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 68

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 68

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When a little less than nine years of age Francis MI. Carlock crossed the plains with his parents and he recalls vividly his anxiety on account of the close proximity of the Indians. Their depredations among other emigrants were recounted frequently and caused him great concern as to their own safety, but the end came in due time and without any attacks from the savages. While he had limited opportunities to attend school he yet acquired an excellent education. After clerking a time at Ft. Jones, Siskiyou county, he entered Heald's Business College in San Francisco, from which he grad- uated in 1868. Returning to Siskiyou county he became head bookkeeper for his brother, A. B., in a mercantile business at Ft. Jones some distance from the railroad and near the mountains. During 1871 he went to Portland, Ore., and for a year was connected with a mercantile business, but in 1872 returned to California and became a pioneer of Bakersfield. The first resi- dence in what is now East Bakersfield was built by him in 1874 and he also started in the lumber business there, but in a short time he moved his yards to what is now the corner of Chester avenue and Eighteenth street. Bakersfield. This was the first lumber yard in the town and for some time he carried on the business, but in 1889 the fire completely destroyed his yards and material, after which he did not resume the business. Altogether he was burned out three times and on two occasions, notwithstanding the fact that he had sustained a total loss, he rebuilt. From the time of his arrival in the city until 1904 he also engaged in the transfer business, eventually selling out and retiring from business activities. For thirty-two years his dray-teams were to be seen upon the streets.

Since his retirement from the transfer business Mr. Carlock has given his attention to looking after his varied interests. In East Bakersfield he has held valuable property, including a residence on the corner of Kern and

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Humboldt streets and four stores. It is his intention to improve some of the vacant property he now owns. Some years ago he built the Overland stables on Eighteenth street and in 1888 erected a residence at No. 1623 H street, both of which he still owns. From its organization he has been interested in the Superior Oil Company operating at Maricopa and in addition he owns stock in the Sunset Security Oil Company in the Sunset field. In politics he always has supported the Republican party. As early as 1865 he became associated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Fort Jones, Sis- 'kiyou county, and in 1876 he identified himself with the lodge at Bakersfield, of which he since has been an honored member and which now he serves as financial secretary. May 1, 1870, at Fort Jones, Siskiyou county, he married Miss Emma E. Tucker, who was born at Milton, Pike county, Ill., and during 1865 came across the plains by ox teams with her father, Walter W. Tucker, a Kentuckian by birth. After a six-months trip they first settled in Marion county, Ore., but later came to California. The Tucker family were devoted adherents of the Christian Church and Mrs. Carlock is a firm believer in that faith, aiding in the charities and missionary movements of the church to the extent of her means. Of her marriage seven children were born, but a heavy bereavement came in the loss by death of four of the number. Warren and Edmund R. were still in their infancy when taken from the home, the former being only two months old. The eldest of the family circle, Charles C., died in Bakersfield in 1904, and the youngest, Inez, wife of Duncan McLennan, passed away May 12, 1911. at the family residence in this city. Harriet E. and Howard W. reside in Bakersfield, the latter being engaged in a livery business here, while Iva, Mrs. Haves, makes her home at Healdsburg, this state. The latter's daughter, Azalea, took the prize as a child orator when nine years of age. The Carlock family are of German descent and migrated in 1816 to Virginia, where members of the family still reside and where in 1916 there will be a home-coming and gathering of their descendants from the different parts of the Union.

JOHN LEWIS WASSON .- John Lewis Wasson was born near Pleas- ant Grove, Des Moines county, Iowa, April 7, 1844, and was the son of John and Ruth (Sherwood) Wasson. The parents were natives of Sandusky, Ohio, and were early settlers of Des Moines county, lowa, where they died of cholera in 1849. Of their six children John L. is the third in order of birth and the only one now living.

After his parents' death Mr. Wasson went to live on his Grandfather Wasson's farm in the same county, receiving his education in the public schools. In 1864 he crossed the plains with an ox-team to Oregon, where he was employed until 1868. He then came to Stanislaus county, remaining until 1871. when he returned to his old home in lowa. While there he was married, February 7, 1872, being united with Miss Sarah E. Wilhite, who was born in Washington, lowa. Her father, E. K. Wilhite, a native of Ohio, was married in that state to Sarah Carr and removed to Washington, Iowa.

In 1873 John Wasson with his young wife came to Hanford, Cal., located a homestead of eighty acres in Mussel Slough and proved up on it. In 1883 he sold this place. From 1885 to 1887 he farmed on White river, Tulare county. Being entitled to another eighty acres of homestead land, in 1887 he located eighty acres one-half mile west of Delano, which he has im- proved and where he now makes his home. For many years he was engaged in raising grain on the plains, but now he devotes his land to raising alfalfa. having improved it with a well, pumping plant and reservoir.

Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Wasson there are six children : Ida Bell, Mrs. Merrill, Lucy May, Mrs. Johnson, Nettie Martha, Mrs. George Small, all of Delano: Martin resides in Monmouth, Ore .; Grover is assisting his father on the home ranch and Minnie is unmarried. Always interested in

Pierre Sartiat

Louise

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Partiat

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

the cause of education Mr. Wasson has been active in building up schools in the different localities where he has lived and is at present a member of of the board of school trustees of Delano district. In his political views he is strongly Democratic.

PIERRE SARTIAT .- His parents, Jean and Mary ( Lassalle) Sartiat, were natives of Basses-Pyrenees in the south of France and spent their entire lives in that district, where the father carried on a small farm and to some ex- tent engaged in raising stock. The old homestead was in the village of Escot and there occurred the birth of Pierre Sartiat November 5, 1852. He was the youngest of three children. A brother, Bernard, about four years older than himself, came to America in 1871, settled in California and after his own arrival in 1872. the two pre-empted land in the mountainous district of Kern county, bought a flock of sheep in partnership and thus started the large agricultural operations that since have made them financially independent.

Upon coming to this country in 1872 and joining his older brother in Kern county, Pierre Sartiat found employment with a sheep-raiser in the Cummings valley. For two years he continued in the same employment and then left to start a flock of his own, beginning in the sheep business and in farm pursuits with his brother and taking up a homestead in the San Emidio district. From time to time they bought property near to their original pre-emption. At this writing they own five thousand acres in one body, lying in the shadow of the San Emidio range. and watered by Salt creek. Cacuya creek and numerous springs. The ranch is one of the best improved in that section of the county. The sheep industry by no means represents the limit of the activities of the brothers, who also are now engaged in raising horses and Durham cattle and use for their brand the letters SB. Grain is raised in large quantities upon the ranch. Horticulture gives diversi- fied products and greatly adds to the income from the property, a specialty being made of apples. pears and peaches. Another occupation of importance is viticulture. To care for the grapes in the most profitable manner a winery has been built on the ranch. Some years ago a mine was opened on the land which is known as the Black Bob and in connection therewith a substantial two-stamp quartz mill has been erected. A part of the land is now being developed for oil and at present drilling is being actively prosecuted.

The marriage of Pierre Sartiat took place in East Bakersfield June 19. 1890. and united him with Miss Mary Louisa Octavie Richaud, who was born at Pont-du-Fossé near Gap. Hautes Alpes, France, and came to Kern county in the fall of 1887. She was a graduate of the Female Seminary in Gap and after teaching four years obtained a leave of absence to visit California and she liked it so well she remained. An only son, Pierre Bernard, was born in Bakersfield April 13, 1892. He was educated in the public schools and at Heald's Business College, San Francisco, and is now manager of the National Hotel. In Los Angeles, in 1911, he was married to Alice Jonglard. The family own and occupy a residence at No. 510 K street. East Bakersfield. In addition the two brothers built and still own the National hotel, on the corner of Baker and Humboldt streets, East Bakersfield. Mr. Sartiat is a Republican and a member of the Eagles. Concerning the early years of his identification with the county he recounts many interesting experiences, not the least memorable of which has to do with a stranger who stopped one evening at his sheep camp in the mountains and asked for food and lodging. With the kindness and hospitality ever characteristic of him, Mr. Sartiat will- ingly kept him over night, only to ascertain after the stranger had departed the following day that all unaware he had entertained the notorious Vasquez.

LEVI ERWIN FOUST .- In its varied departments of activity the As- sociated Oil Company has brought into its service many young men of ca- pability and intelligence, who, finding in the development of its holdings an

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adequate outlet for their energies, are acquiring meanwhile so thorough a knowledge of the oil industry as to give weight to their influence and value to their opinions concerning any lease. The energies of Mr. Foust have been concentrated upon the rig-building and house-carpentering of the great corporation in the Midway division.

A member of a pioneer Iowa family and himself a native of the vicinity of Des Moines, born July 20, 1885, Mr. Foust is the youngest among the four children of A. J. and Electra L. (Bishop) Foust, natives of Iowa and farmers of that state. During 1888 the family removed to California and settled in Kern county, where the father took up agricultural pursuits and where he still owns a farm adjacent to East Bakersfield. The maternal grandfather, Levi Bishop, was a soldier in an Iowa regiment during the Civil war and fought on the side of the Union with courage and devotion. At the time of the removal of the family to the west Mr. Foust was a child only three years. Hence his education was obtained in the schools of Kern county. By study and observation he has become a man of broad informa- tion. At the age of seventeen, during the spring of 1903, he became an em- ploye of the Associated Oil Company on its San Joaquin division in the Kern river field.

After he had been in charge of the rig-building gang in that division for a time, in 1908 MIr. Foust was transferred to McKittrick as foreman of rig- building and house-carpentering. The year 1910 found him engaged in a similar capacity in the Midway division, where he has filled the same re- sponsible position ever since, discharging his duties with alertness and energy. Politically he is a Republican. In Bakersfield he was married to Miss Christine Church, a native of San Luis Obispo, this state. Two daugh- ters comprise their family, Dorthy Evelyn and Ellen Loraine.

BELLAMY KOSSUTH SAID .- The president of the Kern County Pioneer Society dates his first association with the county from February of 1873 and his residence in California from 1852, when he was brought across the plains by his parents, Elkanah and Jane ( Hayden) Said, natives respec- tively of Kentucky and Missouri. The eldest in a family comprising five chil- dren, three of whom are now living, he was born at Shullsburg, Lafayette county, Wis., July 22, 1848. For some years the father engaged in lead min- ing in Southern Wisconsin. In 1848 he went to Panama, where he was at the time of the gold discovery in California. He immediately came to San Fran- cisco, landing in 1849, and after spending some time in the mines he returned to Wisconsin. In 1852 he brought his wife and children to California, cross- ing the plains with ox and horse teams, and settled in Sierra county, where he mined for gold with more or less success. When rumors came concerning the discovery of gold at Virginia City he traveled on foot over the mountains in company with John W. Mackey, another adventurous Argonaut. Later he visited other camps at the times of great mining excitement and he continued to follow the occupation until his death, which occurred in Eldorado county. The death of his wife occurred at Bodie, Mono county, Cal. Their eldest child, Bellamy Kossuth, was four years of age at the time of the removal to California, hence his education was obtained wholly in the west. After he had completed the studies of the common schools he attended Santa Clara College and later was a student at Gates Institute, San Jose. The first occu- pation to which he devoted himself was that of clerking.

Upon his arrival in Kern county Mr. Said secured a tract of government land sixteen miles west of Bakersfield under what is now the Pioneer ditch, which improvement he helped to survey and build. Later he bought a tract of one hundred and sixty acres adjacent to his original claim. In addition he managed claims owned by his mother and uncle, so that altogether he had charge of a whole section of land under the Pioneer ditch. The possi-

Bellamy Kossuth Said

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bility of irrigation in abundance led him into the alfalfa business and for some time he made this his principal crop, although he also engaged in general farming and horticulture. On leaving the ranch he spent two years in Mono county, whence he came to Bakersfield and has since devoted his time to the supervision of his property interests, although for six years he was in business in the Kern River oil fields and for some years he also acted as the head bookkeeper for the Union Oil Company at their refining plant. Near Cordelia, Solano county, he was united in marriage with Miss Bertha C. Morrison, who was born at Downieville, Sierra county, Cal. She graduated from the San Jose State Normal and prior to her marriage followed teaching. She died at Berkeley, September 27, 1910. Very early in the colonization of the west her father, J. Z. Morrison, came across the plains and settled in California, where he still lives, owning and operating a farm in Solano county. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Said comprise four children, namely : Kinney M., a resident of Arizona; Mark E. and Ethel M., students in the University of California at Berkeley, and Harry B., a pupil in the Kern county high school. The Congregational denomination has had the active co-operation and gener- ous assistance of Mr. Said for many years and in the church of that faith at Bakersfield he not only officiates as a deacon, but in addition has been active and helpful in the Sunday school work.

J. H. CROFT .- The fact that he has reached a position of influence and importance in the oil business may be attributed to the energy which Mr. Croft has thrown into every task since first at the age of twelve years, or- phaned by the death of his father, he took up the battle of self-support. The hardships that followed the dark period of facing the world alone were met with a courage and cheerfulness that never deserted him and that laid the foundation for a later gratifying degree of success. After an extended ex- perience in the oil fields of various states, he came to California in 1908 and during September, 1912, arrived in the Sunset field to engage as drilling fore- man on the North Midway leases of the Kern Trading & Oil Company, with which great corporation he still is connected as head driller, filling with char- acteristic fidelity and intelligence a position of importance and showing in his work an intimate acquaintance with both the production and operating departments of the oil business.

A son of Christian Croft, a native of Ohio and a farmer by occupation, J. H. Croft was born at St. Marys, Auglaize county, Ohio, in 1882 and passed the years of childhood on the home farm. After the death of his father in 1894 he began to work as a farm hand, in this way earning his board and clothes, but having little opportunity for attending school. At the age of sixteen he had his first experience in the oil industry. The fields at Lima, Ohio, afforded him an opportunity to gain a livelihood as a roust- about. Little by little he rose to positions of importance. As a tool-dresser he received good wages and from that he advanced to be a driller in the gas fields of Marion, Grant county, Ind., where he remained for five years. Going to Kansas, he engaged in drilling at Independence, from which place he went to the new oil fields at Dewey, Okla., to engage in drilling wells. When he came to California in 1908 he secured employment as a driller at Coalinga with the Associated Oil Company, but five months later changed to the en- ploy of the Kern Trading & Oil Company in its Coalinga division. During the fall of 1912 the company sent him to the Sunset field, where since he has engaged as head driller of the North Midway leases. While engaged in the oil business in Oklahoma he married at Bartlesville, that state, Miss Lena Warren, a native of Waynesfield, Auglaize county, Ohio, and an earnest mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church. By the marriage there is one son, Robert. In Oklahoma Mr. Croft joined Bartlesville Lodge No. 1060, B. P. O. F.

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MRS. PAULINE DARNUL PETRAY .- The hardships of pioneer existence in California form a remote but distinct background in the memories of Mrs. Petray, whose busy life has been crowded with useful activities and crowned with the honors always accorded to women of intel- ligence, industry and inherent kindliness of spirit. When her parents, Cook B. and Elizabeth (Shinn) Darnul, removed from her native county of Pope in Arkansas and sought the larger opportunities of the west, she was brought with the other children to the then little known land of California. At the expiration of an overland trip that consumed five tedious months, the family arrived in Calaveras county and entered upon the difficult task of securing a home and profitable work in a frontier environment. Schools were few and widely scattered in those days and it was not possible for her to secure a broad, thorough education, but she found an abundance of work in the home. At an early age she became adept in the culinary art and this accomplishment she has in no wise forgotten; on the other hand, she is still numbered among the most efficient housekeepers and skilled cooks in her neighborhood. While yet a young girl she became the wife of Robert Bowen, whom in 1870 she accompanied to Linn's valley in Kern county.

A claim of one hundred and sixty acres was homesteaded in the upper end of the valley and there Mr. and Mrs. Bowen labored with indefatigable earnestness to earn a livelihood and improve a farm. There were two chil- dren born of this union : the oldest, a daughter, Alice, passed away in 1891. at the age of twenty-three years: the son, Robert A. Bowen, a native- born son of California, is now engaged in general farming south of Bakers- field. Upon the sale of the claim the old Hughes farm on Poso creek was bought and occupied and until his death, which occurred on that ranch, Mr. Bowen devoted himself to the care and cultivation of the two hundred and forty acres comprising the tract. After the death of Mr. Bowen his widow spent some time in Healdsburg and there she was united in mar- riage with R. A. Petray, whose death occurred some years later in the same city. Since her return to Linn's valley she has made her home prin- cipally with her brother. J. J. Darnul, over whose ranch house she pre- sides with unbounded hospitality and unfailing energy. Besides owning a residence at White River she still owns a valuable farm, which is leased.

EDWARD T. McMAHON .- As division superintendent Mr. McMahon's field extends to the Sigma pumping station in the Sunset field, and to the Midway pumping station in the Midway field, including also the pumping of all the water used on the various leaseholds. The water is pumped from wells at the Rio Bravo pumping station near Lake Buena Vista in Kern county. From the two oil pumping stations the oil is sent on its way from the Mid- way and Sunset fields to the storage tanks at Point Richmond. That an immense amount of oil can be cared for and disposed of promptly is evident from the fact that the pumps on section 1, township 32, range 23, have a capacity of three thousand barrels per hour. The equipment is the most modern and in every branch of the pipe line department, skill, great expense and large results are apparent.

The division superintendent is a New Yorker by birth and was born at Ellicottville, Cattaraugus county, July 3, 1876. From early life he has been familiar with the oil industry. At the age of twenty he secured employment as a tool-dresser with the Northwestern Gas Company in the Findlay field in Hancock county, Ohio, where he remained for two years. Chance turned him from the oil business into structural iron work. As an employe of the Pittsburg Construction Company he helped to build bridges on the Nickel Plate and New York Central railroads. In addition he was employed in the construction of the American radiator works in Buffalo and the Kingsford

Pauline Darnul, Petray.

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boiler works at Oswego. For five years he followed the structural iron trade, and during that period he married Miss Mary Murray, of Ellicottville, N. Y., of which union there is now one son, Edward J.

Re-entering the oil industry about 1903, Mr. McMahon engaged with the East Ohio Gas Company as an employe of its distribution department. Much of his work was in connection with the laying of mains in Cleveland, Ohio, where he was promoted to be pipe line foreman. After six years with the gas and oil business in Ohio, in 1909, he came to California, arriving in the Midway field during March and immediately beginning work as field foreman with the Standard. When oil was discovered it was his duty to connect the lease with the main line of the Standard and from that work developed the pipe line department, of which since October, 1912, he has been division superintendent. Since coming to this post of duty he has estab- lished a home for his family on section 1, township 32, range 23, at the Mid- way station of the Standard. With his wife he belongs to the Roman Catho- lic Church at Taft.

THOMAS L. CUMMINS. - Discouragements neither few nor small have been met by Mr. Cummins since the time when, a boy of nine years, lie began to earn his livelihood by driving a team and doing other farm work on his father's place in Illinois. More than once he has made a grati- fying start in business or occupative tasks, only to have the fruits of his labors destroyed, but each time he has started with undiminished optimism and since coming to Bakersfield in 1904 he has been gratified by continued prosperity represented by a large and important building business. Previous experience liad given him a thorough knowledge of carpentering.

In a family of eight children, all but one of whom are still living, the third in order of birth, Thomas L. Cummins, was born at Shelbyville, Ind., June 13, 1864, and at the age of less than one year was taken to lowa by his parents, William L. and Edna (Short) Cummins, natives respectively of Ohio and New York. The paternal grandfather, Jesse Cummins, a native of Ohio, developed farms successively in Indiana, Illinois and Iowa and rep- resented the hardy class of frontiersmen whose efforts laid the foundation of the remarkable agricultural development of the middle west. During the early part of the Civil war William L. Cummins served as a private in an Indiana regiment, but upon receiving an honorable discharge at the expira- tion of his time he returned to farm pursuits, removing in 1864 with his fam- ily to Wayne county, Iowa. In 1873 he made another move, this time set- tling on an Illinois farm, and about 1879 he took up a homestead in Sumner county, Kan., near the town of Wellington. The last move of his life took him to Los Angeles in 1883, and his death occurred there in the same year. His widow, now eighty years and still active, makes her home in Bakersfield.

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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 68

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