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 90

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 90

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Mr. Todd served for some time on the Board of Trustees of the Sanger Union High School, and he is a member of the California Peach Growers, Inc., and a member and stockholder in the California Associated Raisin Company. He is now a trustee of the Greenville school district. He also belongs to Camp '60 of the Woodmen of the World of Fresno.

HAROLD CLYDE WILLIAMS .- Among the men of resourcefulness and executive force who have achieved success in business circles of Coalinga, none is forging to the front more rapidly than H. C. Williams, the well-known proprietor of Coalinga's popular confectionery store, billiard parlor and whole- sale and retail tobacconist. He is a native of Canada, born in Mitchell, On- tario, December 11, 1884, a son of John E. and Elizabeth (Tilley) Williams, both of whom are natives of Ontario, and whose parents were from Devon- shire, England. Grandfather Williams was a Methodist minister. John E., the father of H. C. Williams, is a harnessmaker and saddler, residing at Mitchell, Canada.

H. C. Williams was the youngest child of a family of four, and after completing his education in the public school, being then sixteen years of age, he left Canada for the United States locating at Newfield, N. Y., where he secured employment with the Lehigh Valley Railway Company, learned telegraphy, and in due time became station agent. June 1, 1901, he was ap- pointed agent and telegraph operator at Wyckoff, where he remained until November, 1901, when he was made a relief agent. Desiring to see more of the world, and especially of the great West, H. C. Williams arrived in Los Angeles, Cal., in January, 1902, he secured work with the Southern Pa- cific as ticket agent at Long Beach, and filled the position of relief agent at Anaheim and other places in Southern California. Later on he filled the same position on the San Joaquin Division of the same railway company. In 1905 he arrived in Coalinga as agent for the Southern Pacific Railway, and later filled a similar position at Lillis, where he remained until October 3, 1906, when he resigned to engage in business in Coalinga. At first he opened a cigar store on Front Street, in six months' time the business proved such a success that he moved to larger and better quarters on Fifth Street, and here he added confectionery and when the Amy Building was completed he leased his present room. Here he fitted up a billiard parlor, and in the confectionery department he installed a fine modern soda fountain, the largest of its kind in Coalinga. Mr. Williams is exceedingly careful about the moral atmosphere of his parlor, allows no profane language about the place and by his strict observance of this rule his establishment has gained the enviable reputation of a clean, moral amusement center. Lately he has added a cafe which is conducted in the same first-class and conservative way. Mr. Wil- liams is a progressive and wide-awake business man, always on the alert for a new opening for business. He owns the billboards in Coalinga and for ten years has employed a man to post the bills in the city; at one time he was the manager of the opera house there, also the agent for the Hanford Steam Laundry. In addition to these enterprises he has been interested in different local companies and was one of the organizers of the Coalinga- Merced Acres Syndicate, and served as its secretary. This company owns 4,000 acres of land in Merced County for subdivision and farming purposes.

Rasmus Mathiesen Marie Mathisen

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His associates in the company are mostly Coalinga men. Mr. Williams is a very public-spirited man, always greatly interested in every worthy move- ment that has as its aim the upbuilding of the best interests of the San Joa- quin Valley, and in civic matters he has served the city of Coalinga as one of its trustees.

Mr. H. C. Williams was united in marriage with Miss Julia Blanche Levy, the ceremony being solemnized at Laton. Mrs. Williams is a native of California and a daughter of M. Levy. Fraternally, Mr. Williams is a mem- ber of the Eagles at Coalinga, and is a past officer of the lodge, also past state trustee and member of the State Finance Committee for the Eagles. He is past sachem for the Red Men, a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America and in politics is a Republican.

RASMUS MATHIESEN .- Among the most progressive ranchers resid- ing north of Sanger in the Fairview district, Fresno County, are Mr. and Mrs. Rasmus Mathiesen, who are making a specialty of orchard and vine. Mr. Mathiesen was born at Aabenraa, Slesvig, Denmark, July 6, 1862, a son of Christian and Christina Mathiesen who followed husbandry in that country.

Rasmus received a good education in the public schools of his native place and from a lad made himself useful on the home farm, so he early learned thrift and self-reliance. When seventeen years of age, wishing to escape Prussian military oppression, he made his way to Denmark and at Fredericia he found employment on a farm. He had two half-brothers who emigrated to the United States in 1872, one of them, John Hopper, coming to Alameda County, Cal., that same year. His brother, Christ, also came to California in 1884. So Mr. Mathiesen also felt the call of the West and responded, coming to California in 1885, arriving in San Francisco on April 19, 1885. His brother Peter came in 1886 and George in 1887. Of the brothers four are still living, namely, John Hopper, Peter, George and himself. Mr. Mathiesen remained in Alameda until 1887 when he came to Fresno County, and immediately began working at farming, and in orchards and vineyards, in different parts of the' county. He also worked on the flume, running logs, an occupation he fol- lowed for five years.

Possessing thrift and enterprise, and with a natural desire to own a place of his own, Mr. Mathiesen saved a part of his earnings so that by 1894 he pur- chased his present ranch on which he located and began improvements. It was a stubble-field but, wishing to engage in intensive farming, Mr. Mathie- sen proceeded to improve it and by persistent, intelligent effort he has devel- oped a highly improved ranch of eighty acres, four one-half miles north of Sanger, being irrigated from the Gould ditch. It is devoted to vineyard and orchard, except fifteen acres in alfalfa and grain. His vineyards are exception- ally fine and produce on an average of one and one-half tons of raisins to the acre a year. He also raises a fine quality of peaches.

In Fresno, September 6, 1892, Rasnius Mathiesen was united in marriage with Karen Marie Johansen, a native of Fyen, Denmark, a daughter of Mads and Nielsinia (Nielsen) Johansen. She came to California in 1888 and of their union two children were born: Christina, who is now the wife of A. C. Jensen of Sanger and who has twin daughters-Irene and Lorene; and Christian, who was born December 26, 1897, and is assisting in operating the home ranch. They are also rearing and educating Ella Hansen, as one of their own children, and she in turn loves and is devoted to them.

Fraternally Mr. Mathiesen is a member of Orangedale Lodge, No. 211, I. O. O. F., at Centerville, of which he is a Past Grand, while with his wife he is a member of King's River Rebekah Lodge, No. 51, at Centerville. Mrs. Mathiesen, being a charter member, has been active in the lodge, serving as Noble Grand two different times, as well as delegate to the Grand Lodge. They are both conscientious Lutherans, their membership being in the Dan- ish Lutheran Church in Central Colony. Mr. Mathiesen has been a supporter of all cooperative movements for fruit-growers and is a member and stock-

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holder of the California Associated Raisin Company and the California Peach Growers, Inc. A firm believer in protection for America and Americans, he is a Republican in national politics. Always a friend of education and desiring the best schools, he has served as a member and clerk of the Fairview school district for twelve years. Hospitable and generous, Mr. and Mrs. Mathiesen are ever ready to help others and to aid in all movements for the advancement of the county and bettering of conditions for its citizens.

MARION H. TAYLOR .- The enterprising dairyman of Tranquillity, Fresno County, M. H. Taylor, is a native of the Lone Star State, having been born in Van Zant County, Texas, June 17, 1872, a son of Frank and Lizzie (Cantrell) Taylor, natives of Arkansas and Tennessee, respectively. His father, Frank Taylor, was a farmer in Van Zant County and in Coleman County, Texas, and he died in the latter county in 1877; his mother was a resident of Novice, Texas, for over forty years, and died there February 19, 1919. Mr. and Mrs. Frank Taylor were the parents of six children.

M. H. Taylor, the fourth child and the only member of the family living in California, was reared on a farm in Coleman County, Texas, where he attended the public school of his district, but owing to existing conditions in the family, his father having died when M. H. was about five years of age, his educational advantages were very limited, as he was obliged to go to work at an early age to help support the family. The Taylor family were early set- tlers in Coleman County, their home being out on the frontier and Mr. Taylor recalls the fact that there was no wire fence in the county and that it was no uncommon sight to see deer, antelope and Indians roaming over the plains. Mr. Taylor remained at home helping his mother with the farming and raising of cattle and hogs, until he had reached his twenty-seventh year, when he went to Devil's River, Edwards County, where he worked on a cattle ranch and rode the range. He remained there until 1905 when he re- turned to Coleman County, where he rented a farm. In 1909 he removed to Mitchell, where two years previous he had purchased a ranch of 160 acres, this he improved and while living there engaged in farming and raising cattle and hogs until 1917, when, owing to a drought in that section of the state, he sold his ranch and decided to migrate to the Golden State. Mr. Taylor arrived in Fresno County, Cal., in September, 1917, settling at Tranquillity, where he leased a dairy and forty-seven acres in alfalfa. He has at present twenty- eight cows and by hard work, untiring efforts and good management he has succeeded in building up a prosperous dairy business.

On December 30, 1903, M. H. Taylor was united in marriage with Miss Emma Nichols, a native of Texas, born in Coleman, March 22, 1882, the cer- emony being solemnized in Coleman County. This union has been blessed with six children: Doile, Bertha, Mary, Merene, Mansel, and Hubert. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor and their family are highly esteemed in their circle of friends at Tranquillity.

REUBEN JAMES SWIFT .- Almost coincidental with the raising of the American flag for the first time in California was the setting up of the first printing press, and ever since, with the march of civilization here has been the development of the newspaper as a most potent factor in furthering every conceivable kind of progress.

That it is very logical that the newspaper man and his wonderful mechan- ical aids should have a part from the very beginning in the growth and proper development of a town will be seen when one stops to think of all the service that a newspaper renders, and often with little or no direct compensation, to a community. The journalist is among those who do some of the advance thinking, and frequently advance acting for others, and so act as heralds, going before and making open and smooth the pathways; and when that is not the case, the man who runs a newspaper is among the very first to whom appeal is made, when others think of something worth while, to pro- claim it broadcast, endorse the idea, and so give the project a good "boost."

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And when all has been accomplished, and one after another of the good burghers rub their hands together and gleefully exclaim: "Ah, isn't that fine! See what I have succeeded in bringing about!" it is the poor editor who is expected to jot down all the happenings, write eulogies about all those who claim to have been the inspired cause thereof, praise everybody and every- thing to the skies, and give the pioneer and the citizen a "character" no one ever know him to have before.

Among the interior California journalists who have thus contributed much to the progress of their section of the State, is Reuben James Swift, a native of South Dakota, where he was born at Watertown, Codington County. Growing up, he moved to Wisconsin, and then to North Dakota ; and at Leeds, worked for sixteen years at the printing trade. After that, he was for five years at Spokane, Wash.

In July, 1909, California was fortunate in attracting Mr. Swift, who chose Kerman as the most promising of all fields, and he took over the plant of the Kerman News Company, of which he at once became president and manager. He also assumed the responsibilities of editor, and took charge of the "Ker- man News." This paper had been established in November, 1908, and incor- porated as The Kerman News Co. It was not long before he raised it to that standard as an indispensable adjunct of the life of the town, that it had over 500 subscribers. Week after week Mr. Swift and his staff have put out one of the best news-organs and agencies for social and moral uplift in this part of the county.

At Fresno, on February 4, 1911, Mr. Swift and Florence Remington, a native of Missouri, were joined in matrimony; their union being blessed with one child, Dorothy. Mr. and Mrs. Swift attend the Kerman Methodist Episcopal Church, and are active in local society generally.

Mr. Swift served for two years, as secretary of the Commercial Asso- ciation, and also as secretary of the Civic Center. In those departments of Kerman life, Mr. Swift has been able to devote his unusual talents and ex- perience, and so effect much desired expansion, reform and progress.

J. HENRY SCHEIDT .- Among Fresno's citizens of foreign birth who came to this country to seek their fortune in a new land, J. Henry Scheidt is numbered. He was born in the Province of Samara, Volga District, Russia, June 21, 1874, and received his education in his native land, where he also clerked in a mercantile store. In 1893, at the age of nineteen, he came to the United States without financial means but endowed with the far more val- uable assets of energy and thrift.

It has been truthfully said that the successful man not only conquers obstacles, but makes use of them. Certain it is that J. Henry Scheidt has overcome the difficulties that lay in his path and has made good as a success- ful rancher and an exceptional business man. He is self made in the fullest sense of the word. He first located in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he worked in the store of the P. R. Mitchell Company until 1896, when he came to Fresno, Cal., with the small sum of $300 in his pocket. For the next three years he worked for wages, saving his money, and in 1899 with the earnings he had saved purchased his first ranch of forty acres in the Perrin Colony No. 1. He also rented land and engaged in grape growing. Later he sold his property but continued to buy, improve and sell ranches, meeting with much success in his undertakings. He also bought and sold second crops of Muscat grapes to wineries, etc.

Later he bought a forty-acre ranch on California Avenue which he im- proved and sold. In 1905 he returned to Russia, where he remained until 1907. Upon his return to California he bought a 200-acre ranch in Madera County with George Virgin. The ranch was improved and sold, and later Mr. Scheidt owned a ranch on Jensen Avenue which he also sold. In 1908 he bought out a small grocery store at C and Santa Clara Avenues, the stock of which was valued at $600, the size of the building being only twenty by

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ciated Raisin Company. He is a stockholder in the two latter, as well as in the Danish Creamery.

When Mr. Forbes began setting out his fig orchard the growing of figs for commercial purposes was still an experiment here. But he was opti- mistic, having faith in its future possibilities, and persevered in spite of being discouraged in his undertaking by friends and neighbors. Thus he is a pioneer grower of the Calimyrna fig here, and has now the pleasure of seeing it the greatest success commercially of orchard or vine. He can justly look with pride upon his achievement, and has the satisfaction of knowing that others are now eagerly following his example.

KINZA P. WITTEN .- To the early adoption of up-to-date methods and machinery is doubtless due a large measure of the success in wheat and grain- farming attained by Kinza P. Witten, who, ably assisted by his loyal wife and children, has come to hold a high place in business and social circles. His home ranch lies on the "West Side," about half a mile south and four miles west of Lanare, in the very heart of Fresno County's choice wheat dis- trict.

Mr. Witten was born about six miles from Bowling Green, Pike County, Mo., on September 24, 1870; a member of an old Virginia family, after whom Witten's Landing, on the Ohio River near Wheeling, was named. His father was Kinza Dickersen Witten, and he spent his early life steamboating on the Ohio ; he married in Virginia, Miss Ann Mccullough, also a native of that State, and while there, their first child was born. After coming to Missouri, where their family was increased by the birth of nine more children, Mr. Witten farmed, and there he died, when the lad Kinza P. was only five years old. The widow continued to run the farm and brought up the minor chil- dren, and so kept the family together; but she died when Kinza was about twenty, and after she had seen eight of her children grow up.

The youngest in the family, Kinza attended the public schools and grew up on his mother's farm, where he lived until after her death. He was about twenty-one when he first struck Fresno County, following two of his brothers, who had reached California before him. Luther was working on the Kettle- man Plains in Fresno County, and "Zac" was busy at Lemoore, although later he became an undertaker at Fresno and Visalia, and died in the latter place in 1906. Besides Luther, who is now living at Visalia, Phillip resides at Crow's Landing, in Stanislaus County, where he is a butcher, thus making three brothers still in the Golden State, while a sister, Mrs. Sue Gillum of Ashley, Mo., is the only other one of the family still living.

Kinza P. Witten began without a dollar, and worked on Fresno County ranches, but when he was married, in 1895, he had rented a fruit ranch of twenty acres near Fresno. His bride was Miss Jessie Sutton, a native of that city and the daughter of John and Etta (Wickwire) Sutton, both of whom came from Canada, but were reared and married in New York. They moved west to California in 1876, and eleven years later came to Fresno County. They had three children-Jessie Edith, now Mrs. Witten, who was born in Contra Costa County, Cal .; John H., who resides in Fresno and is an orchard- ist and ranch-owner, and Charles F., who died when he was fourteen years old.

After three years of farming in the Coalinga district, Mr. Witten and family moved up to Summit Lake, where they rented for six years and then bought their present ranch. They own 120 acres, purchased about fifteen years ago, and in addition, rents land for wheat and grain farming, and thus works about 1,500 acres in all. He owns and operates a Holt forty-five horse- power caterpillar tractor, which he uses for plowing, seeding and harvesting, and a combined harvester and thresher of a late and up-to-date kind. In 1917, he raised 8,000 sacks of wheat while his 1918 crop was equally satisfactory.

Mr. and Mrs. Witten have been blessed with six children: Earl Henry, who enlisted at Fresno on May 21, 1918, in the Quartermaster's corps, was

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trained at Camp Joseph E. Johnston at Jacksonville, Fla., and landed at Brest on July 21, 1918. He served at Bordeaux, Marseilles, at Conflans and near Verdun in the motor transport corps. Returning to America, he landed at Newport News, Va., and came direct to the Presidio, where he was honor- ably discharged on July 18, 1919, after which he reached home on July 20, 1919. Velma Etta, Kinza D., Beulah H., Warren W., and Lucile Nadine, are the other children.

Mr. and Mrs. Witten are both members of the Rebekahs at Riverdale, while Mr. Witten belongs to the Odd Fellow lodge there and the Woodmen of the World at Lemoore. A consistent Democrat, Mr. Witten stands by the President, as he always did during the War, and supports his program for the League of Nations.

EUGENE F. MAIN .- A native of Iowa, where he was born at Des Moines on October 16, 1866, Eugene F. Main is the son of Theodore Main, a native of Albion, N. Y., who removed to Michigan, where he embarked in lumbering : then went to Wisconsin for the same purpose; and later settled at Des Moines, where he followed his trade, which was that of a brick mason and a builder. After some years he removed to Richmond, Mo., where he was a contractor and made bricks. In 1902 he took up his residence in Cal- ifornia, and at present resides in East Bakersfield. Mrs. Main, who was Sarah Rice before her marriage, and was also a New Yorker, is still living. In 1908 the esteemed and happy couple celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their wedding, and in 1918 celebrated their sixtieth wedding anniversary.

Eleven children blessed this union, and five are still living. Eugene ; William Main is a contractor in Fresno; and the three daughters-Mrs. Patterson of Fresno, and Mrs. Nielsen and Mrs. Renshaw of Bakersfield.

The third oldest in the family, Eugene was brought up on a farm in Missouri for the first year, when he was taken to Richmond, where he at- tended the grammar and high schools. When about fifteen he began to learn the trades of brick-layer and plasterer under the direction of his father ; but before he was twenty-one his father withdrew, and from that time on he was in business for himself.

In 1887 he came to California for the first time and for a while worked at his trade at Fresno. The next year he came back again and was foreman for Joseph Spinney. For eight winters he came back each year and continued in the capacity of foreman, helping to build the City Hall, the Temple Bar Block, and the Fulton Hotel, each time going back for the summer to Rich- mond, Mo.

In that town, on November 17, 1891, Mr. Main was married to Viola Adams, who was born in Macon, Mo., the daughter of John and Lucy (Har- vard) Adams, substantial farmer folks of that state. Mr. Adams lived for a while at Richmond, and in 1903 came to Fresno, where he died. Mrs. Adams is still living, the mother of six boys and two girls, among whom Mrs. Main is the third oldest. She was educated in Missouri.

Having made an enviable record as a contractor in Missouri, Mr. Main in April, 1901, located permanently in Fresno, and first bought ten acres on Roeding Avenue, to which he added, until he now owns twenty acres, having in the meantime bought and sold several tracts. He built a ten-room residence of brick, designing it himself; and laid out a fine orchard. There he has Muir, Lovell and Elberta peaches.

Mr. Main is active in contracting and building, and also was a brick manufacturer. As a stockholder and foreman, he started the Fresno Brick and Tile Works ; he built up the plant and in ten months sold out and went back to contracting. He did the brick work on both the Republican Building and the Brewer residence, and also the old Fresno Bank and the Y. M. C. A. Building. He constructed the Rehorn residence, and put up the almshouse, also built many buildings in Visalia, Coalinga, Selma and other towns, in- cluding the Kutner Warehouse, the White Brick fruit store and many country

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packing houses and warehouses. He belongs to the California Peach Grow- ers, Inc., being a member and a stockholder; and is also a charter member of Fresno No. 1 International Union of Bricklayers.

Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Main: Alma is a graduate of the Fresno high school, and so is Fred ; the latter is also a graduate of Heald's Business College, and was deputy county clerk. He later served in a Machine Gun corps until mustered out, is now in the Supervisors' office in Fresno; Eva, who graduated from the Fresno high school, is Mrs. Sears and resides at Fresno. Eula is a graduate of the Fresno State Normal and is teaching school. Jeanette, a graduate of the Fresno high now with Rodin and Kamp, and Charles, and Nellie are in attendance at the high school, and William, the youngest, is just starting school.

For many years Mr. Main has been a member of the Odd Fellows; and he also belongs to the Woodmen of the World. In national politics he is a Democrat.

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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 90

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