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 214

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 214

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OTTO PETERSON .- The opportunities afforded in the West to men of determination and energy are exemplified in the business career of Otto Peterson, one of the leading citizens of the prosperous town of Escalon, whose progress is the result of wise invest- ments and industrious application since he came to this locality some nineteen years ago. He was born near Karlstad, Sweden, January 30, 1871, a son of Peter and Marie (Olson) Nelson, the former born in 1819 and the latter in 1828, both natives of Sweden. There were eight children in the family, of whom Otto is the youngest. He attended the public schools in his native country and at the age of fourteen years was confirmed in the Lutheran Church, continuing in that faith to the present day. When Mr. Peterson started out for himself, he served an apprenticeship for four years and learned thoroughly the carpenter's trade. In 1892, at twenty-one years of age, he left home for America, arriving in New York on April 9, of that year. He did not linger long in the metropolis

but removed to Lakeside, Mich., where he found em- ployment on the Manistee & Northeastern Railroad as a carpenter and after three years was made fore- man in the shops, remaining with this company for eleven years, when he came to the West, where he stopped first at Los Angeles, then went to Stockton, and from Stockton to Escalon, then a railroad station with one store, two saloons, and a schoolhouse. He invested in a twenty-acre tract of land, a portion of the Jones estate, where the family made their home.

While residing in Michigan, Mr. Peterson was mar- ried in 1893 to Miss Anna Larson, a native of Sweden, who had come to Michigan with a party of friends. Mr. and Mrs. Peterson are the parents of seven chil- dren: Albert was appointed postmaster of Escalon, August 15, 1919, by President Wilson, and efficiently filled the position until he resigned the office in July, 1922, to enter the grocery business. On September 1, 1917, he was married to Miss Anna C. Vilen and they have a daughter, Evelyn, and a son, Albert. Carl, who served in the World War in the A. E. F. in France, is in the oil business at Parlier; Hedwig, Mrs. William Brennan, of Escalon, has three children, William, Richard, and Dorothy; Hazel, Theodore, Isabel, and Renold, are all at home with subject at Escalon. In 1912 Mr. Peterson became the secretary of the Swedish Colonization Society at Escalon and filled the position with much credit until the disband- ment of the organization. He has been a strong advocate and co-worker in the cause of irrigation and better school facilities, and as a member of the Esca- lon high school board spent considerable time in the interests of the Escalon Union high school, which completed an $85,000 building in March, 1922. He is a member of the Escalon Commercial Club and in 1917 gave much time to the South San Joaquin County Fair Association and was also instrumental in the organization of the First State Bank of Escalon in 1910, of which he is a trustee. Mr. Peterson has completed his second residence in the Kern addition to Escalon, having sold the first to the Standard Oil Company; he also owns two ranches adjacent to Escalon, besides valuable property within the town limits. In 1920 he became the junior partner in the firm of Carlson & Peterson, engaged in real estate and insurance business and the partnership has been productive of much good to both and in service to the general public. For some years he served as deacon in the Lutheran Church at Escalon and has always contributed liberally to public and private charities.

ERNEST POWELL .- A native son of California who is in charge of Victory Park, Stockton, is Ern- est Powell, born at Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, February 22, 1885, a son of R. C. and Serelda (Baker) Powell, who came to California and located in So- noma County, where they followed farming until 1887, when they removed to Stockton. The father was a musician and a fine violinist and favored the people with dance music and also taught music. After moving to Stockton he continued his profession until his death, soon after coming to Stockton. The mother, who gave her best efforts to rearing her family, is still living. Of the nine children born of this union there are four living, of whom Ernest is the youngest. He was reared in Stockton, where he completed the grammar schools, after which he went to work, enter- ing the employ of Charles L. Powell, proprietor of

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Commercial Hotel, Angels Camp. Later he was in the employ of a cigar store.

On January 5, 1920, he entered the employ of the park department, and is now in charge of Victory Park. His residence is at 1023 North Pilgrim Place, where he makes a comfortable home for his mother, now almost eighty years old and still hale and hearty. He is independent in party politics, preferring to vote for the man rather than party.

BENEDETTO RATTO .- Eminent among the sturdy pioneers whose lives posterity will ever be thankful for, and whose memory will be kept green and honored, was the late Benedetto Ratto, who was born at Upechelli, in the province of Genoa, Italy, on February 6, 1837, and left home at the early age of thirteen, reaching New York City after a thousand adventures, decidedly a stranger in a strange land. He walked on foot to Boston, and when near that city, met by chance a friend, a fellow-countrymen, and together they started to work on a farm. Bene- detto received as his share the meager sum of $8.00 per month and his board, and small as was this wage, he managed to save some money, and as early as 1860 to come out to California.

His brother Joseph, who had preceded him to the Golden State, was then farming near Placerville, and there Benedetto joined him; but soon afterward the two brothers came into San Francisco. Benedetto bought a small river boat, which he further formed into a kind of ark, and there he lived, on the Sacra- mento and San Joaquin rivers. After that, he en- gaged as a market-fisherman, and going into the Delta regions, operated as a market-fur trapper. So skilful was he that it is said he alone held the record for trapping beaver and otter in the Delta; and he had several experiences in recovering the bodies of people who had been drowned, when he delivered them if pos- sible, to relatives, by whom he was generally amply rewarded. Trappers' Slough in the San Joaquin Delta was named by a party of engineers and survey- ors in honor of Mr. Ratto's accomplishments there, for probably no other trapper was ever better known from the Squaw Valley in the north, to King's River in the south.

In many ways, Mr. Ratto was a remarkable man. He was gifted with a wonderful memory, and his ability to relate vividly his early experiences was the delight of all privileged to hear him. He also seemed to have special capacity for the handling of Chinese laborers, and on this account he was frequently em- ployed for superintending of large ranches and other estates and building levees with wheelbarrows and shovels, where the Mongolians were at work. His ark was always to be seen on the channels and sloughs, and when he was in Stockton it was generally at Lindsey Point. One day Captain Weber, who was a very good friend, called him aside and advising him to rear his children in town and be a citizen there, said, "Ben, I want you to have a home here, and if you will build I will give you the deed to a lot in Weber Tract;" and this was agreed upon. Accord- ingly, on January 3, 1881, the deed was recorded in Mrs. Ratto's name, Lot 4, Block Q, west of Center Street, and this is the present home-place of the daughter, Mrs. Bava, but is a part of the Ratto estate. Mrs. Ratto was Miss Catherine Valerga, a native of Genoa, Italy, where she was born in 1854. On March 15, 1905, she breathed her last, thirty-three

years after she had arrived in Stockton from Italy, where she was married the same year. Eleven chil- dren were born to the estimable couple, but only four grew to maturity: Richard Peter, Matilda, who is the wife of Ralph Vignolo; Clorinda, the wife of San- tino Bava; and Benjamin.

The residence was completed in 1882, at 226 South Van Buren Street, and the family then moved from the Ark to this home. Their children attended the Franklin school. A stanch Republican, and a broad- minded citizen, Mr. Ratto was ever ready to pull with his neighbors, in more non-partisan fashion, for whatever seemed best for the community. Mr. Ratto acquired, eventually, much property in Stockton, and at the time of his death, May 11, 1922, owned four lots and five residences. He had spent his declining years in his home where, for almost eight years, he was cared for tenderly by his daughter, Mrs. Clorinda Bava. He was a resigned sufferer, and very brave to the last. He was known as a man of stern character, determined in his own mind and therefore usually holding fast to his own ideas; but he had a beautiful philosophy of life, and merely carried out that philosophy nobly and consistently in his own living. Stockton and San Joaquin County lost, in his death, one of their most efficient pioneer builders, and one who was valued and honored while he lived. His remains were placed beside those of his devoted wife in the family plot in the Catholic Cemetery.

ROBERT PROUD .- A successful rancher and the ditch tender of twenty-four miles of canal for the upper division of the South San Joaquin Irrigation District in San Joaquin County, Robert Proud has become well and favorably known in the Manteca section. He was born at Bingley, Lancashire, Eng., June 7, 1869, the son of Matthew and Elizabeth Proud, the former still living in England, but the latter died in August, 1922. Robert received a good education and learned the trade of textile worker in his native land, being employed in woolen mills until he became an expert weaver. In 1891 he left home and came to America, traveling on the Etruria to New York; soon he located in Lawrence, Mass., and easily found work in the woolen mills of that section and spent eighteen years at the trade. It was while there that Mr. Proud became an American citizen in 1898; and he was president of the Sons of St. George and exalted chief ranger of the A. O. F. In many ways he showed his loyalty to his adopted country and gained a host of friends.

In 1908 Mr. Proud decided to come West and after his arrival here he worked in the Stockton Woolen Mills for a year. In 1909 he had made a purchase of twenty acres of raw land in the Summer Home district in San Joaquin County, improved the same with good buildings and put the land in alfalfa and has since operated a dairy ranch. From 1909 to 1912 he was employed as a pumper in the Kern River oil fields and then came back to take up his ranch duties and became ditch tender and ever since has qualified for his responsible position to the satisfaction of all concerned.

On November 28, 1891, Mr. Proud was married to Miss Margaret Ellen Holmes Duerden, a friend of his boyhood, and she has shared with him the trials and joys of life in the United States. They had two children: Charles Richard died in England while Mrs. Proud was visiting there. The other is Richard

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HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY

T., who has been manager of the home ranch since 1918. Mrs. Proud's parents were Charles and Alice Duerden, the latter living at Methuen, Mass., and the former died in 1900 in England. Richard T. is an Odd Fellow and belongs to the local Farm Bureau, as does his father. In 1896 Mrs. Proud made a visit of several months in England, and again in 1900 she made a trip to her native land. Mr. Proud made two trips, in 1897 and in 1902, and also enjoyed renewing acquaintances with old friends. Mr. Proud and family are Republicans and are ardent boosters for San Joaquin County.

ANTONE J. RATTO .- An enterprising California merchant who well deserves the enviable patronage with which his efforts to serve the community have been rewarded, is Antone J. Ratto, the popular dealer in staple and fancy groceries, as well as various kinds of provisions, at 1329 East Church Street. A native son, proud of his association with the adopted land of his parents, he was born on June 24, 1893, in Stock- ton, the eldest son of the late G. B. and Patrina Ratto, natives of Genoa, who had come to California in the early eighties. They were pioneer farmers on Roberts Island, where Mr. Ratto owned a ranch of 275 acres and for many years farmed extensively: Mrs. Ratto passed away in Stockton in 1913, and four years later Mr. Ratto closed his eyes to the scenes of a world he had worked to make better, leaving his estate to his four children, among whom our subject is the eldest.

The latter had been closely associated with his father in the management of the farm, and continued to direct the operations necessary there until the estate was disposed of in 1921, when he moved to Stockton. Eighteen months ago he invested in his present store, and from the first he has so prospered there that he is about to expand his business, and move closer to the business district. Through prac- tical acquaintance with the conditions of the trade, the wants of his customers, and the means of meeting their legitimate demands, Mr. Ratto is mak- ing a success in this field.

A Republican in matters of national moment, but a broad-minded nonpartisan when it comes to. sup- porting the best men and the best measures for the locality in which he lives and prospers, Mr. Ratto has served on the election board on Roberts Island for several terms, and is as popular in civic endeavor as he is in trade. He is a member of the Stockton Druids.

JOHN J. RATTO .- A very successful rancher long identified with the Delta, and one who has fully done his part to advance the territory, is John J. Ratto, the grain-farmer, who was born on June 6, 1882, on the upper division of Roberts Island. His father was Joseph Ratto, a native of Genoa, Italy, who came out to California about 1854, and located in the Delta district, where he took up farming. He married Miss Angelo Valargo, a native of Venice, who came to California in the early sixties; they were blessed with a family of ten children, of whom John J. was the eldest, and therefore the one upon whom many re- sponsibilities devolved. Mrs. Ratto, beloved by a wide circle, now resides at Stockton.

Fortunately for John, he had a good common schooling; so that when, in his seventeenth year, his father died, and he was face to face with serious

duties, he was better able to cope with the problems and hard work before him. Farming early became his chief enterprise, and it has since remained so. More and more he has made a specialty of beans, produce and grain, cultivating in time as many as 2,000 acres in the Delta district. Of late years, he has contented himself with farming only 700 acres, double- cropping the land. His home place is eight miles north of Tracy, on the Grant Line Canal.

At Stockton, July 6, 1902, Mr. Ratto was married to Miss Margaret Silva, a native of Oakland, where she was born on June 4, 1887; and their union has been blessed with the birth of five children: Lena, Florence, Rose, Ralph, and John, Jr. Mr. Ratto is a Republican, and being public-spirited, he is serving his community well as a trustee of the Naglee school.

CHARLES D. ROSS .- Prominent among the pro- gressive farmers of the Delta district is Charles D. Ross, who has fifteen very choice acres on the Upper Roberts Island, devoted to vineyard purposes and the raising of high-grade poultry. He was born in Mar- tinsburgh, W. Va., on October 15, 1886, the son of John H. and Mary Ann (Tyson) Ross, the youngest in a family of ten children, his father, J. H. Ross, being a blacksmith and an expert wheelwright who, true to his convictions as to the great political ques- tions of the day, had served as a soldier in the Con- federate Army. Our subject grew up amid comfor- table home advantages, and at the age of seventeen worked in the paper-mill at Davis, W. Va., starting at $1.50 per day; at the end of two years he was paid six dollars per day, pretty good wages for that time. When twenty-one years of age he enlisted in the U. S. Army at Fort Hancock, N. J., and after twenty days of training he was sent to Fort Slocum, when he was despatched to the Philippines for active serv- ice in the Spanish-American War. His journey to his foreign destination was most interesting and profit- able, for he first crossed the Atlantic and then the Mediterranean, through the Suez Canal and across the Indian Ocean, with many stop-over permits, all of which he availed himself, finding Malta, in par- ticular, so attractive that he spent three days there, and the company of which he was a member were entertained in first-class fashion by the Royal Guards as well as the British populace. He also spent four days at Gibraltar, and three days at Alexandria, with side-trips into Egypt, so that this was decidedly an educational trip, never to be forgotten, although, be- cause of a terrible epidemic at Suez, the company was not allowed to land. In the government service, at Manila, Mr. Ross helped to mount several 12 and 16-inch guns, which are still in use. He served his country well, and received his honorable discharge, which he very much cherishes, certifying as it does to his having maintained a high standard of efficiency. On returning to the United States, he re-enlisted and served as sergeant at Fort Scott, and eight months later he was with Captain Murphy in the 65th Coast Artillery, and at the end of the term of service he received a second honorable discharge with all cre- dentials.

At San Francisco, on August 15, 1915, Mr. Ross was married to Miss Mary C. Holst, a native of San Francisco and the daughter of the late J. D. Holst, a prominent pioncer merchant of that city, whose widow is now Mrs. Mary C. Porteous. A brother,

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D. H. Holst, is in the registry department of the San Francisco post office. One child blessed this union: Laura Lee. Mr. Ross came into San Joaquin County in 1917, and then bought his ranch; but he also owns desirable real estate in San Francisco, and with Mrs. Ross has done what he could to advance the develop- ment of the Delta region.

JESSE C. SADDLEMIRE .- The student of his- tory cannot carry his investigations far into the annals of central California and San Joaquin County without learning of the close connection of the Saddlemire family with the development of agriculture. A worthy representative of this family is Jesse C. Saddlemire, a prominent rancher and stockman. He was born on his father's ranch on January 8, 1880, and was schooled in the Willow district school, which since 1905 has been known as the Tracy school. Rufus Saddlemire, his father, was born in Schenectady, N. Y., in 1832, and was the recipient of a good educa- tion, at the same time learning the hard work of a farm life before starting West. Leaving New York on a sailing vessel, the party came around Cape Horn and reached San Francisco early in 1850. Leaving soon thereafter for the mines, Mr. Saddlemire located at Chinese Camp, and was at the town of Sonora for a short time; and for nearly two years he prospected and mined for the yellow metal. He profitably spent the early part of 1852 in San Mateo County, on a vegetable ranch, marketing his product in San Fran- cisco. In the late fall of 1852 he removed to San Joaquin County and settled on a ranch. The country was then infested with wild beasts of forest and can- yon, which were a menace and hindrance to the early settlers. There was also much trouble with the In- dians and Mexicans; but the true pioneer spirit of Rufus Saddlemire conquered all obstacles, and he set- tled on 160 acres of choice bottom land, eighty acres of which is still in the family. The patent deed to the 160 acres received from the government is a cherished possession of the son. Rufus Saddlemire served as a deputy sheriff of the county under Tom Cunningham during the nineties. He married Miss Helen Beverly, a native of California, who passed away at the family home on January 11, 1893. During the month of April, 1921, a disastrous fire occurred, destroying the old residence, which contained records and books, to- gether with many valuable heirlooms, the collection of a lifetime. The lumber for this house was brought overland by wagon from San Francisco. The house had stood all through the years, a comfortable and well-preserved home.

Two sons were born to Mr. and Mrs. Rufus Sad- dlemire: Jesse C., of this review, and George R., who is married and resides in San Francisco. Jesse C. Saddlemire and his father have farmed together for years, and have witnessed the remarkable growth and prosperity of the West Side section, their farm being now within a stone's throw of the city limits of Tracy. Rufus Saddlemire is now past ninety years of age, and seventy years of his life have been spent on his ranch at Tracy, where he enjoys the esteem of the entire community. He and his son, Jesse C. Sad- dlemire, have always been loyal supporters of the great irrigation project that has made Tracy and the surrounding country what it is today, a community with inviting homes and great business opportunities. Jesse C. Saddlemire was married on July 15, 1922, to Mrs. Martha E. Newman, a daughter of Charles W.

and Caroline Layman Bartels, both born and reared in Germany, whence they brought their family, con- sisting of Mrs. Saddlemire, then only two years old, and an older brother, Albert, who died and was bur- ied at sea.

DAVID SALFIELD .- For a number of years Da- vid Salfield has occupied a conspicuous place among the leading business men of San Joaquin County, and as president of the Eldorado Land Company, owners of the subdivision known as Eldorado Heights, he has been an important factor in the prosperity and devel- opment of this section of the city. In 1893 an enter- prising group of citizens purchased 140 acres of land which at that time was a grain field and the highest point of land in the city. The Eldorado Land Com- pany was formed, and in 1912 this tract of land was subdivided and up to the present time there have been 120 residences built in this subdivision costing $4,000 and up. The company own their own wells and pumping plant, all streets are paved and sewers con- nected, and ornamental trees are being planted. Mr. Salfield donated a portion of the land on which the North schoolhouse was built in 1916, a building of four rooms; and in 1923 additions were added to make it sixteen rooms, to take care of the growing population. The Eldorado Land Company has re- served thirty acres on the west on Alpine Street for extra fine residences; this street leads into the grounds of the new College of the Pacific. Mr. Salfield's activi- ties in building and developing this tract of land have been of lasting benefit to the city of Stockton.

Mr. Salfield was born in Keyesport, Ill., April 25, 1861, and while still a young child was taken by his parents to St. Louis, Mo., where he remained until he was six years old; then he was taken to Germany where he began his education and where he took up the study of architecture in the best schools of that country. In 1880, when he was nineteen years old, he returned to America and came direct to San Fran- cisco, where he entered the employ of Wright & Saunders, pioneer architects of the Bay City, as a draftsman. In 1886 the supervisors of San Joaquin County advertised for plans for a new court house and Mr. Salfield received $400 as the second prize. In 1889 Mr. Salfield submitted plans for the new county jail, at the time Tom Cunningham was sheriff of the county, and they were accepted and he was awarded the contract to erect the jail at a cost of $65,000; later he submitted plans for the county hos- pital, again receiving the second prize.

Mr. Salfield realizing the great future of the city of Stockton removed there in 1915 and began his activity in building and improving Eldorado Heights, which is the pride of the city. He is the owner of 118 lots opposite the San Joaquin County fair grounds on Sharp Lane which will be improved with residences when the car line is extended. Every wise man has a hobby and Mr. Salfield's is his eighty-acre dairy ranch four miles southeast of Escalon in the South San Joaquin Irrigation District, where he has one of the best herds of registered Holstein-Fresian cattle in the state. He has erected modern dairy barns and has forty registered cows, and he is particularly proud of a young bull, whose dam produced thirty-three pounds of butter in one week, or the equivalent of four and a half pounds daily.

The marriage of Mr. Salfield united him with Miss Rose Hund, a native of San Francisco, and they are

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the parents of two sons: August and Carl D., both successful building contractors, under the firm name of Salfield Bros., who own their own planing mill and who have erected the residences in Eldorado Heights. Mr. Salfield practiced his profession of architect in San Francisco for many years and designed and erected three or four hundred buildings, including the Granada Hotel and many other fine hotels and apart- ment houses. He was a member of the San Francisco Association of Architects and was an architect of high standing in the city. In 1906 he designed and built the Elks' building in Stockton, one of the best build- ings in the city. The great state of California owes much of its prosperity to such enterprising men as Mr. Salfield, whose reliability in business, loyalty in citizenship and trustworthiness in private life have won for him the confidence and respect of his com- munity. Fraternally, Mr. Salfield is affiliated with the Masons.

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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 214

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