USA > California > San Luis Obispo County > History of San Luis Obispo County and environs, California, with biographical sketches > Part 81
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Alliance Warehouse Association, in which he was a director nearly all the time until he died. His widow lives on the home place, and was the mother of seven children, only three of whom are living. These are Nance Emil, who lives in Los Angeles; Knute B., the subject of this review ; and Franz Otto, in Los Angeles.
Living in Nebraska until he was eleven years old. Knute Berger Nelson attended the school in his district until he came to San Luis Obispo County, California, where he finished his schooling in the Linne district. He lived at home on the farm until he was twenty-one. When he had thoroughly learned the details of farming under the watchful eye of his father until he was of age, he was then taken into partnership with him and remained until 1908, farming from five hundred to one thousand acres to grain.
In February, 1911, Mr. Nelson was united in marriage with Miss Jessie C. Sandberg, born in the Linne district and educated in the public schools. Iler parents, Erik and Mamie (Nylund) Sandberg, settled in this section in 1888 and now own four hundred acres of good land. After their marriage, Mr. Nelson rented out the home place of five hundred ninety-eight acres and, leasing some adjoining land, started in for himself, putting in from three hundred fifty to four hundred acres of grain each year, and has raised as high as 3600 sacks a season. In 1916 he had 2600 sacks. lle runs a small combined harvester operated by two men and twelve horses and cuts his own grain and some for others. Ile also has a small dairy, making about forty pounds of butter per week. For many years Mr. Nelson has been a stockholder in the Farmers' Alliance Warehouse Association, and since the death of his father he has been a member of the board of directors. lle is a trustee of the Linne school district and clerk of the board. Politically he and his wife are Republicans. Mrs. Nelson is a member of the Baptist church. They have one child, Ellery Nelson.
REV. ANDERS O. MALMBERG .- It is not often in this world that one finds a man doing something for his fellow-men, and something well worth while, and continuing to do that very thing through years and years of labor and fatigue, without expecting some material reward ; but that is phist what the Rev. Anders O. Malmberg is noted for, and why today he has auch a circle of devoted and admiring friends. Born on April 18, 1835, in Westernorrland. Sweden, and brought up in that highly favored northern country, he was educated for the ministry and ordained a clergyman of the Baptist Church ; and for a while, as he preached there, he seemed to be withgnrating a work which was to be identified only with his native country. Copain influences, however, drew him, in 1869, to the United States and Hhunds ; and before long Providence had directed his path westward to Chero- la county . Fowa, where in 1870 he homesteaded, farmed, assisted in farming Ture thiers, and even took part as a day-laborer in railroad construction. It was Boek that the Rev. Malmberg put into active application certain principles wwieds which he had long had in view, namely, that he should preach Po Gospel, while carning his own living, and charge nothing for his services De to whom he brought the bread of life, and in 1870 he organized the She Wpont Church in Meriden, lowa, continuing as its pastor until he am by the Pedie Coast.
In 188% In removed to California, having already purchased eighty on-need here, and settling at Linne, he organized the Swedish Baptis
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Church, of which he has been pastor, with the exception of three years, ever since. All this time, when he has been farming or otherwise laboring for a living, the Rev. Anders Malmberg has served his parishioners without pay : and never perhaps have spiritual ministrations been more appreciated. Later, he bought three hundred acres, but part of this he has since disposed of to his children, retaining only the modest parcel of land embraced in his one hundred twenty acre tract, which he rents to others.
Many years ago, in Sweden, he was married to Engla Elizabeth Ander- son, and four of the six children born to them are still living to call him blessed. The children were: Edward O .; Anna, Mrs. Enokson, who died near Linne; Elizabeth, who died in Illinois, in infancy ; Elizabeth C., Mrs. Erickson of Linne; Lena, who remains at home ministering to her parents ; and Andrew E. The two boys are farmers at Linne.
Mr. Malmberg has been postmaster at Linne for over a quarter of a cen- tury, and that fact alone speaks for the citizenship of this naturalized Ameri- can. He is a Democrat by conviction and preference.
CHARLEY TRUE .- There is no better evidence of the real value of a man than the mark of approval set upon him by his discerning and just fellow- citizens when they elect him to the office of a school trustee. This is found in the career of Charley True, the enterprising young rancher, for the fact that for the past seven years he has been clerk of the board of trustees of the Union School district in which he resides speaks for his efficiency. Born in Volcano, Ritchie county, W. Va., on December 26, 1875, the son of Ilanson W. True, an oil operator and a member of the True family which came from Holland in the next ship following the Mayflower, he began life handicapped through a serious accident to his father. While engaged in the day's work in the oil fields, a great log rolled upon the unfortunate man and so crushed him that the physician who was called said that he could not live until morning. He recovered, however, and in the fall of 1884 came to California, where he made a great success as a farmer. He was a director and president of the Farmers' Alliance Business Association of Paso Robles, resigning only two years before he died. The remainder of the story of Hanson True's life will be found elsewhere in a sketch full of interest.
Charley True was brought up in West Virginia and came to California with his parents. He went to school in the Union district, and completed his education at Chestnutwood Business College, Santa Cruz. On his return home he took up farming with his father, and they began with a team of mules, while now they use a large and improved combined harvester. When only twenty years of age Charley ran the ranch himself ; later he bought the stock and implements and rented the ranch from his father. Since the latter's death he has continued to manage the farm, and now he and his mother own and cultivate some two hundred forty acres, all in excellent shape. He also rents land adjoining, so that together he operates about five hundred acres, using often a team of ten horses. Charley has always been interested in learning and in getting at the best methods of farming, and to that end has read much of the various modes of agriculture in different countries, even subscribing to journals published in widely different parts of the world, and it is quite natural that he should be made a stockholder and director in the Farmers' Alliance Business Association. Of a naturally intelligent make- up. and placing a high value on things historical, he is also interested in
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preserving California relics, among which he has the old plow with which his faither started farming on the homestead. Charley True was united in marriage on June 26, 1905, at San Jose, with Miss Estella Millikin, a vative of Albany, Ore., and the only child of David Millikin, himself a native of Iowa. Her grandfather, John, whose ancestors came over from Scotland, was born in Pennsylvania; her grandmother, once Nancy Herron, was born in Pennsylvania of Holland Dutch descent. The grandparents moved to lowa, where they remained awhile as farmers ; then they crossed the plains in the usual ox-train as early as 1852, and settled at Millikin's Corner in Santa Clara county, three miles from Santa Clara, where they engaged in general farming, and where they died. Mrs. True's father was only a child of seven years when he crossed the great plains. Mrs. True before her marriage graduated, in 1900, from the San Jose State Normal, and for five years engaged in educational work in San Luis Obispo County. She is the devoted mother of two children : Mary Elva and Helen Estella.
WILLIAM CARL RADLOFF .-. \ successful and enterprising rancher, liberal in his support of the movements for the progress of his adopted county and one of those who have done much towards advancing the standard of the schools in his section of San Luis Obispo County, is William Carl Radloff, who was born in Prussia, Germany, January 15, 1867. His father died when the son was a babe, and afterwards his mother brought him to this country and settled in Dodge county, Wis., in 1868. There he was raised on a farm and went to the public schools near Hartford.
Ilis mother was married in Wisconsin, to Josiah Crowfoot, a native of England, who had settled in Dodge county. He served four years in the Civil War, first in Co. E, 10th Wis. Inf., for three years, and then one year in Co. F. 8th U. S. Veteran Volunteers, when he was mustered out and returned to his home and continued farming until 1884. That year Mr. Crowfoot brought his family to California, and for one year they lived near Oakland. In 1885, they came to San Luis Obispo County, located a homestead on Iestrella plains and improved it. He died in 1909, and since then his widow Continues to make her home on the ranch.
Viter the death of his step-father, Mr. Radloff operated the farm with success, renting more land and using modern machinery, so that he now has Simsim tractor, a combined harvester, and thirty-two head of horses. Bodde doing his own cutting, he works in the neighborhood, cutting for odfor- a thousand acres during the season. In 1903 he bought half a section Suffit soles from Paso Robles and has a well-equipped place, and farms adjoin- ne Voi Having about one section under cultivation to grain.
dr. Rolfoff was married in Reno, Nev., to Mrs. Carrie ( Kalar) Dake, a onGO West Virginia, who was also an early settler here. By her first Unky 6 - Radloff has one son, Walter Radloff. He was engaged with cemilse manching, and was educated in the grammar and high school in 100R The family are members of the Methodist Church in Estrella, les v ated is a trustee. He has served for fifteen years as trustee 0. 0. 0000the Fool district and has been clerk of the board for ten years. 1. 0 0 09- 15 Progressive Republican. What success has come to Mr. collo les tere la his own making, and he has won a wide circle of friends 0000 0 10 99 The county .
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HENRY BOSSE .- The name of Bosse has been associated with the earliest growth of Arroyo Grande and this section, where the late Henry Bosse first arrived in 1869. He was born in Hanover, Germany, December 7, 1844, educated in the public schools and reared to the ordinary life of young men of that country. At the age of twenty-three, in 1867, he came to America. He was without money, nor could he speak or understand English; but he had a willing spirit and a hardy constitution, and after arriving in Mus- kingum county, Ohio, found employment for eighteen months on a farm. He heard a great deal about this western country while in Ohio, and felt that it had better opportunities; and accordingly he went to New York in 1868 and took passage for Panama, crossed the Isthmus to the Pacific ocean, and re-embarked for San Francisco.
His first occupation after landing was on a dairy ranch in Monterey county, where he stayed one year. In 1869 he arrived in Arroyo Grande, and soon after was employed by Steele Bros. He remained with them fourteen years, being long their head cheese-maker. He was frugal and saved his money, so that when opportunity offered, he might be able to start for him- self; and in 1884, with George Steele as a partner, he bought the Oso Flaco ranch, and for the next six years carried on two dairies of one hundred fifty cows, with good success. At the end of that time he was able to purchase Mr. Steele's interest from his widow, becoming owner of four hundred ninety acres of fine land. In the meantime, in 1890, he bought twenty-two and one- half acres in the valley near Arroyo Grande, which he set to fruit and nuts. and which yielded good returns. He also owned one hundred acres of land on the Oso Flaco, upon which he raised beans, and which is now leased.
Mr. Bosse was a director in the Andrews Banking Co. of San Luis Obispo. He was a man of keen business ability and good judgment, and an in- defatigable worker. He was always liberal in supporting all good causes, with an unselfish pioneer spirit, and believed California was the best country on earth in which to live. Mr. Bosse was a member and Past Grand of the Odd Fellows, in Arroyo Grande. In politics he was a Republican, though never a seeker after office.
In 1889, Mr. Bosse was united in marriage with Katherine Grich, a native of Germany, and three daughters were born to them: Nellie, wife of Charles Sanford of Oceano, May and Helen. Mr. Bosse died on Decem- ber 6, 1915, leaving his family not only a fortune but also the heritage of an untarnished name.
MARTIN THEODORE ABRAMSON. The Abramson family have long been prosperous farmers and have made names for themselves in the various parts of the country wherever they may have settled. Martin T. Abramson is a fine representative of this family, and was born in Red Wing, Goodhue county, Minn., October 2, 1883, a son of Gust. and Anna ( Zacharias) Abramson. The father was a prosperous farmer in Minnesota until 1890, when he deemed it best to seek a less rigorous climate and came to California. Ile settled near Templeton. San Luis Obispo County, bought a ranch of one hundred forty acres on Willow creek, and cleared and improved the land. making a valuable farm. He burned some of the finest kind of live-oak which at this time would command a high price in the market. He sold this place and purchased another ranch north of the town, and died there in 1913, at the age of sixty seven years. His widow is living in Templeton aged sixty seven
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years They had four children - William, in Oakland ; Edward, in Chicago, 111. : Marta Theodore, the subject of this review : and Etta, Mrs. Brandelle, of Las Nigeles.
Martin T. Abramson attended the public schools of Oakdale and Bethel districts in this county and remained at home on the farm until the death of his father, when he leased the home ranch of fifty-six acres adjoining Templeton on the north on the state highway, and also leased 100 acres adjoin- mg. This is all under plow and he has fifteen acres in alfalfa, with a pumping plant of four hundred gallons capacity, all of which improvements he has made since 1913. He has a dairy of ten cows and separates the cream on the ranch and ships it to San Luis Obispo. In partnership with two others, he owns a steam thresher, which he runs each fall.
Mr. Abramson was united in marriage in Templeton with Mabel llan- son, a native of Paso Robles, and they have one daughter, llelen. The family are members of the Swedish Lutheran Church, of which Mr. Abramson is a trustee. In politics he is a Republican. He is a self-made man and has made a success of his farming enterprise and commands the respect of all who know him for his sturdy traits of manhood.
FRANK N. VILLA .- Frank N. Villa, one of the proprietors of the auto- truck service plying between San Luis Obispo and the coast towns, and one of the up-to-date men of the county, was born near Cayucos. His father, Robert Villa, a native of this state, and his grandfather Villa, were pioneer settlers on Villa creek, which was named after the family. Robert Villa owned a ranch at the mouth of the creek, and lived there until he sold it and retired to Cayucos, where he now resides. He married Guadalupe Higuera, a native daughter, as well as a descendant of the prominent Spanish family of the Higueras in California : and of the nine children born to them all are living. Frank N. Villa being the youngest.
Frank N. Villa attended the public schools, and then began working for wages for his brother and E. R. Freeman, James Cass, J. L. Hardie and others until 1911. Between dairy seasons he worked six years for C. A. Cass on threshing machines.
In 1911 Mr. Villa saw the opportunity for a source of revenue in organ- izing some kind of service for the transportation of freight and dairy products and from the railroad into the towns along the coast: and in partner- -hip with Henry Minetti, he bought a second-hand truck for $3.300. or- Hanized the Coast Truck Company in January, 1912, and began business. The time was opportune and the business expanded rapidly until at this time they have four large trucks on the road nearly all the time, making regular trips trong San Luis Obispo to Morro, Cayucos, and Cambria and return, Pauling cream, butter, cheese and all kinds of freight and farm produce. This I the only truck service out of San Luis Obispo, and the proprietors are making a financial success. They are courteous and obliging, and are square w al their dealings. They have lately leased the large new garage in Cay- Www ka their trucks, and for a freight warehouse and public garage.
Wow really Mr. Villa is popular in the Independent Order of Odd Fel- Times w( 1011 s. has passed through the chairs of the lodge and has been a But wedie Grand Lodge meetings in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sama Erine He is an enterprising and progressive young man and is highly Allentell Me he .... ] moral character and business ability.
Franken Villa
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GERD KLINTWORTH .- A builder-up and expander of San Luis Obispo County, in which for over a third of a century he has dwelt, Gerd Klintworth still shares the most optimistic views concerning the State of his adoption, and all who know Gerd share the most optimistic views concern- ing him. A native of Hanover, Germany, in which kingdom he was born on March 8, 1858, Gerd is the son of John Klintworth, a farmer, who provided the boy with a valuable introduction to the science of agriculture. When he had finished school he continued on the farm till 1883. During this time, that is, in 1879 and 1880, he served in the German army.
In 1883 he came to the United States and settled at Orange, in Cali- fornia. At first he was in the employ of a Boston company, and busy in setting out some three hundred sixty acres of vineyards ; but in 1886 he canie to Linne. From the Huer-Huero Ranch he and a partner bought eighty acres of land, which they later divided, and still later Gerd bought his parnter's share. The eighty acres he then set out is the first vineyard planted in Linne, and there he made some of the first wine. He also devoted land to the raising of grain and stock, beginning at the bottom and improving both his acreage and his products. Another two hundred twelve acres were added. and now Gerd owns and operates some two hundred ninety-two acres, which include peach, plum, pear and almond orchards, and ten acres of vineyard, from the grapes of which he makes claret.
In Orange, in 1886, Gerd was married to Miss Elsaba Meyer, who was also born in Hanover. From this marriage seven children have been born- Henry, Emma, Fred, Christ, Mary, Minna and William, who are all at home. A Republican, like so many of his fellow-countrymen, and an elder in the German Lutheran Church at Geneseo, Gerd interests himself in many of the questions of the day: and ably assisted by his children, he rents some five hundred acres of the Huer-Huero Ranch, which he operates by means of two large teams.
ALBERT WOLF .- Coming from a foreign country with a good trade. after having traveled over the main centers of Europe, and settling in San Francisco and establishing a business, Mbert Wolf built up a trade extending all over the state and finally came back to the soil and farmed with success. showing what perseverance and strict business integrity will accomplish. This, in the main, is the life story of our subject, who died at his home in Union in 1910, at the age of seventy-eight years. Mr. Wolf was born in Austria, received a fine education in his native land and learned the trade of file maker, after which he traveled over various parts of Europe working at the trade. He was in Austria and Germany, in the cities of Hamburg and Bremen, and went into France and Italy, stopping in Rome for a time, and thence into Switzerland, and also visited Constantinople. During his travels he learned different languages and could speak them fluently. On his tours, also, Mr. Wolf kept a book, making note of important happenings, and secur- ing the signatures of many of the important city officials in the various cities he visited during his wanderings about Europe.
lle eventually came to the United States, learned English while he carried on business here and became a man of affairs. He worked at his trade in Baltimore, Philadelphia and Detroit. Meeting with good returns from his labor in the East, he decided that he would come to the Pacific Coast. Accordingly, he sold out and made the trip to California, settling in San
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Francesco. and faire he established the Union File Works. Starting on a small scale AL Second Hand Beale streets, and later having larger quarters at Twenty- Soll xml Harrison. he gradually built up a very extensive business, at one Time love fourteen men working in his shop. He made all the files for the Troy Iron Works, and for different foundries and rolling mills ; supplied the Maskewith shops and brass foundries, planing and sawmills, and box factories ; and clipped files to various parts of the state. In fact, for years he was the sole Dlaker of hand-made files in the western coast country, and built up a very large and profitable enterprise.
When the machine-made files began to be shipped into the country, how- esen he could not compete with that trade, and decided that he would quit the business and go to ranching and enjoy the last years of his life in the open country. Accordingly, in 1887, he landed in San Luis Obispo County and homesteaded one hundred sixty acres of land, improved the same, sunk wells and erected windmills, built corrals and barns, fenced the land and erected a comfortable house for his family. He also engaged in raising grain ; and assisted by his sons, he leased adjoining land and ranched on a large scale.
He was married to Maria Phillip, another native of Austria, who sur- vives him and still lives at the old home in Union. They had six children : .Albert, on the home farm ; August, farming near San Miguel; Antonia, Mrs. McNeil, who lives near Union ; Otto, also residing near Union : Louis, who is in the same district : and Mary, who died at the age of thirteen years. Mr. Wolf was a self-made man, a public-spirited citizen and a successful manu- facturer as well as farmer, and he retained the friendship and confidence of all those with whom he had dealings, as well as social relations, and at his death the state lost one of her most progressive citizens.
WALTER W. RHYNE .- As might be expected of one who has spent his entire life in California. W. W. Rhyne is a patriotic son of the Golden State and is a champion of all measures that have for their aim the develop- ment of its resources. lle was born in Monterey county, July 26, 1878, a son of Foote Rhyne, born in Mississippi, in 1852, and grandson of llenry W. Rhyne, who brought the family from Mississippi on one of the first trains that crossed the continent. The latter settled in the neighborhood of Salinas, where he farmed and later homesteaded one hundred sixty acres and pre-empted a like amount in the Estrella section in this county, improved ind farmed it for years. He then sold out and bought in the Adelaida poultry, and again disposed of what he had and retired to San Luis Obispo. Foote Rhyne accompanied his parents to California in 1869, settled at Salinas and there married Nellie Kitchen, who was born in Mendocino WWW. In 1880 they came to San Luis Obispo County and spent two years W Arriwo Grande: then, in 1882, he homesteaded and pre-empted three Imtired twenty acres on the Hner-Ilnero, on the Shandon road, and oper- woj ikeramelior thirty years, when he sold it and located in Turlock. He le pot Lild there and raised alfalfa and cattle until 1915. when he had orale en nel to retire to San Jose, where he is spending his declining years No comment of a well-earned rest. There were ten children in the fammiis son1 0100 are living. The living include: Walter: Linnie, who is MX- Home of San Jose: Weaver F., who resides in this county ; Homer F. dat Ulbrecce 1_, partners in a stage business at Taft; Ernest O., who is Thillthe wer Sam Fee : Marion V., who is engaged in renting autos at Taft ;
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