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 48
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 48
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professions in the east till 1908, when he came to California and, locating in Tulare, took up contracting and building. It should be recorded that in New York City he designed sixty residences and store buildings, in Wilmington, Del., one hundred and seventy-seven, and in York, Pa., thirty-two, all of brick and stone construction. In 1905 he designed a beautiful residence for A. M. Clegg, of Brooklyn, N. Y., which is one of the show places on the Ocean Park and Burly road boulevard. At the time it surpassed in cost and magnificence any other house in the vicinity.
In beginning his work in Tulare county Mr. Platt recognized the necessity of combining contracting and building with his practice of architecture, and he was the first builder there of the bungalow now so popular throughout California. He has designed and erected residences in and around Tulare City for Dr. Charles, George H. Castle, F. N. Schnable, W. E. Flagg (for whom he built two), W. Sampsons, A. Primmes, F. E. Standley, A. Frazer, Joseph Myers. Dr. C. E. Harper, F. Newcity, E. F. Treadway, Mrs. Lathrope, A. Martin and others, and stores for W. L. Weidman and A. W. Wheeler. His work both in design and construction takes rank with the best in the state and his services are coming into greater demand with each passing year. Perhaps the concrete buildings on South J street constitute the most conspicuous monument to his artistry as an architect and his skill and integrity as a builder. Personally he has become popular in a wide circle of acquaintances and socially he affiliates with the Eagles and the Modern Woodmen of the World. In 1904 Mr. Platt married Miss Sarah E. Bowers, a native of Pennsylvania.
FRANK BLAKELEY
Among the most active and enterprising citizens of Kings countv. and a progressive advocate of good roads, is Frank Blakelev of Lemoore, who was born in Towa. April 22. 1869. In 1882, when he was thirteen years old. he came with his father. James M. Blakelev. to Kings county, where the elder Blakeley farmed near Grangeville, then moving on land five and a half miles southeast of Lemoore. the first acreage he purchased in the county. Frank Blakeler lived with his father until 1890, then came to Lemoore and began farming on rented land, but soon began to buy land and finally came to own ten thousand acres in the lake bottom. His policy was to buy and sell as occasion offered and in a general way to improve his holdings, which he did by constructing levees and ditches. He began operating there in 1898 and 1899, and farmed on a large scale, having under
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cultivation from year to year from one thousand to twenty thousand acres. He has done more ditch and levee work than any one else in that vicinity and he was the first there to use steam machinery, such as traction engines and combined harvesters, sometimes owning and operating five outfits at a time. In 1905 he sowed twelve thousand acres to wheat but lost the entire crop because of rust. In 1906 he sowed twenty-four thousand acres to wheat, twenty thousand of which was his own property, and all the time from September 1 to February 1 was consumed in putting in the seed. Because of flood this crop with the exception of five thousand acres was lost, and since then he has conservatively farmed on a small scale. Meanwhile he has bought and sold land in the lake district and has operated exten- sively as a contractor, constructing ditches and leveling land.
For ten years Mr. Blakeley has been a city trustee of Lemoore; he has been trustee of Lemoore grammar school, and in 1910 was elected a member of the board of supervisors of Kings county. He is manager of the Lemoore baseball team and during the past four years has ably promoted the sport here and round about. If he has a hobby it is good roads, and since he has been a supervisor all the roads in his district have been greatly improved under his personal supervision, he having repaired twenty miles of road and built ten miles of new road. Fraternally he affiliates with the Woodmen of the World, the Modern Woodmen, the Red Men, and the Foresters. On September 22, 1891, he married Miss Clara M. Cadwell, and they have had seven children, one of whom has died. The following are the names of the surviving ones : Ambrose. Ervine, Floyd, Frank, Jr., Melvin and Albert.
HIRAM MOORE
The life story of a pioneer, however briefly or however crudely told, must of necessity be of interest for two reasons-it inevitably possesses historic interest and human interest. Out of the fragments of personal experience history is largely constituted, for when it is finished it is a composite of biographical material. The history of man is the history of the country in which he lives. Such life histories as that of Hiram Moore, a native of New York state and a pioneer of 1849 in California, are in the aggregate the material from which our local history must be constructed. It was among the 49ers that Hiram Moore came across the plains, on the overland trail, to the then half-fabulous land of gold. He mined in Nevada City, Nevada county, Cal., with varying success until 1868, when he settled at Porterville, Tulare county. Later he was the proprietor and land- 29
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lord of the old railroad hotel at Tipton. It was in 1873 that he came to Tulare. At that time, according to good authority, there were only four houses within the present limit of the city; but there was travel through the place and it was beginning to attract attention. By 1876 the settlement had advanced somewhat and representatives of one of the political parties erected a liberty pole, the first that ever stood up against the sky above the town. Mr. Moore helped to select that pole and to put it in place. During the pioneer days of Tulare he filled the office of justice of the peace. It is significant of his versatility that he was given charge of one of the first stationary engines set up in the town. He affiliated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen of Tulare until his removal, late in life, to Bakers- field, where he passed away in 1899. He married Jane Atkins, a native of Scotland, and they had a son and a daughter, Hiram Moore, of Fresno, Cal., and Lizzie, Mrs. A. J. Woods, of Tulare. There will be found in this work a biographical sketch of Mr. Woods, which includes interesting mention of the activity of Mrs. Woods in connec- tion with the Grange movement in Tulare county.
Hiram Moore, Jr., is a railroad man in the employ of the Santa Fe. He began railroading while a very young man at Tipton and was a conductor on the Southern Pacific, and in that capacity when he was twenty-one years of age he took one of the first two trains that were ever run over the Tehachapi mountains. His mother still survives and makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. A. J. Woods, being now seventy-four years old. Where the Rochdale store in Tulare now stands the firm of Sisson, Wallace & Company had a general store some years ago, and on the fourth of July, 1876, wishing a flag for their flagstaff they found it impossible to procure one. Finally the material was procured from them and Mrs. Moore and her daughter, Mrs. Woods, then a young lady, assisted in the making of the first flag ever used in a celebration at Tulare.
JOHN WILLIAM HARVEY
The successful vineyardist of Wankena, Tulare county, Cal., John W. Harvey, is a native of Cumberland county, Ky., and was born October 2, 1863. He attended publie school until he was seventeen years old, then turned his attention to farming for which he had fitted himself by practical experience during all the days of his youth. In 1885 he went to Hill county, Tex., where for two years he grew corn and made crops of cotton. Then he returned to his old home, and after remaining there for a short time came in December, 1888, to Tulare county and settled on the place which is now his home farm,
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none of which, however, did he purchase until 1890, when he became the owner of fourteen acres of bare land. Meanwhile, he devoted one year to the service of the Kings River Lumber Company. He has made other land purchases from time to time, as he has prospered and laid aside money for the purpose, and he now owns ninety-five acres of good land in the Wankena neighborhood. For the past fifteen years he has been the proprietor of a combined harvester, which he has operated in season and which he has made a source of considerable yearly profit. He is a farmer of skill and resource. who knows his ground and his seed and every condition of locality and climate that can possibly affect crop production, and his success is achieved not only by industry, but by careful attention to every detail of the work in hand.
Fraternally Mr. Harvey affiliates with the Fraternal Aid Asso ciation. In his political alliance he is a Democrat. On October 3. 1893, he married Miss Carrie F. Torrey, who was born in St. Louis, Mo., November 16, 1862, and they have three children, Elizabeth, Catherine and John W.
WALTER S. BURR
A loyal son of the Golden State, who despite discouragements has become one of its successful ranchers, is Walter S. Burr, whose birthplace was in Yolo county, seven miles west of Woodland, and the date of his nativity was January 22, 1857. His childhood was passed in Yolo and Tehama counties and in 1869, when he was about twelve years old, he was brought to Tulare county. His father, B. F. Burr, was a farmer who tried his fortunes with the soil near Tulare a short time, then went to the eastern part of the county and operated a sawmill and handled lumber until the spring of 1876, when he moved to the Mussel Slough district, where he soon became known through his activity in the promotion of the construction of the People's ditch. For several years he lived on and farmed lands which were ultimately appropriated by the railroad company, but he had in the meantime bought forty acres adjoining, in the next section, and consequently was not left without a home. There he planted a vineyard and an orchard and lived until 1886, when he joined a colony in Mexico. He returned to Tulare in 1896 and died there soon afterward, aged seventy-one years.
As a farmer Walter S. Burr may be said to have begun at the bottom of the ladder. He acquired a claim to a quarter-section of land seven miles south of Hanford and homesteaded it. About the same time he pre-empted forty acres, and later, when fortune had
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smiled on him, he bought two hundred acres adjoining his original purchases and now has four hundred acres. He devotes himself to farming, stock-raising and dairying, owning seventy-five head of cattle, many horses and mules and about two hundred and fifty hogs. One hundred acres of his land is in alfalfa. Water for irrigation he draws from the Lakeside ditch, and on his place are ample wells for his stock as well as for irrigation, he having two pumping plants. In association with his sons he operated an alfalfa thresher for two years. He was active in securing irrigation ditches for his part of the county and the legislative passage of the no-fence law.
For three terms aggregating twelve years he ably filled the office of supervisor, representing the second district, and during one of the terms he was president of the board. His activity in the work of the local Grange brought him election as secretary of that body. Fraternally he affiliates with the Woodmen of the World and with the Foresters.
Mr. Burr married, December 30, 1884, Mary L. Graham, daughter of John Graham, a pioneer in the vicinity of Visalia, and they have three children, Carl T., Maud and Reel G. Maud is the wife of E. H. Howe. Mr. Burr has won his success in life by the exercise of those qualities which enter into the character of all self-made men, and those who know him best know that he has prospered honestly and deservedly.
EDWIN H. HOWE
One of the many native Californians who has made a success of stock-raising and farming in the country round about Hanford, Kings county, Cal., is the son of Tulare county mentioned above. Edwin H. Howe is the son of Frank E. Howe, and was born April 14, 1879. He was reared to manhood in the Lakeside district, now in Kings county, and educated in public schools near his home. Asso- ciated in a business way with his brother, Albert P. Howe, and their father, he farmed in the Lake bottoms from 1898 until 1906, when the filling up of the old lake bed brought an end to their enterprise. They had been successful there, however, and Mr. Howe and his brother bought from their father the one hundred and sixty-acre ranch, nine miles southwest of Hanford, which is now the home of the former. In 1906 he bought his brother's interest in the place, and since then he has bought from the Walker estate one hundred and sixty acres adjoining the homestead ranch on the north, in the west one-half of section thirty-four, ranges nineteen and twenty- one. Ile devotes his energies and his capital to the raising of horses,
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mules and hogs; at least that is his principal business, though he does general farming and has seventy-five acres in alfalfa. Formerly he gave attention to dairying, but he is converting his land to an alfalfa ranch as rapidly as is expedient. All of the improvements on his homestead, including house, barns and fences, he has made since he bought the place. He obtains water for irrigation from the Last Chance ditch and the People's ditch and has on his place a well for his stock and domestic use. He is operating rented land also, notably one hundred and sixty acres west of him, which belongs to his father, and eighty acres still further west, growing grain and alfalfa on both tracts.
In February, 1905, Mr. Howe married Mand Burr, daughter of Walter Burr, and she has borne him three children: Edwin Orval, Lucile and Herbert L., who died in infancy. Mr. Howe's success in life has been won by his own effort and, as has been seen, not without his having to make the best of serious discouragements. The optimism which has borne him up in his business struggles thus far gives him hope for the future, not a little of which is based on his belief in the destiny of Hanford and its tributary territory, for the up- building of which he is ready at any time to give public-spirited aid.
FRANK L. BLAIN
The well known farmer and cattleman whose name heads this sketch is a native of California who made his start and has won sue- cess in life within a few miles of the place of his birth. He first saw the light of day in Visalia, Tulare county, in 1880. After finishing a course at the public schools of the town he took a six months' course at the Stockton Business College in 1899, and in the following year he took over all of his father's large ranch interests, which he con- ducted successfully during the ensuing three years. In 1904 he moved to his present ranch of eighty acres, to which he has added one hun- dred and sixty acres opposite, built him a comfortable bungalow and in a general way got ready for success as a farmer and cattle raiser. He put twenty acres in peaches of the Tuscan and Muir varieties, gave forty acres to alfalfa, prepared for extensive operations as a stock- man, and cleared and cleaned up the ranch, greatly improving the property in every way. In partnership with his sister, he has taken possession of all of the real estate left by their father and is managing the same with much success. He devotes himself principally to the raising of beef cattle, is acquiring large cattle ranges and bids fair soon to rank among the leading cattlemen of the county. He and his sister have seven thousand acres of range land in the mountains, on
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which they have from seven hundred to eight hundred head of cattle, also thirteen hundred and sixty acres of good cattle land north of Visalia. He owns one hundred and sixty acres near the San Joaquin Hill. Mr. Blain controls a total of five good ranch properties in Tulare county.
Busy as he necessarily is with his cattle-raising industry, Mr. Blain finds some time to devote to general interests, especially to such as affect men who get their living off the soil. As an instance, it should be noted that he is a director of the People's Co-operative Ditch Company, a concern which is doing good work in the way of irrigation. He is not an active politician, but views all public ques- tions with a patriotre intelligence. In November, 1906, he married Miss Bertha Givens, of Californian birth, and they have a daughter whom they have named Carroll.
DANIEL ABBOTT
Born in Washington county, Ark., January 3, 1836, Daniel Abbott has been a resident of California since 1857 and has attained much prominence in the San Joaquin Valley. He was a son of Joshua Abbott, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1800 and had come to California in 1850 and engaged in mining for a time. He returned to Arkansas and farmed, and here his son Daniel was reared and trained to the work on the farm, having but little chance to go to school. In May, 1857. the family started for California overland with oxen and prairie schooners; there was a large train and the party arrived in Calaveras county in the following October.
In Calaveras county Daniel Abbott farmed on a small scale and in the year 1861 he went to Tulare county, settled near Porterville and engaged in raising stock. The rains came that winter with such force that there was a flood and for almost forty days it fell, every- thing portable was washed away and the settlers had difficulty in saving themselves. Mr. Abbott built a raft of some lumber he had and in this way saved the family from perishing. He was offered $500 for it after he had finished it. In 1862 he went to Mariposa county and engaged in contracting for wood for the mines, but two years later went to Stanislaus county, bought land, and embarked in the sheep business. Upon the settling up of that part of the valley Mr. Abbott came again to Tulare county in 1874, bringing with him his band of sheep and he finally became the owner of thirty-nine hundred and sixty acres of land, for which he paid an average of $3 per acre. lle was, in all, in the cattle and sheep business for about forty years, at the end of which time he sold his land and stock and bought prop-
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erty at Porterville, where he erected two business blocks and several residences. About 1902 he purchased the home in which he now lives, his object in removing into the city being to further the educational advantages for his children, and here they have since made their home.
In 1880 Mr. Abbott married Mrs. Frances Elizabeth (Fine) Bursey, a native of Arkansas, who bore him nine children; five daughters survive, viz .: Mrs. Louisa Mahaffrey, Mrs. Lana Nancollis, Winnifred and Minnie (twins) and Emma Lee. Those children who are deceased are Martha, Arlesa, Charles and Daniel.
In 1886 occurred the death of his father, who was born in Ohio in 1800. Mr. Abbott, who has been a cripple since August 24, 1857, has been by his infirmity forbidden the activities of some other men and he has been too closely confined to his home to take a prominent part in politics, but he has been a member of the school board and has found other ways to serve his fellow townsmen. He is fond of reminiscence and sometimes tells some interesting stories of his over- land journey to California in 1857. Once when the party was en- camped one hundred and twenty-five miles this side of Salt Lake, In- dians stampeded the cattle and wounded some of the men. Mr. Abbott himself was shot while coming in from guard duty, and got to the camping place only to find that his comrades had moved on. He was able soon to rejoin them, however, but one of his companions, an inti- mate friend, who was shot at the time, died soon after.
JOSEPH LEWIS FICKLIN
It was in Scott county, in old Kentucky, the cradle of Western history, that Joseph Lewis Ficklin was born November 27, 1831. When he was four years old he was taken to Missouri, where he re- mained until 1852, scarcely leaving the neighborhood of his home. Then he came to California as a gold-seeker. remaining four years. He returned to Missouri, to come out again to the coast country in 1886, when he settled on his present homestead. His first journey across the plains was made with oxen. There were with the party four hundred cows and fifty head of work cattle, and the trip con- sumed six months time. His second journey to California was made by rail in four days.
In Missouri Mr. Ficklin gained such education as was afforded by the public school near his home. He married Miss Elizabeth Turner, a native of Missouri, who bore him one child and passed away in 1864. In 1865 he married Miss Sarah A. Davis, who was born in Crawford county, Mo., and they had five children, two of whoni died in infancy. The survivors are William Kennett Ficklin, in Yellow-
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stone Park, Anna Ficklin, who married F. O. Fridley, and Mirtha, who is Mrs. H. A. Powell. Benjamin Ficklin, Joseph L. Ficklin's father, was born in Kentucky in 1808 and his father, John Ficklin, participated in the Black Hawk war, serving as captain under Col. Dick Johnson. The father of Sarah A. (Davis) Fieklin was born in Virginia, in 1798, and her mother in Scott county, Ky., in 1802.
When Mr. Ficklin came to Tulare county he bought eighty acres of land at $10 an acre which was at that time devoted to wheat, and he helped to harvest grain where the city of Exeter now stands. Dur- ing the last four years he has converted his ranch to a fruit farm and vineyard. One of Mrs. Ficklin's brothers came to California in 1850 and four of them died in Tulare county. Mr. Ficklin has held public office and affiliates with the Masonic order. Politically he is a Demo- crat. As a citizen he has in many ways demonstrated his public spirit.
GEORGE WARNER CODY
Near Pontiac, Mich., George Warner Cody was born January 31, 1842. When he was seven years old he was taken to Wisconsin, on the removal of his parents to that state. From there they went to Nebraska, where he lived until 1874. except during the term of his military service, variously employed in milling, merchandising, farm- ing and other useful work. In 1861, at Fort Leavenworth, Kans., he enlisted in Company H, Eighth Regiment, Kansas Volunteer Infantry, and his recollections of the Civil war, in which he was in fifteen gen- eral engagements and many skirmishes, includes scenes at Perryville, Stone River. Chickamanga and a number of Confederate prisons. After his capture at Chickamauga he was confined at Ringgold, then in the bull pen at Atlanta, then in Libby prison. then at Pemberton, then at Danville, then at Andersonville, then at Charleston, then at Florence. He escaped from Andersonville and was recaptured while attempting to cross Flint River. His experiences at Florence were terminated by his exchange. He was one of six out of one hundred who were liberated, the others being kept until the end of the war. After his exchange he was sent to Annapolis, Md., where he was paroled and forwarded to Fort Leavenworth.
After Mr. Cody was discharged at Fort Leavenworth he returned to Nebraska, where he was warmly welcomed after his fifteen months' incarceration in Confederate prison pens, and took up farming. Later he operated a grist mill and sold goods until 1874, when he came to Tulare county and located near Armona. He bought one hundred and sixty acres of land south of Hanford and one hundred and sixty acres two miles south of Lemoore and farmed tracts of rented land aggre-
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gating seventeen hundred acres. From 1874 to 1881 he raised grain and broom corn, then sold his property and for the next five years lived at Los Angeles. Next we find him located near Santa Ana, where he planted twenty-seven acres to walnut trees and fifteen acres to raisins. Coming to Kings county, he bought thirty-four acres north- west of Hanford, a part of which was unimproved, and now has seven acres in vineyard and twenty-five acres in peaches and apricots. His property is improved with a good house and adequate outbuildings which he erected after it came into his possession. He was one of the organizers of the Last Chance Ditch Company and helped to construct its improvements, and he was identified also, in the period 1874-1881, with the promotion of the People's Ditch and the Lower Kings River Ditch.
In 1866 Mr. Cody married Mary M. Gray and they have had five children : Thorley G., Harvey P., Rinney, deceased, Andrew Milo and Terrill, deceased. It is probable that no part of his life will always be as fresh in Mr. Cody's memory as that part of it which he passed in Confederate prisons. He considers himself fortunate in having come out of that experience alive. "Clara Barton told me," he says, "that she put up thirteen thousand gravestones at Andersonville and one stone for the graves of two thousand unnamed soldiers. There were seven thousand deaths in Florence prison and there is no record of those who died in the other prisons that I was in."
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