History of Kern 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, Part 112

Author: Morgan, Wallace Melvin, 1868- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company
Number of Pages: 1682

USA > California > Kern County > History of Kern 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 > Part 112

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E. W. WALTERS .- A personal identification with Kern county cover- ing one-quarter of a century and a connection with ranching for twenty years of that period entitle Mr. Walters to rank among the pioneer farmers to whose optimistic labors, unwearied application and large-hearted devotion the county owes in large degree its high standing as an agricultural center. When eventually approaching age imposed its limitations upon his strength and necessitated his retirement from ranching he sold the farm that had been his home for twenty years and removed to Bakersfield, where he has bought lots, erected a number of cottages and now makes his home, having no labor more arduous than the supervision of the six houses he still owns. It is but natural that a man who fought under the stars and stripes during the Civil war and who has been a lifelong student of governmental problems, should maintain a patriotic interest in every movement bearing upon our national prosperity and continued development. Political economy has been studied by him for many years and has made him a Socialist.

In a family of seven sons (all now deceased excepting two) the fourth in order of birth, E. W. Walters was born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, Janu- ary 15, 1842, being a son of the late Isaac and Isabelle (Correll) Walters, natives of Ohio, where the mother remained until death. The father, who had followed the trade of blacksmith in the Buckeye state, removed to Illinois during 1858 and embarked in the mercantile business. The last years of his life were passed in Missouri and there his death occurred. At the time of the removal of the family to Illinois in 1858 E. W. Walters was a youth of sixteen years, rugged and energetic, well qualified to do a man's work in the breaking of new land and placing under cultivation of a farm. When twenty years of age he was accepted as a private in the Union army, becoming a member of Company H, Fifty-seventh Illinois Infantry, during August of 1862. With his regiment he marched to the front and bore an active part in the contest between north and south. His principal engagements were those at Resaca, Dallas, Snake Creek Gap, Peach Tree creek, Kenesaw moun- tain. Lovejoy Station and Atlanta. From beginning to end of the great march to the sea he was with the troops, enduring the hardships of forced marches, the fatigue of camp routine and the dangers of frequent skirmishes. On that march the most important battles in which he bore a part were at Golds- borough and Bentonville. As one of "Sherman's Greezers" he marched in the grand review at Washington, D. C., and from that city was ordered to Louis- ville, Ky., where in August of 1865 he was mustered out of the service. From there the regiment proceeded to Chicago, where he was honorably discharged.

A clerkship of about twelve months was followed by the marriage of Mr. Walters in November, 1866, and his removal to an Illinois farm. For twenty years he followed agriculture in that state, after which, from 1886 to 1888, he made his home in Creston, Iowa, and thence came to California in 1888, settled in Kern county, took up a homestead and began to transform the virgin soil into a productive ranch. The task was one of great difficulty. The arduous nature of the work might have daunted one less persevering than he, but in the end he had the satisfaction of owning an improved ranch, with neat residence, other substantial buildings, fences, fine stock, needed ma- chinery, etc., the property being one of the best in the San Emidio country. In 1908 he sold the ranch and came to Bakersfield. which has since been

Mary & Wallers E.W. Walters.

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

the home of himself and wife, the latter formerly Miss Mary E. Scott, and a native of Sistersville, Tyler county, WV. Va. Her father, John Scott, removed to Adams county and later to Hancock county. He and his wife, Mary E. Scott, both passed away in Illinois. Of the four sons and three daughters, two are living. Three of the sons served in Illinois regiments in the Civil war, two of them giving up their lives in battle. Mrs. Walters, next to the youngest of the children, was brought up in Illinois. To herself and husband six children were born, five of whom are living. Named in order of birth they are as follows: Mrs. Etta I. Allen, of Los Angeles; Frank A., a farmer at Lerdo; John R., an oil driller on the west side; Oscar E., who died in infancy; Thomas E., who served in a California regiment in the Spanish- American and Philippine war, and now employed in the Kern river oil field; and Raymond I., a plumber engaged in business in Bakersfield. For many years Mr. Walters has been connected with Hurlburt Post No. 126, G. A. R., while he also is identified with the blue lodge of Masonry. Mrs. Walters is a charter member of Hurlburt Relief Corps No. 115, W. R. C., and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

JOHN OLIVER HART .- Kern county, Cal., is particularly for- tunate in having a board of supervisors composed of men large in char- acter and in achievements. Prominent among these is John Oliver Hart, supervisor representing the third supervisorial district. Mr. Hart is a native of Kern county, a son of Joseph Bishop Hart, whose father, Joseph B., early located in Texas and came overland with ox-teams to California, through the Indian country, by way of Fort Yuma, to Elmonte, soon after 1850, accompanied by his son and other members of his family. Joseph Bishop Hart obtained his schooling at Elmonte and engaged in stock- raising and farming, operating for many years near Keene, Kern county. In 1897 he sold his land and located at East Bakersfield, where he is now living aged sixty-nine years. He was a pioneer at Tehachapi, where he engaged in farming, stockraising and freighting with ox-teams from Los Angeles across Tehachapi to Havilah. In the latter enterprise he was assisted by his brothers Aaron and Martin and sometimes by others. Once his outfit was attacked by Indians near Walker's Basin and his two brothers were killed, a companion named Dawson making his escape. Jo- seph Bishop Hart married Mary A. Finley, a native of Texas, who was brought to California while a child by her father, John Henry Finley. She grew up in Fresno county to be a true woman of the west, and bore her husband three sons and three daughters, of whom two sons and two daughters are living.

John Oliver Hart, the eldest, was born at Tehachapi, October 21, 1871, and obtained his education in the public schools. He early gained a prac- tical knowledge of the stock business, and after having assisted his father for some years, began to raise cattle in the mountains for himself. The brand he used was one which his father had established and was one of the early brands used in the county. It represented a heart with a yoke underneath, connected. In 1899 Mr. Hart settled in East Bakersfield, building his residence on Grove street, and he has since made his home there, giving attention meanwhile to his extensive stock interests. His stock range on the Kern river is one of the best in this part of the county. He has become well known to the business community as the local repre- sentative of the Union Hardware & Metal Company, the Associated Oil Company and Fairbanks, Morse & Co. Some of these relations have been maintained for twelve years. He was long foreman for the Asoociated Oil Company and severed his connection with Fairbanks, Morse & Co. only because of his election as supervisor of the third district, to which he was chosen as a Democrat in November, 1910. He took the oath of office, to serve four years, in January, 1911, and is making an enviable

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

record as an official, taking an active part in public improvements, such as road building. the building of the court house and the Kern river bridge and jail. Fraternally he affiliates with the Woodmen of the World, Eagles and the Order of Moose. As a citizen he has demonstrated his public spirit in many ways. He was married, at Tehachapi July 2, 1897, to Miss Carrie Roberts, daughter of Lewis and Nellie (Miller) Roberts, natives, respectively, of Canada and Vermont, both of whom are living in Globe, Ariz. She was born in Burlington, Vt., and accompanied her par- ents to Idaho in 1882 and thence came to California in 1896. Mr. and Mrs. Hart have four children, Lila, Nora, Agnes and John.

PETER PETERSEN .- A native of Denmark Mr. Petersen was born at Swenberg, on the Island of Fyen, May 23, 1879, being the second oldest of a family of twelve children born to Hans and Katrina (Hansen) Petersen. The father is a carpenter in his native place, but the mother is deceased.

Peter Petersen was educated in the public schools until fourteen years of age, when he began working at the carpenter's trade under his father, continuing with him until he was seventeen. In the meantime, having saved some money, he began attending the high school and after completing the course he entered the Government Dairy School at Joelland, working his way through school and graduating in 1902. He further perfected him- self as an engineer by taking a course at the Engineers' School in Odense, after which he became manager of a creamery at Skaro, Denmark. Having a desire to try his fortunes in California he came hither in 1906 and the first six months was an engineer with a gas well-borer near Stockton. He was then manager of a creamery in Oregon, later buttermaker at Layton, Cal., and later held a similar position in Fresno.

In 1911 Mr. Petersen came to McFarland and became manager of the McFarland Creamery Company, engaged in the manufacture of butter, and since then the company has taken first prize at the state fair for the best quality of butter in the state. The company is also engaged in the manu- facture of ice. Mr. Petersen owns twenty acres three-quarters of a mile west of MeFarland, where he has built his home and is engaged in intensified farming and the dairy business. He has two pumping plants yielding one hundred and twenty-five inches of water, not only supplying his own place with ample water for irrigation, but also sixty acres adjoining, all devoted to raising alfalfa. He has on the place a herd of sixteen cows, all full- blooded and high grade Holsteins.

Mr. Petersen was married in Denmark in 1906, being united with Miss Christene Willumsen, and they are the parents of one child. Harry. Having been reared in the Lutheran Church, he and his wife adhere to that faith.

ISAAC W. HARBAUGH .- Mr. Harbaugh was born in Washington county, Md., October 20, 1855, a son of Lewis F. and Anna (Hoffman) Harbaugh of old Maryland families. His grandfather, Alexander Har- baugh, served as a captain through the war of 1812. After he had completed the studies at the public schools Isaac W. Harbaugh entered a business col- lege in Baltimore and took a commercial course. Leaving college at the age of eighteen he began to work for his father and continued with him for three years, when he started out to earn his own way in the world. During 1877, he came to the west and became a resident of California, where for six years he was employed as a bookkeeper in a store in Mendocino county. Thence he went to Fresno to join his father, who had embarked in farm pursuits in that section of the state. In 1889 he came to Kern county and bought a quar- ter-section of unimproved land from the railroad company. The tract, which he still owns, lies twelve miles west of Bakersfield in the Rosedale district and in addition he owns one hundred and sixty acres between his home place and Rosedale, and he also owns property in Bakersfield. His quarter-section

P. Petersen

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

ranch is rented and he devotes his attention to the raising of alfalfa, grain and stock on his home place, where now he has seventy-five head of hogs, the same number of cattle and twelve head of horses. The success crowning his well- directed efforts has been enhanced by the unceasing co-operation of his wife, whom he married August 10, 1898, and who bore the maiden name of Cecelia Burr. She is a native daughter of the state, having been born in San Francisco, where her parents were early settlers. Her father, Charles H. Burr, served in the Seventh Battery Wisconsin Light Artillery during the Civil war, and he passed away October 27, 1911. Her mother was before her marriage Martha L. Cantrell, a native of the state of New York, and she now makes her home with Mrs. Harbaugh. The education of Mrs. Harbaugh was acquired in the public schools and the University of California, and she was engaged in teach- ing in Kern county until her marriage. There are two children in the family, Charles L. and Clarence Arthur, whose training for future usefulness in the world forms the chief ambition of Mr. Harbaugh and his capable wife. The father is interested in the cause of education and is clerk of the board of trus- tees of the Greeley school district. The family attends the Episcopal church of which Mrs. Harbaugh is a member.

GEORGE A. YANCEY .- Two miles south of the town proper of Bakersfield, Kern county, lies the improved and up-to-date farm of George A. Yancey, a farmer of prominence in the community, who has prospered well since his coming to California in 1897, at which time he became a permanent and loyal resident of the county, giving his support to all projects proposed for the advancement and development of his community.

William Yancey, father of George A., was born in Tennessee and was formerly a resident of Indiana, where in Benton county his son was born March 12, 1860. He married Maria Onesettler, born in Pennsylvania, and together they made their way to California in 1895, settling in the Weed Patch in Kern county. Inured to the hardships of pioneer life, they soon found themselves the owners of an improved and well-cultivated farm which they had acquired by their hard labors from the land in its wild state, and many happy days were spent there in the enjoyment of their well-earned prosperity. The father passed away in 1903, the mother, now at the age of seventy-two years, making her home at Glennville, Cal.

Receiving his primary education in his native county, George A. Yan- cey made his home in Indiana for many years, growing to manhood and developing splendid traits of character which his parents had instilled in him in their quiet, even home life. At the age of twenty-six he removed to Cass county, Mo., where he was married to Miss Sadie Bateman, a native of Coshocton county, Ohio, the daughter of Mathew and Martha (McFar- land) Bateman, who were natives of Ohio and Pennsylvania, respectively. She was reared in Cass county, Mo. Mr. and Mrs. Yancey became the parents of two children, Gertrude, who is now the wife of Bob Kincer, a farmer of Gosford; and John, who is at home with his parents. Mr. Yancey made his home in Missouri for many years, following the vocation of farmer, which has been his life work. His interest had ever been turned toward the west and with the thorough understanding of a farmer as to the exceptional conditions of the fertile soil and the climate in California. he decided in 1897 to follow his parents to Kern county, where upon arrival he purchased his present forty-acre farm on Union avenue and Brundage lane, just two miles south of the town of Bakersfield. Building house and barns, he set out to improve this land and such has been his success that today he is the owner of one of the best producing and generally well-kept farms in the vicinity devoted principally to alfalfa. His wife is also the owner of twenty acres of land on Union avenue, which tract is situated six miles south of Bakersfield and is a select piece of property. A Democrat in political matters, Mr. Yancey is well versed in party affairs and is alive

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to all questions of importance concerning his party's welfare. He unites fraternally with the Modern Woodmen and Mrs. Yancey is a member of the Congregational church.

AGUSTIN SANZBERRO .- The exercise of judicious foresight and care- ful management, supplementing perseverance and untiring industry, has enabled Mr. Sanzberro to achieve independence while yet a young man and within a comparatively brief period from the time of his arrival in California, a stranger in a strange land, unfamiliar with the soil of the country. Only a few years have elapsed since he purchased his present well-improved farm nine miles northwest of Bakersfield. At the time of buying the tract of one hundred and sixty acres, no improvements had been put on the property and the possibilities of the soil were little known. Under his keen over- sight and wise judgment as to cultivation, large crops of alfalfa are annually cut and fed or sold. Irrigation is provided by means of the Beardsley canal. Combined with or supplementary to the making of hay, the owner of the ranch devotes much time to the sheep business, in which indeed he has been more or less interested from boyhood and in which his experience, skill and expertness are unquestioned by those standing at the head of the business in the county.

Born in the village of Bastan, Navarra, April 2, 1878, Agustin Sanzberro is a son of Julian, a farmer, and was reared on the old home farm, giving his time to the aid of his father until he had reached the age of twenty. Mean- while a brother, Marcos, had preceded him to California and the reports he sent back induced the younger brother to join him in Kern county, where he arrived in February of 1898, ready to earn a livelihood as a herder of sheep. Starting out from East Bakersfield, he gave his attention to the care of the flock of his brother and ranged the sheep on the plains to the north- east. After five years as a herder he bought a flock of his own and started in business for himself, making his headquarters in Mono county, where he found an abundance of feed and water. Even when he bought his present farm in 1909 he did not relinquish his interests in sheep. but still owns a flock and finds their care neither laborious nor unprofitable. However, he no longer travels with the flocks over the ranges, but since his marriage in 1910 to Miss Catherine Etchart, of East Bakersfield, a native of Basses-Pyrenees, he has remained on the home farm, devoting himself earnestly to its care, cultivation and improvement. With his wife he holds membership in St. Joseph's Catholic Church at Fast Bakersfield. Politically he is a Republican.

D. B. COOK .- Experience in various lines of work in various parts of the east did not prove profitable to Mr. Cook, who dates the beginning of his prosperity from the time of his removal to California. By birth and lincage he is a Virginian, identified with that part of the Old Dominion that during the Civil war remained true to the Union and resulted in the erection of a new commonwealth. West Virginia. Born in Rowlesburg, Preston county, in October of 1856, he is a son of the late Isaac Cook, likewise a native of Preston county and long a resident of that locality. During 1860 he crossed the Ohio river into Ohio and settled in Washington county, where he engaged in farming for a long period, ultimately, however, removing to Michigan to spend his declining days Since his demise the widow, who bore the maiden name of Alcinda Newman, has made Chicago her home. Of their thirteen chil- dren only five are now living, the next to the eldest being D. B., whose birth occurred in the decade prior to the Civil war and whose memories therefore include the privations incident to that period. The migration of the family to Michigan, in the hope that better fortune awaited them in a newer country remote from the scenes of the war, caused him to earn his livelihood during youth as a worker in the northern lumber woods. Having learned the trade of a blacksmith, he followed that occupation in Kansas and for a time

agustin Sanzberro

Mra agustín Sanz Herra

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

conducted a shop of his own at Seward, with, however, very little profit from the undertaking.

From Kansas to Ohio and from blacksmithing to lumbering represented the next change in the life of Mr. Cook, who later spent some time in lum- bering in Preston county, W. Va., thence going to the city of Washington and from there to Lewinsville, Va. It was the next move that brought him to California and to Kern county, where he has made his home since 1903. Arriving here with little means, he secured employment as a pumper in the Kern river oil fields. Later he filled a similar position at McKittrick, where he soon embarked in the butcher's trade and also carried on an hotel. Mcan- time in 1905 he had bought a tract of land six and one-half miles northwest of Bakersfield, under the Beardsley ditch. This he leased to tenants for three years, but in 1908 sold out his business interests and settled on the place, where he since has engaged in raising alfalfa. The forty acres are in the highest possible state of cultivation. Large crops of alfalfa are harvested and sold and the owner has found the investment a profitable one. While living at Mc- Kittrick he held membership with the Improved Order of Red Men.

G. F. STROBLE .- A citizen who conscientiously devotes himself, his abil- ity and his high integrity to the public service is richly worthy of all the honor that can possibly come to him. To hold an office is at the best an unsatisfac- tory task, unsatisfactory at least to the incumbent. However well he may do there will always be persons who will censure him; but there are a few officials who, like G. F. Stroble, constable of the third judicial township of Kern county, Cal., win almost universal approval. Mr. Stroble was born near Burgettstown, Washington county, Pa., February 3, 1862, a son of Frederick and Elizabeth Stroble, who were of German birth. The father, a native of Wurtemberg, became a miner in Pennsylvania and later in West Virginia and was eventually killed by an accident while at work. His widow died at Steubenville, Ohio, December 8, 1910, in her eighty-fifth year. They were the parents of three sons and one daughter, all of whom are living. John Frank's home is near Steubenville, Ohio. Charles lives in Idaho and Fredericka is Mrs. Ahrns, of Washington county, Pa. G. F. lived at St. Mary's, W. Va .. until he was thirteen years old, then returned to Washington county, Pa., where he was educated in public schools. He farmed there until 1888, or until about twenty-six years old. It was in that year that he came to Kern county, Cal., and entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Com- pany as fireman, running on trains between Kern and Tehachapi. In 1894 he was elected constable to the third judicial township and in January, 1895, entered upon the duties and responsibilities of his office. In 1898 he was re-elected as an Independent and received a plurality of votes over two regu- larly nominated opponents. In 1902 he was re-elected on the Republican ticket by a good majority, and again in 1906. In 1910 he was re-elected over opposing nominees of both parties, and if he lives will serve until January, 1915, a period of twenty years from the time he entered upon his first term. The fact that he has been so many times re-elected is sufficient evidence not alone of his popularity, but of the obligation under which he has put the people of his district. He was for nine years a member of the library board of Kern City and seven years of that time was its chairman until the con- solidation of that institution with the Beale library. Having prospered. perhaps not as he has deserved, but in a satisfactory degree, he has acquired considerable valuable residence property and in 1911 erected a large resi- dence at No. 714 Kentucky street. In May, 1913, he and Judge Marion sold the corner of O and Baker streets, 150 x 135 feet, which they had owned and improved jointly, to the city of Bakersfield for the site of the new library building in East Bakersfield.

As a citizen Mr. Stroble has always been public-spirited and helpful to

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all worthy interests. He is influential in local Republican councils and is a member of the Lutheran Church. He was made a Mason in Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M., affiliates with Bakersfield Lodge No. 266, B. P. O. E., and the Knights of Pythias. He married at Fresno, October 4, 1891, Miss Maggie Emma Garrett, a native of Tennessee, and they have two children, Vance and Georgie. Mrs. Stroble is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, a Pythian Sister, and is past matron of Bakersfield Chapter, O. E. S.

HERMAN S. DUMBLE .- Comparatively few of the men now active in the business affairs of Kern county can claim this as their native place, but such is the distinction enjoyed by Herman S. Dumble, whose birth occurred December 13, 1868. at Havilah, then the county seat. The family had been established in the west by his father, E. H. Dumble, a native of Chambersburg, Pa., and a pioneer of the '50s in California, who after having crossed the plains with wagons and oxen engaged in mining in the Sierras and along the Kern river. For some years he conducted a general store at Havilah, but later he engaged in the mercantile business at Los Angeles, returning to Kern county about 1874 and settling at Bakersfield, whither the county seat had been taken in accordance with the popular vote. Near town he began to improve an alfalfa and fruit farm. By his success in growing the first lemons and oranges in Kern county he proved that it was possible to raise citrus fruits here. Too much credit cannot be given him for his participation in the progress of horticultural activities. Believ- ing that the soil and climate equalled those of more widely advertised regions, he undertook to prove his theory by actual experiment and thus accomplished work of inestimable value to the county. When Kern and Kings counties were still a part of Tulare he held the office of assessor. As a pioneer he labored for the advancement of his chosen locality and when he died in 1903 many tributes of respect gave evidence of his high citizenship and the appreciation in which his services were held. After he came west he married Drusilla Skiles, who was born in Texas, came to California during the early '50s via the southern route and died at Bakersfield during 1881. The trip to the coast had been made with her father, who first settled at El Monte and later cultivated a part of the John Wolfskill ranch near the present site of Sawtelle, but eventually removed to Kern Island and engaged in general farming throughout his remaining years.

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History of Kern 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, Part 112

Author: Morgan, Wallace Melvin, 1868- [from old catalog] Publication date: 1914 Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company Number of Pages: 1682

Author: Morgan, Wallace Melvin, 1868- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company
Number of Pages: 1682