USA > California > Sonoma County > History of Sonoma County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county, who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present time > Part 71
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Three daughters were born to Mr. and Mrs. Jones, Edith, Helen and Beulah. The eldest, Edith, is the wife of R. R. Cunningham, of McAlester, Okla., and they have three children, Robert Elton, Helen and Averill. The other daughters, Helen and Beulah Jones, are still with their mother, in a beautiful residence which she has recently erected on Center street, Healds- burg. In Healdsburg, in 1897, Mrs. Jones became the wife of Joe Waldrop. No one is more actively interested in the development of Healdsburg than is Mrs. Waldrop, as her work and enthusiasm as a member of the Ladies Im- provement Club will show, and she is also interested in the furtherance of beneficial measures as president of the Ladies aid society of the Christian Church, of which she is a member.
EDWIN A. PETRAY.
No citizens are more deeply devoted to the upbuilding of Sonoma county, more interested in movements for its material development or more engrossed in its permanent prosperity than those who claim it is the land of their birth and the home of their childhood. To such it possesses a charm wholly aloof from its fertility of soil or geniality of climate: the attributes that attract strangers do not represent the limits of the fascination exerted over those "to the manor born." Well-known among the native-born sons of the county is the name of Edwin A. Petray, who was born at Windsor in 1867 and throughout the forty- three years of his useful life has made the county his home, at this writing
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owning and superintending a fruit farm three miles south of Healdsburg on the road to Santa Rosa. Many improvements have been made since he acquired the property. Forty acres have been planted to prune trees which, although only two years old (having been set out in 1908), are said to be as promising as any in the county. Between the trees he has raised tomatoes, which crop in 1908 yielded one hundred and eighty-seven tons from twelve acres, while the following year twenty acres produced an average of twenty tons to the acre, selling at $7 per ton at the station.
The Petray family is of southern lineage. Ransom Alexander and Nancy Jane (Faught) Petray were natives of the south, the former born at Little Rock, Ark., in 1830. In the year 1856 the family settled in California and be- came pioneers of Sonoma county. The second son of his parents, Edwin A. has been a lifelong resident of his present locality and received his education in the local schools. For his wife he chose Miss May Williams, who was born in Monroe county, Mo., in 1878, and by whom he has one son, Donald. Mrs. Petray is a daughter of John S. Williams, who was born in Sonoma county, Cal., about 1848, a descendant of the family whose most distinguished repre- sentative on the frontier was Kit Carson. The marriage of John S. Williams united him with Ella M. Boone, a descendant of Daniel Boone of Kentucky fame.
To the people of the township Mr. Petray is known as a reliable farmer and progressive citizen, a firm believer in the principles for which the Demo- cratic party stands, yet not a partisan in his sentiments and never solicitous for political preferment for himself. To his friends he is known as a kind-hearted, obliging man, generous in his relations with neighbors, helpful to those in need, sympathetic with all in bereavement and distress, and loyal under all circumstances to those associates who have become endeared to him through ties extending back to childhood days. Such advancement as has been made by. the county in the past and such progress as may be achieved in the future, these form a part of the work of the native-born sons. aided by those resource- ful and energetic men who have adopted the region for their permanent home.
JAMES E. KENT.
It is a far cry from the rock-bound coast of Nova Scotia to the vine-clad hills of California, but such is the distance that intervenes between the land of Mr. Kent's birth and the home of his maturity. Bleak were the skies and stern the landscape that greeted the vision of his early years. The struggles to earn a livelihood in the midst of an environment so adverse robbed his boyhood of the pleasures rightfully belonging to the age, but enabled him to form habits of self-reliance and patience of inestimable value to him in subsequent activities. While he is not one of the pioneers of Sonoma county nor an early resident of California, he has resided here for a period of sufficient duration to enable him to gain an adequate conception of local resources and climatic advantages. It was during 1903 that he came to Sonoma county and since 1905 he has engaged in general mercantile pursuits at Camp Meeker, where he conducts the only store of its kind in the village.
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Born at Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1850, James E. Kent was the son of parents who spent their entire lives in and near Halifax, but the ancestry is of New England extraction. The maternal grandfather was a private soldier in the Revolutionary war, and the paternal grandfather commanded a regiment in that historic struggle. Upon completing his studies in the schools of his native city James E. Kent served an apprenticeship to the carpenter's trade and later followed the occupation as a journeyman. Too constant devotion to his work, coupled with exposure to the severe climate of the country, led to the failure of his health and forced him to discontinue the trade. Meanwhile. as early as 1872, when he was twenty-two years of age, he had married Catherine Rafuse, a native of Nova Scotia. While still living there this estimable lady was removed from the home by death in 1878. Two children survived her and later accompanied their father to California. The son, Edgar, is a resident of Los Angeles. The daughter, Alberta Annie Louise, married Frederick Keesling and makes San Jose her home.
At the age of thirty-two years Mr. Kent removed from Nova Scotia to Boston, Mass., but the climate proved too severe for his strength'and two years later, in 1884, he sought the more genial climate of the western coast, where he has since been benefited by the improvement of his health as well as the establishment of prosperous business relations. During 1887 he married Miss Carrie E. Kenfield, who was born, reared and educated in California, and whose mother was a native of Pennsylvania. It has been the good fortune of Mr. and Mrs. Kent to win and retain the esteem of their acquaintances in and near Camp Meeker and they have identified themselves intimately with the best interests of the village, contributing their quota to its material upbuilding and promoting all enterprises that appeal to progressive citizens. While they do not affiliate with any secret orders and while there are no children to bless their home, they are busy, contented and capable, finding their days closely occupied with business enterprises, social amenities and domestic affairs. The political opinions of Mr. Kent bring him into active co-operation with the Demo- cratic party and he supports its ticket in the national elections, but in local affairs he gives his ballot to the men whom he considers most capable and efficient, without consideration of their party views.
GEORGE A. LASHER.
Petaluma is known the world over as the largest chicken raising center, conditions in all lines contributing to make this possible here as nowhere else, but notwithstanding this happy condition of natural advantages, they would never have been recognized and taken advantage of had not men who under- stood and appreciated the possibilities have stepped in and done the part that remained for them to do. Among those who have contributed to making the industry what it is today no one is deserving of more credit than George A. Lasher, one of the pioneer chicken hatchers of Petaluma.
A native of Ohio, Mr. Lasher was born in Meigs county in 1860, and up to the age of sixteen years his life was associated with the locality of his birth- place. Though only a child in years he showed the possession of considerable
Brainand Jones
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courage in starting out at that age to make his own way in the world, and though occasionally he inct with rebuffs and discouragements, he persevered and is enjoying the results of his efforts, in the maintenance of one of the most successful industries in this section of Sonoma county. In setting out from Ohio he first went to Illinois, where he found employment on a farm, but after he had been there a few years he again became dissatisfied with his surroundings and from there he went to Arizona and engaged in the cattle business. All was not smooth sailing there, for the Indians destroyed his cattle and made it im- possible for him to continue there longer. Selling the cattle that remained, he continued still further west, reaching California in the summer of 1883, and during the same year he made his first attempt as a chicken raiser in Modoc county. The incubator which he there constructed and put in operation was the product of his own brain entirely, for up to that time he had not seen a device for hatching chickens. Though crude as compared with present-day incubators, he nevertheless realized that his idea was in the line of progress and he determined to locate where conditions were more conducive to carrying on the business on a larger and more successful scale. It was for this purpose that he came to Sonoma county in 1892 and set up the incubator which he brought with him from Modoc county. With renewed zest and interest he worked industriously in building up the poultry industry and was doing a thriv- ing business in hatching chickens, when he became a victim to the gold fever that broke out in Alaska in 1897. Two years spent in that cold, northern coun- try found him returning to California, in 1899, a poorer but a wiser man, and the same year he resumed the work which he had laid by, manufacturing incubators and raising chickens. Each year that has since elapsed has marked a steady growth in volume of business, and today he has one of the largest hatcheries in the county. A large brick building has recently been erected to properly house his incubators, of which he has seventy-five, each of which has a capacity of thirteen hundred and twenty eggs. A departure in the chicken business that is probably practiced nowhere except in California, is the shipping of day-old chicks to purchasers within reasonable distance. Mr. Lasher has been especially successful in this branch of his business, and not only makes shipments to all parts of California, but also as far east as Salt Lake City. Notwithstanding the fact that the latter trip occupies three days, the chicks arrive alive and in good condition.
While a resident of Modoc county, in 1888, Mr. Lasher was united in mar- riage with Miss Nora Drew, a native of Iowa. Six children have been born of this marriage, Cora, Lela, Clara, Amil, Nora and Charles. The second daughter, Lela, is now Mrs. D. K. Hutchinson, of Madera, Cal.
BRAINERD JONES.
That congenial work means success is exemplified in the life accomplish- ments of Brainerd Jones, a well-known and highly respected certificated archi- tect of Petaluma, with well equipped offices at No. 110 Washington street. He was born in Chicago, Ill., March 25, 1869, his father being Cyrus R. Jones, a prominent Chicago attorney, and his mother, before marriage, Helen L. Brain- erd, of De Ruyter, N. Y. At an early age, shortly after the death of his father,
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he accompanied his mother to California. locating at Petaluma, where his school days were spent, and his education obtained.
Deciding to follow architecture as a life work his teclinical studies were pursued in San Francisco, Cal., where as draftsman in the offices of some of the most prominent architects of that city he obtained the further experience and knowledge of the details of the profession necessary for the practice of architecture. Attracted by the business, progress, and evident future develop- ment of the North of Bay counties, he returned in 1898 to Petaluma, where his home town and the neighboring cities offered excellent opportunity for a prac- tical young architect, and his selection of a locality for the exercise of his ability has proven a wise one.
During the twelve years of his practice here Mr. Jones has designed and supervised the erection of many of the finest structures in this and other cities, among which are, Carnegie library buildings, school buildings, banks, churches, fraternal halls, business blocks, summer resorts, residences, and the various other works that occur in the field of architecture. The character of his work demonstrates his ability in design and in practical building construction.
In 1900 Mr. Jones married Jeannette S. Gibson, a native of California, and a daughter of C. S. Gibson, one of the pioneer settlers of Petaluma. Fraternally Brainerd Jones is a member of the Order of Elks, being identified with Peta- luma Lodge No. 901, B. P. O. E.
D. B. HART.
The records of the Hart family show that it has been represented in the United States since Revolutionary days, and that at least one of its members was an influential and leading factor in that history-making period is evidenced by the fact that Jolin Hart was one of the signers of that famous document, the Declaration of Independence. Virginia was the home of the family for many generations, where its members were esteemed and respected and participated in all measures that tended toward the development of the locality in which they lived. It was while the parents were living in Randolph county, Va. (now West Virginia) that the birth of D. B. Hart occurred on the parental homestead near Beverly, in 1833. The times and the locality were not famous for the edu- cational advantages which the youth of to-day enjoys, and perhaps for that very reason the youth of that day developed qualities sadly lacking in the present generation, to whom advantages and opportunities for an education seem un- limited. Mr. Hart made the most of the advantages offered by the country school near Beverly, which served as a foundation for the later knowledge which he gained by reading and observation.
Farming was the first occupation to which Mr. Hart turned his hand upon attaining mature years, an occupation which was congenial and remunerative, as was also the carpenter's trade which he later learned and carried on in addition to his farming enterprisc. Many years' experience in this dual occupation had preceded his removal to California, in 1886, at which time he came to Sonoma county and settled in Santa Rosa. Nearly a quarter of a century has since passed, and Mr. Hart has nothing but praise for the garden spot to which Fate
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brought him at that time, or at least, what it has since become. California in general, and Santa Rosa in particular, has no more enthusiastic admirer than he is, toward whose development he has labored industriously and may therefore be counted among the upbuilders of this flourishing commonwealth. Since coming to Santa Rosa Mr. Hart has confined his attention to contracting and building.
In 1854, when he was twenty-one years of age, Mr. Hart was united in marriage to Miss Anzina Wilmoth, a native of Virginia, in which state their marriage occurred. Five children were born of this marriage, but of the num- ber only two are living, a daughter in West Virginia and a son now residing in Los Angeles. The mother of these children passed away in 1883, and five years later Mr. Hart married his present wife, who in maidenhood was Miss Sarah P. Forsyth, but at the time of her marriage with Mr. Hart was the widow of H. C. Mizer. She was the daughter of Barnett Forsyth, a native of North Carolina, from which state he migrated with his family to Tennessee, and it was there that the birth of the daughter, Mrs. Hart, occurred. When she was seven years of age the family immigrated to Benton county, Ark., and there she was reared and educated, and there too occurred her marriage to Mr. Mizer in 1850. Two years later Mr. and Mrs. Mizer set out for California, making the journey overland by ox-team. A pause in the wearisome journey was made on Bear river, but they soon took up the march again and finally reached their destination, Sonoma county, Cal. After the death of Barnett Forsyth, which oc- curred in Arkansas in 1862, Mrs. Forsyth came to California to pass the later years of her life with her children, and here her death occurred in 1878. Be- sides her daughter she left two sons, both residents of Santa Rosa. At the time Mr. and Mrs. Mizer came to Sonoma county there was little in the appearance of the locality in which they settled to tempt them to become permanent settlers, cattle and horses being the chief occupants of the plains and farming as yet be- ing an untried art. The earliest venture in this line undertaken by Mr. Mizer was in raising potatoes, for which he paid $10 per sack, and other necessities were correspondingly high, butter demanding $1 a pound. Before his death Mr. Mizer witnessed a vast change in the appearance of the country that twenty- five years before had seemed such a vast stretch of waste land. His death oc- curred in 1877. Politically Mr. Hart is a Democrat, and with his wife he is a member and active worker in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, at Santa Rosa. Mr. Hart is the only representative of his family in the west, his only sister being a resident of Elkins, W. Va.
PHILIP E. VARNER.
Though taking pride in the fact that he is a Native Son of California, Mr. Varner is equally proud of the fact that he is the son of one of the state's pioneer settlers, not one of the earliest perhaps, but at least one who has accomplished much for the good of his fellowmen since taking up his residence in this western commonwealth. His grandparents on the paternal side were of German and Scotch birth respectively and their son, Samuel Varner, has exemplified in his life all the sturdy qualities that these two stanch races are noted for. He was born in Ohio June 2, 1844, and was therefore little more than a lad when the
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opening of the Civil war aroused him to action and witnessed his enlistment in the service of his country. His life on the battlefield of nearly four years tells a story of hardship and danger that few of his comrades were able to with- stand, and the courage and bravery with which he performed all of the duties required of him on the field of battle have been no less conspicuous in the duties of private life as they have come to him. From Ohio, Samuel and Margaret (Stoffal) Varner removed westward to Kansas in 1867, and from there in 1875 again took up the westward march that was to bring them to their present home in California.
In the same year in which his parents came to California Philip E. Varner was born in Green valley, Sonoma county, December 12, 1875. The first thirteen years of his life were associated with that immediate vicinity uninterruptedly, but at the end of that time he started out to make his own way in the world and has succeeded in accomplishing the purpose which he then determined upon. Going to Occidental, this county, he secured employment more congenial to his tastes than he had found farming, and after remaining there eight years, changed his location as well as his line of employment, working as a teamster in the navy yard at Vallejo for three years. It was after this varied experience that he came to Santa Rosa, with which locality his interests have since been identified. The restaurant business engaged his attention for the first eight years, after which he sold out his business and for one and a-half years thereafter was engaged in the management of the St. Rose hotel, giving it up at the end of that time to es- tablish the fuel and grain business of which he is now the proprietor. This is one of the live, enterprising business establishments of Santa Rosa, and the proprietor is enjoying a business commensurate with the labor and efforts which he exerts.
In 1900 Mr. Varner was married to Miss Jennie Smith, a daughter of Frank Smith, a native of Maine, who with his wife is now making his home in Santa Rosa, Cal. Politically Mr. Varner is a Republican, active in the ranks of his chosen party, as he is indeed to whatever he lends his name and influence. In 1908 he was appointed deputy sheriff of Sonoma county, a position which he has filled for the past two years, and he has also acted in the capacity of deputy county clerk. By right of his birth in California Mr. Varner is eligible to mem- bership in the Native Sons of the Golden West, a privilege of which he has availed himself, and Santa Rosa Parlor No. 28, has no more enthusiastic mem- ber.
MISS FLORENCE M. BARNES.
No greater field of usefulness exists than that of educational activity and those who give their lives to the training of the young are, of all others, the most helpful factors in the development of the human race. California has gained a reputation for its thoroughiness in educational work, and this high standing is due to its talented and energetic educators. In this list belongs the name of Miss Florence M. Barnes, formerly one of the efficient teachers of Healdsburg, and now superintendent of the schools of Sonoma county.
A native of the town in which she accomplished so much, Miss Barnes was born in Healdsburg March 1, 1880, the daughter of William H. and Sarah
Arcangelo Sartori
Mrs. M. Sartor.
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Frances (Grinsted) Barnes, both natives of Missouri, but residents of Cali- fornia since 1870. With the other children of the parental family she received her early education in the public schools of Healdsburg, supplementing this training by a course in the University of California, from which institution she graduated in 1903. Immediately following her graduation she became a teacher on the staff of the Healdsburg grammar school, a position which she filled efficiently until she assumed the duties of principal of the same institution in 1905. That she keeps abreast of the times in her profession will be easily recog- nized in the statement that she is a stanch believer in the education of the hand as well as the brain, and in order to prepare herself to introduce and maintain manual training as a part of the curriculum of the grammar school, she has taken a special course in this line, a training which has deepened her conviction that manual training is a vital necessity to the proper training of the young.
As an indication of the regard in which Miss Barnes is held it may be said that in 1910 she was a candidate for and was elected on the Democratic ticket county superintendent of schools. Not only is she active in educational circles, but she is also an active worker in the order of Eastern Star, being matron of Sotoyome Chapter No. 82, of Healdsburg. Much credit is due Miss Barnes for what she has thus far accomplished in her professional career, and undoubt- edly a brilliant future awaits her efforts, a success which her unusual talents deserve.
ARCANGELO SARTORI.
The experiences of maturity have identified Mr. Sartori with Sonoma county, where he is engaged in ranching pursuits in the vicinity of Petaluma and where has has worked his way forward from a very humble position to one of considerable prominence. As an agriculturist he is making specialties of dairying and the poultry business, in both of which he has made a com- mendable record. The Sartori ranch, owned and occupied by him, comprises five hundred acres, five miles east of Petaluma, the larger portion of which is utilized for pasturage purposes and the remainder furnishes the usual farm crops. Seventy-five milch cows and fourteen head of young cattle, together with twenty-one head of hogs, furnish stock from which a neat income is re- ceived, while two thousand hens add a goodly income to the annual revenue. The ranch is well improved with a large substantial residence and three barns. In addition to other stock he has seventy-six cows and twenty-two calves in another dairy. in Yuba City, Sutter county. The care of his ranch and of the stock leave him little leisure for participation in public activities and with the exception of attending the Roman Catholic Church and voting the Repub- lican ticket, he takes no part in religious or political affairs.
From the age of sixteen years a resident of Sonoma county, Arcangelo Sartori was born in the village of Guimaglio, Canton Ticino, Switzerland, April 12, 1865, and was one of four children, the others being Victor, Maris and Maria. The second-named is married and has three children, Romeo, Gladys and Maria. The parents, Jowak and Maria (Pezzi) Sartori, were natives of Switzerland and possessed the frugal, thrifty and forceful qualities that have given the land of William Tell an enviable standing throughout the world. Mr.
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