History of Sacramento 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, 1923, Part 103

Author: Reed, G. Walter
Publication date: 1923
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1026

USA > California > Sacramento County > History of Sacramento 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, 1923 > Part 103

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LEONARD W. ESKRIDGE .- Among the leading agriculturists in the vicinity of Sacramento is Leonard IV. Eskridge, who for twenty-eight years has been actively engaged in the great work of reclaiming a portion of the "arid zone" of Sacramento County. He was born in Sacramento, August 29, 1870, the youngest son of Alexander W. and Elizabeth A. (Zumwalt) Eskridge. Alexander W. Eskridge was born in Virginia in 1829 and was bereaved of his parents at an early age; at seven years of age he was bound out to a family in New York and was taught the trade of cabinet maker. When he grew to young manhood he was one of a party of five young men who went to Illinois; from there they organized a party to cross the plains, driving 150 head of stock, which they . traded en route. Late in the fall of 1849, they arrived in California and Alexander W. Eskridge mined on the Cosumnes River for a time, but soon gave it up for the more substantial industry of farm- ing on land now known as the Taylor place. In 1851 he erected buildings which are still standing; he also built many homes for the settlers who came to Cosumne during the fifties.

Alexander W. Eskridge next located at Knight's Landing in Yolo County, where he became an ex- tensive wheat raiser; later he removed to Sacramento, where he was a general contractor and builder, spe- cializing in fine interior finish; he did the interior woodwork of the state capitol building and many of the fine residences of Sacramento; he gave his time and the material for the fence around the Kilgore Cemetery, which is still standing. He was a charter member of the Sacramento Lodge of Odd Fellows, and in politics was a Republican. He passed away September 20, 1908, survived by his wife and three children: Mrs. E. H. Tryon, a widow who has one son, Loren H. Tryon of San Francisco; C. J. Esk- ridge who is married and has two children and re- sides in Eldorado County; and Leonard W., of this review.

Leonard W. Eskridge was reared in the family home in Sacramento and there attended school until he was fifteen years of age; then he left home to seek his fortune. He stopped at Portland, Ore., where he was employed on the stock ranch of David Cole and in the meantime learned the plumber's trade. While in the employ of David Cole he learned to ride the range and his experience along this line extended from the Canadian border to Old Mexico; at one time while in Portland he was employed under Joseph Werter of the United States secret service during the Dunbar, Blum and Laton exposure.

The marriage of Mr. Eskridge united him with Miss Martha Wilke, a native of Pennsylvania, a daughter of the late Charles Wilke, whose sketch will be found in this history. Twenty-eight years

ago, Mr. and Mrs. Eskridge located on their ranch of ten acres on the M Street Road where they first engaged in the dairy and poultry business, but later developed a fine orchard; they conduct a successful hatchery on their ranch. For eleven years Mr. Esk- ridge has conducted the poultry department at the state fair; for one year he served as director of the Central California Poultry Producers' Association and his work for the benefit of the poultrymen of Sacramento County has been productive of much good.

FRED ELLSWORTH AWALT .- A civil engin- eer of exceptional experience and accomplishment is Fred Ellsworth Awalt, the general superintendent of field operations of the Natomas Company and Rec- lamation District No. 1000. He was born in Han- ford, Kings County, on September 10, 1885, the son of Frank Marion and Belle May (McCann) Awalt, the latter a native of San Francisco. Frank M. Awalt accompanied his parents across the great plains in an ox-team train, with covered wagons, in the early days, his folks locating near Hanford. He grew up there, a pioneer rancher in the sense that 640 acres were developed out of a wild and raw coun- try; and he engaged in grain- and stock-raising on an extensive scale. As such a pioneer, he could recall the Mussel Slough tragedy, so notable in early Hanford history, having known well the participants. The family moved to Santa Cruz, in 1888, to reside, but in the meantime the parents were identified as ranchers with Hanford and vicinity.

The second eldest in a family of four children, Fred Awalt attended and was graduated from the Santa Cruz high school, in 1902, and then he put in some time at Stanford, as an electrical engineer. Fin- ishing his studies here, he left school, to hire out as an employee of the Sunset Telephone Company at Palo Alto, as an outside man on a construction crew: and he was an inspector for twelve months in Palo Alto. He became foreman of the maintenance de- partment of the Sunset Telephone Company in the San Mateo-Burlingame district; and from 1906 to 1908 he was superintendent of construction of the present underground system at San Jose, having a crew of fifty men under his supervision. On the completion of this job, he was transferred to Contra Costa County as superintendent of construction of the telephone system at Port Richmond, and installed the Union Oil Company's telephone system at Oleum; and from 1909 to 1910 he was electrical engineer with the Port- land Cement Company at Santa Cruz, in charge of construction. In 1911, he took up the superintendency of construction at Livermore for the Water & Power Company there, prior to that company's being ac- quired by the Pacific Gas and Electric Company. From 1912 to 1914, Mr. Awalt was superintendent of the entire construction in reclamation of districts No. 900, 999, and 847, including over 11,000 acres, all rich delta in the Sacramento Valley.

In 1915, our subject came to the Natomas Reclama- tion Districts No. 1000 and 1001 as electrical engineer. and since 1917 he has been general superintendent of construction here, this time constructing and main- taining the engineering work on the 60.000 acres of District No. 1000. He has resided part of the time in Sacramento, and for the most part since 1921 in the district. He has recently become vice-president of the Sacramento Valley Construction Company, in

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY

partnership with R. G. Clifford, and they are doing contract irrigation development throughout northern California. He spent the carly six months of 1903 in the Panama Canal zone, during the construction of the Mira Flores locks, and he has since then also twice visited the canal zone. He is a member of the American Association of Engineers, and also of the National Exchange Club of Sacramento, and is a Republican. He recalls some interesting experiences as a naval militia man at Santa Cruz.

On May 9, 1907, Mr. Awalt was married to Miss Olive M. Sanderson, the daughter of Captain Mat- thew Sanderson, a native of England. He was a sea captain, long in charge of merchant ships; and on retiring, he came out to America and California, and settled at Livermore, where he built the town hall and engaged in other building by contract. The Captain was the father of eight children, all born in Livermore. Mr. and Mrs. Awalt have a son, Francis Marion, born at Livermore, on February 16, 1908. On his father's side, Mr. Awalt's ancestry is German; 011 his mother's, Irish. Grandmother McCann Brown is still residing at Hanford, at the good old age of ninety-six.

JOHN SCHENK .- Since 1891 John Schenk has been a resident of California, and the greater part of the thirty-two years has been spent in Sacramento and in many substantial ways he has assisted in its upbuilding and progress. He was born in Milwaukee, Wis., May 29, 1857, the youngest son of five children born to John and Mary Ann (Metzler) Schenk, both natives of Germany. The father passed away when our subject was one year and fifteen days old.

It was a hard task to rear five children, so John was obliged to go to work when only twelve years of age to help support the family. In 1869, the fam- ily removed to Racine, Wis., where the eldest son, Charles, was employed. At the age of fifteen, Charles enlisted in the service of his country as a captain's aide; later he was a seaman on the Great Lakes. John was employed with J. I. Case as a machinist for three years; later he worked as a journeyman for the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad, and then went to Rockford, Ill., where he was engaged as a machinist in a jobbing shop, after which he worked in Milwaukee Ior the Corliss Engine Works. John Schenk from boyhood had taken a great interest in athletics, and in 1887 he joined the Turner's Club in Racine. Recognizing his ability as an instructor in athletics, the Y. M. C. A. employed him in 1890 and he came to the Pacific Coast and located in Fresno, where he took charge of the athletic work of the Y. M. C. A., remaining there for a year, when he removed to Sacramento and was occupied for ten years in traveling about the state in the interest of the Y. M. C. A, and as instructor for the Athletic Club in Sacramento.

The marriage of Mr. Schenk occurred in Racine, Wis., in 1877, which united him with Mary Speich, a native of Racine, and they were the parents of nine children: Christinia, Ernest and Eleanor are de- ceased; Amanda is the wife of Monty Newbert and they have five children; Millie, the deceased wife of Horace Clark, is survived by one child; Karl is married and has two children; Robert is married and has one child; Clara is the wife of Victor Garibaldi and they have two children; John Lewis is a machin-

ist in Sacramento. In 1905 Mr. Schenk organized a vaudeville troupe composed of four sons, one daugh- ter and two members from the outside, and Ior a number of seasons they played on the J. D. Constan- tine circuit throughout the United States. The sud- den death of his eldest son, Ernest, at Kansas City, put an end to their show business. Meantime Mr. Schenk had purchased twenty acres of land at Fruit- ridge, which he began to develop to fruit and where the family have since resided. In 1911, Mr. Schenk erected a store building and put in a complete line of groceries which he has since handled with fine results. For forty years Mr. Schenk has been a member of the I. O. O. F., and he is a member of the B. P. O. Elks Lodge No. 6 of Sacramento; since early manhood he has been a member of the Turner's Club in Racine, WVis. In politics he is a Republican. For two sea- sons he served as a member of the state fish and game commission. For the past four years he has sponsored the Fruitridge Boy Scouts troop No. 15; he is also chairman of the troop committee for the Elks troop of Scouts in Sacramento.

LEWIS D. HOPFIELD .- Whoever happens to fall in with Lewis D. Hopfield, the affable manager of the gold dredge department of the Natomas Com- pany, will not fail to find the gentleman exceptionally interesting, with whom a chat, however brief, will prove peculiarly profitable. He was born on a farm in Wisconsin, on April 24, 1869, the son of John and Sarah (Clow) Hopfield, who moved to Oregon, where Mr. Hopfield farmed all the rest of his life, rounding out a well-directed and honorable career. The father is now dead, but Mrs. Hopfield is living at McMinn- ville, Ore., at the age of seventy-five years.

What Lewis Hopfield did not get from his teachers in the public schools, he made up through studies by correspondence, and in the great school of practical experience; and until he was fifteen years old, he worked on the farm with his father. After that he tried various occupations, such as work in a lumber camp, in Washington, and then he took up the work of the mechanical millwright, and followed it with the railroad company for eight years. Later he went into shipbuilding at Portland, continuing in that field for five years, and in the autumn of 1903 he came to California, where he was engaged by the Ashburton Company to help construct a dredge at Fair Oaks. Then he was with the Folsom Development Company on the construction of dredges; and afterward with the Boston Machine Shop Company, at Oroville, on con- struction, spending four months as assistant foreman and two years as foreman. The Yuba Consolidated Gold Field then secured his services as superintendent of dredgers, and after two successful years there he became superintendent of construction with the Yuba Construction Company. In 1912, he was transferred to Natoma, first as assistant superintendent, under Mason Derby; and on the latter's resignation, nine and a half years ago, he became superintendent.

Politically, Mr. Hopfield is a Republican. Fratern- ally, he is an Odd Fellow; a Mason of the thirty- second degree, belonging to the Scottish Rite and the Shrine; and a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, the Elks, and the Sutter Club. He is fond of hunting and fishing; and in social life as well as in business, in sport as well as in labor, he is "a jolly good fellow." and as such is welcomed everywhere.

Lewis Atofield

Lee O Hanson

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY

LOUIS CHRISTENSEN .- A representative of a pioneer family established at Franklin, Sacramento County, more than half a century ago, Louis Chris- tensen has spent practically all his life in the county of his birth. He was born at Franklin on October 12, 1872, his parents being Robert and Lena Chris- tensen, both natives of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The father came to California in the sixties and set- tled at Franklin, where he became a large grain and stock farmer, living to be sixty-eight years old, Mrs. Christensen passing away at the age of sixty-nine.

One of a family of eight children, Louis Christen- sen attended the Carroll school in his boyhood and remained on the home ranch until he was twenty-six, when he went to San Francisco and for the next twelve years was with the George W. McNear Com- pany there. Upon returning to Sacramento County, he worked for five years in the Southern Pacific rol !- ing mills at Sacramento and then came to Galt and purchased 225 acres three miles northwest of town. He has since made this his home and has added many improvements, devoting his acreage to general ranching, with the exception of twelve acres which is in orchard.

At Sacramento, April 15, 1891, Mr. Christensen was married to Miss Anna May Ferguson, who was born at the old home place northwest of Galt, the daugh- ter of William Harry and Eliza Jane (Uren) Fergu- son, her father being a well-known pioneer resident of this section. Mrs. Christensen has one brother, William George Ferguson, who resides on a part of the old Ferguson ranch. Mr. and Mrs. Christen- sen had two children: Irene died at the age of eighteen and Cleonice is a student at the Galt high school. Mrs. Christensen passed away in 1912, deeply mourned by her family and many friends. A Repub- lican in politics, Mr. Christensen is a member of the Odd Fellows and the Native Sons of the Golden West at Galt.

JACOB ZUMWALT and ELIZABETH A. ESK- RIDGE .- A venerable pioneer woman, who is now deceased, was Elizabeth A. Eskridge, a native of 111- inois, the youngest child of Jacob and Susan (Smith) Zumwalt, both natives of Ohio. Jacob Zumwalt's ancestors came from Germany and settled at York, Pa., in 1768; a member of this family was a fur trader and settled in the Middle West, where he built the first log house on the north bank of the Missouri River in 1798. The maternal ancestors of Elizabeth A. Eskridge were of English descent and members of the family were prominent in the early history of our commonwealth, being identified as office holders dur- ing the years from 1770 to 1790 in Massachusetts. The Zumwalt family removed to Illinois in 1834 and settled near Joliet, where they became successful farmers; there they reared three sons and three daughters. An uncle of our subject, Joseph L. Zum- walt, also settled in Illinois, where he farmed until 1844, when he left for California as a military scout and spent five years, returning to Illinois in 1849. Soon after, an ox-team train started across the plains to California and the Zumwalt family arrived in Sac- ramento, then a thriving mining town, in 1850. With- in two weeks after their arrival in California, Jacob Zumwalt had located on a place near Dixon. There is only one of this pioneer family living, John D. Zumwalt of San Mateo. Daniel K. Zumwalt was one of California's prominent attorneys; he was called

the father of irrigation in the Tulare district, as he was one of the builders of the Tulare canal in 1876.

The marriage of Elizabeth A. Zumwalt united her with Alexander W. Eskridge, a pioneer contractor and builder and an expert cabinet-maker. They were the parents of three children: Mrs. E. H. Tryon of San Francisco; C. J., residing in Eldorado County; and Leonard W., a retired rancher near Sacramento. Mr. Eskridge lived to be seventy-nine years old, while Mrs. Eskridge survived him for a few years.

LEVI O. HANSON .- A rancher with an interest- ing family history is Levi O. Hanson, born January 1, 1859, in Waldo County, Maine, a son of Levi and Abi- gail (Bowen) Hanson. Our subject's grandfather, Amos Hanson, was one of the first settlers of Maine. His father, a native of New Hampshire, owned a small farm in Maine. He came to California in 1872, and passed away at the age of seventy-one years. The mother, a native of Maine from old Quaker stock, passed away in Maine at the age of eighty-two years. They had twelve children: Amos, after serving in the Thirteenth Maine Regiment, in the Civil War, left home and was never heard from; his welfare and whereabouts are unknown. Dora and Ezra are de- ceased; Sarah is still living; Mary is deceased; Will- iam, Roscoe, Levi, Abigail, Charles and James are all living; and Almira is deceased.

Lee Hanson, as he is familiarly called by all of his friends, attended the public schools in his district until eleven years of age; the balance of his education was obtained in the school of the axe and the plow. At eleven years of age he began to make his own living by working at odd jobs. Determined, however, to educate himself, he sought opportunities for self-in- struction and obtained books which he studied in the evenings after his tasks for the day were finished. In 1875 he came to California and secured a position at Rio Vista, Solano County, where he worked for wages for a couple of years. He then leased a farm on Sherman Island, and soon after came to Walnut Grove, and has remained in that vicinity ever since. Eight years ago he purchased his present place, a farm of fifty-one and a half acres, devoted to pears, peaches and plums; and here he built his home. This ranch is situated on Georgiana Slough, Tyler Island. Formerly, he owned another farm; but this he recent- ly sold to Sperry Dye, of Walnut Grove.

On April 15, 1887, Levi O. Hanson was married to Elizabeth Gardiner, of Isleton. She was born near Camden, New Jersey. Their union was blessed by two sons, Marion G. and Leland O. Marion G. Han- son graduated from the Oakland Polytechnic School of Electrical Engineering. He enlisted in the navy and was placed on the revenue cutter "Bear" and made a cruise to Alaska. On his return from this cruise, he was sent to the Long Beach Navy Yard (during the late World War), and while there became assistant superintendent of the Long Beach navy wireless apparatus, taking charge of the inspection of wireless apparatus on board ships. Leland O. Han- son is a graduate of Heald's Business College, and is now assisting his father on the ranch. Mr. Hanson was bereaved of his wife on June 1, 1912. Her death was a great loss both to her family and to the entire community. She was a woman much loved and highly esteemed, whose life was devoted to her family and to the welfare of the community in which she lived. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Isleton.

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY

JAMES EDWARD ROBINSON .- Not every suc- cessful farmer enjoys the stimulation of such varied farming pursuits as does James Edward Robinson, of Perkins, who devotes his energies, and also his valu- able experience, to the cultivation of a grain-ranch, an orchard and a vineyard. He is a native son, and was born at Mills, in Sacramento County, on July 12, 1892, when he entered the family circle of P. M. and Elizabeth (Kelly) Robinson, both worthy represen- tatives of old, pioneering families. James Edward thus started life with a valuable heritage, which no change of fortune may ever take away.

James Robinson attended first the rural schools, and then the high school at Sacramento, from which he was graduated in 1908; and from that time on, for a while, he was on the home-farm, assisting his father, who had promised to deed the ranch to him, when he was twenty-one, if he would continue to help operate it until that time. It is pleasant to record that this in- teresting bargain, evidencing the most delightful un- clerstanding, and also implicit confidence, on both sides, was carried out to the letter by each of the in- terested parties. Mr. Robinson belongs to the Grange, and he is also a Republican, deeming the platforms of that old, historic party most favorable to promising California agriculture.

In 1914, Mr. Robinson was married to Miss Mar- garet McDonell, daughter of George McDonell, and his good wife, who was Miss Elizabeth Fisher before their union. Two children have made the home happier; the daughter is named Ruth, the son is James Edward. Mr. Robinson belongs to the Sunset Parlor of the Native Sons of the Golden West, and he is an enthusiastic admirer of the world of natural beauty and richness, in Sacramento County. In sport, he thinks there is nothing equal to baseball.

CHARLES WILKE .- For thirty-two years of his active career Charles Wilke was identified with the jewelry business in Sacramento, where he passed away in 1908, honored and esteemed by all who knew him. His birth occurred in Hoff, Bavaria, Germany, July 31, 1841, a son of John and Elizabeth (Zinn) Wilke, both natives of the same country. John Wilke was a gifted musician, the leader of a military band and a composer of note. Charles Wilke was reared in his native village, where he attended the public school and spent three years as a student in the poly- technic school of that place; then he was apprenticed to learn the jeweler's trade and five and a half years were spent in mastering the trade. On September 3, 1863, he boarded a sailing vessel bound for New York, where he landed October 25, 1863. He worked at his trade for a couple of months; then removed to Pittsburgh, Pa., where he worked for three years. In 1870, he opened his own shop in Pittsburgh and con- clucted it for five years, when he sold out and came to California, locating in Sacramento. Here he soon commenced business in an upstairs room at Fifth and J Streets and spent seven successful years at his trade. In January, 1883, he established a jewelry business at Seventh and J Streets, where he remained until his death in 1896. He did much of the diamond set- ting and ring mounting for the leading jewelers of San Francisco and other cities and was considered an expert judge of stones.

The marriage of Mr. Wilke occurred in December. 1863, which united him with Miss Louisa Dietrich, a native of Bohemia, and six children were born to

them: Chris, Emma; Martha, Mrs. Leonard W. Esk- ridge; George; Nellie; and Charles. Mr. Wilke was a Republican in politics and fraternally was a member of the California Lodge, Knights of Pythias; Har- mony Lodge, K. & L. of H .; Walhalla Grove No. 6, A. O. D, and Verein Eintracht; and he belonged to the Lutheran Church.

AMOS McGEE .- In the life record of Amos Mc- Gee there is a creditable and interesting military chap- ter. A veteran of the Civil War, he has been a resi- dent of Orangevale for the past twenty-two years, where he owns a beautiful orchard and vineyard of fif- tecn acres. He was born on November 21, 1841, in New Brunswick, Canada, the eldest son of John Mc- Gee, also a native of New Brunswick, who was a tanner by trade. John McGee later moved his family to Ontario, Canada, and there Amos received his edu- cation. In 1855 the family removed to Morrison County, Minn., where they were pioneers, clearing the forest for a home place. The frontiersmen were an- noyed by the depredations of the Indians in 1862 and 1863, and at the age of twenty years Amos McGee en- listed in Company I, 7th Minnesota Volunteer In- fantry, under Col. Stephen Miller; however, Colonel Miller was elected governor of Minnesota in 1862, and so Col. William R. Marshall was put in charge of Company I. The fall months of 1862 and 1863 were spent in pursuit of the Sioux Indians through the Dakotas under Col. H. H. Sibley, and the company covered over 2,500 miles. Company 1, of which Mr. McGee was a member, was on guard duty when the hanging of thirty-eight convicted Sioux Indians oc- curred on December 26, 1862, at Mankato, Minn. In the spring of 1864 Company I was sent to Memphis, Tenn., and took part in the battle of Tupelo, in which Mr. McGee received a wound in the head, and the loss in the company was sixty-two men. The com- pany was afterwards in the battle at Nashville, Tenn., and participated in the capture of Hood and some 4,000 prisoners on December 16, 1864, with a loss of sixty-four men. Then they went into camp at Muscle Shoals, in the Tennessee River, remaining there for three weeks, after which they were ordered to march on New Orleans. Later they were at Mobile Bay and old Spanish Fort; and the remainder of the time Mr. McGee spent at Montgomery and Selma doing guard duty. He was mustered ont at Fort Snelling, Minn., on August 16, 1865. Mr. McGee then engaged in farming and homesteaded a tract of land near St. Cloud, where he spent thirty-eight years of his active career; he also owned a farm in Benton County for twenty years. He was postmaster at Rice, Minn., and resigned from this position when he decided to remove to California.

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History of Sacramento 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, 1923, Part 103

Author: Reed, G. Walter Publication date: 1923 Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co. Number of Pages: 1026

Author: Reed, G. Walter
Publication date: 1923
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1026