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 39
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 39
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To Albert O. and Sarah J. (Cochran) Collins were born three sons and two danghters: Charles A., sheriff of Inyo county; Wil- liam W. Collins; John L .; Minnie, widow of W. L. Blythe of Palo Alto, Cal .; and Leora, who is the wife of Bertrand Rhine of Bishop, Cal.
William W. Collins was born on the old Collins homestead, near Coshocton, Ohio, June 23, 1865, and was eight years old when his father removed to California. He was educated in the public schools
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of Kern county, at the Visalia Normal school and at the California State Normal school at Los Angeles. After his graduation he assisted his father for a time in the latter's cattle business. In 1889 he entered business life for himself as a wheat grower and as the proprietor of a livery stable at Tulare, and in 1895 began buying wheat in Tulare and Kern connties for the Farmers' Union Milling Co. of Stockton. The next year he accepted a position with J. Gold- man & Co. of Tulare as foreman, in charge of their lands, orchards and stock. He has recently set out, at Lemon Cove, a forty-acre orange grove.
In Republican politics Mr. Collins has long been locally promi- nent, and in 1902 he was elected sheriff of Tulare county. He has been twice re-elected, and now, in his third term, is one of the most popular sheriffs the people of the county have ever known. A man of much public spirit, he has been helpfully identified with many important home interests, and has in all things devoted himself, heart and soul, to the welfare of the community. Fraternally he affiliates with the Woodmen of the World, the Ancient Order of United Work- men and the local lodge and encampment of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and in the last mentioned order he has been elected to different offices of importance. Sharing with him in the esteem of the people of Visalia is Mrs. Collins, a native daughter of Inyo county, who was formerly Miss Louise Clarke. She has borne him three daughters-Hazel, Vera and Blanche.
DR. WILLIAM P. BYRON
That able and popular medical man of Kings county, Cal., Dr. William P. Byron of Lemoore, was born in that town, October 22. 1878, and was there reared and educated in the public schools. He is. the son of Il. W. Byron, one of the first pioneers of this part of the state. In 1900 Dr. Byron became a student at the California Medical College, San Francisco, and in 1904 was graduated from that institution with the degree of M. D. He began the practice of his profession at Ridgefield, Wash., and continued it there with con- siderable snecess until 1906, when he returned to Lemoore and opened an office there. Ile was successful from the outset and soon became one of the most popular physicians in that part of the county. In November, 1909, Dr. E. H. Byron, his brother, became his profes- sional partner, and this partnership continned until November, 1912. He has always devoted himself to general practice and is in much favor as a family physician. He was made district surgeon for the Southern Pacific Railroad Co. in 1907. and is still holding that respon-
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sible position. He is the city health officer of Lemoore; county physician for Western Kings county, and a member of the San Joaquin Valley Health Association, the California State Medical Society and the American Society of Medicine. Socially he affili- ates with the Masons, Odd Fellows, Red Men, Knights of Pythias, Foresters, Woodmen and the Fraternal Brotherhood; also the orders of I. D. E. S. and U. P. E. C., Companions, Rebekahs and the Order of the Eastern Star, and with all women's auxiliary lodges in the city of which specific mention has not been made.
In 1910 Dr. Byron married Miss Ruby E. Fassett of Iowa and they live on Heinlin street, opposite the park. Exacting as are the demands that are made upon him professionally he gives much time to the promotion of the general interests of Lemoore, and has proven himself a public-spirited citizen, to be confidently depended upon in any emergency.
F. D. CAMPBELL
It was in that old southern town, Yazoo City, Miss., that F. D. Campbell was born in 1861. But a child when his parents moved to Texas, it was in that state that he was reared and went to school, and there he became a cowboy, and he lived the wild life of the plains and ranges in Texas, New Mexico, Missouri and Montana. He was for three years a Texas ranger, a sworn member of the long-famous organization so potent in the preservation of order in the country along the border. Then it comprised six companies, of twenty-one men each, all under command of General King, each company having a captain, a lientenant and a sergeant. The members were men of proven bravery, picked from among the boldest and truest spirits on the frontier. Much of their work was against smugglers along the Mexican border, and some interesting experiences were had in pursuit of cattle rustlers. One band of smugglers was pursued relentlessly by the rangers five years, and was captured at length by Mr. Campbell's company at Persimmons Gap, Tex. The head- quarters of the rangers was at Austin, Tex., and companies were stationed at Sunset Water, Aberdeen, Colorado City and Fort Davis, all points of strategic importance on the frontier. Mr. Campbell, who was twice wounded in this arduous and exciting service, received his honorable discharge November, 1883.
Going to Kansas City, Mo., after leaving the frontier service in Texas, Mr. Campbell shipped all kinds of livestock from that point, till in 1910, when he came to Tulare, to engage in the buying and selling of livestock. His business at once assumed important pro-
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portions and he was shipping $30,000 worth of cattle and hogs each month, as the months averaged. In no department has there been a falling off, and in some departments a wonderful growth has been recorded. He is also part owner of and a director in the Kern Street Market of Tulare, one of the conspicnous concerns of its kind in this part of the state.
In 1896 Mr. Campbell married Miss Alice Landers, a native of Mississippi, and they have the following children, mentioned in the order of their birth: Ethel, Gladys, Argyle, Blanche and Theo- dora. Since taking up his residence in Tulare he has in many ways demonstrated that he is a helpful and dependable citizen, patriotically devoted to the general interests of the community and ready and able at all times to respond to demands in behalf of measures under promotion, with a view to the advancement of the public welfare.
DANIEL G. OVERALL
The Texan is as cosmopolitan as any citizen of the United States. Wherever his lot may be cast, he immediately becomes one of the people and is ready with heart and hand and money to do his part toward the advancement of the public weal. Texas, too, has been a station in the travels of families bound for California, but who have been leisurely in their travels; the stop in Texas has some- times been premeditated, sometimes it has been incidental and some- times accidental. These stops in Texas have been signalized by the addition, by marriage or by birth of members to families from further east or north. It was in Texas, in 1857, that Daniel G. Overall first saw the light of day. His father, Daniel G., Sr., was a native of Missouri; his mother, Charity (Mason), was a native of Illinois. The father sailed around Cape Horn to California in 1849. Later he went back to Missouri, and from there went to Texas. While tarrying in the Lone Star State, he busied himself by getting to- gether a large band of cattle, which he drove through from there to Tulare county in 1859. Selling his cattle, he was enabled to buy ranch property here. He prospered as a farmer, and here he and his wife both died. They had two children-Mrs. Mary E. Farrow of Visalia and Daniel G. Overall, Jr. The latter was reared and educated in Tulare county and went into the real estate business at Visalia, in association with John F. Jordan and W. H. Iam- mond. A man of public spirit, and influential politically, he was elected auditor and sheriff of Tulare county and served in the former capacity during 1887-1888 and in the latter during 1889-1890.
Ranching and stock-raising have commanded Mr. Overall's atten-
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tion during most of his business career, but in late years he has been much interested in orange-growing in the citrus fruit belt of Tulare county, and is now president of the Central California Citrus Fruit Exchange. He is manager and principal owner of the Kaweah Lemon Company, director in the First National Bank of Visalia and the president of the Visalia Abstract Company. For thirteen years he was proprietor of the Palace Hotel, Visalia, and he has extensive oil interests in Kern county and mining interests in Cala- veras county. He is a Scottish Rite Mason, Knight Templar and a Shriner, active and widely known in the order, and affiliates with the Fresno lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He has married twice. His first wife was Miss Hawpe, who bore him a son, Orvie Overall, who has attained much fame as a base- ball pitcher in some of the great games of the past decade. His present wife was Miss Van Loan.
ROBERT ANDERSON MOORE
As president of the Lemoore Chamber of Commerce and chair- man of the Kings county Republican central committee Robert Ander- son Moore has become well known throughout central California, and he has other claims to distinction than these. Born in Grant county, Wis., in 1861, he lived there until he was fifteen years old, when his family moved to Minnesota and later to Oregon. lle came, event- ually, to California, and after stopping for a time in Los Angeles came to Kings county and became a salesman in the McKenna Broth- ers' hardware store. He mastered the business and acquired great popularity with its patrons and in 1890 bought the establishment, which he conducted with success until 1911, when he sold it to the Lemoore Hardware Company.
Since disposing of his hardware interests Mr. Moore has inter- ested himself in real estate operations. He owns two ranches, one of forty acres, three miles north of town, and one of one hundred and sixty acres, ten miles south and near the lake; the former is in vine- yard, the latter in barley and alfalfa. He has invested to some extent in oil property and is a director in the Mount Vernon Oil Company, which is operating in the Devil's Den field, He was one of the organ- izers and is in his second year as president of the Lemoore Chamber of Commerce. As chairman of the Kings county Republican central committee and in other capacities he has long been active in political work, and he was three times elected a member of the Board of Trus-
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tees of the city of Lemoore, serving two terms as chairman of that body. Socially he affiliates with the Odd Fellows and the Foresters.
In 1886 Mr. Moore married Miss Clara H. Peck, a native of Hol- lister. ('al. Their son, B. C. Moore, is the successful manager of an automobile garage. During all of the years of his residence at Le- moore. Mr. Moore has manifested a lively interest in the development and prosperity of the town, and as a man of public spirit he has cheerfully and generously done much for the betterment of local condi tions as occasion has presented itself.
JOHN WESLEY GARR
When John Wesley Garr, who lives half a mile north of Monson, came to Tulare county there were but three houses between his resi- dence and Hanford, roads were few and unimproved, the towns Dinuba and Sawyer had not come into existence, and irrigation ditches had not been constructed. Mr. Garr was born in Indiana, September 10, 1837. and his father was a soldier in the war of 1812. He was reared and educated there and passed his active years there until he was forty years old, and then went to Texas, where he lived three years. His next place of residence was in southern Iowa, in which state his brother died aged ninety-six years, their father living to be eighty-six years old.
In Indiana Mr. Garr married Mary J. English, a native of that state, whose parents came there from Pennsylvania. She was the mother of children as follows: Alice J., Charles N., William F., James F., Martha and George. Alice J. married Light Frazier and lives near Dinnba ; they have had two children (one has passed away), and Dora is married, her husband being employed in the oil fields of California. William F., whose wife died thirty years ago while he was a citizen of Texas, is living with his father. John W. Garr has lived in Tulare county since 1881. Pre-empting an eighty-acre homestead, he paid for it partially by chopping wood and has im- proved it and prospered on it as a farmer. He has given some attention to figs and has on his place the largest fig tree in Tulare county, which he planted twenty years ago, and which in 1911 pro- duced $75 worth of fruit. From twelve trees his crop altogether made more than a ton.
In his political affiliation Mr. Garr is a Democrat. He takes a deep and abiding interest in every question pertaining to the welfare of the community and co-operates public-spiritedly in every move- ment for the general good.
V
Carr
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THE OLD BANK
The history of "The Old Bank," at Hanford, Kings county, Cal., would be interesting, even were it not inseparably interwoven with that of the development of the city and its tributary territory. It is a state bank, established under the laws of the State of Cali- fornia, December 1, 1901. It was founded by S. E. Biddle, the pio- neer banker of Hanford, who founded the Bank of Hanford, the latter being the first bank in the town. The original officers of The Old Bank were S. E. Biddle, Sr., president; P. McRae, vice-presi- dent; S. E. Biddle, Jr., cashier; Frank R. Hight, assistant cashier. In 1903 S. E. Biddle, Jr., resigned and Frank R. Hight was made cashier and J. J. Hight, assistant cashier. In 1908 S. E. Biddle, Sr., died, and Daniel Finn was elected president, Frank R. Hight becom- ing cashier and manager. The present officers of the institution are: Frank R. Hight, president and manager; P. McRae, vice-president ; J. J. Hight, cashier. Its directors are: Mrs. A. A. Biddle, P. McRae, Frank R. Hight, Charles Kreyenhagen, Joseph Schnereger, N. Weisbaum and J. J. Hight. The bank's growth has been steady and strong and it is regarded as one of the stanneh and most dependable financial institutions of central California. Its depos- itors are among the leading business men of Hanford and vicinity. It pays interest on term deposits, and its present capital is $50,000; its deposits aggregate $600.000.
H. M. SHREVE
A prominent financier and business man of central California, H. M. Shreve is filling the responsible positions of vice-president and manager of the First National Bank of Tulare. A native of Borden- town, N. J., born February 17, 1864, he acquired his education in public schools and in higher institutions of learning in New Jersey and in Phil- adelphia. In 1880 he came to California, and for six years thereafter was employed in connection with mining interests in Mariposa county. Later he came to Tulare and was employed for several years as a bookkeeper in the office of the Reardon & Piper Planing Mill, until he opened an office to handle insurance and conveyancing, and this he operated until the beginning of his connection with the First National Bank. (A historical sketch of that institution will be found in this work.)
In 1887 Mr. Shreve married Alida E. Beals of San Francisco. He affiliates with Olive Branch lodge No. 269, F. & A. M., of Tulare and with the Visalia Masonic chapter and commandery. He
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was for several years clerk of the city of Tulare, his interest in the city and county making him a citizen of much public helpfulness, and there are few demands for assistance toward the uplift and devel- opment of the community to which he does not respond promptly and liberally. Socially he is president of the Tulare Club, and as such has had much to do with projects for the general benefit. Among his interests outside the city should be mentioned the National Bank of Visalia, of the board of directors of which he is an active member.
JOSEPH LA MARCHE
The American family of LaMarche was established in Canada early in the last century and John LaMarche, son of the original emi- grant. was born in Ontario and in 1837 enlisted under the banner of Mackenzie in the so-called ('anadian rebellion. His son Joseph, born near Montreal in 1823, was graduated from a Canadian college, farmed early in life at LaClinte Mills and was later a merchant and a magis- trate. He married Julia LaMare, whose grandfather in the paternal line founded the Canadian family of LaMare. Joseph LaMarche died in 1900, aged seventy-seven years; his wife died when she was seventy. They had thirteen children, ten of whom lived to maturity and still survive, the second of these being Joseph LaMarche, Jr., of Tulare county, who is the sole representative of the family in California.
Mr. LaMarche was born on a farm forty miles from Montreal March 1. 1853, and when he had time to do so in the years of his boy- hood walked five miles to a French school if the weather was not too inclement. When he was thirteen years old he went to Upper Canada to log and lumber on the Ottawa river for $36 a year, and at the end of a year he came down to Quebec on a raft and signed a contract to work a year in a logging camp not far away. When he was fifteen years old he went to the Lake Superior region and teamed two years among the charcoal furnaces around Marquette, Mich .; from there he came west to Nevada and teamed at Carson and Virginia City and assisted in the construction of a fiume. In 1875 he came to California and for three years thereafter was employed on a ranch near Prince- ton, Colusa county. Ilis first venture as an independent farmer was as a grain grower on rented land, which he operated four years. Coming to Tulare county in 1883, he began farming as a renter, but soon bought two hundred and eighty acres of bayou and railroad land, four miles south of Tulare, which he farmed to grain a year and sold in 1885. In 1886 he married and located on a ranch of fourteen hun- dred and twenty acres, eight miles southwest of Tulare which was the property of his wife; a part of it was farmed to grain, the remainder
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was in pasture. Later he owned four thousand acres on the Tule and Elk Bayou rivers, where he raised hay and bred cattle, but this he sold in 1908. He now has twenty-one hundred and sixty acres, of which six hundred acres are devoted to alfalfa, the remainder to grain and pasturage. Since his retirement from active farming he has rented most of his acreage and now has four tenants.
The activities of Mr. LaMarche are by no means confined to the management of his land. He was prominent in organizing the Dairy- men's Co-operative Creamery Co., was elected one of its directors three months after it began business, and has acted in that capacity to the present time. In 1906 he was a director in the Co-operative Creamery Co. of Tulare. He was one of the organizers also of the Rochdale Co., and is a stockholder in the Tulare Canning Co. and the Tulare Milling Co. He was also a director in the Fair Association of Tulare county, which constructed a race track and held fairs for two years, and he is now owner of the track. Through his membership of the Tulare Board of Trade he has had to do with numerous enter- prises which have tended to the commercial growth of the city; in 1908 he was elected president of the Bank of Tulare, of which he had for many years been a director. In politics he is a Democrat and he was at one time a member of the county central committee of his party. He was made an Odd Fellow in Colusa county and since he came to Tulare has been active in the work of the local lodge and en- campment, his affiliation with this order covering the long period of thirty years.
At Tipton, Tulare county, Mr. LaMarche married August 7, 1886, Mrs. Mary (LeClert) Creighton, widow of John M. Creighton. Mrs. LaMarche was born at Portsmouth, England, a daughter of Theodore and Mary (Sims) LeClert, natives respectively of France and of Eng- land, and member of families long established. When Mr. LeClert settled in England he found employment for a time as a brick mason at Portsmouth. Coming later to the United States, he worked at his trade a while at Albion, N. Y., and from there he came to California in 1856 by way of Cape Horn. After mining at Knight's Ferry and at Copperopolis he turned his attention to farming and eventually passed away at Oakdale, Stanislans county, where his wife also died. Of their three daughters and two sons, all of whom are living, Mrs. LaMarche was the second horn. In 1861 she, with other members of the family, joined her father at Knights' Ferry, where she married Melvin Howard, a native of New York state, who became an orchard- ist at Sonora, Cal., and died there. Later she married John N. Creighton and in 1876 they settled on the Creighton ranch in Tulare county, and a few years later Mr. Creighton died at Byron Hot Springs, Contra Costa county. She is a woman of fine abilities and has been prominent in the work of the Woman's Christian Temperance
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Union and in movements for the emancipation of women and for the nplift of the human race. Both Mr. and Mrs. LaMarche are noted for their publie spirit and for their ready and unostentatious charity. They have two children, Joseph F., who is in the United States navy, and Miss Bernie LaMarche, who was a student at the University of Southern California at Los Angeles and in 1912 married Charles Phillip of Los Angeles.
FRANK E. FITZSIMONS
The son of George and Agnes ( Ward) Fitzsimons, Frank E. Fitz- simons was born March 30, 1886, in Thomas county, Kans., where he lived until he was eight years old. His parents built the first sod house and the first frame house in that part of the county. When they located there they were eighteen miles from the nearest neighbor. twenty-six miles from the nearest considerable settlement and fifty miles from Winslow, which was their market place, and they were often menaced but never really injured by Indians. In 1894 they songht a more congenial clime in California; and after living a year at San Jose they came on to Visalia and for three years the elder Fitz- simons was foreman of the Geo. A. Fleming Fruit Company's ranch. In 1897 they settled near Orosi, where Mr. Fitzsimons has been sur- cessful with fruit. Following are the names of the children of George and Agnes (Ward) Fitzsimons: Frank E., Orrin. Ray, Walter, Luh and Vera. Lulu married F. A. Listman and lives near Orosi. Orrin married May Vance.
Frank E. Fitzsimons was educated in the common school and at Occidental College, Los Angeles, 1906-07. He married Edna Furtney and has a son named Richard, who is attending high school. They formerly lived near Orosi and had thirty acres in peaches, which he sold for $400 an acre. The remainder of his ranch brought a satis- factory price. He had owned the place three years and had improved it in many ways. Ile next bought one hundred and forty acres, eighty of which he has sold. He now lives in Orosi. The balance of his ranch he is going to set to Thompson and Malaga grapes and figs, Ile is a close student of everything that pertains to his business and is advanc- ing along scientifie lines, and his methods are certain to bring him even greater success than that which he has already attained. Mr. and Mrs. Fitzsimons are Republicans and members of the Methodist church. He affiliates socially with the Woodmen of the World and is publie-spiritedly devoted to the community's highest and best interests.
JOSHUA AND FRANCES A. GRIFFITH
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FRANK GRIFFITH, V. S.
This well-known veterinarian of Hanford, Kings county, Cal., was born October 4, 1850, twelve miles northeast of the site of Merced and nine miles from Snelling, Cal., a son of Dr. Joshua Griffith, at which time the place described was in Mariposa county. Dr. Joshua Griffith was born June 28, 1800, seven miles below the site of Brownsville, Washington county, Pa., which was then known as Red Stone Fort. In 1810 he was taken by his family to Ohio, to a sparsely settled section in which the nearest schoolhouse was twenty-five miles distant. In 1820 he went to Missouri, and there he met John Hawkins, and in 1822 he was a member of the Ashley expedition, consisting of sixty men, to explore the Missouri river to the mouth of the Yellowstone. The party made the trip in a large keel-boat, returning in 1823. In 1824 he opened a gunshop at Santa Fe, N. M., where he made con- siderable money, and in 1830 he went to Sonora, Mexico, and had many interesting adventures. In 1831 he established a variety store at Hermosillo, Mexico, and from that time until 1848 he prospered varionsly. In the last named year he came to Los Angeles, Cal., and soon after he was mining at Amador with old man Amador. Later he mined at Volcano and Mokelumne Hill and on the fifth of Novem- ber, 1848, he discovered Jackson creek in Amador county.
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