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 75
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When the great history of California comes to be written in its entirety and proper proportion, the names of Merritt, Hebron and Mathews will find a worthy and enviable place with those lists of pioneers that posterity will remember with fond recollections.
J. W. MYERS .- A conscientious, careful and indefatigable worker, who has become a small ranch-owner in very comfortable circumstances, and who enjoys the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens, is J. W. Myers, brother of Mrs. Malissa Claytor, widow of the late Thomas Claytor. This lady owns and resides upon a ranch of forty acres, two miles east of Selma, where Mr. Myers also resides; and having leased it for three years, he is giving it his most intelligent attention and industrious care.
Mr. Myers was born in Caldwell County, Mo., on June 22, 1872, the son of George W. Myers, a native of Nashville, Tenn., who enlisted in the Union Army and served throughout the Civil War. Later he was united in marriage at Nebraska City, Nebr., to Miss Charlotte Meyers, after which he farmed for several years in Missouri, where our subject was born and reared. There were seven children in all, six boys and one girl.
During the great boom in California, in 1887, J. W. Myers came out to the Golden State, and since then he has spent most of his time in working by the month on neighboring ranches. He saved his earnings, however, and is now the owner of twenty unimproved acres west of Selma.
His progress has been slow but sure, as might be expected of one pur- suing his upright methods. His crop for 1918 yielded $6,000 of which his share was one-half. He is still single, and thus able to devote the major part of his time to his pressing affairs. As a patriotic citizen working in national civic matters under the banners of the Democratic party, but dis- regarding party politics in matters of local improvement and advancement, Mr. Myers is a loyal supporter of the administration and of the government's war policy.
JOHN GREENUP SIMPSON, SR .- No state in the Union maintains a deeper pride in her pioneers than does California, nor has any state a greater reason for so doing. It is the pioneers of California, who by their hardships and sacrifices rendered possible the comforts of the present era. Their patient courage was the foundation stone upon which the permanent superstructure of a commonwealth was built; their zeal was a constant bulwark against disappointments, and their enterprise founded towns, improved farms and made the "desert bloom as the rose." Among such pioneers an honored place belongs to the late John G. Simpson, Sr., whose memory is treasured as that of a resourceful citizen and kind friend, and whose name is perpetuated by descendants inheriting the qualities that inspired his successful career.
On a farm in Kentucky, John G. Simpson was born October 22, 1829, and from there he went to Missouri with his parents, Robert and Keziah (Greenup) Simpson, settling with them on a tract of raw land in Miller County, where they remained until death. At the time of attaining young manhood he was confronted by the opportunity to settle in California, con- cerning which but little was known. Desiring to seek his fortune amid the untried conditions of the coast he started with ox teams across the plains, being a member of the party under Governor Edwards, with whom also came J. C. Thompson of Fresno County. At first he tried his luck at mining in Mariposa County, but the result was unsatisfactory and he turned his atten- tion to teaming from Fort Miller to Stockton and the mountains. The next
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venture in which he became interested was a butcher and stock business with J. N. Musick as a partner. On the dissolution of the partnership in 1861 he became interested in ranching, at first renting land on Dry Creek and later entering land from the government.
Coming to the vicinity of Academy, Fresno County, in 1863, Mr. Simpson began to buy land and sheep, and eventually acquired title to about eight sections. The qualities which made him successful in the acquisition of prop- erty contributed to his pre-eminence in other departments of activity. The Democratic party to which he always gave steadfast support, for many years retained him in the office of county superintendent of schools, and as a director he aided in the building of the academy. Indeed, the cause of edu- cation in this vicinity had no supporter more stanch than he, and his advice was often sought by those in whose hands rested the training of the youth of this locality. Fraternally he held membership with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and in religious connections affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Mr. Simpson served on the board of supervisors when Millerton was the county seat.
The marriage of John G. Simpson was solemnized at Visalia, September 13, 1859, and united him with Miss Sarah M. Baley, who was born in Noda- way County, Mo. The Baley family is of eastern extraction. William Baley, an easterner by birth and education, followed the tide of emigration west- ward and settled among the pioneers of Missouri, where he passed his re- maining years on a farm. Among his children was a son, William Right Baley, a native of Madison County, Mo., and for some years a farmer in Nodaway County, that state. When the discovery of gold in California, in 1848, drew the eyes of the entire world to this section he determined to try the fickle goddess, Fortune, in the far-distant regions. The year 1849 found him a pioneer emigrant on the plains, where he traveled with Judge Gillum Baley. Naturally the mines were his goal and, still following the experience of others, he had no especial good luck in the mines, yet the months were not wholly unfruitful of results.
Returning to Missouri in 1852, William Right Baley took up agricul- tural pursuits which he had relinquished for the more adventurous life of a miner. In 1857 he again started for the west, this time accompanied by his family. The second trip was marked by misfortune. After having spent the winter at Albuquerque the party proceeded westward via the Colorado River and there one evening suffered an attack from a large number of savage Indians. The white men were conquered by superior numbers and were forced to helplessly watch the red men drive their stock across the river. Left without any means of proceeding on their journey, men, women and children walked back to Albuquerque. A search there for new equipment was almost a failure, but they finally secured a few thin cattle and started again for the west. Soon the cattle gave out and were killed and eaten by the little band of almost starved emigrants. Again they were forced to return to Albu- querque, this time driven by pangs of keenest hunger. Their condition was pitiable in the extreme. Footsore and starving, they finally landed in the town where comforts were procured for the suffering crowd. It was re- marked by all that the women of the party had endured all of the hardships of this memorable journey without uttering a word of complaint; the fright- ful sufferings were endured with a patience born of true heroism, nor did they give up in despair although it became necessary for them to walk the entire distance to California.
After having passed through Los Angeles, in the fall of 1858 William Right Baley settled at Visalia and engaged in teaming. Later he removed to Stockton. About 1865 he embarked in the stock business on Big Dry Creek, Fresno County, and here he continued to make his home until he died in 1883. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Nancy Funderburk, was born in Tennessee and died in California.
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Sarah M., Mrs. Simpson, was the eldest of the eleven children born to them and she was educated in subscription schools held in log buildings near her Missouri home and naturally her advantages were few, yet she attained a broad knowledge and was a woman of refinement. After the death of her husband in September, 1877, she, continued to reside at the old homestead near Academy, until her death on May 2, 1918, at the age of seventy-seven. She owned 1,100 acres near Academy and made a specialty of the stock business. For many years she was identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, whose activities had in her a generous contributor and en- couraging assistant. Mr. and Mrs. Simpson had seven children, but two have passed on, namely : Mary, Mrs. Henry Hazelton, who died at Academy ; and William who was accidentally drowned in 1893 while bathing in the canal at Sanger. Thomas J. is a stockman and owns the old Simpson Ranch at Acad- emy, but resides in Fresno; Marvin, an ex-member of the California Legisla- ture, resides in Sanger; John G. and George P. have their homes in Fresno and Lizzie is Mrs. John Fly of Exeter.
MRS. MARY SCHULTZ .- A woman with an interesting history is Mrs. Mary Schultz, the widow of the late William H. Schultz, the extensive pioneer land-owner and stock-raiser, and for a while the leading Fresno County sheepman in the Elkhorn district. She herself is the representative of a wealthy German family, and she has counted among her California friends some of the best-known men and women of the Golden State. She divides her residence between 1139 R Street, Fresno, the home of Mrs. Philip Koehler, and the old Schultz home ranch, two miles north of Burrel.
Mrs. Schultz was born March 26, 1861, at Rheinpfalz, on the River Rhine, in Germany, where her mother, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Koehler, was still living, in April, 1917, at the entrance of the United States into the war with Germany. She was then eighty-three, and the last letter received from her arrived about that time. The father was Jacob Langfinger, who was a vineyardist and owned a fine home and a place of 100 acres, mostly devoted to the culture of vines. He came from a well-to-do German family, and he died in 1910, at the age of eighty-one. Six girls and two boys made up the family; and they are: Kate, the wife of Philip Koehler, who resides in Fresno; Elizabeth, who is married and lives in Germany ; Marie or Mary, the subject of our sketch ; and Barbara, Madge and Anna, all of whom are married and still residents of Germany, and Philip and Jacob, both of whom are single, and have remained in the Fatherland. Marie was brought up in the Lutheran Church and attended the ordinary grammar-grade schools.
Her older sister, Kate, had married Mr. Koehler in Germany and with her husband and their one child, and Mary, she came to Firebaugh, Cal., in 1877, at which place Mr. Koehler was employed by Miller & Lux as their foreman on the old Columbia Ranch for three years. Mrs. Schultz often talked with Henry Miller and often served him with meals, when he came their way. At the end of three years, the Koehlers' moved to Merced, there to remain two years, and Mrs. Schultz went with them, as indeed wherever they migrated; in 1881, they came to Fresno, and then they went back to Merced.
At Fresno, Miss Langfinger met William H. Schultz, to whom she was married on March 21, 1882. He then owned three sections of land northeast of what is now Burrel, viz. sections 24, 25, 27, and a band of 3,000 sheep, and he was well-known in Fresno and Fresno County. Mr. Schultz bought this land in early days, and for a while they lived near Elkhorn.
Mr. Schultz was born in Saxony on September 25, 1847, a member of a very respectable family in ordinary circumstances. He made three trips to America as a cabin boy, coming to New York on his last trip in 1864; and concluding to come to San Francisco, he journeyed by way of Panama. When he reached the Isthmus, however, he was taken. sick with the Panama fever; and there he had to stay for more than a year. Finally, he landed at San
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Francisco in 1865. Some time after his arrival he bought sections 25 and 27 from the Southern Pacific Railway Company, and section 24 from a private party. He had acquired water rights and recorded his deeds at Millerton, the county seat.
With a partner he ran a restaurant in San Francisco, and then came up to Elkhorn, where he became interested in sheep, after which he bought his land. He was always a good business man, made money and had many friends. He was a public-spirited pioneer, and often served on the Grand Jury and in other positions of responsibility. He was a life-long Republican, and grew up in the Presbyterian faith. His death occurred on March 19, 1895, when he was only forty-eight years old.
Mr. and Mrs. Schultz were the parents of two children. William Henry was a mechanical engineer, he died December 26, 1918; and Armand W. is an extensive farmer and stock-raiser, and runs the Schultz home place. He was married in 1912 to Miss Laura Chartrand, daughter of A. E. Chartrand, at one time a well-known creameryman of Fresno, and now retired. They have two children-William and Gretchen Marie. Armand owns 310 acres and farms, all in all including the land of his mother, over 600 acres.
Mrs. Schultz now belongs to the Unitarian Church of Fresno, and is active in many good works-religious, patriotic, sociological. She loves her adopted country, as she looks back fondly to the scenes of her youth and the associations of her near-of-kin ; and she never neglects an opportunity to put America first, and to advance Fresno County and its interests whenever and wherever she can.
THOMAS R. DUCEY .- That success often depends not so much upon heredity and environment as upon what a man makes of himself, is exempli- fied in the life of Thomas R. Ducey, who was born in Shullsburg, Lafayette County, Wis., January 17, 1865, and who, at the age of eleven, was bereft of his father. The father, Maurice Ducey, was born in County Cork, Ireland, coming to Shullsburg while a young man, in 1836. He bought government land and engaged in farming, and later discovered lead ore on the place, three miles out of Shullsburg. He followed mining with his farming, until his death in 1876. His mother, Ellen Troy, was born in Waterford County, Ireland, and died in Wisconsin in 1882. They had seven children, four boys and three girls, of whom two sons and one daughter are living.
Thomas R. Ducey was the second youngest son and the only one in California. After his father died, he was brought up in Shullsburg, attending the Sisters' school. At the age of fifteen years he migrated to Pocahontas County, Iowa, where he worked on farms for eighteen months. Then he went to Ponca City, Dixon County, Nebr., following farm work for a year; then he spent a short time in Dubuque, Iowa, after which he went back to Shulls- burg where he attended a term in the Sisters' school. Then he went to Dubuque again, and on to Calhoun County, Iowa, where he remained one year. While here his mother died, and he returned to Shullsburg and sold out the estate. With his brother, John J., he came to Denver, Colo., follow- ing farm work, until in 1887 he migrated to Routt County, Colo., at Steam- boat Springs, 150 miles from the railroad. He homesteaded 160 acres, en- gaging in raising stock, grain and hay, and continued in this business for seventeen years, having 200 acres, with plenty of range, upon which he ran cattle, his brand being a half circle.
Mr. Ducey was school trustee and also overseer of the roads for many years. He was the first postmaster of Deer Creek, serving four years. In his pioneering in Colorado he used to freight to and from Denver, making the trip of 200 miles in twenty-two days, camping on the road enroute. He crossed the continental divide at Berthoud's Pass, at the headwaters of Clear Creek. He also hauled freight from Rawlins, Wyo., 180 miles distant.
In 1905 he sold out and went to Twin Falls, Idaho, but remained there but a short time, coming that same year to Clovis, Cal., where his father-in-
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law lived. He bought a small ranch, operating it one year, and then going to Easton, where he remained for eighteen months, when he sold his ranch. He then bought twenty acres in peaches and vineyard at Fowler and lived there four years, and then came to Barstow Colony in 1911, where he bought thirty acres, and engaged in alfalfa raising and dairying, with an orchard and vineyard. This he now rents to his son. In 1918 he bought twenty acres of raw land near the same place, and intends to plant a vineyard and orchard. He has built a residence upon this.
On October 20, 1889, in Routt County, Colo., Mr. Ducey married Miss Roxie E. Fly, who was born in Barry County, Mo., daughter of John W. Fly, of Clovis. They have three children: Rachel Ellen, now Mrs. O. B. Morrison, rancher, Barstow; John J., on the home place ; and Maurice Daniel, assisting his parents. Both Mr. and Mrs. Ducey are members of the Frater- nal Brotherhood at Barstow. Mr. Ducey is a stockholder in the California Peach Growers, Inc., a member of the California Associated Raisin Com- pany ; and a stockholder in the Danish Creamery Company. In politics he is a Democrat.
Mr. Ducey has had a good many interesting experiences, and has seen many hardships, but his unfailing good humor and his Irish grit have en- abled him to master them all, and today he can view his undoubted success in the assurance that he has achieved it by his own efforts.
N. LINDSAY SOUTH .- Among the successful and popular represen- tatives of distinguished Southern families in California, none enjoys the esteem of a wider circle of friends than N. Lindsay South, the well-known attorney and member of the firm of South & Ross, whose offices are at 119-21 Forsyth Building. Fresno. He was born in Franklin County, Ky., on Sep- tember 28, 1879, the son of the Rev. James Knox Polk South of Kentucky, and the grandson of Colonel Jerry South, whose family came originally from Scotland, settled first in Virginia and then laid the foundation for part of the commonwealth of Kentucky, and took a very honorable part in the Indian and Colonial wars. Colonel South became prominent in Kentucky politics during ante-bellum days, served in both the Assembly and the Senate of the State Legislature, and died on duty during a session of the latter body. James Knox Polk South and seven brothers enlisted from the mountain dis- tricts of Kentucky in the Confederate Army, although he was only fifteen years of age, and served throughout the War, taking the rank of Lieutenant in the Fifth Kentucky Orphan Brigade under General McCreary, who later served the State of Kentucky in the United States Senate and also as Governor of the State. After the War, one of Lieutenant South's brothers was mur- dered by a feudalist ; and the lieutenant, to keep himself in the grace of God and so resist the natural temptation for revenge, took up the work of the Christian ministry.
He graduated from the old Transylvania, now the Kentucky University, and is still an active minister in the Christian Church. He met and married Endora Lindsay, of a family descended from Edinburgh Scotch and in time prominent in American history, and herself a graduate of Hocker College, Lexington. She became a noted educator, and was principal of the well- known Excelsior Institute. She was also an author; and when she died, in April, 1918, she had given to the world two important contributions from her pen,-a volume on "Luther in Rome," and another entitled, "Wayside Notes and Fireside Thoughts."
N. Lindsay South was the second eldest of eight children, and was for- tunate in receiving his primary educational training in the Institute conducted by his mother. He then attended the Kentucky University at Lexington, and afterward pursued a literary and oratorical course at the New England Con- servatory of Music in Boston. Having also completed a stiff and very fruit- ful course in literature in Harvard, he followed the old-time custom of young gentlemen of the South and went abroad for a year's travel in Europe.
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On his return to America, Mr. South studied law for two and a half years, and in 1905 was admitted to the Kentucky Bar. The next year he began to practice law at Frankfort, Ky., continuing until 1911, during which time, for a couple of years, he was assistant to Napoleon Bonaparte Hayes, Attorney-General of Kentucky.
Coming to California to reside in 1911, to which State Mr. South's fame as a jurist had preceded him, he was at once welcomed to the California Bar, since which time his winning personality, intellectual gifts and high sense of honor and integrity have brought him and his partner an ever-increasing and more and more desirable clientèle. He is a member of the county and the state bar associations, and also of the Christian Church in whose ministry his father had distinguished himself. A Democrat in matters of national political import, Mr. South casts partisanship to the winds in local affairs, and always favors the man he knows to be best qualified for the office, and so finds pleasure in assisting his friends.
In October, 1912, Mr. South was married at San Francisco to Miss Nell C. Clanton, a native of Texas, and two children have blessed the union and bear the family name. One is Nell C. South, and the other is Jean Weldon South.
GEORGE E. SMITH .- Numbered among the successful and enterprising viticulturists on Whites Bridge Road, is George E. Smith, who was born at Fremont, Wis., December 9, 1858, a son of Samuel D. and Catherine (Sum- ner) Smith. The father was a native of Ontario, Canada, and when a young man of twenty years came with his parents to Green Lake County, Wis., where he engaged in carpentering and building. In Fremont County he was united in marriage with Catherine Sumner, a native of New York State.
In 1862 the family moved to Blue Earth City, Minn., where the father engaged in contracting but later returned to Fremont, Wis., where he fol- lowed farming and where he died in July, 1918, aged eighty-four years. The mother is still living at the advanced age of seventy-five years and resides at Poysippi, Wis. Mr. and Mrs. Samuel D. Smith were the parents of ten children, all of whom are living, George E., being the oldest; the others are . in order of birth: Ira, Frank, and William who are farmers in Washington; Albert, is a dairy farmer at Grand Rapids, Wis .; Howard, at the ok. home in Wisconsin ; Cora, is Mrs. Russell of Berlin, Wis .; Maggie, is now Mrs. Sholtz, of Oshkosh, Wis .; Nora, Mrs. Cady of Madison, Wis .; Nettie, is married and resides in Southern Illinois.
George E. Smith was reared in Minnesota and attended the public school in that state, but at the age of sixteen years returned to Wisconsin with his parents and helped his father with the work on the farm until he was eighteen, when he started out for himself working on farms, following farming until he was twenty-seven years of age.
On March 7, 1888, George E. Smith was united in marriage at Poysippi, Wis., with Miss Lucinda Cady, a native of Madison, that state, and a daughter of B. A. Cady, a well known attorney who practiced his profession at Poy- sippi. During the Civil War he served in a Wisconsin regiment of infantry and was wounded in battle after which he returned to Poysippi where he again practiced law, later continuing at Birnamwood, Shawano County. At the latter city he was honored by being elected prosecuting attorney and dis- trict attorney, and for several terms represented his district in the State Assembly. He is still a resident of Birnamwood where he practices his pro- fession. Her mother, in maidenhood, Julia Shepherd, was a native of Court- land County, N. Y., and she died at Poysippi in 1916. Mr. and Mrs. Cady were the parents of five children, Mrs. Smith being the oldest; the others are : Frank, of Madera, Cal .; Albert, of Birnamwood, Wis .; Maggie, who passed away four years ago; Myrta, is now Mrs. Cottrell of Poysippi.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. George E. Smith bought a farm at Poysippi, where they were engaged in stock-raising and general farming
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until 1904, when they removed to the Golden State, locating in Fresno County. After arriving in California, Mr. Smith purchased forty acres of land on Whites Bridge Road, two miles west of the city of Fresno where he engaged in viticulture. Since then he sold off twenty acres, but still retains twenty of the original purchase where he lives and which is devoted to muscat and Thompson seedless grapes and here he makes his home. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are the parents of two children: Iva M., wife of George Winterberg and re- sides in this district; and Dale, still under the parental roof.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith are leaders in the Advent Church, at Fresno. Mrs. Smith is superintendent of the Sabbath School held in the old school house in the Madison district, and is a deaconess in the Fresno church. Mr. Smith is a member of the California Associated Raisin Company and in na- tional politics supports the Republican ticket.
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