USA > California > San Luis Obispo County > History of San Luis Obispo County and environs, California, with biographical sketches > Part 80
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On February 8, 1891, Mr. Rossi was united in marriage with Miss An- gelina Coradi, who was born in Trento, Tyrol, Austria, in 1868, and came to California in 1890. They have five children: Gregory, Vincent, Armando, Catherina and May, all natives of this county. The three oldest boys attend the State Polytechnic at San Luis Obispo.
At one time Mr. Rossi owned and operated the Alta Creamery, but after five years, competition became so keen that he gave it up. Since becom- me a citizen of the United States, he has voted the Republican ticket. He is serving as trustee of Hope school district, where, for the first three years, he Was clerk of the board. Ile is recognized as a generous, open-hearted and merprising man.
PAUL PFISTER .- A native son of California, Paul Pfister was born in Supr county, February 11, 1865, a member of a well known family, whose deold story will be found in the sketch of Al Pfister on another page ul Do work. In 1868 he was brought by his parents to Pinole, Contra Costa damitr. where he attended the public schools. When he was seventeen, his (her purchased a farm near Dixon, Solano county, and thither he removed olhaxdher members of the family, and was there employed in grain farming.
The Bagher. Al Pfister, came to San Luis Obispo County in 1888, and w Or TOJE Af 1801 Paul joined him, and they purchased a ranch at Union mol wygverti in raising grain. They acquired a property of nine hundred
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sixty acres, leased other land and farmed on a large scale, meeting with the usual success that attends close application to business. In 1899 he was elected supervisor from the first supervisoral district in this county, and then he moved into Paso Robles. He filled the office two terms and gave his attention to the wants of his constituents. Ile became interested in the Citizens Bank and was on the directorate and served as assistant cashier. a position he was selected to fill in 1908, and which he continued to hold for four years.
Ile bought a ranch on the Salinas river, put twenty acres in alfalfa, sunk wells (one of them to a depth of three hundred forty feet ) and secured a good flow of Artesian water, this being the first flowing well in this section ; but two years later he sold out and moved to Glendora, Los Angeles county, where he purchased thirty acres of land and set out eighteen acres in Valencia oranges and twelve acres in lemons. He lived in the southern part of the state for a while, and on his return to Paso Robles he entered the Citizens Bank as assistant cashier.
In Paso Robles he was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Dwyer, who was born in San Francisco. They have four children-Joseph, John, Elizabeth and Catherine. Mr. Pfister is a member of San Luis Obispo Lodge. No. 322, B. P. O. Elks. In politics he is a Democrat. He is a man who believes in supporting men and measures for the betterment of the general conditions of the town, county and state.
MAX VON DOLLEN .- It can in truth be said of Max von Dollen that he is a hustler, and a succesful one at that. Ile comes of an old family in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where he was born on February 27, 1880. His father was John H. von Dollen, a brother of Martin E. E. von Dollen, repre- sented elsewhere in this work. His father married Caroline Martensen, who was born in the same vicinity as he. of an old Danish family.
John H. von Dollen brought his family to California in 1886 and, after two years at Half Moon Bay, came to Keys canon in 1888 and located on a homestead of one hundred sixty acres, on the Monterey and San Luis Obispo County line. As he prospered, he bought more land until, at the time of his death, on February 15, 1917. he had acquired four hundred eighty acres. The mother now resides with her son, Max, and presides over his home. The children born to this worthy old couple are: Max, of this review : llenry and John, farmers in Keys canon : Fred, who whis accidentally killed. on being thrown from a horse, at the age of nineteen : Carrie ( Mrs. Johnson ). of Keys canon ; Elsie (Mrs. Brunson), who resides in Arizona: Annie, who lied when five years old; and lemma, who resides with her mother and brother Max.
The schools of the Ellis district furnished the advantages for Max's eluen tion, and from a lad he displayed marked energy for work, applying lomsell industriously to help his parents gain a toothold and a compelgney. He lirned the care of stock, and how to drive the big teams in the riot fights
In 1906 he began farming on his own account. lesite y rauch in hes- canon; and while operating it be purchased a bolt section of groene land in the vicinity. In prospecting for water, he was tor urde in striking a spring, obtaining an ample supply for his stock, and thus increasing the value of the land very material The land adjoints the old place of hus parents, which he also manages. 37
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City years ago he leased his present place of eight hundred acres in Fiws ainda. San Luis Obispo County. The place where he now lives was sigarilly homesteaded and improved by his uncle, M. E. E. von Dollen. Wier legging it four years, he purchased the place, knowing full well the Maine of the land as a speculation during these years of rapid rise in land Values. It is a most excellent grain and stock ranch, the soil and climate wie well adapted for the purpose. It also shows strong indications of oil The spypige, gas pressure, and shells, and will undoubtedly some day be de- wwkgoal for that purpose.
Woont four hundred acres of this property is under the plow, two hun- dred aure- of which is each year sown to grain. The balance is devoted to Cattle-raising. and he has a fine strain of cattle on his ranch. He also owns another ranch of three hundred twenty acres at the head of Keys canon.
The great work of providing good schools for the rising generation receive, his encouragement and hearty co-operation, and he has consented to serve as a member of the board of trustees of Keys canon school district.
Liberal, open-hearted and hospitable, Mr. von Dollen occupies a very prominent place in the community, where he is highly esteemed and decidedly popular.
NIELS G. MADSEN .- Through his connection with various important interests, Niels G. Madsen is well known to the people of San Luis Obispo County, and particularly to the residents in the section about Paso Robles, where he has made his home since 1884. He was born in Ballum, Schleswig, Germany, January 10, 1867, a son of Jorgen F. Madsen, also a native of that vicinity, who was a maker of shoes and served in the Danish army in the War of 1864. Jorgen Madsen was a Lutheran and died near his brithplace. His wife, Christiana Thygesen, was born in the same town. She was a daughter of Matthias Thygesen, a sailor. She is living in Ballum and was the mother of seven children, five of whom are alive. The children are: Maria, Mrs. Vielsen of Rio Vista : Christene, Mrs. Hansen, in Schleswig; Tillie, who lives in Auburn, Cal. ; Ilans, in Schleswig: Martin, who died here; Inga C., who lied in Schleswig: and the oldest of the family, Niels G., the subject of this review. He was brought up in Ballum, attended the public schools, and worked on a farm and at odd jobs from boyhood ; but on account of militarism in his home country, he came to the United States at the age of seventeen, in 1884, making direct for San Francisco and, in May of that year, for Rio Vista, where he had an aunt living. He was employed at various occupations mi thit locality for three years, when he went to San Francisco and found work in a tea and coffee house on Market street, where he remained a year. Bespent the following summer in Rio Vista, and then returned to San Fran- IEwii work as a waiter in a cafe run by Ilans Ravn.
We nest lind Mr. Madsen in the vicinity of Salinas working in the harvest Jabl Of the season, and then back in the cafe in San Francisco. In 1893 he sol ins Obispo County, and in the vicinity of Union district rented Lot in me The ! Brella ranch and put in a crop of grain. He remained there We yers 06 (01 with fair results, having three good crops out of the five. the Tom Toffee failuresion account of dry years. In 1899. he bought his present nech Why. Mildredl twenty acres and has been successfully engaged in Don Mamo particularly the blue stem wheat. He has had a great deal of Time Tro wy overcome the many obstacles that confronted him in the
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development of his ranch ; but he has persevered, and now has a very valuable place all acquired through his own efforts and with the aid of his good wife. On March 8, 1906, in Petaluma, Cal., occurred the marriage of Niels G. Madsen with Mrs. Augusta (Wigerth ) Franzen, a native of Falun, Dalene, Sweden. Her father was Carl Wigerth, a painter by trade, hailing from Dalene, and his wife was Sarah Selberg. They had eight children in their family, and four of them grew up. Mrs. Madsen and one sister, Mrs. Otto Olsen of Birds Landing, Solano county, are the only members of the family in America. Mrs. Madsen was educated in the public schools and at a well-known ladies' academy, and for some years was engaged in teaching school in her native land. She married Franz O. Franzen, born in Orebro, Naerke, Sweden, who was a student in the theological seminary in Orebro. He died, however, before his ordination. They had one child, Joseph, who has farmed on the Estrella ranch, and who married Miss Sadie Heavey; and their home is blessed by two children, Niels Joseph and Kenneth James, the pride of their grandparents. In 1890, Mrs. Madsen came to Solano county, although she made her home principally in San Francisco until her second marriage.
Mr. Madsen is a member of Dania Lodge, No. 2, in San Francisco; of Santa Lucia Lodge, No. 350, I. O. O. F., of Paso Robles, and of the Encamp- ment. For many years he has been a director in the Farmers' Alliance Busi- ness Association, organized for the purpose of erecting the large warehouse in Paso Robles which has been of such great benefit to the farmers, and since 1914 has served as president of the same. He is a member of the Lutheran Church and is a self-made man in every sense of the word, and has a host of friends who respect him for his integrity and strict business methods.
ARCHIBALD GILLIS .- Among the grain growers and stockmen in the vicinity of Paso Robles who are enterprising and successful is the rancher Archibald Gillis, born in Antigonish county, Nova Scotia, in September, 1863. His grandfather, John Gillis, was a Scottish Highlander, who settled in Nova Scotia. His father, Angus Gillis, was therefore born a Nova Scotian, and by reason of his environment grew up not only a farmer and a lumberman, but a fisherman sailing his smack in St. Lawrence Bay. His mother, Catherine Gillis, was of Scotch descent. Both are deceased, the father dying there thirty-four years ago; while of nine children born, seven are living, of whom Archibald is the youngest and the only one on the Pacific Coast.
Archibald Gillis worked on a farm and at himbering, and also as a ship carpenter, until 1884, when he came West to work for the Canadian Pacific Railroad Co. back of Lake Superior. April, the following year, found him in Portland and Victoria, and in May he came to San Francisco, the first of his family to visit California. He worked in that city as a carpenter, and the fol- lowing year took up farming near Dixon, Solano county, where he used an eight-horse team and continued for two years. In 1888, he came to San Luis Obispo County, and farmed for grain on the Santa Ysabel ranch, two miles northeast of Paso Robles. He also rented for a while certain land from the Huntington ranch.
Having been successful in his operations and accumulated some means, he purchased the present place of three hundred twenty acres, in 1892. It is located about four and one-half miles southeast of Paso Robles, and on it he
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has made improvements so that it has become a valuable property. He has succeeded by wise management and judicious renting. He now farms about six hundred acres, making use of two large teams, and sowing as much as three hundred fifty acres of grain a year, principally wheat. The finest stock, both horses and cattle, is kept on his ranch, and a small orchard fur- ther adds to its attraction.
Mr. Gillis is a member of the Roman Catholic Church in Paso Robles. He has a wide acquaintance throughout this section of the county, where he is highly esteemed for his integrity and worth, and where his word is as good as his bond.
FRANK NUNEZ .- It is no wonder that all of his friends, as well as Frank Nunez himself, are very proud of his being a successful cattleman, and of having provided for himself a handsome competency, for Frank under- stands the cattle business from A to Z, and has known more or less of it ever since he was a lad of fifteen. 'Way back on October 14, 1859, he was born in old Sonora, Mexico, whither his father, Augustine Nunez, had come from Spain. His father was educated for the Bar, and having migrated to Mexico, was a practicing attorney in the town of Frank's birth. He stood high there, and was more than successful ; but one evil day he became a sympathizer with Maximilian, and when that unfortunate adventurer fell, Augustine Nunez had to flee the country.
In 1868, he came to the United States and brought his family to San Luis Obispo County. While Frank was still very young his mother died. and then he lived with a sister, going to school but three or four months. By 1874 he had entered the employ of R. C. Flint, the great ranchman, and two years later was in the responsible position of foreman, having in charge two ranches forty-five miles apart and lying seventy-five miles south of Campo on the international border. For a hundred miles he roamed over the cattle ranges branding the stock, and he remained in charge of the herds until he delivered the last bunch of cattle in Mexico in 1881. In those days buyers wanted fat cattle, and there was no call for feeders ; there was a round-up in May or June, so much was paid per head, and that was all there was to it. When he resigned, he was four hundred dollars in debt. to balance which he bio his note : and this was paid in 1886-to the Flint estate, the ranchman Tiene dead although the note was already outlawed. In 1882, we find Frank Nome m Los Angeles, where he remained for eighteen months, and then We made for Bakersfield, assisting Tom Briggs at different times in the cattle
Trinele spring of 1886, he was again foreman for the R. C. Flint estate ri Ne Pon Tuas Ranch, in San Luis Obispo County, and later foreman of The Samente Ranch, for the same estate, from which he resigned in the 01 51 1901 De then went into the cattle department of Miller & Lux, at Valitilos. in The San Joaquin valley, but at the end of nine months he Wopr go into the cattle business for himself on Carissa Plains, his L www. warcia, being in charge of the stock. In 1893 he was again W R \ Chut. Jr., to take charge of the San Juan Ranch, as foreman, la. Til that position until 1896, when he resigned to look Taux to ck Business.
went lmazw thving different ranches. watering-places and grazing [ woori onte large ranges, starting with three hundred head of
frank Pear
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cattle ; and soon he had made his brand, F-N. mean something worth while on the market. He sold out in 1909, and seeing an opportunity for a quick turn of money, he took a trip to Sonora, Mexico, and there bought a train load of steers and shipped them north to this county, where he trebled his money. The same year he built a livery stable and engaged in the livery business at Santa Margarita ; but finding that it was not what he wanted, he disposed of it.
He sold some of his lands, and built himself a residence in Santa Mar- garita, the most modern and beautiful residence in the place, where he owns other valuable property. Some years ago, at San Luis Obispo, Frank Nunez married Miss Frances Garcia, who was born and reared in this county. . 1 public-spirited Republican, Mr. Nunez has also served in the past as trustee of Simmler School District, thereby showing his interest in the cause of education.
FRANK VEAR .- A strong, healthy and active native son, who is becom- ing well-to-do and yet who, in his increasing prosperity, maintains the good- will and esteem of all his fellow-citizens, is Frank Vear, a rancher and bean grower, and a son of the late Joseph Vear, an early California settler who came from the Azores islands. He was a sailor, going to sea when but ten years old on the whaler "Jeanette," and for seven years was on that boat in the Pacific and Arctic waters. He finally left the sea and located in Monterey county, where he engaged in ranching and where he was united in marriage at Castroville, in 1873, with Miss Mary English, who was born in Ireland, brought to America when she was a child, and reared in Philadelphia, where two brothers now reside. She left that city for San Francisco when a young lady, and since that time has made this state her home.
In the dry year, 1887, Joseph Vear moved from Monterey county to Lompoc, Santa Barbara county ; and the following year, compelled by the necessity of his starving cattle, he sold out his dairy herd and bought forty acres on the Oso Flaco, where he engaged in farming. He added to his holdings as he succeeded, and in time owned one hundred eighty-three acres. He also owned a ranch of one hundred fifty acres two miles south of San Luis Obispo, where he was living at the time of his death in 1910. His widow now resides with her daughter, Mrs. M. F. Lima, near Edna.
The second eldest of six children, of whom but three are still living- the subject of our sketch, Mrs. Lima, and Matthew, a farmer residing near San Luis Obispo-Frank Vear was born on the Oso Flaco, February 2, 1881. and began at eight years of age to help with the work on his father's farm. driving horses and later plowing with a four-horse team. He attended public schools in the Oso Flaco and the Nipomo school districts, and after- wards pursued, with much credit, a commercial course at the well-known Chestnutwood Business College at Santa Cruz; but for the greater part of his life, he has engaged in farming, as a result of which he is today one of the best-posted men on agriculture in the Oso Flaco region.
At San Luis Obispo, June 5, 1907. Frank Vear was united in marriage with Miss Mary Gertrude Cole, a native of Philadelphia, where she was edu- cated. Her parents were Arthur and Bridget (Leonard) Cole, the latter dying in Philadelphia. The father came to San Luis Obispo County from Philadelphia, where he had been employed as a machinist, and here took up cattle-raising and the dairy business in the Los Osos valley ; and it was here
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that hisdrughter joined him later on. Of the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Year, three children have been born, Mary E., Joseph Thomas, and Arthur Francis.
Employing three men steadily, and extra help at the harvest time, Mr. Vear in 1916 raised on his two large ranches in the Santa Maria valley a hundred tons of hay and three thousand sacks of beans, worth in the neigh- borhood of thirty thousand dollars. He keeps about thirty-six work horses and, in addition, some seventy head of colts and mares. One of these ranches consists of three hundred eighty acres on the Le Roy tract, two and a half miles west of Santa Maria, in Santa Barbara county, while another farm is made up of a hundred eighty-three acres on the Oso Flaco. This farm really belongs to the Joseph Vear estate, and was willed by the elder Vear to his wife; there Frank resides with his wife and family in a modest, but pretty home, made exceedingly attractive by lawns, cypress trees and well- cultivated gardens.
Quiet and reserved by nature, Mrs. Vear is a worthy companion to her tactful and courteous husband ; and both are esteemed and valuable members of the Catholic Church, as well as of the board of trustees of the Cuyama school district. Mr. Vear is a Woodman of the World, has long been identi- fied with the Loyal Order of Moose at Santa Maria, and is a stanch Democrat high in Democratic counsels.
ROBERT LUCIAN PERRY .- Through his connection with various important interests, Robert L. Perry is well known to the people of San Luis Obispo County, and particularly to the residents of San Miguel, where he has made his home since 1896, settling here in the spring of that year. He was born in Keokuk county, Ia., on September 14, 1857, and raised in Fairfield, Jefferson county. His father, Jacob Perry, was a native of Ohio and came to lowa in 1854, settling on a farm in Keokuk county, where he was married to Elizabeth Vastine, also an Ohioan. She died in 1859, and in 1862 the family removed to Jefferson county, where the father died on his farm.
The youngest of the two children, and the only one living. R. L. Perry was deprived of a mother's care when he was a babe of eighteen months, and was brought up and educated in Jefferson county. He remained on the farm until 1878, when he went to Hitchcock county, Ncb., and homesteaded one hundred sixty acres adjoining Culbertson, the county seat, improved the place and made it his home. In 1880 he went back to lowa ; and at Fairfield, on February 26 of that year, he was married to Fllen Brown, also a native of lova, returning with his bride to his farm in Nebraska.
Hle clerked in a store for a time and then was appointed to fill a vacancy moinify clerk, after which he was elected to the office and was ex-officio MEN AM the court and recorder. He was re-elected and served five years. Datoly this time he compiled a set of abstract books. He was engaged in the dron podle and real estate business with success, until he came to California TeET dien le lecated in Santa Rosa.
1 1936 . Perry located in San Miguel and engaged in the mercantile Purtel Justice of the Peace, he served until he was appointed. Hop plenty Ofit. postmaster of San Miguel, in which office he continued 0001 Tak hi administration, when he was again elected Justice of the Voos 6: 13 Y San Miguel township, a post of responsibility which he fills ar at sind He is also a notary, and does conveyancing. Ile owns his
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home and the ten-acre tract adjoining the town, and is a member of the Methodist Church and a true-blue Republican. He and his wife have four children : Mildred C., Mrs. Flentge of Parkfield district; Lucian M., in Coalinga : Ruth, at home ; and Dewey, who was born May 1, 1898, the same day Dewey took Manila. This son is now in the coast artillery and stationed at Honolulu.
ROSS REYNOLDS .- A comparatively young farmer who takes pride in the science of agriculture, and who, year by year, has steadily advanced in his mastery of the soil, is Ross Reynolds, who was born at his father's old home on the Huer-Huero, three miles east of Paso Robles, on January 4, 1878, the second eldest child in the family. His father is Dwight Reynolds, a fine old gentleman, very properly represented elsewhere in this work.
Ross was brought up on the farm and educated in the public schools in the county of his birth, and helped his father until he was of age, when, for a year, he rented and operated the well-known Dresser place. After that, he leased the eleven hundred acres known as the Shackelford place, planting much of it to grain, and taking care for Mr. Shackelford of his orchards. He grubbed out nearly everything but the olives, operating the place eight years, until it was sold. A teaming and hauling enterprise engaged him for the next three years, after which he rented his father's Golf Links farm near Paso Robles. He again teamed in and out of Bakersfield, hauling commis- sary for the Producers Transportation Co. during the construction of the Producers Transportation pipe line, following which, for another three years, he farmed on his father's ranch.
In 1913, he leased about seven hundred acres of the Huntington place, and raised there grain and stock, becoming especially proficient in the use of ten- and twelve-horse teams and also in the raising of high-grade cattle and horses.
Until he removed to Linne, Ross Reynolds was a school trustee of the Dry Creek district, while in politics, and especially under the banner of the Republicans, he has always found time to do his duty as a patriotic citizen.
KNUTE BERGER NELSON .- Sweden has furnished many men who have become some of the most prominent citizens in various parts of America and who have been engaged in various callings. California has drawn her share of these citizens, and many of the progressive farmers who have helped to build up the sections devoted to agriculture trace their line age back to Sweden. In San Luis Obispo County, in the vicinity of Paso Robles, Knute Berger Nelson is now successfully employed in grain and stock raising. lle was born in Genoa, Platte county, Neb., May 11, 1877, a son of the late Swan and Betsy (Erikson) Nelson, both natives of Sweden. The former was born at Malmo, Skane, came to America when a young man, settling on a homestead in Nebraska, was a pioneer there, and became a very prominent man in his community. Besides his homestead of one hundred sixty acres he bought railroad land of an equal number of acres and engaged in farming and stock raising, meeting with success. In 1888 he came to California and settled in this county, where he resided until his death, June 9, 1916. He rented out his land in Nebraska all these years, and it was sold by his family after his death in the fall of 1916. He was the owner of five hundred ninety-eight acres in one body in the Linne district. Ile served as a school trustee and was one of the organizers of the Farmers'
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