Watts Valley; Theo., on the home farm;
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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY
Alonzo and Alonis, twins, the former resides in Colusa County, while the latter is Mrs. Welliver and makes her home with her mother; and Rosella, Mrs. Knight, of Fresno.
Theo. is engaged in farming the home ranch to stock and grain, being a natural mechanic he works as a carpenter and builder between seasons. Mrs. Hole is one of the few remaining old-timers in Watts Valley, and is well posted on early history. She is a woman who is highly esteemed.
J. FRANKLIN NISEWANGER .- An energetic and progressive Cali- fornian, who contributed to local development and who has the distinction of being a pioneer in his section in testing out the plan of pumping flowing wells of water in order to increase the flow, is J. Franklin Nisewanger, who came to California in 1905. Five years later he bought the first piece of land in this part of Tranquillity, and since then he has seen the town grow by leaps and bounds.
He was born near Macedonia, Pottawattamie County, Iowa, on May 5, 1877, the son of Jacob Nisewanger, a pioneer of that county, who hailed from Illinois. He improved a farm ; followed farming and stock-raising ; became a well-to-do farmer and died there. He had married Sarah Woods, the cere- mony taking place in Illinois. and she also passed away, the mother of eleven children, ten of whom are still living. Among these, J. Franklin, the fourth youngest, is the only one in California.
He was brought up on a farm in Iowa, and there attended the public schools, after which he went to the Diller (Nebraska) high school. Later he studied at and graduated from the Normal school at Fremont, Nebr., pursuing both the normal and commercial courses, and then for four years he engaged in teaching in public schools. Two of these years were spent in Iowa, and two in Nebraska near Fremont.
On November 15, 1903, Mr. Nisewanger married Miss Dora Ross, a native of Harrison County, Iowa ; and the ceremony, which took place at Lit- tle Sioux, Iowa, was long pleasantly remembered by their many well-wishing friends. Mrs. Nisewanger is the youngest child and daughter of William Ross, an Englishman by birth, and a very prominent farmer of Harrison County, who pioneered that section of the country. He died in Gilroy, Cal., whither he had come to make his home, with his children, being past eighty years of age.
In the course of the next two years, Mr. and Mrs. Nisewanger came to California and located at Dos Palos, where they bought a small ranch ; and Mr. Nisewanger also engaged for three years in the harness business, when he learned the trade under a man he hired. Then he sold out, continued farm- ing and was a rural mail carrier out of Dos Palos for four years. He began with a horse and buggy, and in eighteen months he was using an auto for delivery.
In the meantime, Mr. Nisewanger had become interested in land at Tranquillity, and as has been stated, he was one of the first to buy in this sec- tion. He began immediately to make improvements, using his vacations for that purpose ; and by 1913 he quit the mail-carrying and located on his ranch. He commenced with forty acres, and built a residence and barns ; and was not only thorough in all that he undertook, but he followed up one improvement with another.
Since then, Mr. Nisewanger has bought land adjoining and he now has 127 acres, all of which he has improved, leveled and checked. Eighty acres. under the ditch, are given to alfalfa. He has sunk a well to the depth of 925 feet and there obtained flowing water ; he has built a good reservoir, and has the best of irrigation. For some time he was engaged in dairying, but now he rents his dairy and the sixty acres of alfalfa.
He has also embarked in another and very important enterprise-the business of drilling wells, for which he has a partner, A. R. Johnson. They
Carl Langescheid
1961
HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY
have built a rotary well-rig, and are successfully drilling artesian wells. The enterprising partners have a good record for having produced results of value and superior to those previously attained, working according to a new and very plausible theory, and there is no doubt of their continued success. They not only haul their rig by auto power, but they run it by the thirty-five horse- power engine. They have already sunk thirty wells of from 750 to 1,100 feet in depth.
Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Nisewanger: Loreen, Carrol, and Arthur. The family attends the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Nise- wanger has served as a trustee of the Tranquillity School district, and in other ways is active as a public-spirited citizen.
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