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 89

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 89

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Sanger has always given a royal welcome to those who come from foreign shores to pitch their tents within her borders and to share in her great progress, and she never fails to accord credit for hard work and intelligent, unselfish effort, and, when it comes to distribute the honors, Sanger will 98

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not forget the good work and the good lives of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Miller and their family.

Mr. Miller helped organize the California Associated Raisin Company and holds stock in the concern. He also helped organize, and is a stockholder in the Commercial Bank of Sanger.

REUBEN H. BRAMLET and EUPHEMIA E. BRAMLET .- One of the most prominent and honored club women of Fresno County, and ex- chairman of the History and Landmarks Department of the San Joaquin Valley District of the California Woman's Federation of Clubs, Mrs. R. H. Bramlet, is a pioneer of Fresno County. R. H. Bramlet is a pioneer citizen, pioneer educator in the county and a popular ex-county officer who has done his part to help build up the county.

Mr. Bramlet is a worthy representative of the distinguished Bramlet family of England, early settlers at Jamestown, Va., in Colonial Days. He was born near Raleigh, Saline County, Ill., February 7, 1842. His great- grandfather was born in England and after settling in America became a · planter. He had three sons in the Revolutionary War, one of these was Reuben Bramlet, the grandfather of R. H. Bramlet of Fresno County, who was also in the war of 1812, and took part in the Battle of New Orleans. After the close of the Revolution, Reuben went to Charleston, S. C., and later removed to Princeton, Caldwell County, Ky., where his son, Coleman Brown Bramlet, the father of R. H. Bramlet of Fresno County, was born. Coleman B. Bramlet followed agricultural pursuits and, in 1818, removed with the other members of the family to Saline County, Ill., where, in 1823, he was united in marriage with Miss Susan Upchurch, a young woman of Scotch extraction whose grandfather fought in the Revolutionary War, also in the War of 1812 and served with distinction under General Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans. Of this union ten children were born, of whom the eighth child, R. H. Bramlet, is the oldest one living. Coleman Bramlet lived to the advanced age of eighty-seven; the mother passed away at the age of eighty- five.

R. H. Bramlet grew up on his father's farm in the "Egypt" of Illinois where he remained until he had reached his twenty-fifth year. On May 3, 1867, he left Illinois and started for California via the Isthmus, landing at San Francisco, June 3, 1867. Of studious inclinations, the occupation of a pedagogue appealed to him and he attended the University of the Pacific at Santa Clara with the view of becoming a teacher. He came to Fresno County in 1870, passed the teacher's examination and was licensed to teach and that fall he taught a private school. The first public school that he taught was at the copper mine at Buchanan and during 1870-1871 he taught the Fresno Flats public school; he also taught in Dalton and in Fresno City. He was one of the first public school teachers in Fresno. Mrs. Mary J. Hoxie of Fresno has the distinction of teaching the first private school in that city. Mr. Bramlet continued to teach in Fresno and vicinity until he became candidate for County Superintendent of Schools in 1875; was elected in No- vember of that year and served during 1876 and 1877. The offices of County Superintendent of Schools and County Auditor were then merged to that of auditor and ex-officio county superintendent, to which office Mr. Bramlet was elected in 1877 and served during 1878 and 1879, then was reelected and served during the years 1880 and 1881. A law was then made to provide for two separate offices. For five consecutive terms of two years each-from 1882 to 1892-Mr. Bramlet was elected and served as county auditor. For four years and a half he taught school and served as deputy assessor under three different assessors. He served as assessor from 1892 to 1902.

Mr. Bramlet owned the eighty acres where he now lives, for fifteen years before he settled on it, in 1902; the man he employed on the ranch planted twenty-five acres of the land to vines, and now Mr. Bramlet has thirty acres planted to Muscats and thirty-two acres planted to Thompson's seedless :

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part of the remainder of the land is in alfalfa and the rest of it is unimproved. The Consolidated Ditch supplies water for irrigating the ranch. For many years Mr. Bramlet has been greatly interested in building irrigation ditches, and was a close friend of Dick McCall, one of the pioneer irrigation men of the section.

In 1876 Mr. Bramlet was married to Miss Euphemia Ellen Wren, a native of Adams County, Ill., and daughter of John and Elizabeth (Martin) Wren. Mrs. Bramlet was but seven years old, in 1863, when her parents came with their children to California. They braved the hardships of the long journey across the plains with horses and wagons and settled in Amador County, Cal., where after a short sojourn they came to Solano County, where the father engaged in farming. Mrs. Bramlet attended the public schools and completed her education at the Stockton high school and the State Normal School at San Jose, Cal. She taught school for six years altogether, in Amador, Santa Cruz, Merced and Fresno counties-principally in the latter two places.

Mr. and Mrs. Bramlet have two children living. Eva is the wife of C. M. Mannon, an attorney at Ukiah, and they are the parents of five children : James Bramlet ; Elizabeth ; Martha ; Mary Ellen ; and Charlotte; Dora is the wife of John Stuart Ross, an attorney at El Centro, and they have four children: Isabel S., Neil B., Jean Ellen and John Gordon.

Mrs. Bramlet is an unusually well informed woman, prominent in club life and is ex-chairman of the History and Landmarks Department of the San Joaquin Valley District of the California Woman's Federation of Clubs. For many years she was a society leader in elite circles of Fresno officialdom, and their modest but cozy home radiates the exquisite taste and wholesome hospitality of its accomplished hostess.

Mr. Bramlet is much interested in the cooperative associations for the fruit growers and is a stockholder and member of the California Associated Raisin Company. In politics he votes with the Democratic party on national issues.

CHARLES W. BARRETT .- A self-made pioneer business man of Fresno, who enjoys the distinction of being the oldest hardware merchant continuously in business in the city, is Charles W. Barrett, one of the most respected residents of the city, both for his own worth and because of his association, as a descendant in direct lineage, with one of the most historic and interesting families of pre-Revolutionary days. He was born in New York City on May 11, 1859, a great-grandson of Colonel James Barrett, who commanded a part of the minute-men in the famous battle at Concord sung by Emerson in his "Concord Hymn:"

Here once the embattled farmers stood And fired the shot heard round the world.

The Barretts came from England. and settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony many years before the Revolution, and thus it happened that just the man needed for the supreme trial of the century-the first throwing down of the gauntlet to proud and imperious England-was ready and wait- ing with his farmer-militia on April 19, 1775.

The old Colonial Barrett house is still standing at Concord, one of the most prominent there, although too far from the center of the town to be seen by the average tourist, and our subject studied and photographed it while on a visit to Concord with his wife in 1907,-one of three trips, by the way, they have made "down East" when they kodaked Bunker Hill monument, historic Boston, Maine, Canada, Washington, Detroit, New Orleans, Chicago, St. Paul and other places. The Barrett house is situated off Monument Street, about a mile beyond the battle ground. There a quantity of ammuni- tion was stored that was saved from destruction at the hands of the British through the keenness and bravery of Colonel Barrett's wife. The story is still

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told of the search made in that house by the British soldiers, and how they were provided with refreshment by Mrs. Barrett; and how she refused the payment proffered, saying. "We are commanded to feed our enemies," and how eventually she kept reluctantly the money they threw into her lap, say- ing: "This is the price of blood."

Colonel Barrett led a company to the historic bridge, and his undeniable bravery when the fate of the long-suffering colonists hung in the balance has been commemorated for all time by an inscription on the boulder at Battle Lawn, close to the site of the old Concord bridge, where America's first blood was spilled in the cause of liberty. This inscription reads, in part:

"From this hill Col. James Barrett commanding the Americans gave the order to march to the bridge, but not to fire unless fired upon by the British. Captain Nathan Barrett led his company to defend the bridge, pursued the British to Charlestown, and, though wounded, captured Major Pitcairn's horse, saddle and pistols, and returned home with his trophies."

F. A. Barrett, the father of Charles, was a native of Maine and removed to New York City where he was a builder. In 1861 he came to California by way of Panama, and soon made a name for himself as a contractor and builder in San Francisco and the neighboring bay districts. And there he died, having enjoyed the confidence of his fellow-men and the good will of everybody. in 1899, in his seventy-first year. His wife was Agnes Berry before her marriage, and she was a native of Camden, Maine. Hers was also an old English family, and she survived her husband and died at Fresno in her seventy-ninth year. Two daughters were, with Charles Barrett, their only children, and they are Mrs. Mary F. Lane of Los Angeles and Mrs. Susie A. Miller, of the same city.

Charles Barrett came to California with his parents in 1861, and after attending school for six months at Antioch, in Contra Costa County, he con- tinued his studies in San Francisco, where he was reared. He went to the ordinary public schools and put in two years at the boys' high school; but when fourteen he left his school-books to take charge of the account-books of the California Silk Factory at South San Francisco. After holding that position for a year he decided to learn plumbing, when he was duly appren- ticed to J. & E. Snook, the pioneer plumbing firm of San Francisco, with whom he remained until 1882.

In that year he came to Fresno-just a week after the first "big fire"- engaged in the beginning to work for A. Goldstein, but soon shifting to the service of the Donahoo-Fanning Company, with which he continued until 1885. Then, effecting a partnership with the late J. D. Hicks, he established a plumbing business on J Street, the site of the present Mason Block, and when they added hardware, they moved to 1036 I Street; and after moving back to J Street, Messrs. Barrett & Hicks, who were incorporated in 1895, with Mr. Barrett as president, made one more move, this time to the new Voorman Block. There their establishment has become the most extensive hardware store in the City of Fresno, selling at both wholesale and retail and filling a store 50x150 feet at 1035-41 I Street, and a shop 35x150 feet in the rear, while the company also maintains ample warehouses at the Southern Pacific Railroad. This business has proven one of the chief enter- prises of Fresno, and has added no little to her prestige as a commercial center. Mr. Barrett, who is a Republican, is a charter member of the Cham- ber of Commerce of Fresno and an honorary member of the State Retail Hardware Association.

On February 18, 1885, Mr. Barrett was married at San Francisco to Miss Minnie Thomas of Philadelphia, the daughter of Christian Thomas, a native of Germany and a wholesale butcher there, who married Catherine Regina Smith, also a native of Germany. Mr. Thomas came to America, crossed the continent bringing his family, including the daughter Minnie, with him,

Mr. & Mrs. J. G. Hielscher

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and died at San Francisco aged seventy-six. After that Mrs. Thomas came to live with the Barretts, and at their home she passed peacefully away in her eighty-fourth year. Two of her sons died in San Francisco, leaving wives and children; and a daughter is Mrs. Emma Evans, the widow of the late George E. Evans of Fresno. At the corner of Tulare and O Streets Mr. Bar- rett built a fine residence; and when he sold that lot, five years ago, he moved the house to its present location, 1127 S Street, where he dispenses a typically Californian hospitality, assisted so well by his good wife.

Mr. Barrett was made a Mason in Fresno Lodge No. 247, F. & A. M., of which he is a past master ; he also belongs to Fresno Chapter No. 69, R. A. M .; Fresno Commandery, No. 29, K. T .; and he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

JOHN G. HIELSCHER .- Probably no county in all California may boast of a larger number of prosperous citizens of foreign birth who, seek- ing asylum in the New World, have found in Fresno and environs the great- est freedom for the development of their various talents and capabilities ; and among these who have not only carved out their own fortune by their independent efforts, but have contributed much to the progress of California and the upbuilding of her splendid institutions, must be mentioned John G. Hielscher, who was born in Schlesien, Germany, on March 4, 1854. His father was John G. Hielscher, who married Johanna Helena Hauffe. They were farmers, and both died there. They had four sons, two of whom are now living. Carl W. is at the old home, and the subject of our interesting review is the only one in America.

Mr. Hielscher was reared a farmer at the same time that he received a good education in the public schools. In 1875 he entered the German army and served there for two years, when he was honorably discharged. He then worked in the shipyard at Hamburg, and while in that great seaport with its many connections with the outside world, obtained and read books on the United States. This opened to him the enticing vista of its great resources and possibilities, and, together with the history of the United States, showed him the road of opportunity that awaited young men with energy and brawn. He liked the freedom of the new country, made up his mind some day to enjoy it, and steadily saved his money to enable him to realize the goal.

In 1882, Mr. Hielscher purchased a ticket for St. Louis and arrived there in April, 1882, having only five dollars in his pocket. The next morning he went to work on a ranch at fifteen dollars a month, but he did his work so well that at the end of the four weeks, he received twenty dollars. He then made his way to Fremont, Dodge County, Nebr., where he worked for a year, after which he leased a ranch and farmed until 1886. In that year he removed to Iliff, Logan County, Colo., where he located a homestead of 160 acres and also a timber claim of equal size, and began to pioneer and farm.

On June 23, 1889, Mr. Hielscher was married to Miss Carolina Erdelt, at Sterling, Colo. She was also a native of Schlesien, Germany, and the daugh- ter of Edward and Wilhelmina (Scharf) Erdelt, the former a farmer and business man, both of whom are now dead. Having a sister, Mrs. Mathilda Brieger, at Jackson, Mich., and a sister, Mrs. Wilhelmina Weeler, in Chicago, she made her way to the United States, first to Michigan, in 1884, and in 1887 came to Colorado and soon after located a timber claim of 160 acres adjoining that of Mr. Hielscher. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Hielscher continued to improve their place, and in time they had 480 acres devoted to stock-raising. They began with only two cows, but from year to year were so successful that when they sold out in 1899 they disposed of fifty head of cattle. At the same time he sold his 480 acres for $3,000. While in Colorado, about 1897 or 1898, he was made a full-fledged American citizen, and this he counted among his greatest assets.

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On account of his wife's health, Mr. Hielscher led the way to California in 1899 and located in Fresno, where the change of climate immediately im- proved her and for the first time in years she felt, as so many coming to the Golden State have experienced, that life was really worth living. The same fall he bought eighty acres, a part of his present ranch in Parent Colony No. 2. and located on it. The place was much neglected ; but by hard work and diligence he improved it, relevelling the land and setting out vineyards and orchards, and planting alfalfa, at all of which he has been very successful. Later, Mr. Hielscher bought eighty acres more. It was hog-wallow and there was no water-right on the place; but he levelled the land, sunk wells and installed a pumping plant, and set out a vineyard and orchard. Now the place is in a high state of cultivation. Recently, he sold 100 acres of his property to four different parties, retaining sixty acres for himself.

The estate is really a splendid place, and reflects great credit upon both Mr. and Mrs. Hielscher, who gave to it their most intelligent direction. There are muscat and Thompson seedless vines in profusion, two pumping plants and a large cement swimming pool, the latter being much enjoyed by the children of the locality. The place is most advantageously located on First Street, six miles north of Fresno, and there Mr. Hielscher has erected a large new modern residence of concrete blocks, forming a comfortable and thoroughly up-to-date home, equipped with electric light by Fairbank system.

Mr. Hielscher also owns valuable real estate in Fresno and in Oakland, and is a member of the California Prune and Apricot Association, as well as of the California Associated Raisin Company. Fresno County may well be congratulated on such prosperous, contented and loyal citizens as Mr. and Mrs. Hielscher, representing some of the best of American manhood and womanhood.

TUCK BROTHERS .- Among the enterprising and successful young men of the county, whose prosperity is undoubtedly due to their hard, con- scientious work, together with their economy and thrift, and their determina- tion to win out at any honorable cost, are the members of the well-known firm of Tuck Brothers-Lorenzo Cornelius and Ira Thomas Tuck. Both were born in Granville County, N. C., Lorenzo on March 10, 1875, and Ira on February 16, 1880, the sons of William Alfred Tuck, who come from Halifax County, Va. Their grandfather, Richard Tuck, was a farmer, and the father was in a North Carolina regiment in the Civil War. After the great struggle he was married to Fannie Sanford, who also was a native of Granville County, and there they located on a farm, Mr. Tuck becoming a planter and raising tobacco, grain and stock. Now, in his latter years, he is retired and living in Granville County. His wife having died in 1887 at the age of forty- two, he married a second time, choosing Ella Allen as his wife. She was a North Carolinian, and died while on a visit to her brothers in California. By the first union, there were five children: Martha Eva, Mrs. Jones, deceased ; William Robert, of Tranquillity ; Lorenzo C .; Mamie E., Mrs. Jones of North Carolina ; and Ira T. By the second marriage there also were five children : Elza, Mrs. West, and Gladys, Mrs. Dixon, both of North Carolina ; Marion, also of that state; Roy, and Raleigh, of California.

Brought up on their father's farm, the boys attended both the public and private schools of the neighborhood, and in the summer-time applied them- selves to farm work. After a while they spent the winters in the copper mines, working as stationary engineers. In 1900 Lorenzo came West, the first of the family to push out to California, and settled near Laton in Fresno County, where he was employed on a ranch. He began to help level land for the ditch on the Laguna Grant, when the company commenced to improve the tract, and soon made himself a valuable laborer ; and in 1901 he easily found employment at lumbering at Pine Ridge, working also as a blacksmith and mechanic.

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In the spring of that year, Ira joined his brother and also worked at Pine Ridge, and there he ran a stationary engine. When the autumn set in, the brothers bought twenty acres of the Laguna Grant, and the following fall purchased twenty acres more, all of which they planted to alfalfa. Then they sold twenty acres, and bought ten adjoining the first twenty. They continued to plant to alfalfa, and prospered in the undertaking.

In 1910 the two brothers came to Tranquillity and bought 180 acres of raw land, which they at once improved. They leveled and checked it and put thirty acres into alfalfa, and raised grain. In 1912 they sold the thirty acres near Laton, and three years later they bought a Case engine of 20x40 horse power. This they use in plowing and putting in crops, and they also run a stationary thresher and header. They lease land, besides, and sow from four to five hundred acres to grain.

Lorenzo Tuck was married in Laton to Miss Mary Eller, a native of Missouri and the daughter of William Eller, a farmer near Laton. They have two promising children-Rosamond and Leon.

Independent in politics, the Messrs. Tuck both vote for the best men and the best principles. They are especially interested in everything that makes for local reform, improvement and expansion ; for they have the great- est faith in Fresno County, and therefore, in the future of Tranquillity.

CLAYTON WESLEY TODD .- A progressive horticulturist and viti- culturist whose good wife is also widely known for her experience and per- sonality, is Clayton Wesley Todd, who came to Fresno County in the early nineties. He was born in Indianola, Iowa, on October 24, 1871, the son of William Franklin Todd, who was born in Nashville, Tenn. He removed to Scott, Ill., and was married to Emma Bryan, after which, in 1866, he went to Iowa, and farmed near Indianola. He improved some Government land and made his home there until he died. His wife also died there, the mother of eight children, two of whom are living. Charles is the second youngest of the family, and the only one in California.

He was brought up on a farm in Iowa until he was eighteen years of age, and attended both the public schools and Simpson's College. After another year on the farm, he came west to California in 1891 and located in Fresno County where he followed grain farming and worked a large grain ranch, for five years, for J. E. Dickenson. He owned a ranch at the Scandinavian Colony and for eight years engaged in the raising of peaches and raisins. He was also foreman of the Balfour Guthrie ranch at Sanger and at Strathmore and he did the first surveying and leveling for them, and set out the first orange grove at Strathmore. Then he went back to the Sanger ranch and continued with them for fourteen years.

While there he bought eighty acres of land at Strathmore and eighteen months later he sold the same at a good profit. After that, he bought land west of Strathmore and also sold that at a good profit. In 1916 he bought his present place, twenty acres on Clinton and Chittenden Avenues, which he devoted to Muscat vines. In November, 1918, he resigned from his position with Balfour Guthrie in order to give all his attention to his own business for besides his ranching, he is engaged in contracting, painting and white- washing, using a Bean power spraying machine to apply cement and cold water paint.

On March 25, 1894, Mr. Todd was married at Fresno to Miss Mary Edna Yount, who was born in Des Moines, Iowa, the daughter of D. W. Yount, a farmer residing four miles out of Des Moines. He came from Indi- ana in 1852, when ten years old, with his parents to Iowa. He died at Nor- walk, Iowa. Mrs. Yount was Miss Sarah A. Egbert before her marriage, and she was born in Ohio. She died in Iowa, the mother of three children. A brother, Frank Yount, was an early settler of Fresno and noted as a bus- iness man. Mrs. Todd came here in 1892. She is the mother of five children. James L., who enlisted in the National Guard and served on the border in

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Mexico until he was honorably discharged. Again enlisting for the World War in the same company a few days before war was declared and becoming a sergeant in 159th Infantry of the Fortieth Division of the United States Army, and served overseas. After the armistice was signed, he returned to San Francisco where he was discharged April 30, 1919, with the rank of sergeant. He is now in the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad in Fresno. Isabelle is Mrs. Swenson, of Clovis; Mary Alice, now Mrs. Merle Marple of Dinuba, and Laurence M., who is at home, are twins; and Josephine, also at home, attends the high school. Mrs. Todd is a member of the Chirstian Science Church.

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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 89

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