USA > California > Kings County > History of Tulare and Kings counties, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the counties who have been identified with their growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 36
USA > California > Tulare County > History of Tulare and Kings counties, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the counties who have been identified with their growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 36
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Charles W. Tompkins was born at Iowa Falls, Hardin county. Ia., February 14. 1868. A quarter part of his boyhood was spent at Atchison. Kan .. and he acquired a practical knowledge of the car- penter's trade in Tulare and was for seven years a railroad carpenter in the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, in charge of a crew of men who worked wherever their services were required along the road from Mendota to Los Angeles, also on the Santa Bar- bara branch from Sangus to Santa Barbara. He assisted in the con- struction of many residences at and near Tulare. among them those of B. A. Farmer. A. E. Miot. Mr. Wheeler, William Muller, Mrs. Thomas Thompson. James Halanan and C. S. Nicewonger. He helped also to build the Crow block and other business buildings. His spe- cialty in all this work was in putting in fine interior finish. in which he is recognized as an expert.
In 1-94 Mr. Tompkins engaged in the bee business and soon he- came an expert apiarist. He took swarms of bees from trees and in one instance cut down thirty trees to obtain one swarm. All his spare time he devoted to the study of books and journals giving instruction in different phases of bee culture. In time he had acquired three
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hundred and fifty swarms of bees and he is the owner of many at the present time. His apiaries. each consisting of sixty hives. are distributed in different favorable sections of the county and are moved from place to place, according to season. He is at present secretary and treasurer of the Tulare County Beekeepers' Association. In the spring of the year he places his bees over near the mountains, in the orange section, in order that they may gather honey from the orange blossoms, the honey thus produced being sweet. clear and pure and of an extra quality. In this section of Tulare county the bee busi- ness is rapidly growing; eleven carloads of honey were shipped from Tulare in 1911 and six carloads in 1912, which was a rather unfavor- able season on account of the prevailing drought. In this industry Mr. Tompkins is one of the leaders. He possesses public spirit to such a degree that he is a most useful citizen, always to be depended upon in emergencies calling for activity in behalf of the general good. He is identified with Tulare City lodge. Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and with the local organization of the Independent Order of Foresters.
In 1899 Mr. Tompkins married Nina L. Reams. a native of Tennessee, and she has borne him sons named Charles A. and Win- fred W.
FRANK POWELL
The people of Lemoore have many times been congratulated on having such a genial and efficient postmaster as Frank Powell, who has held the office continuously since his first appointment by President Harrison. Mr. Powell is a native of Sacramento, Cal .. horn March 22. 1867, a son of F. M. Powell. He was brought up at Brighton, near Sacramento. and came to the vicinity of Lemoore with his parents in 1873, when he was abont six years old. The elder Powell turned his attention to farming and the boy became a student in the Lemoore public school and later was graduated from the high school at Tulare.
The first postal work done by Mr. Powell was in the Tulare postoffice, where he was for two years a deputy under Postmaster M. D. Witt. Usually postmaster- are appointed chiefly for political reasons, but Mr. Powell was called to the postmastership of Lemoore because he was experienced in the work that the postoffice demanded and could adapt himself to the situation more easily and become an efficient postmaster with greater facility than any other man in town. He was first appointed under the Harrison administration and he has since been five times reappointed. His management of the office has put it on a business plane considerably higher than that usually occupied by postoffices of towns of about the population
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of Lemoore. So far as he has been able he has brought the estab- lishment to a system resembling in some ways that which obtains in cities of considerable importance.
Eight miles from Lemoore, in the midst of the Empire district, is a fine ranch owned by Mr. Powell, which he devotes to the cultiva- tion of alfalfa and the raising of fine hogs. Politically he is a Re- publican and socially he is a Woodman of the World. As a citizen his publie spirit is equal to all demands which tend toward municipal welfare. He married, in 1898, Miss Belle Adams of Kings county, and they have a daughter whom they have named Ella.
ARTHUR SWALL
A prominent citizen of Tulare county, genial and whole-souled, who has since 1910 been manager of the Newman ranch, which is located eleven miles south of the city mentioned, is Arthur Swall. This property, which consists of thirty-four hundred acres, was bought in 1909 by J. B. Newman of Santa Monica, Cal. The principal busi- ness of the ranch is dairying and stock-raising; one hundred and twenty cows are milked, and about two hundred and fifty hogs are fed. One hundred and fifty acres of the ranch are devoted to alfalfa and before the expiration of two years seven hundred acres will be given over to that erop. Three hundred acres are farmed to grain and five hundred head of cattle are kept. There are on the ranch two thirty-horse power motors to provide water, one two-horse power and one one-horse power motor to operate cream separators, and other small motors for pumping water for domestic use and for the cold storage plant, ice being manufactured on the place. The ranch is irrigated from Tule river by an eight-mile ditch, a motor being. used to raise water thirty-five feet from wells. The buildings on the property are modern, including two barns for sixty-two cows and one large horse stable. The bunk-house for the men cost $3000 and the concrete cream house $1800, and the buildings to honse machinery and the sheds to protect vehicles are ample and up-to- date. One of the most notable of the buildings is the manager's residence, which is ontfitted with all modern improvements. The entire place is lighted by electricity. Twelve to fifteen men and thirty-two horses are kept busy on the ranch the year round. The cream from the dairy is sent to a creamery.
The nucleus of this ranch was one hundred and sixty acres of land homesteaded by William Swall, father of Arthur. The latter was born on the place and grew to manhood on his father's home- stead north of Tulare. From his boyhood he had been familiar
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arthur Swall
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with all the details of ranch life and enterprise, his first venture being in partnership with his father in the rental for a year of orchard land near Visalia. Then he bought forty acres four miles southwest of that city, on which he began farming and set out twenty acres of peach trees and devoted ten acres to alfalfa, giving the rest of the place over to pasturage. He made many improvements on the ranch and in 1910 leased it to his brother-in-law on shares, in order to accept his present position with Mr. Newman. He is a stockholder in the Rochdale store at Tulare and Mr. Newman is a stockholder in the Dairyman's Co-operative creamery, the headquar- ters of which is in that city.
In 1899 Mr. Swall married Miss Maud Gum, of Hanford, Cal., and they have three children: Victor, at this time (1913), eleven years old; Harold, five years old; and Richard, an infant. Frater- nally Mr. Swall affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Tulare, being identified with lodge, encampment and the auxiliary organization of Rebekahs, and he also holds membership in a local division of the Fraternal Brotherhood. As a citizen he is public- spirited to a degree that makes him helpful to all local interests.
HUGH L. HAMILTON
One of the sturdy characters in the business life of Exeter is Hugh L. Hamilton, a blacksmith there. Born in 1861, in Mississippi county, Ark., he was a son of Andrew Hamilton, a native of Ireland. His mother died when he was three years old and he was only in his eighth year when his father passed away. About a year after his second bereavement, he went with his grandfather and the latter's family to Missouri, where he remained three years. In 1872 he was brought to Tulare county, Cal., and his education, begun in Missouri, was continued in the public schools here. He was taken into the family of his uncle, Hugh Hamilton, for whom he was named. In his early life he worked at stock-raising and later for a considerable time gave his attention to both that and grain farming, meanwhile learning the blacksmith's trade and devoting himself to it as occasion offered. Eventually he turned his attention entirely to blacksmithing, and his shop in Exeter is one of the leading concerns of its kind in that part of the county.
When Mr. Ilamilton came to Tulare county there were few settlers in the vicinity of Exeter and the whole country round about was new and undeveloped. Stock-raising and grain-growing were the principal interests for many years. His uncle had one of the big stock ranches of the time and locality, and he gave his nephew a fair start in life.
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At one time Mr. Hamilton owned five hundred and ninety acres of land and did well as a farmer, but his inclination made him a follower of his chosen trade.
In 1884 Mr. Hamilton united his fortunes with those of Miss Mildred Ferril, a native of Missouri, who bore him six children, five of whom are living. She died in 1895, and in 1897 he married Ida May Butts, a native of California. By his second marriage he has had two children, one of whom is deceased. The other, Harvey W. Hamilton, is a student in the Exeter high school. In his political affiliations Mr. Hamilton is a Democrat. He is identified with the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the World and is a loyal citizen, for no worthy interest of the community is without his en- couragement.
LIONEL W. MARSHALL
Another Iowan who is succeeding in Tulare county, Cal., is Lionel W. Marshall, of Tulare. Mr. Marshall was born in Marshall county, in the central part of Iowa, January 10, 1857. When he was fifteen years old he was taken to Yankton, S. Dak., by his parents, who maintained the family home there two years, then, in 1874, came to California, locating in Los Angeles. The elder Marshall was a builder, and the son gained a practical knowledge of the carpenter's trade under his instruction. He. in an earlier day, had acquired similar experience in England, where he first saw the light of day. From Los Angeles father and son went to Pomona, where they erected the first building in the town, which, as it happened, was a hotel. They were kept busy there, contracting and building, three years, then went back to Los Angeles. Soon Lionel W. Marshall built homes in Tulare for Thomas H. Thompson and Banker Lathrop. He remained in the town during the period 1907-08 and moved to Lindsay, where he built himself a fine home and fine residences for James Reynolds, Edward Halleck, John Walker and Messrs. Metcalf and Evans. He also remodeled the building of the National Bank of Lindsay, and while he was operating there went over to Visalia and built residences for A. W. Wing and James Richardson. He took up his residence in Tulare in September, 1911, and soon after- ward erected the H. A. Charters home in that city. Even the most fleeting inspection of the structures he has erected conveys an idea of their artistic design, workmanlike construction and solid per- manency. They are ornaments to the towns in which they stand and the best possible advertisement of his skill and ability. Some of his recent architectural achievements are in evidence and he has in hand
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contracts for execution in the near future which cannot but add to his laurels.
In 1906 Mr. Marshall married Miss Elizabeth Parker, a daughter of Andrew Parker, a pioneer at Monrovia. He is a member of the Visalia body of the order of Moose. In the affairs of the community he is interested and helpful.
GIDEON LORENDO
In the province of Quebec, Canada, forty-nine miles west of the city of the same name, Gideon Lorendo was born, September 17, 1846, a son of Cyril and Locadie (Delcours) Lorendo, natives of Canada. His father, who was a farmer, held the office of sheriff more than forty years. When Gideon left his native province he went to Lowell, Mass., and found employment in a cotton mill. Later he worked in a sawmill, then for five years he traveled throughout New England, then went west by way of the Great Lakes and in 1869 stopped at Duluth, Minn. There were at that time only five cabins in the place and they were occupied by half-breed Indians. He found there employment con- nected with lumbering, but soon went back to the province of Quebec where he married Jane L. Bounty, a native of Vermont, who became the mother of his eight children: Minnie, Napoleon, Ellen, Philip, Louisa, Alfred, Albert and Josephine. His second marriage was to Elizabeth Ruch, a native of Oregon. Their children are named Wil- liam, Peter and Agnes. Agnes is attending school at Orosi. Napoleon married Jessie Woods, and resides in Oakland. Cal., and has two children. Ellen married John Fisher of Mariposa county, Cal., and has five daughters. Philip married Lulu Beggs; their home is in Mono county and they have two children. Alfred married Ethel Griggs and they live at San Francisco. Albert, who is an engineer on the rail- road belonging to the mill company at Sugarpine, Cal., married Pearl Uslis and they have a son and a daughter. Josephine married Ira Thomas; they live at Hanford and have two children. Mr. Lorendo has thirteen grandchildren.
From Windsor, Canada, across the river from Detroit, Mr. Lorendo came to California in 1877. In 1881, because of the dry sea- son, he sold one hundred and sixty acres of land for $500. Soon after, he bought another one hundred and sixty acres at Sand Creek Gap for $2.50 an acre and in 1888 sold it for $24 an acre and went to Oregon and lived in Josephine county, that state, for six years, farming for a time, then mining for gold. As he was spending more money than he was getting out of the ground, he disposed of his holdings in Oregon and sold a place near Chamberlain, S. Dak., which he had owned for
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some time, for $25, and went to British Columbia and kept a tavern on the Caribou road until he had taken in from lodgers enough to give him another start. Then he came back to Orosi and sent for his wife. He then had but $2.50 to his name and faced the certainty of having to pay out the first $200 that he conld earn over and above a bare living. But he struggled manfully for a foothold, and in 1901 bought twenty acres of land at $25 an acre. This he has improved with a house, a barn and other buildings. He has nine and a half acres in Malaga grapes, eight acres in peaches and two acres in alfalfa. He has paid for his land and improvements, has plenty of stock for home use, and is prospering in the regular California way. Politically he is a Socialist and he and the other members of his family are members of the Catholic church, in which they were all born and brought up.
Before settling down in Tulare county Mr. Lorendo travelled through twenty-seven states, trying to find the best location possible, and is very much pleased with California. He was twenty-six mile> from their postoffice at Visalia when he first settled here.
T. W. KYLE
To California, Indiana has given many citizens who have be- come prominent in one relation or another. The ranks of the builders of different classes include many of them. Of the builders of Tulare county few are more deservedly popular than the son of the Hoosier State whose name is above. It was in Jennings county that Mr. Kyle was born, 1853. He came to California first in 1879, remained a year and went to Texas, where he worked as a brick mason. In 1889 he came back, and settling in Tulare, began there a successful career as a brick contractor and builder. In nearly all parts of the county may be seen fine brick structures which are monuments to his skill and en- terprise, and among them the following are conspicuous: At Tulare-the I. H. Ham block, the W. Clough block, the new high school building, the Carnegie Library building, the city hall; at Visalia-the George Ballou block, the county jail, the Herroll block, the Delta build- ing, the Lucier block, the Baptist church; at Porterville-the Sarton block, the flour mill, the Henry Traga building, the remodeled First National Bank building; at Hanford-the Biddle Bank building; at Tipton-a hotel; at Traver-a hotel; at Dinuba-the Hayden & Boone block; and many other lesser buildings for different purposes. He has built also some fine blocks in Bakersfield, Kern county.
As he becomes better and more widely known his business in- creases rapidly. It is already one of the most considerable of its class in this part of the state and bids fair within the next few years
Luther b. Hawley
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to ontrank all competitors. His business methods are such as to com- mend him to all requiring such service as he is so well able to render ; he has ample capital and backing and may be depended on faithfully to carry out any contract he may make, however large or difficult.
In 1891 Mr. Kyle married Miss Florence Owens, a native of Ala- bama, and she has borne him children whom they have named Alvin J., Forrest and Ruth.
LUTHER C. HAWLEY
In Trumbull county, Ohio, within the Western Reserve, Lnther C. Hawley was born May 4, 1829, and when he was six years old his father, who was a farmer, removed to Bond county, Illinois, where the boy gained some schooling and a knowledge of farming. In 1851, when he was twenty-two years old, he with two partners traveled with a four horse team to Oregon City, Ore., being five months on the road. He went to Salem, Ore., and from there to Engene, Lane county, where he was among the first settlers, and shortly after became first clerk of that connty. In 1855 he helped to organize and enlisted in the Mounted Volunteers and was made first lientenant, serving as such in the Indian service from October to January. ITis term having expired he with others organized another company and he was appointed chief of the staff, with rank of major, under General Lamerick. He served as such until the war was over and later was a clerk in the Governor's office at Salem and helped in the settlement of local war and Indian affairs until 1857. Desiring to again see his mother he returned east by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and the Panama railroad was the first rail- road he had ever seen. Remaining in Illinois until in the spring of 1859, he then started across the plains to Colorado, with a determina- tion to reach Pike's Peak. He was captain of a train of fifty-three wagons, and his party located on the present site of Denver, where there was then bnt one honse, this being a double log cabin. He did placer mining in Russell's Gulch, then returned East with a male team to Illinois. He practiced law at Greenville, Bond county, III., until in 1862, when he enlisted in the One Hundred and Thirtieth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, with which he served as sergeant major until the end of the war, participating in the siege of Vicksburg forty-seven days, also in the fighting at Champion lill and Fort Gibson. He remained at Vicksburg. in McPherson's com- mand, until February, 1864, and fought under that general at Tom- bigbee river and at Jackson, Miss. In June he marched toward Lookont Mountain, Mission Ridge and Chickamauga, and after 22
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participating in the fighting at those points went to Atlanta. where General McPherson was killed. Mr. Ilawley was then acting as assistant adjutant-general; after the death of General McPherson he was transferred to General Canby's headquarters at New Orleans, ranking as captain. He was present at the capture of Mobile, whence he returned to New Orleans, and remained there until the close of the war, being mustered out November, 1865.
After the war Mr. Hawley went back to Illinois and resumed the practice of law at Vandalia, where he married and lived until 1870, when he came to California, bringing his family with him. He lived in the Sacramento valley, raising wheat until 1874, then came to Tulare county. The country round about was a naked plain and one could scarcely see a house in half a day of fast riding. Mr. Hawley bought a quarter-section of railroad land near the present site of Hanford on the south, and for a time he prospered with wheat and stock, later putting his land into fruit trees. He lived on his place until 1905, when he rented it and bought a residence in Hanford, and since his removal to the city he has sold the ranch. He was a participant in the Mussel Slough tragedy and was a member of a committee sent to San Francisco to deal with the railroad company. He and his associates were put in prison there but were released the next day. In the later development of this section he has been active in the promotion of irrigation, and in all relations with his fellow citizens has been helpfully public spirited. He keeps alive memories of 1861-65 by membership with MePherson Post, G. A. R., of Hanford. In 1865 Mr. Hawley married AAlice M. Stevenson, a native of Kentucky. Two of their eight children were born in Illinois, the others being natives of California. Their son Charles Richard became a lawyer, but has passed away. Samuel Vincent is a farmer located a mile and a half from Hanford. Clarence E. is a rig-builder in the oil fields at Maricopa, Cal. Lulu J. is the wife of John H. Van Vlear, of Hanford. Ralph S., of Berkeley, is a civil engineer. Edgar L. is deceased. Vietor C. and Clande were twins. Vietor is a plumber at Hanford; C'lande is deceased. Mrs. Hawley passed away in 1902, aged sixty-two years.
BYRON O. LOVELACE
The public officials of a county furnish to the outside world the best expression of the character of its people and indicate not only its present state of development, but also its trend and its aspira- tions. Tried by this standard, Tulare county commands the respect and confidence of all inquirers by reason of the representative char-
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acter of the men who are filling its official positions, and among them none is worthy of higher respect for capacity and devotion to the interests confided to his charge than Byron O. Lovelace, who has ably and honorably filled the office of county surveyor since Jan- uary 1, 1911.
A son of Joseph W. and Helen (Schlichting) Lovelace, Byron O. Lovelace was born in Texas in 1883. He was educated in the public school at Visalia and was graduated after a special course of scientific study from the Van der Naillen School of Engineering and Mines. of San Francisco. During the ensuing six years he was in the employ of the United States government, doing surveying for the agricultural department, most of the time in National Forest Reserve work in California and Nevada. Returning to Visalia in 1910, he was a candidate as a Republican at the August primary elec- tion for the office of county surveyor of Tulare county, to which he was duly elected by a large majority in the fall of that year.
As a man of public spirit Mr. Lovelace takes high place in the citizenship of Tulare county, to the important general interests of which he has been conspicuously devoted. Fraternally he affiliates with the Woodmen of the World. He married, July, 1910, Miss Eula Simmons, a native of Riverside county, Cal., and a daughter of a pioneer stockman in that part of the state.
PERRY DORMAN FOWLER
As horticultural commissioner for Tulare county, Perry Dor- man Fowler is proving excellent ability. His splendid life dates from March 1, 1851, when he was born in the state of Missouri, a son of Benjamin and Mary Ann (Thompson) Fowler, natives re- spectively of Indiana and of Missouri. In 1854, when he was about three years old, his parents accompanied an ox-team immigration party to California, bringing their family, and the father mined for a time near Oroville, but moved from there to the San Ramon valley and farmed there until in the fall of 1858. From that time until in 1868 he farmed near Woodland, Yolo county, and there Perry D. attended the public schools and was a student in the Hes- perian College. The next home of the family was near the present site of Newman in Stanislaus county, where the elder Fowler bought three thousand acres of land, raised stock and grew grain until in 1874. After that he herded sheep and farmed in the Deer Creek region of Tulare county until February 20, 1876, when he passed away. The son settled the family estate and in the fall of that year Mrs. Fowler moved to Tulare, which was her home as long as she
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lived, her death, however, occurring in Los Angeles in September, 1895.
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