History of San Joaquin County, California : with biographical sketches of leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 161

Author: Tinkham, George H. (George Henry), b. 1849
Publication date: 1923
Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif. : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1660

USA > California > San Joaquin County > History of San Joaquin County, California : with biographical sketches of leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 161

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Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Adams: Celia Estella, and Christopher Norman. In national politics Mr. Adams is a Democrat. He has served for many years on - the Telegraph district school board; and he is at present, and has been for the last three years, a member of the Galt union high school board, of which for the past two years he has been chairman. He has been a member of Lockeford Lodge I. O. O. F., since 1902, has passed through the chairs, and has also been a district deputy of the order.

JAMES L. CARROLL .- Four years ago James L. Carroll came to Lodi from Stockton, purchased the veterinary hospital and stable on the corner of Cher- okee and Lockeford roads, and constructed stock yards, known as Carroll's Live Stock Yards, where he has developed a live-stock business that covers the central part of California. A native son, he was born in Oakland on August 22, 1883, a son of James Henry and Johanna (Connell) Carroll, natives of New York and County Cork, Ireland, respectively. James Henry Carroll came to California in an early day and successfully engaged in the theatrical and advertising business.

James L. Carroll received his education at the McNally school in Oakland, and at the age of four- teen started to fight his own battles with the work-a- day world. He learned the tent and awning maker's trade under Ames & Harris of San Francisco, and worked for them many years, until he established his own business in Stockton, where he maintained two places of business, one on Main Street and the other on Market Street. He continued in this line of work until 1918, when he sold his business, removed to Lodi, and began dealing in live stock, which is prov- ing a profitable venture. He deals in horses, mules and cattle, which he also ships. He also has a number of work horses and mules which he rents to farmers for the grape industry. The community sales are held at his barns, where stock, implements, etc., 69

are sold at auction. He has the largest barns for livestock in the county.

The marriage of Mr. Carroll occurred in Modesto on December 14, 1920, and united him with Miss Grace Ross, a native of Toledo, Ore., and a daughter of J. H. Ross, who was sheriff of Lincoln County, Ore., for many years. Her father is deceased, but her mother still lives in Oregon. Fraternally, Mr. Car- roll is a charter member of Stockton Lodge, L. O. O. M., and is also a life member of the Stockton Aerie, No. 8, Eagles. While in Stockton he was dep- uty coroner under Frank Warren for one term.

MRS. CLARA A. BARTON .- An admirable ex- ample of California womanhood, and a worthy repre- sentative of a San Joaquin County pioneer family long influential in the communities in which they lived, is Mrs. Clara A. Barton, who has long been successfully interested in viticulture in San Joaquin County and is now the owner of a fine twenty-acre vineyard two miles southeast of Acampo, devoted to Tokay and Zinfandel grapes. Born in San Joaquin County, not a great distance from her present home, she is a daughter of William D. and Mary A. (Fuqua) Smith- son. Her father, William D. Smithson, was born in Kentucky, and later was a pioneer in Illinois. While still a young man, he came to California and spent the first seven years of his residence in the mines of Placerville and Diamond Springs; and in 1860 he settled in San Joaquin County. On February 25, 1862, on the old J. K. Moore place northeast of Acampo, he was married to Miss Mary A. Fuqua, born in Ralls County, Mo. Mr. and Mrs. Smithson were the par- ents of seven children, as follows: William Alfred. who died in infancy; Nathan Hayden, a rancher near Smithson Station; Clara A, of this sketch; Minnie J., now Mrs. Curtis, of Stockton; Lucy Lee, who passed away in 1895; John Clay, with the Holt Manufactur- ing Company at Stockton; and Melvin B., on the home place. Mr. Smithson passed away at the age of sixty-six, and the mother died in April, 1920, at the age of seventy-four.

As a girl, Clara A. Smithson attended the Telegraph district school, and made her home with her parents until her marriage to Samuel Barton, in Stockton, on October 27, 1891. Mr. Barton was born in the County of Perth, Ontario, Canada, on September 6, 1860, of Scotch-Irish parents, and received his education in St. Katherine's College in his native country. Previ- ous to his removal to California in 1884, he taught school in Canada. Settling in San Joaquin County, he rented a ranch near Acampo and farmed to grain for a number of years. Later he purchased forty acres on the Cherokee road, two miles southeast of Acampo, and immediately set about to improve it. Twenty acres were set to vineyard and a number of acres were devoted to alfalfa; and a comfortable ranch house and other farm buildings were erected. Mr. Barton passed away on March 3, 1904. They were the parents of two children, of whom one died in in- fancy. The other, Ila Ruth, was married to David F. Graffigna and had one daughter, Lucile Ruth. Mrs. Graffigna passed away on January 6, 1919, and her daughter, Lucile Ruth, makes her home with her grandmother, Mrs. Barton. Mrs. Barton takes an active interest in all that concerns the welfare of the community. A firm believer in the future greatness of San Joaquin County, she has herself done ber full

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HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY

share toward its development. She has lived a use- ful and self-sacrificing life, and her influence has ever been on the side of good.

W. O. BARNHART .- A practical orchardist and poultryman of San Joaquin County, who has been a resident of California since 1873, is W. O. Barnhart, residing on his five-acre orchard home on Walnut Avenue, three-quarters of a mile west of Lodi. He was born at Williamsport, Pa., July 22, 1860. His parents were George W. and Sabina C. (Oriville) Barnhart, farmers in Pennsylvania, who moved to Rochelle, Ill., and there resided until he was eight years old. Then the family removed to Marshalltown, Iowa, and bought a quarter-section of land, which they farmed. W. O. Barnhart is the youngest of a family of four children, the others being Thomas M., who lives at Lodi; Sarah E., Mrs. Keefer, of Lodi; and Lizza Ann, Mrs. Evans, of Oakland. In 1873 the family left their Iowa home for California, and set- tled in Sacramento County on a grant of land north- east of the capital city; and there the son spent the days of his boyhood and youth and acquired his edu- cation in the public schools.

When Mr. Barnhart started to make his own way in the world, he found employment with the South- ern Pacific Company at Sacramento, and later with the same company at the Oakland Mole, which en- gaged his attention for four years. In 1884 he went to Sprecklesville, Maui, Hawaiian Islands, and worked as an engineer in the sugar plantation mills, remain- ing there for four years. Then he went to Honolulu and became a locomotive engineer on the O. R. & L. Railroad for another four years. From 1893 to 1900 he served in the Honolulu fire department. In 1900 he formed an express company, known as the Peo- ples Express Company, and became manager of the company; and in 1905 organized the Barnhart Ice Company, and headed this company, the two compa- nies commanding his full attention until 1919, when he returned to California and settled near Lodi.

While residing in Honolulu, Mr. Barnhart was mar- ried, on October 29, 1892, to Miss Florence May Giles, a native of Fonthill, Canada, and a daughter of Har- old and Elizabeth Giles, who settled in Honolulu when their daughter Florence May was one year old. Her father was a furniture merchant at Wailuhu, Maui, and there were five children in the family, as follows: Florence May, Mrs. Barnhart; and Henry E., Mary E., Harold, and Arthur. Both her parents are now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Barnhart are the par- ents of two sons: George H. W., consulting engineer for the American factories in Honolulu; and Oriville Arthur, a senior in the Lodi high school. Mr. Barn- hart was a charter member of the Aloha Lodge, Knights of Pythias, which he joined in 1888 and in which he holds an honorary degree. He was also an active member of the Honolulu Chamber of Com- merce, and the Oahu Country Club, and the "Ad Club" of Honolulu. When the family located in Lodi, Mr. Barnhart purchased a twenty-two acre tract in the Victor section of San Joaquin County, just north of the Mokelumne River bridge, but in a short time traded it for his present five-acre orchard of walnuts, plums, cherries, and peaches, with a cover crop of alfalfa between the trees. Mr. Barnhart is quite extensively engaged as a poultryman, having in the neighborhood of 600 chickens, and is planning to

enlarge his plant until he has 2,000. He enjoys the confidence of the business community, and is public- spirited in all matters pertaining to community growth.

SOLOMON WAGNER .- A veteran of the Civil War who appreciates and has a great liking for his adopted state is Solomon Wagner who was born in Grant County, Wisconsin, on August 20, 1838. His father, Jacob Wagner, a native of Germany, came to Virginia where he married Mary Sparks, after which they removed to and became early settlers of Wisconsin, where he became a well-to-do farmer. He was murdered in 1843, when Solomon was five years of age, leaving a widow and eight children. Two years later Mrs. Wagner sold the farm and removed to Hampton, Iowa, where she reared and educated the children to the best of her ability and there she resided until her death.

Solomon, the fifth of the family, worked on farms until sixteen years of age when he proceeded to Prairie du Chien, Wis., and there learned the car- riage maker's trade. Later he began rafting on the Wisconsin and Black rivers and down the Mississ- ippi as far as St. Louis. Solomon was a stout and hearty boy and it was natural he was selected to do the snubbing of the rafts which required quickness as well as great strength.

In 1857 he went to southwest Missouri where he was employed in the lead mines. Many opportuni- ties in that new country arose but like hundreds of others could not see them. For example, he could have bought the townsite of Joplin, Mo., for sixty-five cents an acre. In 1859 he went to Jackson, Ark., where he married Miss Maria Ann Sullivan, a native of that state. When the Civil War broke out they had a child two months old. Solomon was forced to give up his guns and ammunition and had to muster with the natives once a week. One evening he said to his wife he would not continue to muster under a rebel flag. He yoked his two small oxen to a wag- on and loaded some supplies and with his wife and baby started at nine o'clock so by morning he was away from that locality, and he drove on north mak- ing as good time as possible until he arrived 400 miles north at Springfield, Mo., where he was safe under the Stars and Stripes. He came on to Carthage, Mo, and went to work in a wagon shop until March 23, 1862, he enlisted in Company K, 6th Kansas Cav- alry, but later he was a member of Company L. They were on scout duty, chasing bushwhackers in southwest Missouri. He was in the battles of New- tonia, Cold Creek, Prairie Grove and Ft. Smith. He spent several months at Ft. Gibson in charge of a company of Cherokee and Choctaw Indians as act- ing captain. He returned to his command at Ft. Smith, remaining there until Price's last raid into southwest Missouri. He was honorably discharged at DuVal's Bluff April 17, 1865.

In the fall of 1865 he moved back to Wisconsin where he engaged in farming until the spring of 1868 and then removed to Franklin County, Iowa, where he purchased raw land at $8.00 an acre, which he im- proved and farmed for four years and then removed to Kansas and homesteaded 160 acres in Republic County and went through the early hardships of that country, being devastated by the grasshoppers and when his crops yielded large returns prices were so low there was no profit. He has hauled wheat forty miles and sold it for forty cents a bushel, corn was ten cents a bushel and they used it for fuel. Selling

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Salomon Wagner

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out he removed to Oronogo, Mo., and there engaged in the livery business and also ran a lumber yard. In 1893 he came to Stockton and engaged in the gro- cery business in Fair Oaks for sixteen years and also built three different residences. His wife died in 1908 and he sold the store and houses and retired. They had eight children: Mrs. Mary C. King, deceased; Mrs. Mamie Rankin of Los Angeles; Mrs. Sarah Josephine Geer lives in Missouri; Mrs. Mattie M. Miller of Joplin, Mo .; Nial. is in Baxter Springs, Kans .; Bertie died at three and one-half years; Jessie served in the World War, and is now in the bakery business on South Center Street, Stock- ton; while Ivan is a grocer on East Oak Street.

Mr. Wagner has been a Mason since 1865 and is now a member of Morning Star Lodge, F. & A. M., Stockton, as well as the O. E. S. He is a member of Rawlins Post No. 23, G. A. R., having served as junior vice-commander. He has always been a stanch Republican.

JOHN BECHTHOLD .- An enterprising and suc- cessful vineyardist who thoroughly understands what he is about, is John Bechthold, who was born in Russia on October 13, 1871, the son of Henry and Charlotte Bechthold, the former a farmer who came to America when John Bechthold was four years old, and settled near Menno, Hutchinson County, S. D., where he proved up on three quarter sections of gov- ernment land-preemption, homestead and tree claim. This farm was sixteen miles from Menno, and there the father built a home, and as it was decidedly out on the frontier, his children had small chance for an edu- cation, though they received the best possible home training and comforts. Mr. Bechthold was one of twelve children: Henry, George (now deceased), Caroline, Lottie, Elizabeth, John, David (also de- ceased), Abraham, Mary, Katherine, Louisa and Chris- tian, a half-brother.

Mr. Bechthold stayed with his parents until twenty- one years of age, and then worked out on farms for wages, for a year. On February 7, 1893, near Menno, he was married to Elizabeth Baumbach, who was born near Krom, Russia, in the vicinity of Mr. Bech- thold's birthplace. Her parents were George and Charlotte (Delck) Baumbach, and her father was a farmer. She was brought to America when she was one and one-half years old, and grew up in South Dakota, three and one-half miles from the Bech- tholds, in Hutchinson Co. Her father also took up a homestead and preemption claim. There were eight children in his family. Conrad and Elizabeth were born in Russia; and Lena, George, Jack, Lydia, Katherine and David were born in the United States.

After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Bechthold rented a quarter-section and later a half-section of grain land for farming; and they lived and farmed in South Dakota for about twelve years. During this time, Mr. Bechthold also bought eighty acres of land. During the second year of his residence in Cali- fornia, he sold these eighty acres in South Dakota. In 1904, he came to California and settled in San Joaquin County, near the junction of the traction line, one mile east of the junction station; and he bought ten acres of vineyard, where he built a home and lived for thirteen years. In 1917, he sold this and bought eighty acres of open farm land, where he now has a small acreage in alfalfa, and a small dairy. This farm is about five miles north and one mile east of Lodi;

and there he has set out some forty-five acres to vineyard, making a specialty of Tokay, Zinfandel and Cornichon grapes. He has already sunk two wells, and will soon sink a third, and he has four inch pumps, with gas power, for irrigation. All the farm buildings, as well as his home, are the result of his own efforts. He has nine living children, all at home: George, Henry, Eli, Bertha, Otto, Esther, Bernice, Alvin and John, Jr.

HARRY T. BAILEY .- Descended, on both his father's and his mother's side, from an honored ances- try prominent in Revolutionary days, and the son of one of Stockton's earliest settlers, Harry T. Bailey was born at Stockton, December 10, 1875. His par- ents were Andrew J. and Sarah J. (Allen) Bailey, the former a native of Vermont and the latter of Con- necticut. Both the Bailey and Allen families were prominent in colonial days, and were well-known for the aid they rendered during the American Revolution, the father being a direct descendant of Joseph Bailey and the mother a descendant of Ethan Allen. Both parents came to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama in 1852, and later were married here. For many years they were residents of Stockton, and there Mrs. Bailey died in 1908. She was prominent in . the circles of Daughters of the American Revolu- tion, and through her, as well as through his father, Harry T. Bailey is eligible to membership in the Sons of the Revolution. Coming to Stockton as one of its pioneer settlers, Andrew J. Bailey followed farm- ing on a large scale and also mined in the mother- lode country, passing away in 1909 at the age of ninety-one. This pioneer couple were the parents of four children: Mrs. Lottie M. Walter, of Oakland; Ed. J., of Oakland; Phoebe, deceased at eighteen years of age; and Harry T., of this sketch.

Harry T. Bailey was educated in the schools of Stockton, Los Angeles and Pleasanton, and took a business course in Heald's Business College at San Francisco. At the age of eighteen he started in to earn his own living, and was assistant postmaster at Pleasanton and also employed as a drug clerk there. For two years, in 1896 and 1897, he was bookkeeper for the . Abramosky Grocery Company at Jackson, Amador County, and then came back to Pleasanton, where for two more years he did clerical work. From there he went to San Francisco, where he was chief accountant with the Empire Laundry Company, and then with the Metropolitan Laundry Company, for four years. During the reconstruction period of San Francisco, after the disastrous fire, he was with the H. Rosenkranz Hardware Company as a salesman, and later was transportation manager of the Crown Columbia Paper Company of the bay metropolis. In 1909, he was appointed auditor of the Bay Cities Tele- phone Company of San Francisco, now the Pacific Telegraph & Telephone Company, remaining with them until he received a similar appointment with J. H. Adams of Los Angeles.

Coming to Lodi in 1912, Mr. Bailey engaged in the dairy business and in raising cattle, sheep and hogs on the Henry Beckman ranch. In 1920 he dis- continued these lines in order to develop the ranch into vineyard and orchard property, planting 120 acres to Tokay grapes, thirty acres to wine grapes, seven acres to cherries, and ten acres to almonds and plums. He had become associated with the Superior Manufac- turing Company in 1919, as its secretary, and this

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responsible post he resigned on December 9, 1922, in order to give closer attention to his fruit ranch and his other interests, among which is that of special representative of the New York Life Insurance Com- pany; he resigned particularly in order to accept his present important position as field manager for the Woodbridge Fruit Company, under Freeman B. Mills. He is also director in the Beckman, Welch & Thomp- son Company of Lodi.

Mr. Bailey's marriage, which occurred in 1911 at Lodi, united him with Miss Eva M. Beckman, daugh- ter of the late Henry Beckman, one of San Joaquin County's honored pioneers; and they are the parents of a son, Howard Lewis Bailey. Prominent in gov- ernment activities during the World War, Mr. Bailey was a member of the Liberty Loan committee for Lodi, which covered eight square miles of territory. He is a member of the Lodi Rotary Club; the Moquel- umne Club; Lodi Parlor, N. S. G. W .; the Elks Lodge, No. 218, of Stockton; and Woodbridge Lodge, No. 131, F. & A. M.

JAMES A. ANDERSON .- A brief review of the success of James A. Anderson, one of the early set- tlers and developers of the San Joaquin Valley, who passed to his reward in December of 1905, is interest- ing in that it shows what may be accomplished by fair dealing, close application and unremitting indus- try. He was a native of Missouri, born in Livingston County on January 4, 1849, a son of James and Mar- garet (Scott) Anderson, farmers of that county, where he remained until 1874, when he removed to Califor- nia. He located in Sacramento and entered the em- ploy of the Williamson Company, proprietors of the Capital Nursery, and during the nine years, that he worked for them, he gained a thorough knowledge of the business. During the year of 1883, he removed to Clements, San Joaquin County, and conducted a nur- sery business until 1887, when he moved to Lodi. There he leased a portion of the Stoddard place, northeast of Lodi, on the river; here he set out an orchard of peaches, plums, cherries and apricots, and many of these trees are still standing and producing crops each season. His nursery was on a part of the George E. Lawrence ranch adjoining, and a sales yard was maintained in Lodi. Mr. Anderson was a pioneer in the nursery business in San Joaquin County, as well as the first manager of the first pack- ing-house in Lodi. When the Earl Fruit Company opened their packing-house in Lodi, he became their manager; this was in 1898 .- They occupied a part of the old freight depot as a packing-house. Mr. Ander- son's duties were numerous and responsible, for he not only managed the packing-house, but was also outside man, buying fruit, covering the territory on a bicycle. After four years of service with the Earl Fruit Company, he established his own business in Lodi, as an independent packer and shipper, first packing his own fruit, and later packing and shipping for other growers. Twenty years ago the fruit indus- try was in its infancy and few cars were filled and shipped from Lodi; frequently a half-loaded car was sent on to Sacramento to be filled for shipment east. He erected a packing-house on East Oak Street and represented Sgobel & Day of New York; this plant was destroyed by fire in 1921, and on the same site a modern $20,000 packing plant was erected, constructed of hollow tile and with a cement cellar, one of the most complete packing plants in the valley.

Mr. Anderson's marriage united him with Miss Mary L. Hummer, a native of Illinois; and they are the parents of five children-four daughters: Alta; Hattie S .; Ora B., now Mrs. Charles L. Villinger; and Mary L., the wife of W. A. Spooner; and one son, James G. Since Mr. Anderson's death in De- cember of 1905, the business has been carried on by his daughter, Miss Alta Anderson, and his son, James G. Anderson, and has grown from a small beginning to great proportions.

ELLSWORTH ARCHER .- A well-informed man on the fruit packing and shipping industry of the San Joaquin Valley, Ellsworth Archer is the efficient field superintendent of the Pacific Fruit Exchange at Lodi. Nineteen years of his life were spent on a farm in Antrim County, Mich., where he was born at Eastport on April 14, 1877. He was reared on the Michigan farm and attended the public schools of his native state. Upon leaving home he went to Chi- cago, where he spent ten years as coachman in many of the millionaire families, and for three years was coachman for C. H. McCormick. In September, 1905, he removed to California and settled in Lodi, purchasing a ranch of forty acres in the Christian Colony district. This tract of land was in old almond trees; he grubbed out twenty acres of them and planted it to peach and young almond trees, now in full bearing and very productive. He spent ten years in the development of his home place, living on it until 1915, when he removed to Lodi. In 1921 he traded his place for a 180-acre ranch located north of Woodbridge, known as the Washington ranch. Ninety acres of this is devoted to growing grapes, and seventy-five acres is in Bartlett pears. The ranch is improved with a fine residence, and good tenant houses and farm buildings.

Mr. Archer has been closely identified with the development and growth of the Christian Colony, having planted and taken full charge of many orch- ards there; he still has some under his care belong- ing to non-residents of the state. During the year of 1915 he became associated with the Pacific Fruit Exchange as their field superintendent; and on account of his thorough knowledge, through years of active experience, he is considered an authority on packing and shipping.

The marriage of Mr. Archer at Atwood, Mich., united him with Miss Dora Paukett, a native of Ohio, and they are the parents of four children: Helen, a graduate of Lodi high school, and now Mrs. Earl Botts of Lodi; Eva, in Lodi high school, class of 1924; and Nathan and Norton. Mr. Archer and his family are members of the Christian Church, Lodi, and take an active part in furthering its work and supporting its benevolences. He is an elder and a member of the board of trustees, as well as treasurer of the church. For five years he was superintendent of the Bible class; and he was a member of the Building Committee that has just completed the new $80,000 church, which the congregation enjoy greatly. Mrs. Archer is also active in church work. She is a talented musician, as are all the children; and the family have an orchestra that favor the church with excellent music. Mr. Archer is affili- ated with the Knights of Pythias. He has never regretted casting his lot in California, particularly in San Joaquin County, which he considers the most favored spot in the whole world.

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History of San Joaquin County, California : with biographical sketches of leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 161

Author: Tinkham, George H. (George Henry), b. 1849 Publication date: 1923 Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif. : Historic Record Co. Number of Pages: 1660

Author: Tinkham, George H. (George Henry), b. 1849
Publication date: 1923
Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif. : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1660