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 87
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WILLIAM H. KONKEL .- Born near Clarinda, Page County, Iowa, October 13, 1856, William H. Konkel is a son of William and Anna (Berry) Konkel, both born in Pennsylvania, but who later went to Ohio where they were married. Later they moved to Indiana, where Mr. Konkel ran a farm and operated a sawmill until in 1856 when they located in Clarinda and pur- chased 200 acres of government land on the Nodaway River. This farm re- ceived such improvement that it was one of the best in the vicinity and the owners had much to do with the developing of their community. In 1870, they moved to Crawford County, Kans., near Girard, where he again bought some government land and improved it, and there he died in 1876. His widow, in 1887, moved to Baca County, Colo., where she homesteaded and improved her place. She died there January 19, 1905, at the age of seventy- seven years, the mother of fourteen children who grew up and of whom eight are still living.
William H. Konkel was the eighth child of the family and is the only one living in California. He was reared in Iowa where he attended the pub- lic school and when the family moved to Kansas he only had seven months school there, for he had to go to work when nineteen, but he continued to acquire an education, devoting his spare time to study and preparing for the future. When teaching, he devoted much time to study, and made it a rule never to appear before his classes without having made thorough preparation. He attended Normal school, where he profitted by his studious habits, and when he was twenty years of age he obtained a teacher's certifi- cate and taught school in Crawford County. He continued teachng for ten years, the last three years of the time as principal of schools at Mulberry, Kans.
In 1888. Mr. Konkel located in Colorado where he preempted and home- steaded land in Baca County, and here he improved his farm and raised stock, and also engaged in teaching school. He taught in the Boston district for nine years, and three years in other districts. After twenty-two years of teaching, Mr. Konkel devoted all of his time and attention to farming and stock-raising and as he prospered he bought more land until he possessed six sections, which he farmed and used for grazing. His brand a double N, with quarter circle slash, stood for quality. He succeeded as a stockman, but in 1910 lie sold out his Colorado holdings to locate in California, and at Fresno he bought forty acres of his present ranch, and raised alfalfa and conducted a' dairy. Later he bought forty acres adjoining, and later still another forty further west and now has 120 acres, eightv of which are in alfalfa. He has substantial buildings and a dairy herd of fifty-five Holstein cows and sells his
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milk to the San Joaquin Valley Milk Producers Association. He also engages in raising cattle.
In the spring of 1919, Mr. Konkel leased his ranch to two of his sons and with his wife, two sons and a daughter, made a trip by Buick automobile over the mountains to Colorado, via the Santa Fe Trail, visiting his old friends and haunts ; then through Kansas to Kansas City, Mo., and returned to Colo- rado. They came by the Arrowhead Trail back to California, having made the trip of over 7,000 miles without a mishap and all had a pleasant journey and visit. Upon his return, he moved into Fresno where he resides with his fam- ily at 116 West Olive Street.
Mr. Konkel was married in Crawford County, Kans., October 3, 1878, to Miss Annie M. Stwalley, daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth (Royer) Stwal- ley, born in Pennsylvania and Ohio respectively, who moved to Kansas in 1876. Mrs. Konkel was born in Clay County, Ind. They have twelve children : Guy E., a minister of the First Methodist Episcopal Church in Canon City, Colo .; Theodore Bliss, farming the home ranch in Roosevelt district, Fresno County ; Jasper C., a soldier who served overseas and four months at the front in the Third Division; Fred L., who died in Kansas; Annie, wife of Vernon Nichols of Ontario, Cal .; Mary, who was the wife of Warren Brown, and who died in 1918 in Colorado; Daniel, a rancher of Fresno County ; James Russell, who with his brother Theodore Bliss is operating the home ranch ; Elizabeth, a graduate of Fresno State Normal, now teaching at Malaga; Gladys, deceased ; Capitola, in Fresno High, Class of 1920; and Joe W .. also attending Fresno High.
Mr. Konkel was a school trustee in the Roosevelt district for three terms. holding the office of clerk for all but one year of that time, during which there were two additional school-rooms built. He was a charter member of the A. O. U. W. in Mulberry, Kans., and still holds his membership there, and he was its first recorder. He is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church at Rolinda, is one of the board of trustees and is a class leader. He helped build the church, and is superintendent of two Sunday Schools, Sunday mornings at Rolinda, and at the Roosevelt school-house in the afternoons. He is a member of the San Joaquin Valley Milk Producers Association, and is a Republican in politics. Mr. Konkel is a man of sterling worth, and is highly esteemed by his associates.
OSCAR E. PETERSON .- Oscar E. Peterson was born in Knox County, near Galva, Ill., on November 12, 1871, the son of Olof Peterson, who mar- ried Sigrid Johnson, and grew up on his father's farm, while he attended the public schools at Wataga, Ill. Later, he studied for three years at Knox College at Galesburg, Ill. At that time the Bank of Galesburg needed a bookkeeper, and the position having been offered him, Mr. Peterson aban- doned the class-room and entered on his career as a banker. From book- keeper he was soon advanced to teller; but in 1903, after eleven years of service, he left the Bank of Galesburg and went to Victoria, in Knox County, where he helped to organize the State Bank of Victoria, and became the bank's cashier. The concern started with only twenty-five thousand capital, but it became a solid and flourishing institution, successful in every respect. With the organizing of the Kingsburg Bank in 1910-II, Mr. Peterson came here, having been selected as its first cashier; and this responsible position he has held ever since, to the satisfaction of all concerned.
During these busy years, Mr. Peterson took a course in law by cor- respondence, supplemented by private study with Philip S. Post, county judge and master in chancery at Galesburg, Ill., now attorney for the Inter- national Harvester Company of Chicago; and by the Supreme Court of Illinois, on April 4, 1907, he was admitted, after due examination, to practice law.
Mr. Peterson was married at Galesburg, in 1899, to Miss Jennie Shoreen, a native of Galesburg and the daughter of T. J. and Malena Shoreen, and
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two children have blessed the fortunate union. They are named Minnette and Millicent. The family attend the Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church.
The Kingsburg Bank was organized with the following board of direc- tors : Nicholas J. Nelson, A. T. Carlson, J. L. Norman, A. W. Sward, J. P. H. Applequist, John Peterson and Philip G. Peterson, while the following officers immediately took charge: President, Nicholas G. Nelson ; First Vice- president, A. T. Carlson ; Second Vice-president, J. L. Norman ; and Cashier, O. E. Peterson. It was equipped, as a commercial and savings bank, with burglar-proof safes and a fine safe deposit vault. On May 12, 1911, its de- posits amounted to $33,532.32; in 1912 they were $91,523.67; in 1913, $119,- 838.20; in 1914, $123,980.84 ; in 1915, $151,358.45; in 1916, $201,190.37 ; in 1917, $367,848.82 ; in 1918, $495,691.41; and on May 12, 1919, the deposits totalled to the magnificent mark of $686,762.58. The bank's resources on that date were: Loans and bonds, $588,074.36; building and fixtures, $20,680; cash and due from banks, $150,040.43 ; while the liabilities were: Capital, $50,000; surplus, $19,000 ; profits, $3,032.26; and deposits, $686,762.53, making a total of $758,794.79. Its officers had then become: Directors, Nicholas G. Nelson, A. T. Carlson, J. L. Norman, Philip G. Peterson, John Peterson, J. P. H. Applequist, and O. E. Peterson ; President, Nicholas G. Nelson; First Vice- president, A. T. Carlson ; Second Vice-president, J. L. Norman ; Cashier, O. E. Peterson ; First Assistant Cashier, C. F. Draper ; and Second Assistant Cashier, E. Ed Peterson.
K. E. ENSHER .- The subject of this review, K. E. Ensher, is one of the progressive young ranchers in the vicinity of Mendota, and is a pioneer de- veloper of that new farming section of Fresno County and is a member of Ensher Brothers, one of the largest market-gardening firms in the county. K. E. Ensher was born near Harpoot, Asia Minor, on July 11, 1883, a son of Dr. Elias E. Ensher, who was educated in New York City and after graduat- ing in medicine returned to Harpoot, where he engaged in the practice of his professon. During the atrocious massacre of Christians by the Turks, in 1895, Dr. Ensher was imprisoned for one year at Trebizond, after which he migrated with his family to Batoom, Russia, where he remained for a few months.
During the month of September, 1897, Dr. Ensher emigrated to the United States, locating with his family in the state of Massachusetts where he engaged in farming. In 1902, he came to California and was so pleased with the climate and the opportunities that he returned to Massachusetts, sold his property and brought his family to Fresno County where he pur- chased the present ranch of Ensher Brothers, consisting of thirty-seven acres on Madison Avenue. He devoted his ranch to the raising of vegetables and berries, and was assisted in the operation of the place by his son, K. E. Ensher. Dr. and Mrs. Ensher were the parents of eight children, all of whom are living. The Doctor passed away in 1910, his widow still survives him. Their children are: Frank, a member of the firm of Ensher Brothers, who is now retired and resides on the home place; K. E., our subject; Soorain, also a member of the firm and manager of the home place; Hoomayc, another member of the firm, assisting his brother, K. E., in developing and operating the Mendota ranch; Mrs. P. Alexderian, who lives in San Francisco; Mrs. S. Barsoon, of Kearney Boulevard; Victoria, living at home ; and Jennie re- siding in San Francisco.
K. E. Ensher was about fourteen years of age when his father and fam- ily came to Massachusetts, and while living in the Bay State attended school but for a short time as he assisted his father on the farm until the family moved to California, in 1903. He and his brothers continued to assist the father in the work of the ranch, gardening and raising of vegetables and ber- ries, until his death in 1910, after which the brothers operated the ranch for five years for the benefit of the estate and during this period they paid off all
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debts against the property. The Ensher Brothers purchased the ranch from the estate and are operating it as a wholesale vegetable-growing enterprise, the business having grown to be the largest of its kind in this section of the county. Their products are shipped to Fresno, but when there is a surplus it is shipped to neighboring towns or marketed in San Francisco or Los Angeles.
In 1917, K. E. Ensher, together with his brother, Hoomayc and Mr. Alexderian, purchased 160 acres of land near Mendota, upon which they sank a well 1,200 feet deep; there is an abundant flow of water and an elec- tric pumping-plant gives 1,000 gallons per minute, the whole having cost the promoters over $10,000. They have developed a fine place, having sixty acres in alfalfa, forty in asparagus and the balance in beans and egg-plant. In addi- tion they have leased the adjoining 320 acres which they have put into wheat and are raising it by irrigation. They are progressive and up-to-date ranch- ers, pioneers in irrigating with a pumping-plant, in their section, and are greatly interested in every enterprise that will develop this part of the county.
In 1910, K. E. Ensher was united in marriage with Miss Eunice Braves, also a native of Asia Minor, the ceremony being solemnized in Fresno, and they are the parents of one son, Earl.
W. T. HAMILTON .- Prominent among the representatives of those stanch old American families famous for their participation in the history of our country must be mentioned W. T. Hamilton, a descendant of the sturdy stock from which also sprung the great statesman Alexander Hamilton. Our subject is the well-known dealer in general merchandise at Riverdale.
Descended from an old Southern family that originally came from Eng- land, where his forefathers were cavaliers who had been in authority there since the time of William the Conqueror, Mr. Hamilton was born near Pinck- neyville, in Perry County, Ill., on July 24, 1864. His father was Woods L. Hamilton, a native of Kentucky, and his mother was Sarah L. Armstrong before her marriage. She, too, was born in Illinois of one of the earliest fam- ilies in the southern part of that state. Mr. Hamilton has two brothers in Illinois, John and Albert Hamilton. W. T. is the only one in California. There were five sisters, none living. W. T. Hamilton grew up on a farm in Southern Illinois and attended the public schools where he was a student in arithmetic and geography. His schooling was cut short for his father died when he was only three years old, and his mother died a few years later.
In 1882, Mr. Hamilton moved to Kansas and from there he went to the Indian Territory, where he rode the range for two years. He then went back to Illinois for a few years and, in 1888, when the great land boom was at its height in California he came from Illinois to Fresno. He knew Mr. Pollasky, and he lived in the town of Pollasky when the railway was put through. He drove ten and twelve horses on a plow and hauled lumber from Pine Ridge ; he farmed to grain ; he did wood work and grading on the railway then building, and in 1898 he bought a ranch of 240 acres in Madera County, and improved that. All in all he farmed about a thousand acres to grain.
Mr. Hamilton had a hard and varied experience when he first came to California. He was disgusted for awhile with life in Fresno and Fresno County, for he was then thrown in with laboring men and foreigners who could not speak English. Moreover, he had no money, and if he had had he would have gone back to Illinois. As it was, he was obliged to remain.
He was married in 1892 at Fresno to Miss Sarah L. Blair, daughter of Thomas Blair. a pioneer at Big Sandy ; and later he sold his farm in Madera County and came down to Clovis, in Fresno County, where he bought a twenty-acre vineyard. At the same time, in 1910, he purchased a general merchandise store at Friant, now Pollasky, and having run it for two years he sold it to Collins Brothers. Then he went back to his vineyard for a year,
Joseph Oussani
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and next became manager of the International Land Company's interests which had 6,000 acres in grain, figs and vines.
In 1913 Mr. Hamilton resigned this position, and in November of the same year he came to Riverdale and bought out William Henson's general merchandise store. He also owns stock in the Cooperative Creamery at . Riverdale.
Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton have three children. Ruth is the wife of Lee Gross, who owns two ranches, one at Garfield and the other at Friant. Glenn R. volunteered for service in May, 1917, when nineteen years of age and served with the Ninth Aviation Squadron in France. After serving four months in France, he was transferred to Germany where he served with the Army of Occupation for five months. He was honorably discharged at the Presidio, July 7, 1919, and is now at home. Ardene, graduated from the Riverdale High in June, 1919.
Mr. Hamilton served on the committees of each drive in the Liberty Loans, the Red Cross, and the Y. M. C. A. In national politics he is a Re- publican, but he does not allow party lines to interfere with his support of good local measures. He has served as clerk of the board of trustees in the school district where he lived and farmed in Madera County. He gives his time to his business which is conducted in a large double store building with ample warerooms in connection.
JOSEPH OUSSANI .- To boast of an ancestry reaching back to the Chaldeans, to rejoice that he came from one of the proudest and stablest of modern races, is the privilege of Joseph Oussani, who may also congratulate himself in having not only contributed to the success of one of the greatest world's fairs ever organized by Americans, but, after establishing important commercial interests in the Eastern States, in coming to Fresno County, Cal., to give his experience and enterprise in the further development of this most promising section.
Mr. Oussani was born in far-away, mystic Bagdad, in Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, on December 21, 1865, the son of Thomas Oussani, who is de- scended from one of the oldest Christian families in Bagdad, where the family and its numerous connections have lived for many generations and may trace its blood back to the ancient Chaldeans from Babylonia. His father was a farmer and a stockman, making a specialty of sheep-raising; and was widely known as very sympathetic and kind, and heartbroken that his country was compelled to suffer so terribly from Turkish atrocities. He lived to the ripe old age of eighty-six; and his widow now resides with her children in New York City. Among the three children surviving from a family of five, one son is a manufacturer in New York City, and another is a priest there.
Joseph Oussani was reared in Bagdad and received a good education in both the Arabic and French languages, in which he is still very proficient, and when nineteen started out for himself. traveling by caravan to Persia, a trip of thirty days, at length reaching Teheran, the capital of Persia, where he became a dry-goods merchant. After three years in business there, he returned south to Kermancha, a twelve-days' trip from Teheran, and for two years was engaged in buying rugs in large quantities, the same being then sent by caravan to Bagdad, and thence shipped into different parts of Europe and the New World. This Oriental commercial experience con- tributed greatly to the rounding out of Mr. Oussani's education ; so that when new and far more attractive opportunity opened the way for him, he was ready as the man of the hour.
On the building of the World's Fair in Chicago, for example, Mr. Ous- sani, with his brother Yak, came to that city and they together erected the Persian Palace, still recalled with pleasure by all who remember the crown- ing features of the Midway Plaisance; and in this artistic and gorgeous edifice, they had an equally gorgeous exhibit of beautiful Persian goods and Oriental rugs-an exhibit that was greatly enjoyed and most favorably com-
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mented upon by multitudes of visitors. The effort was a decided financial success, but what gratified the Oussani brothers was that they had really contributed to the success of the fair.
At the termination of the World's Fair, the brothers returned to New . York City and as partners opened a store at the corner of Madison Avenue and Twenty-third Street for the sale of Persian goods and antique Oriental rugs ; and about the same time they opened another business, quite different, for the manufacture of Turkish or Egyptian cigarettes. The business grew rapidly, and after a while they found a better location for the art goods on Broadway. Yak Oussani had charge of the rugs and Persian novelties, and Joseph looked after the manufacture of cigarettes, which they sold at both retail and wholesale rates. In 1900, however, they dissolved partnership, at the same time selling the store; and Yak took over the cigarette factory.
Joseph then entered what was to him an altogether new field- that of realty, in New York City. He bought and improved lots, built residences and improved them ; finally disposing of most of his holdings except two elegant apartment houses on Cathedral Parkway, near One Hundred Tenth Street, opposite Central Park. Each of these was built seven stories high, with one hundred-foot front, and with twenty-eight large apartments, of seven to eight rooms each. One having a granite front is named "Semi- ramis," after the queen of the seven hanging gardens of Babylon. The other, a gothic of glazed white terra cotta, is "The Zenobia," named for the Queen of Palmyra. These, with other choice business property in New York, afford him a snug fortune. For some years, too, Mr. Oussani owned sixty-four acres at Pocantico Hills, in Westchester County, adjoining the site of the John D. Rockefeller residence, and having improved the same, he sold the tract to Mr. Rockefeller at a good profit.
Wishing to find a more equable climate, however, Mr. Oussani concluded to try the Pacific Coast; and so, in 1915, during the San Francisco Exposition, he came west to California. He traveled throughout the state; and after a careful investigation selected Fresno as the location offering, all in all, the greatest inducements. The same November he purchased the old George Helm place, seven miles northeast of Fresno, consisting of 320 acres; and he began to make the most of the splendid soil. He improved 160 to vines, forty in emperor grapes, forty in malagas, and seventy-five in muscat or raisin grapes, all of the shipping quality; and as the balance had been un- cultivated, he put the first plow into it, attended to the leveling of the land, and immediately set out forty acres in Thompson's seedless, forty in sul- tanas, and forty in calimyrna figs, interset with plums of different varieties. He spent in all over $60,000 improving the property, which is now in the finest condition.
Although giving the detailed attention to his agricultural holdings, Mr. Oussani resides with his family in his artistic residence at the corner of Ventura Avenue and Fourth Street, Fresno; leaving the cosy corner once a year to revisit New York and look after his investments there. From the beginning he has been interested in the success of the various raisin associa- tions, and he is a decidedly live wire in the California Associated Raisin Company.
While in New York City, Mr. Oussani was married to Miss Gladys Holmes, a native of London, England. Mr. Oussani indulges his taste for travel, as when, in October, 1910, with his family, he set out on a tour of the Old World, visiting England at the time of the coronation of King George, going to points of interest on the continent, and having the pleasure and dis- tinction of an audience with Pope Pius X., and also visiting the Coliseum and Catacombs of Rome. Their trip extended to Egypt, Syria and Mount Lebanon, and they returned to New York in 1911. In 1912 they made an- other trip to Europe, spending two winters in Egypt, and returning to their home in 1914.
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W. W. WARD .- Born at Sandusky, Ohio, on January 24, 1852, W. W. Ward was the son of John and Mary (Lantz) Ward, natives of Ohio and Pennsylvania, but who were married in Ohio. When very young, the lad left Sandusky with his parents and came to Toledo, where he remained for two years; and after that he was brought to Iowa and there John Ward farmed until, in 1860, he crossed the great plains, being four months and four days in ox teams on the trails. The party which consisted of the father, mother and six children, started from the Missouri River with two ox teams. Some of the seven children in this family were born in Ohio; some in Iowa; and one in California. The parents settled at Stockton, where they camped under a big oak tree; and that hospitable old tree continued to be their home while the father, practically bankrupt, worked out for one dollar a day.
W. W. Ward, the second eldest child, and the oldest now living, attended the public schools in Iowa and California; but as soon as he was able, he also worked out to help the family, and for five or six years before he was twenty-one, he gave all his earnings to his father; and after he had reached maturity, he continued to work for others. When at last he had made and saved a little money, he struck out for himself.
At the age of twenty-four he bought 160 acres near Stockton, eight miles to the southeast of the town, agreeing to pay $4,000 for the same; and since he could deposit but $500, he thus went into debt to the amount of $3,500. To get the latter. amount, he paid one and a half per cent. interest a month; and to command the interest, he worked out besides working on his own ranch. That summer he bought an old header for sixty dollars; and with the same he cut 1,100 acres of grain, from the proceeds of which he paid for the header and had some five hundred dollars to spare, in addition to the crop he had cut. He raised a crop on this farm, and made an additional payment of $500 on it; and then he sold the whole for $5,600.
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