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 106

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

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CHARLES W. JONES .- The transformation of a stretch of land along the Sacramento River, adjacent to Steamboat Slough, which was swamp land in 1892, when Charles W. Jones first located there, to one of the most attractive and remunerative farms in the delta section of the county, represents the untiring efforts of this energetic farmer. His birth occurred near Cincinnati, in Hamilton County, Ohio, August 16, 1857, in the family of David and Mary Ann (Sabin) Jones, natives of New York and Maine, respectively. David Jones lived to be eighty-four years old, and his wife was fifty-two when she passed away. Seven children were born to them, Charles W. being the only one in California.

Charles W. Jones came to California in 1877 and settled at Coleville, Mono County, where he mined for eight years. In 1892 he located in the delta sec- tion of Sacramento County, where he leased 600 acres of swamp land; he also leased other farms, and at one time cultivated 1,600 acres to beans, grain and vegetables. In 1898 he bought 400 acres on Steam- boat Slough, where he now resides. He has built a house and other farm buildings, and has set ninety acres to orchard of pears and peaches; and 200 acres is devoted to asparagus-raising. Mr. Jones siphons the water from Steamboat Slough for irrigation pur- poses, except about sixty acres which he irrigates by a pumping-plant. In partnership with Mr. Batcher he owns 800 acres of land on Liberty Island, Solano County; and he individually owns 250 acres near Verona, Sutter County. A believer in cooperation for marketing farm products, he is a member of the As- paragus Growers' Association, the California Pear Growers' Association, and the California Bean Growers' Association.

In Stockton, on October 19, 1884, Mr. Jones was married to Miss Emma Brower, born in San Jose, Cal., a daughter of Thomas Jefferson and Martha (Griffin) Brower, born in Indiana and Ireland, respec- tively. Her mother came to New York when nine years of age, and had grown to young womanhood when, in the early fifties, she came with her married sister and brother-in-law in a sailer around Cape Horn to California. She married Mr. Brower in San Jose in 1858, and four children were born to them: Hannah and George, both deceased; Mrs. Jones; and Thomas Jefferson Brower, of Tracy. The father of Mrs. Jones passed away in 1869, her mother surviving until 1922, when she died at Lodi, aged eighty-seven years. Mr. and Mrs. Jones are the parents of five children, Leanna is Mrs. George H. Jensen, and has two sons, Charles Seymour and George H. Edna is Mrs. E. C. Emigh, and has three children: Edna Mae, Edgar Clyde, and Olive Louise. Frederick C. married Miss Flavia Stuber, and they have three children: Charles Frederick, Betty, and Marjorie. George D. married Miss Verna Sivils, and they have two children, Charles and George. Carl W. is attending the agricultural de- partment of the University of California at Davis, Cal., where he has made a record as an athlete. Mr. Jones is a Democrat in his political affiliations. Fraternally, he is a member of the Isleton Lodge, I. O. O. F., and of the Sacramento Lodge No. 6, B. P. O. Elks. He has been a trustee of Reclamation District No. 3 of Grand Island, and for some years was president and manager of the Venice Island Land Company of San Joaquin County. He served as clerk of the Walker school district, and is now clerk of the board of the Beaver union school district.

en Jones

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CONRAD K. HARDER .- A widely experienced public official of exceptional initiative and executive ability is Conrad K. Harder, the inspector in the Department of Motor Vehicles, at Sacramento. He was born on April 23, 1886, near Koenigsberg, Ger- many, the eldest son among four children of the late Otto J. and Pauline (Wiersbitzky) Harder, both na- tives of Germany. They emigrated to America in 1888, bringing with them two children, and arrived in San Francisco, where they remained until their two younger children were born, and in 1892 they came to Sacramento.

Mr. Otto Harder was an expert marble and granite cutter, and with the assistance of his sons, he con- ducted a business for many years thereafter at the corner of Tenth and X Streets, under the firm name of Harder & Sons. They did much important work, and Mr. Harder was employed to finish the fancy stone-work on the post-office or Federal building, which stands today a splendid memorial to his artistic taste and his technical skill. He died on January 7, 1913, highly respected by all who knew him and one of the most esteemed among the eminently worthy German-American citizens in the county, survived by his widow and four children, Mrs. Harder, the center of a circle of devoted friends, having continued to live here ever since.

When only twelve years of age, Conrad Harder left school to enter upon his apprenticeship under his father to the marble and granite trade, and for four years thereafter he was a partner with his father and brother. On moving to San Francisco, however, he sold out his interests, in order to work at his trade in the bay city; but he returned to the capital. The San Jose Marble and Granite Works then sought his services as road salesman, and for two years he was their representative in the Southern California field. Early in May, 1908, Mr. Harder returned to Sacra- mento, and on May 30 he suffered an accident when a falling live-wire struck him down, and 11,000 volts of electricity passed through him. He luckily recovered; but the experience was the turning point in his career. He took up mechanical engineering through a course of study by correspondence with the American Correspondence Schools of New York, and for a few months owned and operated the Del Monte Auto Livery, which he sold, in order to go to Natoma as the automobile mechanic for the Natoma Consolidated Company there. He became the official driver, and the following four and one-half years were occupied in the transporting of gold bullion from Natoma to Wells Fargo & Company, at the corner of Sixth and K Streets in Sacramento, the alloted time given for the run being thirty-two minutes, Mr. Harder driving a sixty-horse-power Thomas car. During all this time, he was never put under bonds, nor did he ever have a mishap, although he thus transported many millions of dollars worth of gold bullion from the dredge headquarters at Natoma to Sacramento. In 1918, he left the Natoma Company to better himself by accepting the position of master mechanic at the Ruhstaller Brewery at Sacramento.

On January 2, 1919, Mr. Harder was appointed by the state of California as inspector of motor vehicles, for which he had qualified by the successful passing of the civil service examinations in the preceding December. For four years, he continued to discharge the arduous and responsible duties of this office, and 45

his official trips compelled him to cover the common- wealth, from the northern boundary at the Oregon line to the southern border at Mexico. He added greatly to his invaluable experience, and in January, 1923, was able to enter upon his new office of man- ager with the state department of Motor Vehicles at Sacramento, since which time he has remained about as busy a man as may be found in the capital city. He is a member of the North Sacramento Chamber of Commerce, and through many other affiliations is enabled to exert an enviable influence in favor of progress generally. As early as 1914, he became a pioneer in this new subdivision, and he was among the first settlers who located upon and im- proved home-property. He belongs to Lodge No. 6 of the Elks, and also to the Eagles, and is a member of the Fraternal Brotherhood.

On January 1, 1907, Mr. Harder married Miss Ella M. Clark, the ceremony taking place in San Fran- cisco. The bride was the daughter of Mrs. Ellora (Neely) Clark, of North Sacramento. Born in Kansas, she was brought by her parents, when she was a little girl, to Panoche, San Benito County, the journey across the great plains being made in 1889 in huge, covered wagons. Her grandfather and father brought out many head of thoroughbred stock, cattle and horses, and spent the first winter in Oregon. Mrs. Harder was thus reared in the open, and grew up in the saddle on the range, in the San Benito mountains. She completed a short course at the San Benito high school, and accompanied her parents to Sacramento in 1900. One son, Karl Harder, has blessed this fortunate union.

Mr. Harder has a real hobby, centered in the Aire- dale dogs, and he is proprietor of the "Regular Aire- dale Kennels," which were started early in 1917 with four animals of high, registered blood. He now owns fifty-one thoroughbred Airedales, and has shipped stock to all corners of the United States, Canada, Mexico, South America, Japan and the Orient. He received ribbons at the annual Califor- nia State Fair on three different showings. He has become a well-known authority on the Airedale dog, but he admits that there are new things to be learned every day about the animal and his care.

Mrs. Harder must also be accorded her share of credit for her own endeavor. In 1916 she took up the breeding of goats, and she has since been very busy breeding thoroughbred and high-grade Toggen- burg milk goats. She studied the problems of the undertaking carefully, and has, as a reward, won many blue ribbons at the State Fair. Today, she is one of the largest breeders of exclusively thoroughbred Toggenburg milk goats in northern California. In 1922, the herd sire was purchased by the state of California, to be added to the state herd at the So- noma State Farm; and in 1923, one of the finest thor- oughbred does was selected and shipped to the State Agricultural Society of New Mexico. Mrs. Harder takes special pride in her business, and has also be- come well and pleasantly known through her varied writings published widely to the goat-fancying world. These contributions from her pen to farm journals and newspaper periodicals have done much to in- crease a healthy interest in thoroughbred Toggen- burg goats and their breeding in the West.

Mrs. Harder is also Librarian at the North Sacra- mento Public Library, and the branch of the County

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Free Library on Sixth Street, near Auburn Boule- vard, the library having been opened on April 8, 1922, and since then, under Mrs. Harder's able man- agement, having steadily grown. Formerly Mrs. W. Harris had devoted a corner in her store to county library books, which were loaned, and afterward Mrs. J. Dorman and Mrs. Weiner took over the place, but found it too much trouble. Private indi- viduals have been encouraged to add to the library by individual contributions, but these gift-books are catalogued and kept at the library headquarters and do not circulate. A list of the magazines on hand has also been prepared, and these magazines are loaned out for thirty days, under the same rule gov- erning the books. Mrs. Harder was associated, prior to her recent appointment, with library work at the County Free Library, in the courthouse at Sacra- mento, and the experience gained there is now of greatest service to her, and through her to the library- users seeking her cooperation. She has also, for five years, been the North Sacramento correspondent of the "Sacramento Bee," and it is interesting to note that she has been eminently successful in thus keep- ing this section of the county in vital touch with the capital city, and has thereby attained a very honor- able place among the well-known women journalists of Sacramento County.

WILLIAM H. H. GLENN .- Among the native sons of California William H. H. Glenn is achieving prominence in a business way in Sacramento County, where he has been interested in the manufacture and sale of soft drinks for the past thirty-three years in Sacramento, and he well deserves the success that is the reward of strict integrity and a firm determina- tion to progress. He was born at Lincoln, Placer County, on April 3, 1877, the son of John and Hattie (Hood) Glenn, both of whom were born in Erie, Pa., and who were among the early settlers of Lincoln. They came to Sacramento in 1884, and here Mrs. Glenn passed the balance of her life; Mr. Glenn died in San Francisco. Both were highly esteemed by a large circle of friends.

William attended the Sacramento public schools and when a young lad began to learn the soft drink business with C. Schnerr & Company, and he has fol- lowed this line of business ever since in this city. working for others until he decided he would start a business for himself, which he did in 1909, in a place on T Street. His square and honest dealings with the public soon increased his business and he purchased the property at 1017 V Street, erected a suitable building, and moved the Glenn Soda Works to his new plant. This he has equipped with the most modern and scientific machinery and here he makes his own products, giving the business his per- sonal supervision. He thoroughly understands every detail and by experimenting he puts up a superior product. He believes in cooperation and is a member of the American Bottlers' of Carbonated Waters, and of the California Bottlers' Association. He has also become the agent for the popular and satisfying "50-50" drink.

Mr. Glenn married Miss Maude Dinsmore, of Fresno, though born in Michigan, and they have one daughter, Bessie Glenn. He is a Republican and fraternally is a member of the Eagles, representing the local Aerie at the Grand Convention in San

Francisco in 1910. He is deeply interested in the wel- fare of Sacramento County and is alert to exert his influence for the upbuilding of both city and county.

MANUEL F. TERRA .- Business enterprise has found a sturdy exponent in Manuel F. Terra, whose progressive spirit and determination have been man- ifested in all his undertakings. He was born on December 26, 1880, at Ribeirinha, Pico, Azores Islands, the son of Manuel and Marian Terra. His father came from the Azores to New York City and in early days crossed the plains to California and lived and mined here for about twenty years. Hc then returned to the Azores Islands, where he was married and engaged in farming, and there he raised his family and resided until his death.

Manuel F. Terra was educated in the schools of the Azores. In 1902 he came to San Leandro, Cal., and two years later made his way to Sacramento. Back in his old home, at the age of sixteen years, he was apprenticed to the carpenter's trade, and he followed his trade till he came to California. After coming here he worked as a journeyman. In 1909, he went into the contracting and building business with a partner, but since 1914 he has been in business for himself. He has become a successful contractor and builder of fine residences, flats, cot- tages, and apartments. Mr. Terra has been a stu- dent and is a man of great energy, and one never finds him idle. He has studied architecture, and thus is competent as a draftsman. He makes de- signs and plans for residences and buildings of all kinds, and he has built hundreds of residences and buildings of his own design here and in this vicinity.

In the Azores Mr. Terra was united in marriage to Mary Egnaicia. They have been blessed with three children: Arthur, George, and Fernando. Mr. Terra is a Republican, but his political allegiance does not bar him from giving his support to a worthy candidate. He is a member of the I. D. E. S. and of the Builders' Exchange, and Master Builders' Association. He is very fond of outdoor life, taking keen pleasure in hunting and fishing.

SCOTT F. ENNIS .- A very efficient executive, whose experience has proven of great value to other concerns besides that which he has the honor to rep- resent, is Scott F. Ennis, the president of the Pacific Fruit Exchange of Sacramento. He was born in San Francisco on August 15, 1872, the son of Wil- fiam H. Ennis, a native of Washington, D. C. Hc came to the Coast at the close of the Civil War, and after he had settled in California, Miss Susan D. Coates arrived, from Louisiana, and they were mar- ried in San Francisco. When the Civil War broke out, Mr. Ennis enlisted in the United States navy; and he did patriotic service in behalf of the preserva- tion of the Union. Both parents, honored through the record of their useful lives, are now deceased.

Scott F. Ennis attended the schools of San Fran- cisco and Sacramento, the family removing to the capital when William H. Ennis was made deputy surveyor general. He was then fifteen years old, and he went to the high school, later attending a business college. His first work for wages was in the service of the Capital Packing Company, and then he was with Hale Bros. in their county auditing department. After that, he was with Messrs. Wa- terhouse and Lister, and next with Henderson,

M. F. Terra

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY

Brown & Company. In time, he bought out Mr. Henderson, and the firm became the Ennis-Brown Company, with headquarters at 100-110 J Street. This firm has been in business for twenty-two years, and is very properly regarded as one of the most pro- gressive and representative business concerns in northern California. Mr. Eunis belongs to the United Commercial Travelers.

Public-spirited to a high degree, Mr. Ennis served as a volunteer in the state militia for eight years. At the age of twenty-one, he was sent to the Cali- fornia state legislature as a member of the assembly, to represent the southern half of Sacramento. He is a Republican in matters of national import, but too broad-minded to allow partisanship to interfere with his whole-hearted support of things local. He belongs to the Native Sons of the Golden West, is a Mason and a Knight Templar, a Shriner and a member of the Scottish Rite, and also an Elk; and he belongs to the Sutter and the Del Paso Country Clubs. He was active in all World War work, and served on all the drives. He is fond of golf. and is also a devotee of horseback riding.

EDWARD T. HART .- A rancher long active in a successful career, and who has earned the comforts and delights of a quiet and secure retirement, is Edward T. Hart, the once extensive farmer of Mor- mon Island, Folsom City. He is the proprietor of a stock-farm embracing eighty acres there, twenty- four miles east of Sacramento, where he has re- sided for thirty-five years. He was born on Mc- Dowell Hill, in Eldorado County, on February 19. 1853, the son of Hugo T. Hart, a pioneer of placer mining in the historic year of the Argonauts, '49, and our subject is the only surviving member of that sturdy family. His father died on McDowell Hill, in 1901, at the age of seventy-four, while Mrs. Hart survived him eight years, and passed away at the still riper age of eighty-one.

Edward Hart attended the Mormon Island school, and when old enough to do so, took up farming as a vocation, entering into a partnership, at an early agc, with his parents and helping them to run the home farm. In 1878 he was married at Sudan Sta- tion to Mrs. Ida Knight, the daughter of Cy Schaff. a pioneer who came to Mormon Island in 1852 and was a popular hotel-keeper there. This old hotel had really been built in 1850 of materials brought from the East all the way round Cape Horn, then by boat from San Francisco to Sacramento, and finally by freighting teams to Mormon Island. Mrs. Hart was born in Sacramento in 1853, and from childhood was intimately associated with the growth of that district. For the past eleven years, the raising of stock and the maintaining of a first-class dairy have been the forte of Mr. Hart, and those having most dealings with him know best how well he has suc- ceeded in his chosen field. This enviable position as an experienced man of affairs able to attend both of his own and the community's business, has brought its honors and responsibilities, and for the past twen- ty-five years Mr. Hart has been a trustee of Mormon Island school.

Four children blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Hart. Albert, a rancher and the right hand man of his father, is an active member of the local farm bureau in Orangevale, and besides being a very bright, progressive young man, is a capable agriculturist,

keeping himself well in touch with the latest move- ments in the science of husbandry in the West. Claude is a blacksmith of Yuba City. Ina has be- come the wife of Charles Morrison; and Edna is Mrs. Zack Darrington of Red Bank. Mrs. Hart has a daughter by a former marriage, Mrs. Sadie John- son.

Owing to his long residence and continued activ- ity hereabouts, Edward Hart has no end of good stories concerning the past. He recalls the early life on Mormon Island as a good deal different in con- trast to present-day conditions, for at one time pub- lic gatherings would be attended by as many as 3,000 people, while today, in the district so lively in the golden days of yore, only forty-four persons are registered voters.

JOSEPH SANER .- As manager of the Saner ranch two miles southwest of Galt, Joseph Saner is displaying those same qualities of thrift, perseverance and industry that characterized his father, one of Galt's most esteemed citizens. He was born on the old McClaughrey ranch near Galt on April 14, 1893, the son of the late Joseph Saner and his wife, who was Mary Bisig before her marriage. Both parents were natives of Switzerland. Joseph Saner, Sr., was born in Canton Solothurn, March 23, 1860, while the birth of Mrs. Saner occurred September 24, 1865. Reared in the same environment, they both cherished the same ambitions for the greater opportunities of America, and this desire was gratified in 1883, when they both reached Sacramento County, Cal., their mar- riage occurring four years later, on March 9, 1887. At first they rented land and engaged in farming, and as a result of their industry they were enabled to purchase a place of their own four years later, and to add to it by subsequent purchase until their hold- ings totaled over 900 acres. Mr. Saner passed away in the prime of life on October 14, 1908, when only forty- eight years old, leaving a record of industry and good citizenship in which his family may well take pride. Since then Mrs. Saner, assisted by her children, has carried forward the enterprises begun by her husband, demonstrating splendid business acumen and a thorough knowledge of every detail of ranching. Mr. and Mrs. Sancr were the parents of eight children: Frieda, Mrs. A. J. Wright of San Francisco; Amelia, Mrs. E. S. Glanville of Tracy; Joseph; Robert, who died when twenty-one; Lilly, Mrs. M. J. Mckinstry of Stockton; Harry, living at Stockton; William, re- siding at Galt; and Evelen, the youngest daughter, who met a tragic death when their home was burned on October 27. 1905, a deep bereavement to the entire family that only time could heal.

Joseph Saner attended the grammer school at Galt in the pursuit of an education, and from his boyhood days assisted with the farm work. He was only fif- teen years old at the time of his father's death, but he manfully assumed his portion of the responsibility and for several years has had the management of the large Saner ranch of over 900 acres, a task he is success- fully accomplishing. For some time he has main- tained a large dairy there, and now has about fifty cows.

On October 20, 1920, at Sacramento, Mr. Saner was married to Miss Irene Davis, the daughter of John and Elizabeth (McKnight) Davis. She was born at Santa Rosa, but the family moved to Woodbridge when she was a young girl and there she was reared and educated. Mr. and Mrs. Saner have one daughter,

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Eleanor Berenice. Mr. Saner is popular in fraternal circles, being a member of the Masons and the Odd Fellows, and a past grand of the latter order. He is also a past president of Galt Parlor, N. S. G. W., and with his wife belongs to the Rebekahs at Galt. Mrs. Saner is also a member of the Native Daughters of the Golden West, at Galt.

MRS. SARAH MUGFORD .- For the past ten years Mrs. Sarah Mugford has resided on her three- acre home place on Fruitridge Road, where she con- ducts a small dairy. Mrs. Mugford has witnessed the wonderful growth and progress of this section of Sacramento County, for it was but sparsely settled when she purchased her home place. She is a nitive Californian, born at Placerville, then known as Hang- town, on August 18. 1857, the eldest daughter of Henry J. and Mary (Thomas) Hartley, natives of England and South Wales, respectively. Henry J. Hartley was married in 1856, and shortly after started across the plains with an ox-team train to California, arriving at Hangtown in the fall of the same year. He prospected in the vicinity of Folsom, but gave up mining to follow his trade as a stone mason. Ten children were born to them, eight daughters and two sons, of whom six survive: Mrs. Mugford, of this sketch; Mrs. Edner, of Placerville: Mrs. Pilotti, of Diamond Spring: Mrs. Mary Pritchard, residing in Oakland; Mrs. Alice Johnson, residing in Berkeley; and Hattie Hartley, of Marysville. Mrs. Hartley, the mother, was one of the first of the pioneer Cali- fornia women to help in getting a public school started in Eldorado County; the first school was held in an old building in 1857, and each family paid twenty-five cents tuition per week.

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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 106

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