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 73

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 73

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Mr. Blair had two sons, both minors, whom he took into partnership with him. He had good horses, and they soon had all their land planted. The season was propitious, and the crops came along fine; so fine that the ranch became a show place, and Nares & Saunders were able to sell a great deal of land to Eastern people that summer, whom they invariably took to look at Jerome Blair's encouraging results. About this time Mr. Blair conceived the project of buying 120 acres on the Laguna from Nares & Saunders; he wanted that area, and the price was thirty-five dollars an acre, but one-fourth was required down. When asked by Mr. Saunders what he had to deposit, he said, "My prospects;" and through the latter's friendship he was again able to buy what he needed, Mr. Saunders personally loaning him the money. In time, all was repaid, and now he raises, besides his main crop of hay, fine Percheron horses and poultry.

CARL O. SABROE .- A successful farmer, horticulturist and viticultur- ist, who has become well and favorably known, is Carl O. Sabroe, for years an equally successful navigator whose double circumnavigation of the globe has given him no end of entertaining reminiscences. He was born at Aarhus, Jylland, Denmark, on April 18, 1880, the son of Fred T. Sabroe, who was a merchant there. Grandfather Sabroe was in the war of 1864 and fought against Germany. Fred Sabroe died when Carl was a boy of five or six, and his wife, who had been Marie Egens before her marriage, passed away some years ago in Denmark, the mother of eight children, all of whom are still liv- ing, three being in the United States. Besides Carl, the youngest of all, there is Mrs. P. E. Ludvigsen of Fresno and Mrs. Walter Ane of the same city.

Reared in Aarhus, Carl completed the courses of the common and high schools there, and at the age of fourteen went to sea, sailing first on the Noach the Fifth to South Africa. After that he took passage on different vessels, mostly between South Africa and Australia, sailing all the time dur-

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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

ing the Boer War. He made two trips around the world and finally came on a vessel to New York City, after which he sailed on the Atlantic Coast for about a year. In 1900 he sailed to San Francisco and engaged in the coasting trade and on runs to the Hawaiian Islands, when he became second mate.

In 1906, however, he resigned to come to Fresno and entered the employ of H. Graff & Company, as clerk. Then he was clerk with the Kutner Com- pany, and while there became interested in farming. He leased a ranch on East and North Avenues and ran a dairy. In 1910, he quit the service of others, to devote all his time to his own affairs.

It was then that he bought the place of forty acres on Shields and Jame- son Avenues and located there, building a residence and making other im- provements. He leveled and checked the land and put it under the ditch, and he also installed a pumping-plant. He added a pumping-plant for his alfalfa, and set out eleven acres of Thompson seedless grapes, and a peach orchard of four acres, and began also to raise hay. "He joined the California Associated Raisin Company, and from the time of its origin was correspondent of his district ; he is a member and stockholder of the California Peach Growers, Inc.

In San Francisco, Mr. Sabroe taught navigation in Taylor's Nautical Academy, and he himself passed the examination for a master's license, ex- cept that his eyes did not stand the test.

At Fresno, Mr. Sabroe was married to Miss Christine M. Anderson, a native of that city, and whose father was L. Anderson, a pioneer of Fresno. Six children have blessed their marriage: Earl ; Alice: Edith, who died when three years of age ; Charles ; Robert ; and Willard. Mr. Sabroe belongs to the Danish Brotherhood and the family attends the Danish Lutheran Church.

PETER WULF .- A man who began in a new country without a dollar, and even in debt at the time of his arrival, and who has won success solely through his own industry and thrift, can be justly proud of his achievement. Such a man is Peter Wulf, born in Dinkel, Samara, Russia, September 24, 1877, a son of Andrew and Marie E. (Gleim) Wulf, the father a farmer by occupation. Peter was the ninth child of twelve children in the family, six of whom are living. He was brought up on the home farm and attended the public schools. His marriage, in February, 1898, united him with Miss Louise Christian, also a native of his town, and after his marriage he en- gaged in farming there.

In 1900 the young couple came to the United States and first settled in Lincoln, Nebr. After working at the latter place four months, they came to Fresno, in August, 1900, and here Mr. Wulf worked on ranches, princi- pally in the vineyards. In 1907 he purchased a ranch of his own, of twenty acres, on Whites Bridge Road, near Rolinda ; then, with his brother Andreas, he bought forty acres one-half mile north. They put it into alfalfa, and three years later Mr. Wulf sold out his interest to his brother. In 1911 he bought fifty acres on Shields and Coalinga Avenues, and made all the improvements on the raw land; built his residence and barns; set out a Thompson seedless vineyard, an orchard, and raised alfalfa, and later also engaged in the dairy business ; twenty acres are in the vineyard, five acres in apricots, and the balance in alfalfa. Mr. Wulf intends putting the entire acreage into vines, eventually, and he has a splendid ranch, upon which he has made all the improvements. Shields Avenue was not opened past his place, so he made out a petition and secured signers to open the road.

Nine children were born to him and his good wife, of whom six are liv- ing, namely: Lizzie, Peter, Andrew, Mary, Mollie, and Henry. Three have passed away, Louise, Lizzie and Andrew. The family attends the Lutheran Church on F Street, Fresno. Mr. Wulf is a member of the California Asso- ciated Raisin Company. In politics he is a Republican.

Louisa Wulf.

Peter Wulf

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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

LEE W. HEERMAN .- An ambitious young man who prefers the great outdoors is Lee W. Heerman, the youngest son of M. N. and Hulda (Carl- son) Heerman, both of whom are natives of Sweden. They were married at Monmouth, Ill., and came to California sixteen years ago, when they located first in Modesto, but having had their attention called to the advantages of Fresno County, they bought their present place of forty acres, which had at that time only a seven-acre orchard. It is six miles south of Selma, and three and a half miles southwest of Kingsburg, and now includes nine acres set out to Muir peaches, fifteen acres to seedless, seven acres to muscats, and two acres planted to alfalfa. The father and mother are still living, retired, at Santa Monica, the parents of four children : Ritz E., the eldest, who is in the employ of the Southern California Edison Electric Company, married Nellie Nelson, and resides at Los Angeles, and they have one child, Merle. Della C., is the wife of E. Ed. Peterson, the assistant cashier of the Kingsburg Bank, and she is the mother of three children: Mae, Effie, and Eva. Anton G., the assistant cashier at the First National Bank at Dinuba, married Miss Billie Hadin.

Lee W. Heerman, the subject of this sketch, was born on July 26, 1894, at York, Nebr., to which state his parents had moved from Illinois. After a while the family took the long journey to California and Modesto. In time, too, Lee reached Kingsburg, where he attended the grammar schools and then, for a couple of years, the Kingsburg High School. He next pursued, for a couple of semesters, a business course in accounting at a leading Los Angeles school, and at the same time studied music and the violin under the famous professor, L. F. Linn.

Preferring the outdoor life of the rancher, Mr. Heerman at first leased his father's ranch of forty acres, with the option of purchasing it, which option he has since exercised by purchasing the ranch, on December 1, 1918. He is young, active and able, and already understands a great deal about horticulture and viticulture, he is making a record for success such as any- one of his years might covet.

Mr. Heerman was married on December 14, 1918, at Kingsburg, to Miss Frances Swanson, a daughter of C. E. Swanson, a rancher two one-half miles from Kingsburg, where he has resided for almost thirty years.

During the troublous times of the world war, Mr. Heerman early made it known where he stood, and that was in the support of his government and country, and in the endorsement of every movement making for the welfare of the nation, the state and the community.

HENRY ECKENRODE .- Although but a young man, Henry Ecken- rode has had a wide and varied experience. With his keen sense of obligation to his country and an enthusiasm for what he believed to be just and right he made a most excellent war record, serving with the distinction that is befitting in a son of a prominent pioneer family of western Pennsyl- vania.

He was born at York, Pa., December 2, 1886. His father and mother, Joseph and Annie (Keffer) Eckenrode, are residents of Steelton, Dauphin County, Pa., where the father is a boilermaker. His maternal grandfather, Andrew Keffer, a member of a pioneer family of Pennsylvania, is sheriff of Adams County, Pa., and resides at McChemestown, Pa.

Of the twelve children of the parental home eleven are living, Henry being the fourth child and the only one of the family in California. Henry at- tended the common schools of his native state, and learned the baker's trade in his native town of York. Going to Philadelphia he obtained a situation as baker with the Hamburg-American steamship line on the Steamship Barce- lona. He landed at Hamburg and from thence came back to New York, after- wards going to Philadelphia, where he enlisted August 10, 1907, in the United States Marine Corps for a period of four years. He trained at the Philadel- phia Navy Yard, and on December 4, 1907, left for Hampden Roads, Va.,

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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

where he was reviewed on December 16th, by President Roosevelt, and start- ed on the cruise around the world. Returning to the United States, he landed at San Francisco, in April, 1908, safe and sound, and afterwards went to the Philippine Islands, serving at Cavite two years and going thence to China, where he was stationed at Peking. Returning to San Francisco in 1909, he went to New York and served in the New York Navy Yard. He was honor- ably discharged August 9, 1911. After receiving his discharge at Philadelphia in 1911 he went to the Panama Canal and took a position on the police force, serving eighteen months under General Goethals. Returning to Seattle he re- enlisted in the Marine Corps and went to Nicaragua where he served at Comito, Manaugua and Bluefields. After serving over two years of his second term of enlistment he was honorably discharged by purchase of his time.

Returning to California in 1917, he became acquainted at Monterey with a fair daughter of one of the pioneer families of the Parlier section. Miss Hannah Petersen, with whom he was united in marriage October 18, 1917. They are the parents of one child, Bernice C. As the Petersen boys are in the army, Mr. Eckenrode rented the twenty-acre Petersen ranch in 1918 and re- sides at the Petersen home. Strong, active and energetic, he is again adding prestige to his native state by making a name for himself in the Western land where he has taken up his abode.

JOHN DAVIS .- A rancher who has had a very interesting experience while making a success of his life is John Davis, the Welsh-Californian of Tranquillity, who has amassed a comfortable competency and enjoys the esteem and good-will of his fellow-citizens, who like him for his honesty, integrity and liberality. He first came to Tranquillity in 1910; and since then he has been a leader in Fresno County affairs.

He was born in Brecconshire, Wales, August 21, 1843, the son of Edward Davis who was born there, became a well-known shoemaker, and died where he had spent the best part of his life. He married Eliza Pritchard, who is also deceased, and by her he had eight children. Only two of these are still living.

John Davis, the fifth oldest child of his parents, was brought up in his native town and received but a limited education in the public schools. When fourteen, he learned the shoemaker's trade under the direction of his father; and next he worked as a journeyman in Wales and England. He thus was able to earn a good and comfortable living before he pushed out into the great world.

When he was twenty-one he came to the United States, landing at New York City and then making his way west to Wisconsin, arriving at Cambria in Columbia County on June 28, 1865. He worked at his trade and established a shoe store ; and for seventeen years he continued in the same place. Find- ing, however, that shoemaking by hand was on the decline, he engaged in the sale of sewing machines and agricultural implements; and in the fall of 1882 made his first trip to South Dakota. There he preempted 160 acres in Edmunds County, and two years later moved to Cautau Hills, in the same state, where he embarked in the cattle business. At the end of two years he homesteaded in McPherson County ; and buying more land, he also helped form the partnership of Davis & Morris which conducted the Circle X cattle ranch until 1910. On selling out his interest, he came to California and ar- rived in Fresno in November, 1910. In February, 1911, he chose Tranquillity as the most promising locality, and here he bought his present place of eighty- six acres. He built a residence and otherwise improved the place, and at the same time associated with him his son-in-law, Maurice H. Hughes. He bought the adjoining seventy-two acres, so that now they have 158 acres in a body, all leveled and checked. About 100 acres are devoted to alfalfa and the balance to grain-raising. Mr. Davis also owns forty acres more which is devoted to grain. He has three sets of buildings on his ranches,

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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

and he rents some forty-seven acres for dairying. On his home place, he also runs a dairy.

In 1871, and in Wisconsin, Mr. Davis was married to Miss Ann H. Jones, who was born at Rome, Oneida County, N. Y., of Welsh parentage, and the daughter of Humphrey Jones, a farmer there. One child, Alma, blessed this union ; and she is now the wife of Maurice H. Hughes, a native of Angle- shire, Wales, who came to Racine, Wis., in the beginning of his teens. He homesteaded in South Dakota, and then went in for ranching and stock- raising ; and now he is associated with Mr. Davis in ranching and dairying at Tranquillity. Mrs. Hughes was educated at Redfield College in South Dakota, and she has thus been better able to direct the education of her three children, Melvin, John and Lloyd George. Mrs. Davis belongs to the Presbyterian Church.

It is interesting to note that the town of Ipswich, S. D., was laid out in part by Mr. Davis and built on his land. That he was a popular Democrat in a Republican county, and as a Democrat was Justice of the Peace; was a trustee of Cambria, Wis., was president of the Board for years, and also for a while acted as clerk. In that same place he was made a Mason, in Lodge No. 52, F. & A. M., and was Master; and he is still a member at Leola, South Dakota.

JOHN G. GOEHRING .- Fresno County is fortunate in having such citizens as John G. Goehring settle within her boundaries. He was born in Germany, May 23, 1876, a son of John G. and Anna (Bischoff) Goehring, the former a successful horticulturist in his native country, where he is still hale and hearty at the advanced age of seventy-three; Mrs. Goehring is no longer living.

John G. Goehring, Jr., like many other men who have successfully bat- tled with the vicissitudes of life, has received both a theoretical and a prac- tical education ; the first, as a lad in the schools of his native land, and later on, in the public schools of the country of his adoption, and after that in the school of life's experiences. He was thrown upon his own resources at an early age and by his own unaided efforts has overcome obstacles that would have disheartened many men. In 1892, when but sixteen years of age, he came to the United States, locating in Glasgow, Mo., where he remained five years, earning his own living and attending school. In 1898, he went to Alaska ; like thousands of others, being attracted to the land of ice and snow by the fabulous reports concerning the richness of the placers. Not meeting with the success he anticipated he returned to Seattle and there enlisted in Company M, Forty-fifth United States Volunteers, and served in the Phil- ippine Islands while Uncle Sam was at war with that country. At the expira- tion of twenty-two months he was honorably discharged and came to Stan- islaus County, Cal. In the fall of 1902 he came to Fresno and worked in a fruit packing house until 1906, when he joined the police force as patrolman, serving in that capacity five years, and as a detective for four years. In April, 1915, he was appointed chief of police by Mayor Snow. During his incum- bency he introduced the card system, made more effective the work of the detectives and increased the morale and efficiency of the force generally.

In proof of Mr. Goehring's efficiency as a peace officer we quote from the Fresno Morning Republican, of February 27, 1919: "Chief of Police John G. Goehring will tender his resignation as head of the Fresno Police Depart- ment at the meeting of the Police and Fire Commissioners this morning, to take effect April 1st. He declared that financial reasons and plans to enter private business prompted his action. Goehring has been chief since April, 1915. He entered the service as a patrolman on January 5, 1906. On January 1, 1911, he was made a detective, becoming captain of detectives two months later. Throughout his administration Goehring has been exceptionally active and energetic in the prosecution of his duty. During the war he was espe-

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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

cially active, receiving high commendation from county, state and federal officials. He has been rated as Fresno's best chief of police."

Mr. Goehring was united in marriage October 17, 1917, with Miss Freda Eisele, of Fresno, a daughter of Frederick Eisele, formerly the superintend- ent of Egger's ranch. Mr. Eisele died fifteen years ago leaving a widow and three children. Mrs. Eisele, whose maiden name was Minnie Schorer, died January 11, 1919. Mr. and Mrs. Goehring are the parents of one child : Mar- garet Anna. Mr. Goehring is a Republican in national politics but in all local matters looks for the best man rather than adhering to party lines. Fra- ternally he is a member of the Odd Fellows, also of the Modern Woodmen and is a Spanish-American War Veteran. In matters of religion he is a Lutheran.

LESTER H. EASTIN .- Representing one of the most important indus- tries of the San Joaquin Valley, Lester H. Eastin, of Fresno, is a native son of California, and was born in San Jose, November 11, 1885, a son of Henry Eastin. When Lester was a child of four years, he was brought to Fresno by his mother, and was educated in the grammar and high schools of this city, completing his education in 1905. He then struck out to make his own way in the world and entered the employ of the Wells Fargo Express Company, and was in their employ until 1909, when he resigned.

That year Mr. Eastin was offered a position as stenographer with the George C. Roeding Fig Company, and the George C. Roeding Olive Com- pany. On October 22, 1914, these two companies consolidated under the firm name of the Roeding Fig and Olive Company, at which time Mr. Eastin pur- chased a one-third interest in the business and became manager. The com- pany are packers of figs, and manufacturers of olive oil, and also are engaged in pickling ripe olives, for which commodity they have a rapidly growing market. On June 16, 1914, the two plants had burned down and the company at once began the erection of a fine modern fireproof building, which today ranks among the best of its kind in Fresno. In this sanitary establishment, and on the acreage controlled by the company, employment is given to from fifty to three hundred fifty people, according to season. Their business is far- reaching, extending to all parts of the United States, and to European countries. The growth of the business has been rapid, and founded on a reputation for first class output. The first figs packed in California were packed in Fresno County, on the George C. Roeding ranch, and consisted of five tons; today over 3,000 tons of Calimyrna figs are packed in the state.'

Mr. Eastin is a popular member of the B. P. O. Elks, and of the Sunny- side Country Club of Fresno, and of the Olympic Club in San Francisco. In politics he is a Republican.

FREDERICK W. DOCKER .- One of the younger members of the bar of California who is making rapid advancement in the profession he has se- lected for his life's work, is F. W. Docker of Fresno, at this time filling the important position of assistant district attorney of Fresno County. He was born at Lansingburgh, N. Y., September 13, 1883, and when he was two years old he was taken by his parents to Illinois, where they settled at Waukegan. As the boy was growing up in that locality he attended the public schools of Waukegan, later was a student in the John Marshall High School in Chi- cago, from which institution he was graduated in 1900. Desiring to fit him- self for a profession, Mr. Docker supplemented his public school education by courses at the Lewis Institute in Chicago, and a general collegiate course at the University of Illinois. Fully competent to teach school he secured a position in the public schools of Quincy, Ill., and taught during 1904 and 1905 ; from there he went to East Chicago, Ind., and taught for a short time. In the fall of 1906 he came West to Prescott, Ariz., and the following four years taught school, followed engineering and read law in the office of the attorney general of the territory.

W.R. hutting

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HISTORY OF FRESNO COUNTY

In 1910 Mr. Docker was united in marriage with Elsie M. Bean, born in Blue Mound, Ill., and a graduate of the University of Illinois. That fall the young couple came to California and located in Ventura, where Mr. Docker taught in the Union High School and at the same time he read law with Judge Robert E. Clarke and George E. Farrand. In 1913 he was ad- mitted to practice in the courts of the state and on August 1, 1915, came to Fresno and began to build up a practice and to make his influence felt in the affairs of the growing city. Two years later, his success as an attorney attracted attention and on August 1, 1917, he was appointed deputy district attorney, and on January 5, 1919, was promoted to the position of assistant district attorney, the position he now holds. During the time that he has filled that responsible office he has won recognition as a lawyer of much ability, has a logical mind and a clear conception and interpretation of the law and is recognized as a very representative citizen of his adopted city. Mr. Docker is a member of the Masonic fraternity ; Prescott Lodge No. 330, B. P. O. Elks, and the Commercial Club of Fresno.

W. R. NUTTING .- How a large and beneficent industry may spring from the inspiration, the untiring efforts and the strenuous labor of a great man is well illustrated in the life and accomplishments of William Rufus Nutting, the proprietor of the Fresno Date Nursery Ranch, whose foresight prompted him to found the American Vineyard Company, the California Raisin Ex- change and the California Associated Raisin Company, and whose wide and valuable experience and peculiar, individual genius assured their success, as well as the starting of the Thompson seedless raisin industry in the San Joaquin Valley.

Mr. Nutting was born at Hudson, Summit County, Ohio, on September 1, 1850 a day memorable in history as the date of the arrival of Jenny Lind, the "Swedish Nightingale," in America. The engraving accompanying this article is from a photograph of Mr. Nutting, taken on his sixty-ninth birthday. He is the son of Rufus Nutting, who was a native of Randolph, Vermont, where he was born in 1821. He was a member of the well-known Nutting family, whose first ancestor in the United States was John Nutting, steward of the John Win- throp estate in England, when Winthrop, after June, 1630, with his little fleet of eleven ships, came as governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and settled among the Indians in what is now New England. John Nutting arrived some years later than Winthrop and the earliest Puritan pioneers, and in 1676, at Groton-named after Winthrop's birthplace in Suffolk, Eng- land-was beheaded by the Indians at the massacre of the whites in what is known as King Philip's War. According to five different authorities on the derivation of the family names of most interest, Nutting is said to have come originally from the Scandinavian Knut, meaning possibly a "knot," or a bunch of people, or perhaps a judge or chieftain of a clan in the Danish, Swedish or Norwegian races; so that it is clear that this particular family did not descend directly from King Canute, King of England and Denmark, a family that seems to have died out. From time to time, in various parts of the country, the Nuttings are heard from, and generally with a laurel or two: Charles Cleveland Nutting is the zoologist of the State University of Iowa ; Herbert Chester Nutting is an educator of the University of California at Berkeley; and Perley Gilman Nutting is the physicist, long associated with the laboratories of the Eastman Kodak Company and the Westinghouse Electrical Works. Rufus Nutting was a leader in every good work, and in the early sixties started the first farmers' organization in Randolph, Vt.

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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 73

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