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 46
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 46
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One hundred acres of Mr. Work's land is devoted to farming. nine aeres to orchard, peaches, pears and apples being the principal fruit, the remainder being under timber and pasture grass. He keeps thirty head of horses and cattle and one hundred and fifty hogs.
In politics Mr. Work is non-partisan. As a citizen he is public- spirited and helpful and he was for some time school trustee in the Mill Creek district. He married, in Drum valley, Miss Alma Fen- wick, a native of Illinois. They have ten children: Angeline, Polly, Sarah Nettie, Thomas, Nicholas, Leora, Alma, Daisy, Orville and June. Angeline married Frank Ilntchinson and bore him a son and a daughter; J. W. Howell is her present husband. Polly married
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W. L. MeElroy and has two children. Sarah Nettie is the wife of C. H. MeElroy and has one son. Thomas married Alma B. Howell and they have one child. Leora is the wife of Frank MeHaley. Two of the younger children of Mr. Work are attending school.
STEPHEN E. HENLEY
Born in Scott county, Iowa, in 1858, Stephen E. Henley of Porter- ville, Tulare county, Cal., attended the public schools near his home during the years of his boyhood and when quite young engaged in the stock business, raising and selling cattle. He continued in that line in his native state until 1901, when he came to California. Locating at Porterville, he bought three tracts of land, one of twenty acres set to oranges, one of eighty and one of forty acres. In 1907 he sold this property, retaining only mining rights on eighty acres. His mining claim consists of a twelve-foot ledge of high grade china clay, an onteropping of spar, suitable for the making of porcelain and dishes. When he came to the county and had looked around a little he coneluded that there was more ore here than more experienced miners would have believed, but he prospected for six years before he found what he was looking for, then opened the ledge known as the "Lost Squaw." IIe has been offered $12,000 for the claim. but says that with $20,000 exposed to sight he could not sell at such a figure. While Mr. Henley had the direction of the matter, his son, O. F. Henley, and Bndd Creeks actually discovered the ledge. He originated the Tulare County Power Company and was the first man of this company to file on the water rights of the Tule river, by which power has been developed and is being transmitted three hundred miles and used for pumping plants and other purposes. He sold out his interest in the company in 1911.
Mr. Henley's wife was Laura M. Hartley, a native of Johnson county, lowa, and their marriage was solemnized in that state in 1880. They have five children, all of whom live in California. O. Floyd married Edith Bursell and has two children, Alta and Alberta ; his home is in Tulare county. Ada married Charles Roberts, and has two children, Ray and Alice May. May is Mrs. Bert Hoover, of Tulare county, and has one daughter, Aysha. Minnie is the wife of Ash Crabtree and has three children, Ramona, Clair and Emory. Mand is Mrs. Floy Wyer of Modesto, who has one son, Cecil. Mrs. Henley's parents were natives of Iowa.
The story of the event that was instrumental in bringing Mr. Henley to California is not the least interesting feature of his bio- graphy. In 1889, while he was living in Northwest Iowa, he was
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caught by a terrific storm that carried damage to a wide and long stretch of country and fell under a nearly fatal lightning stroke. After that he was long in the hospital, and when, at length, he was dis- charged he had lost the use of his limbs, partly from paralysis caused by his accident, and partly from disuse, and was so impaired in health and vitality that his physicians advised him to seek the recuperative influence of a milder climate.
CHARLES R. BLAMQUIST
This well-known contractor, builder and farmer of Tulare, Cal., was born in Sweden, January 8, 1866, and was there educated and fully instructed in the trade of the wagon maker. In 1884, when he was about twenty-two years old, he came to the United States and locating in St. Paul, Minn., found employment at his trade. In the fall of 1890 he went to Montana and there began his career as a contractor and builder. From 1891 to 1893 he devoted his energies to that business in Seattle, Wash., then came to Los Angeles, Cal., and acquired a half interest in the Los Angeles Fertilizer Company, which he retained until 1897. Then, disposing of his interests in Los Angeles, he went up to Lincoln and Yakima counties, Wash., where during the ensuing fourteen years he devoted himself to grain and stock-raising on eight hundred acres of land, occasionally doing a little building in order that his hand might not lose its cunning. We find him next at Klamath Falls, Ore., where he lived nine months and thence came to Tulare in July, 1909. Here he has devoted his attention principally to building, though in December, 1911, he bought forty acres of land two miles sontheast of Tulare which he planted to alfalfa and is developing for dairy purposes.
At Tulare Mr. Blamquist has built twelve houses and he has built two others in the country nearby. Among these are the resi- dences of N. E. Stanley, Mrs. N. Anderson, E. S. Higdon, Mrs. West and Mr. Martin, and also two for Charles Henley; the house which he erected for Alfred Crawford also deserves mention. By doing work in every way satisfactory he is gaining the confidence of the public, and his continued success is by no means in doubt. He affiliates with the Order of Fraternal Aid and in other ways manifests an interest in the social and business affairs of his community. At Pasadena in 1897 he married Miss Margaret V. Smith and they have the following children: Georgia, Miller and Newland. The success which Mr. Blamquist has achieved is purely that of the self-made man who is alert for opportunities and quick to grasp them, honest and straightforward in his dealings with his
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fellow citizens, and he commands respect by showing respect for the rights and opinions of others. He has in many ways shown an admirable publie spirit.
GUSTAVUS A. RICHARDSON
In San Jose, Santa Clara county, Cal., Gustavus A. Richardson was born January 12, 1856, a son of Roswell and Louisa ( Rodgers) Richardson. His father was a native of Plymouth, N. H., born June 24, 1797, a grandson of Samuel Richardson, who with his brothers, Ezekiel and Thomas, founded the town of Woburn, Mass., in 1641. Louisa Rodgers became his wife in 1849, in Clark county, Mo. In 1855 they came to California across the plains. After living in Santa Clara county three years, they moved to Tulare county, where Mr. Richardson died, July 4, 1877. Ilis widow married George W. Hayden and died June 4, 1881, and was buried in the North Tule cemetery. There were born to Mr. and Mrs. Richardson four children: Martha Matilda, born September 15, 1850, died in 1863; Georgiana, born August 8, 1862, died July 5, 1888; Benjamin Franklin, born October 30, 1854, died November 2, 1880; and Gustavus A. is the immediate subject of this article.
A common school education was all that was afforded Gustavus A. Richardson in the days of his youth and he was only a small lad when he began to assist his father in the work of the ranch. When he was sixteen years old he took a bunch of horses to Salt Lake City and sold them and came back to Tulare county, being the only one to make the entire trip of the eight who started. In 1875 he went to Arizona and remained there until 1881, when he returned to Tulare county, where he controlled ranches until 1884. Then he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land on the North Tule river, where he farmed about twenty years, during which period he added to his acreage by various purchases. At this time his ranch is one of the best and most productive in its vicinity. The family home has been in Porterville since 1911.
October 1. 1888, Mr. Richardson was appointed postmaster at Milo, Cal., and held the office until January 1, 1908, when he was succeeded by F. M. Ainsworth, in whose interest he had resigned, October 1, 1907. Politically he is Republican. Fraternally he affiliates with the Knights of Pythias, and is a charter member of Porterville lodge, No. 93, of that order. He married at Visalia, June 2, 1884, Mary Agnes ( Braden) Ainsworth, daughter of John Braden, and widow of Andrew E. Ainsworth. Mrs. Ainsworth, who was a native of Kansas, had a son (A. E. Ainsworth) by her first marriage. He
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was born January 16, 1877, was graduated at the Stockton Business College and when he was only eighteen years old was awarded a teachers' diploma. He taught successfully in public schools until his death, which occurred December 9, 1899. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Richardson, all natives of Tulare county: Roswell Guy, born at Milo February 22, 1886, was educated in the public schools and at the Oakland Polytechnic. Gustavus Alvah, born at Milo, February 5, 1888, was graduated from public schools at fourteen, and from the Porterville high school at nineteen and was a student at the Potts Business College in 1909-10, and has since been employed by the Pasadena Ice Company. Ennice Marguerite, born at Milo, June 21, 1890, was graduated from public schools at thirteen and from the Porterville high school in her eighteenth year. She married Wilko Cutler Knupp at Porterville, September 22, 1908. Her child, Benora Knupp, was born May 31, 1909; Mrs. Knupp later entered the State Normal school at Los Angeles and was graduated there- from June 23, 1911, and is now teaching in Tulare county. Roscoe Vinton Richardson, born at Milo, April 11, 1896, had two terms in the high school at Pasadena and is now attending the Porterville high.school. While the children were attending 'schools in Southern California, Mr. Richardson purchased and maintained a home in Pasadena, which he still owns.
JAMES B. MAYER
From a land of long, frigid winters to a land of winters short and summery came the subject of this notice about the first of October, 1907. How well he has prospered here and how much he has done for the prosperity of his community is well known to business circles throughout Kings county, Cal. James B. Mayer, president of the First National Bank of Corcoran, was born in Superior, Wis., March 21, 1863. When he was about ten years old his father moved onto a timbered farm in northern Minnesota and he soon became well-known there, not only as a farmer, but as lumberman, merchant and banker. Here young Mayer grew up to young manhood. He had begun his studies at the public schools of Superior, continued them in Minnesota and took a special course at the Curtis Business College of Minneapolis.
At the age of twenty-four he became the deputy county recorder of Carlton county, Minn., in which position his pleasing personality made him a favorite of the general public. His next venture was in the general merchandise business and it was while thus engaged he married Miss Nettie E. Hayes of Thomson, Minn., November
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4, 1879. The felicity of this union was broken, however, by the death of his wife, which occurred at Floodwood, Minn., February 24, 1905, leaving him a son and daughter, Mildred, aged nineteen, and Jay, aged seventeen years.
Other interests than banking engage Mr. Mayer's attention. He is secretary of the Corcoran Gas & Water Company, which he helped to organize in 1908, when it took over the Security Land & Loan Company, and has since provided an ample supply of good water for the needs of the growing town of Corcoran. He is also associated as stockholder in the Corcoran Land Company, also in the Los Angeles Suburban Homes Company. Fraternally he affiliates with the Masons and Odd Fellows. Socially he is in favor with all who know him and politically he is active in the promotion of all that he deems best for the general good.
THOMAS MCCARTHY
Ireland has given to the United States an element of fellowship that. by itself and by admixture with others, has been potent for progress since immigration began to come to these shores. Thomas MeCarthy, born in County Kerry, on the Emerald Isle, April 22. 1855. sailed over to New York in 1872 and made his way with all possible speed to California, which was his real objective point. He stopped in Stanislaus county until 1874, then came to Kings county. where he has since lived and prospered. He became a land owner here in 1875, when he hought eighty acres. In 1877 he bought another eighty-acre tract on which he has since established his home, and in 1887 bought forty acres southeast of Armona. He acquired two hundred and forty acres more in 1902, and is now owner of four hundred and forty acres of as good land as is to be found in the country round Hanford. He gives his attention to general farming and to hog-raising. His prodnets always bring good prices and he has raised some of the best hogs that have been grown in his part of the county in recent years. His ranch is well equipped with everything essential to its successful operation and is provided with a good residence and plenty of up-to-date outbuildings of all kinds.
As a citizen Mr. MeCarthy is practical and progressive, having a firm faith in the fundamental principles underlying the government of his adopted country and having at heart always a deep solicitude for the happiness and prosperity of his fellow citizens of all classes. He was one of the builders of the Lakeside ditch and is serving as a director.
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JOHN E. HALL
One of the Tennesseans who have found fortune in the golden fields of California is John E. Hall, prominent citizen and farmer, who lives a mile west of Hanford in Kings county. Mr. Hall was born in Tennessee June 13, 1868, and was reared there and educated in the common schools and worked at farming there until he was twenty- one years old, when he went to Wichita county, Texas. There he remained until he came, in Angust, 1893, to Hanford, where he rented three hundred and twenty acres of land just northwest of the city limits and raised grain, grapes and fruit for five years. Then he bought the nucleus of his present ranch, consisting of forty acres. A year after- ward he bought another forty acres and later he bought eighty acres, then another forty acres a mile northwest of Hanford. Of the land in these several purchases he has set forty acres in vines and sixty acres in orchard. The remainder of his land is in alfalfa and pasture. In 1911 he erected a large residence snited to his needs.
Politically Mr. Hall is a Democrat who takes a really helpful interest in the affairs of his town and county. In 1905 and again in 1909 he was elected to represent the fourth district as a member of the Kings county board of supervisors. During the time he has served on the board the county purchased the fifty-six acres for the site of the present county hospital and the building was erected thereon; also the courthouse park was enlarged at a cost of $23,000. Besides he has built roads in his district and been identified with all the progressive movements for the npbuilding of the county. Fra- ternally he affiliates with the Masons, holding membership in lodge, chapter and commandery at Ilanford.
In December, 1891, Mr. Hall married Miss Addie Templeton, a native of Tennessee. Their seven children are: Ethel, Edna, Leslie, Vesta, Lois, Florence and George.
RICHARD H. ARNETT
As a farmer, as a friend to education and as a genial companion, Richard H. Arnett was known to many people in the vicinity of Visalia, Tulare county, Cal. He was born in West Virginia in September, 1850, and died at his home near Visalia, October 27, 1902. He left West Virginia for Missouri when he was eighteen years old, and later came to California.
Arriving in Tulare county in 1875, Mr. Arnett began ranching north of Visalia before many months passed, and two years later he moved to the city. In 1882 he became owner of a ranch on East 28
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Mineral King avenne which he began to improve in many ways and cultivated with success, though he had not been able down to the time of his death to clear it of all incumbrance.
In 1877 Mr. Arnett married Miss Mary E. Shippey, a native of Missouri, whose father was an early settler in this part of Cali- fornia, and they had ten children: Dora, May, Frank, Richard H., Thomas. Fred, Blanche, Earl, an infant not named, and Walter. Dora is the wife of Clarence Goble. May married Andrew Goble. Frank married Etta Beede. Richard H. married Stella Swanson. Fred has passed away. Blanche is Mrs. J. R. Thompson. After her husband's death, the burden of managing the ranch fell on Mrs. Arnett's shoulders. She had never had much to do with business, but had learned a good deal about it by observation. Rising to her respon- sibilities, she accepted the situation, and how well she has discharged all the obligations of her position is known to the community with which she and her husband cast their lot. Not only has she made a success of her farming and stock-raising, but she has cleared her property of all debt and now owns sixty acres of land in three sections of twenty acres each, all close to Visalia and valuable from every point of view. She raises cattle, hogs, chickens and turkeys which find a ready sale at good prices. All who know her rejoice in her prosperity, declaring that she is one of the best business women in Central California.
WILLIAM E. FURMAN
In Portage county, Ohio, September 4, 1841, William E. Furman was born, a son of Eli and Diantha (Hall) Furman, and when he was abont four years old was taken by his parents to Marion county, Iowa. lle attended school until he was about fifteen years old, and for thirty years afterward was employed by his father on the latter's farm, sometimes in one state and sometimes in another, for the elder Furman tilled the soil in different places. The family came from Iowa to California in 1859, when William was about eighteen years old, and settled in Santa Clara county, where they lived thirteen or fourteen years. In 1873 they moved to Merced county, where the mother passed away at the age of sixty-one. It was not until his marriage, which was celebrated in 1882, that Mr. Furman took up the battle of life independently. Coming to Kings county in 1883 he settled on an eighty-acre ranch on which his home is now located. In 1887 he bought a second eighty-acre tract, forty acres of which he sub- sequently sold, and eight years later he bought one hundred and sixty acres. lle gives his attention principally to stock-raising. His ranch
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has been improved by himself with the exception of the house, which was built at the time of purchase. Those who know what Mr. Furman has accomplished know full well that he is a scientific farmer of varied attainments.
September 25, 1882, Mr. Furman married Miss Mary Stothers, who was born in. Pennsylvania, April 2, 1856, and came to this state in 1881. Of their seven children, Eli W. and Joseph M. are deceased. Those living are: Jesse I., Fred A., Florence A., wife of Duncan Hanker, Ella I., and Elmer L. As a citizen Mr. Furman is patriotic and public-spirited, interested in everything that pertains to the advancement of the general welfare. His father came to Kings county and made his home with his son, dying at the age of eighty years.
OSCAR SAMUEL DEARDORFF
That well-known young farmer, Oscar Samuel Deardorff, whose success near Hanford, Kings county, Cal., is being commented on in farming circles in all the country round about, is not only a native of California, but the son of a native of California, a fact which gives him a double claim to notice in a work of this character. He was born February 29, 1880, not far from his present home, a son of John H. Deardorff, who was born in Amador county, Cal., in 1852, came to Kings county in 1873 and devoted himself to agricultural pursuits, . winning much success, until he retired from active business.
In the Cross Creek school, Oscar S. Deardorff was a student until he was seventeen years old. Thereafter he assisted his father until he attained his majority, and then he went into business for himself as a farmer and hog raiser. His success has been more than noteworthy and he is now the owner of a ranch of one hundred and twenty acres, highly improved, which is equipped with good buildings of all kinds essential to its operation and with machinery and appliances of the most modern construction. Mr. Deardorff's knowledge of farming is both accurate and diversified and he is probably as good a judge of all that affects the production of good crops as any rancher in his neighborhood.
September 9, 1903, Mr. Deardorff married Irene M. Dodge, a native of Kings county, born August 11, 1881. Socially he affiliates with the Fraternal Brotherhood and with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Beyond doing his full duty as a citizen, at the polls and elsewhere, he is not particularly active in politics, but his under- standing of public questions is definite and his knowedge of all affairs
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of state is exact and comprehensive. He has in many ways demon- strated that he possesses public spirit adequate to all reasonable demands upon it.
A. LEROY DIBBLE
Many a native of Iowa has brought success to or found it in California, to which Iowans have immigrated in large numbers for many years. It is a notable fact that not a few of the men at the head of affairs in this state were born there or born of parents who came from there. A. L. Dibble, whose successes will be mentioned in this notice was born in Allamakee county, Iowa, January 9, 1861. He received a good public school education, and during the year before he attained his majority was employed by his father. The family had come to California about 1864 and to Tulare county in 1873, and the young man was thoroughly at home on the soil and practically acquainted with the most approved methods of husbandry which farmers were applying to their problems here on the coast.
In 1882 Mr. Dibble began farming for himself on rented land, and in due time he bought an eighty-acre ranch and engaged in stock-raising and dairying. This place, which he has greatly improved, has been his home continuously from that time till the present, and as a home ranch it is one of the cosiest and best equipped in his vicinity. On May 7, 1882, he married Miss Mary A. Lewellyn, who was born in Nevada county, Cal., August 16, 1864. Their five children are: Grace Arvilla, widow of M. J. Devine; Effie E., Lawrence Leroy, Leonard A., and William Oscar.
Mr. Dibble is identified with the Fraternal Brotherhood. Politic- ally he is not active beyond the requirements of his duties as a citizen, but his positive convictions concerning all questions of public policy make him a party man who yields staunch allegiance to the principles he feels called upon to espouse. He has never sought office and has steadfastly declined such official preferment as has been tendered him; but he yielded to the solicitations of his friends that he become a school trustee in the Fraser district, and that office he filled with singular fidelity and efficiency.
JAMES A. CRABTREE
Born in Jefferson county, Ill., November 13, 1829, James A. Crab- tree, now of Porterville, Tulare county, Cal., was taken to Arkansas by his parents, John B. and Rebecca ( Wilkerson) Crabtree, when about a
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year old. The father was with Gen. Jackson at the Battle of Orleans and was one of the general's body guards. He lived there three years, in Missouri three years and after that in Texas until in 1852. There James A. was educated in the common schools and learned to farm and handle cattle. In the year last mentioned the family started to California with ox-teams but on the way sold their oxen and bought mules. They came to the coast through Mexico, and then made their way from Mazatlan to San Francisco by boat. Enroute they were four days and nights without food, even without a drop of water, and it was with great difficulty that Mr. Crabtree's father prevented some of the other passengers from throwing the captain overboard. They were rescued by another boat, but did not reach their destination until more than two months after their embarkation.
On August 26, 1852, they went to Santa Cruz, where they remained three years. After that they lived at San Juan six years, and then at Windsor, on Russian river, in Sonoma county, and again at San Juan for various periods until 1859, when they came to Tulare county, arriving in March. The elder Crabtree brought considerable stock to the county. He bought land of a squatter but never proved up on it. In 1857 James A. came to Tulare county from Pacheco rancho to look over the county, returning to the rest of the family later on and then coming with them in 1859. In 1857-58 he engaged in the hog business, driving them to the mines, where they found ready sale. After that he engaged in the sheep business and after moving onto his present ranch in 1873 has farmed, prospected and been in the fruit business. James A. bought land in 1868, when he bought the property on which he now lives. He owns in all one hundred and sixty acres, fourteen acres of which is in oranges, and the balance devoted to general farming, and every improvement he has put here himself. When the family came to this county white settlers were few, and Indians had killed several who had come before them. Deer, antelope, bear and other game was plentiful. In one memorable bear hunt Mr. Crabtree came near losing his life, but the bear was killed and proved to be the largest grizzly ever seen in these parts. There being no fences in the mountains, the settlers had to watch their growing crops. Mr. Crabtree has vivid recollec- tions of strennous occurrences at the time of certain big floods which are historic.
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