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 54
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 54
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84
On November 6, 1894, Mr. Harris married Miss India Peacock, who was born in Indiana, June 14, 1876. Fraternally he affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and with the Knights of the Golden Eagle. As a citizen he is public-spirited to a degree that makes him dependably helpful in any emergency demanding action for the good of the community. He is filling the office of justice of the peace with the highest honor and integrity and to the general satisfaction of the people of the town, who have learned to respect and abide by his judgment and to seek his friendly advice in the private settlement of many of their difficulties.
GEORGE T. FARMER
Born at Hamburg, Fremont county, Ia., January 14, 1859, George T. Farmer was a son of John M. and Martha J. (Utterback) Farmer. Attending school until he was sixteen he then came to California, arriving in what is now Kings county, on March 11, 1875. On April 17, following, he was employed in the construction of the Peo- ple's ditch, but a little later he was heading grain on the present site of Lemoore, and in the fall of that year he was hauling lumber. Later, in association with his uncle, William T. Farmer, he was raising wheat and buying hogs, and their first harvest was the grain produced on one hundred and sixty acres of land, situated one and a half miles south of his present home. In the fall of 1879 he
587
TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES
married and removed with his bride to Iowa, but came back to Kings county in 1880, and in the fall of 1881 moved to Yolo county, where he worked on road construction. He later came to Kings, then Tulare county, and in 1888 went to Siskiyou, where he served as justice of the peace of Lake township. It was in 1891 that he moved to his present locality, and in 1896 moved to his present ranch, which he bought January 19, 1903. He has been very suc- cessful here and is now extensively engaged in stockraising and dairying, giving attention to thoroughbred cattle, including Guernsey dairy cattle, and is considered one of the leading breeders of his class in the county.
Fraternally Mr. Farmer affiliates with the Sons of Veterans and the Woodmen of the World. Taking a public-spirited interest in affairs of the community, he has filled several local offices. For eight years he was deputy assessor of Kings county, and for seventeen years he has been a school trustee, including seven years as trustee of the Hanford high school, during two years of which he was presi- dent of the school board. He has served also as his party represen- tative in the county central committee of Tulare and Kings counties.
On November 11, 1879, Mr. Farmer married Miss Gertrude Rug. gles, a native of Woodland, Yolo county, born September 13, 1858, one of the first white girls born in that county, and a daughter of Lyman B. and Martha Ann (Dexter) Ruggles. They have eight. children : Leta, who married Dr. Cothran, of San Jose; Milton T., who is at Berkeley; Lyman D., who is now filling the office of sheriff of Kings county; Ethel, a teacher in the Hanford grammar school; Theodore, who is on the home farm, and Clarence and Paul, who are in the high school, and Lucile, in the grammar school.
CHARLES O. GILL
No ranchman in the Porterville district of Tulare county is more widely or more favorably known than C. O. Gill, who lives seven miles and a half north of that city. Born in Ohio, August 15, 1863, he was taken to Iowa and there remained till he was ten years old. then was brought by his parents to California. The family located in Tulare county, and here the boy was sent to school at the Yokohl valley school house, where, under the tutelage of the teachers there employed, he acquired a practical education which has been of great benefit to him in his active life as a stockman and man of affairs.
The first work to which Mr. Gill gave attention was among his father's stock, and when he was twenty he was raising cattle on his own account, and from that day to this his energies have been di- rected to the advancement of this one kind of business. He has
588
TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES
found this concentration profitable. In 1888 he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of public land, and since then has bought tracts, from time to time, till he now has twelve thousand acres, all of which is devoted to stockraising. He keeps on hand about six hundred head of cattle and from fifteen to twenty horses. His homestead is fitted up with all appliances and improvements essential to a successful enterprise in his line.
In 1887 Mr. Gill married Miss Clemmie Anderson, a native daughter, whose father, Garland Anderson, came to California in 1851, among the pioneers. They have two children, Maurice, born in 1889, and Ada, born in October, 1910. The son was educated in the Frazier school and is assisting his father in his business affairs.
In the city markets, in which Mr. Gill always sells his cattle and hogs, he is popular and highly respected because of his fair and square business methods. In all of the relations of life he is friendly and helpful and as a citizen he has many times demon- strated his public spirit.
JAMES MUNROE BLAKELEY
Indiana has sent to California many men and women who have won honored place in the citizenship of the Golden State. Among those who have lived and prospered in the vicinity of Hanford, Kings county, mention should be made of James Munroe Blakeley. Mr. Blakeley was born in 1837 and was reared and educated in his native state. In 1857, when he was about twenty years old, he settled in Iowa, where he farmed successfully for a quarter of a century. He married there, in 1861, Miss Mary A. Thomas, like himself a native of Indiana, who had gone to Iowa with her parents, and they have had eight children: Eva married Harvey Burns; Olive May was the wife of H. Clawson; A. W. lives at Riverside; Frank is a citizen of Lemoore; Arthur E. is well known in Kings county; Mary is the wife of David Porter of Hanford; Grace, who is Mrs. Charles Moss, lives in Kings county, and Bessie married John Bow- den and lives in Philadelphia, Pa.
In 1882 Mr. Blakeley came with his family from Iowa to Grange- ville, Tulare county, Cal. During the first two years of his residence here he farmed leased land, but eventually he bought land on the lake. He sold that property soon, however, and bought a farm on the Mussel slough, and there farmed for some years, then selling the place in order to buy another near Armona. In 1904 he secured by a trade five acres of land adjoining the northwest corner of the city of Hanford, which he has developed into a profitable orchard and which has since provided him an attractive home. As a farmer.
589
TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES
Mr. Blakeley has been successful within the limits of his operations, and as a citizen he has shown a public spirit which has won him the regard of all who know him. He is especially interested in education, and wherever he has lived he has done his utmost for the advancement of the schools in his vicinity.
HENRY ALDEN CRANE
The career of Henry Alden Crane of the Paddock district, southwest of Hanford, Kings county, Cal., has been that of a self- made man, who, by his sterling qualities, has profited by his op- portunities and done, directly and indirectly, a good deal for the benefit of his community. Formerly one of the leading apiarists of Central California, he is now making a success in the production of fruit and stock. Mr. Crane is a native of Kansas and was born September 2, 1872, son of O. Crane, who came from the Sunflower State to California in 1874, when Henry A. was about two years old, and lived in Yolo county until 1877. Then the Crane family moved to Tulare county, locating eight miles southwest of Hanford, in what is now Kings county, and the elder Crane took up railroad Jand which he later lost through litigation. While he occupied the property he farmed it successfully and took an active interest in the development of the district. He was a factor in securing the construction of a ditch through his part of the county and in bring- ing about the utilization of Mussel slough as a source of irrigation. He passed away May 7, 1909, after a life of industry and useful- ness.
In the neighborhood of his present home Henry Alden Crane was reared and educated, and to the public schools he gives credit for his literary start in life. His business beginning was as an apiarist in the district between Hanford and Cross creek, and he soon ex- tended his operations until he had at one time four hundred colonies of bees. In 1900 he bought eighty acres in the heart of the Paddock district, eight miles southwest of Hanford, on which there was then twelve acres of old vineyard, but no other improvements. He has developed the place into a modern home ranch, with good and ample buildings and up-to-date appliances and appointments. He now has twenty-nine acres of his land in vineyard, six acres in peaches and the balance in alfalfa. He gives considerable attention to the breeding of horses, cattle and hogs, which bring a high price in the market. In 1911 he bought forty acres of the Jacobs tract, about twelve miles southwest of Hanford, which he is improving and ex- pects soon to devote almost entirely to alfalfa.
In April, 1902, Mr. Crane married Winifred Battenfeld, of Kings
590
TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES
county, and they have a son, William Dale Crane. Mr. Crane takes a public-spirited interest in the economic and political affairs of his county, state and nation, and his solicitude for the improvement of the public schools in his vicinity caused him to accept the office of trustee of the Paddock school district, which he is filling with much ability and credit.
WILLIAM BURGAN CLARK
One of the many self-made men of Kings county, Cal., who are deserving of an especial place in this work, by reason of their perse- verance in the face of difficulty and their ultimate worthy achieve- ment, is William B. Clark, whose farm property is located six miles south of Hanford. Born October 21, 1865, he made a beginning in active life in 1883, when he was abont eighteen years old, by work- ing on ranches in his neighborhood. Later he rented land and farmed on his own account till 1898, when he went to Alaska, being one of those who made the first great rush for the Klondike. Per- haps he had inherited some of the venturesome spirit of his father, who had been a pioneer miner in California. After four years of hard work and indifferent success, the young man came back to Kings county and soon afterward bought his present home ranch of eighty acres, on which he has put all improvements. He devotes himself to stockraising, dairying and the breeding of hogs and has twenty acres of his homestead in alfalfa. In 1907 he bought one hundred and twenty acres near Guernsey and in 1911 thirty-five acres adjoining that purchase, which land he uses for stock.
The mother of William B. Clark is Mrs. Amanda B. Clark, a daughter of William Burgan. She was born in Ohio, November 11. 1833, and when she was fifteen years old was taken by her father to Wisconsin, where she lived till 1854, coming then to California. She was married in January that year to Charles W. Clark, who was born September 13, 1822, and they came overland to Tuolumne county, Cal., where Mr. Clark mined several years, finding some gold, but experiencing much disappointment. In 1866 he was made super- intendent of the Pittsburg coal mine in Contra Costa county, and there he labored till in the spring of 1873, when he came to Tulare county and bought two thousand acres of land on Lake Tulare, nine miles south of Hanford, at $2.50 an aere, and engaged in stock and cattle raising and in the growing of alfalfa. It is generally con- ceded that he had the first alfalfa in Kings county. He was one of the promoters and builders of the Lakeside ditch and was its prin- cipal manager for several years. Later, he took up grain and sheep,
591
TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES
and became one of the most extensive sheep men in the county. He had bought a flock which his brother in Fresno county looked after for him and which he brought with him to this county, and that was the necleus of is later large property of this kind. In time he took up a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres adjoining his land and bought three hundred acres of mountain land in Fresno county. In 1880 the reverses of several successive dry years cul- minated in his loss of his property, and he rented land at Lambert's Grove, six miles east of Hanford, and resumed sheep raising, also doing a little farming. In 1885 he and his family emigrated to Woodville, Jackson county, Ore., where he bought a small ranch, put in an orchard and engaged in merchandising. For four years they remained there, and then came back to a ranch on the plains, near their old place. Mr. Clark died at the home of his son, May 13, 1894. Mrs. Clark lived with her son Frank at Tulare till 1902, since when she has been a member of the household of her son William B. She bore her husband six children: Frank B., born January 28, 1855, lives in Tulare. Albert, born December 3, 1855, died April 22, 1859. Ida B., born May 2, 1860, died November 16, 1862. Grant U., born October 1, 1863, lives near Hanford. Wil- liam B. was next in order of birth. Gracie G., born January 18, 1868, died April 19, 1878.
Not only is William B. Clark a well-informed and resourceful rancher and stockman, but he is as well a useful and patriotic citi- zen, a promoter of all good for the public and a firm believer in the ultimate great destiny of California and of America.
LOUIS DECKER
Prominent and active in the industrial and civic world of Le- moore is Louis Decker, born at Ligonier, Ind., January 14, 1866. When four years old he was taken by his parents to Alexander, Nebr., where he lived until 1886, when in company with Charles Russell, also of Alexander, he came to Lemoore, where he has attained to prominence in many ways and become one of its well-known mer- chants. Mr. Decker was employed five years as a clerk in the store of M. Lovelace, then bought a fruit farm at Grangeville on which he lived during the ensuing five years. In 1896 he became a clerk in Kutner-Goldstein's store at Hanford, and after three years' em- ployment there he went to the oil fields in Kern county and put in two years in the development of oil lands. After that for some time he was a successful contractor and builder in San Francisco. Coming back to Lemoore in 1901, he a second time entered the employ of Mr. Lovelace with whom he remained four years until he became
592
TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES
bookkeeper of the Bank of Lemoore, and this position he filled until January, 1912, when he resigned it to buy the M. Lovelace store. He carries a line of farm implements, agricultural machinery and carriages, his specialties including the MeCormick and Buckeye im- plements, the California Moline plows and the Studebaker wagons. Hle is part owner and manager of the Lemoore garage, with L. H. Byron, who has the agency for the country round Lemoore and Coalinga for the Ford motor vehicles and does a general garage and repair business. His implement building is constructed of corrugated iron and occupies a ground space of 100x150 feet, and his garage, of the same material, occupies a ground space of 75x150 feet. The latter has been enlarged three times. The original garage was 75x75 feet in area; twenty-five feet was added to its length and later it was brought up to its present capacity. Having recently built a new residence on Lemoore avenue, Mr. Decker is now the owner of two houses in the city. He has in many ways demonstrated his public spirit and has served as city clerk of Lemoore, a term as city clerk by appointment, and a term in the same office by election. In 1893, at the first election after the organization of Kings county, he was a candidate for county recorder against F. M. Fraser and was defeated by only five votes. He is secretary of the Odd Fel- lows' Hall association and is a Past Grand of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, a past clerk of the Lemoore organization of the Woodmen of the World, and in 1891 was a delegate to the High Court of the Independent Order of Foresters held at Los Angeles.
On May 3, 1911, Mr. Decker married Maria Westerhoff, of Alex- ander. Nebr., a daughter of William Westerhoff, who was a pioneer in that state.
JAMES E. DUNLAP
An extensive land owner and cattle dealer of Tulare county and one who has figured prominently in business affairs here is James Early Dunlap. His father, John Dunlap, was a native of Missouri and a pioneer in Texas and in California, and met his death on the San Bernardino fair grounds by being struck by a sulky. His wife, a native of Texas, died there when James E. was five years old.
James E. Dunlap was born Jannary 1, 1838, in Washington county, Tex., and here learned something about books in the public schools, and a good deal about handling cattle on the ranges which stretched for miles and miles in all directions round about his home. When he was in his seventeenth year he came overland to California
593
TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES
with his father and others, and the Dunlaps located in Los Angeles county. In 1855 the younger Dunlap made his first visit to Tulare county, bringing Texas cattle to Visalia. He had started with about thirteen hundred head, but about nine hundred had died by the way for want of water. His father came to Tulare county in 1858 and bought one hundred and sixty acres of land of Mr. Lynn. James took up a homestead in Lynn's valley, and he has been a land owner in the county ever since, having owned at one time three hundred and twenty acres, but never less than one hundred and sixty acres. He has been an extensive handler of cattle for the market and from time to time has farmed considerable tracts to various crops. He deeded to the Bald Mountain Mining company a strip off the side of his ranch on which the mine of that corporation is located.
On September 23, 1860, Mr. Dunlap married Miss Lucy Ellis, a native of Texas, who has borne him six children: Thomas is deceased. Henry lives near Bakersfield, Cal .; John's home is at White River, Cal .; William James is well known in Tulare county; Emma mar- ried Henry Conner, and Mary is deceased. Mr. Dunlap's recollec- tions of his early experiences in this county are those of a pioneer. At this time there are very few others living here who were here when he came. He relates that during the time of the Indian trouble his father camped near Deer creek; he has himself killed many bear and deer within the limits of the county. For some time after he came, there were few houses within a radius of many miles in any direction from the place of his settlement, the whole territory being open country, utilized as cattle ranges. He has pros- pered with the community in which he lives, and while he has been winning fortune for himself has watched the development of a wil- derness country into one of the rich and important counties of a great state; and as opportunity has offered he has encouraged and aided that development in a public-spirited way that has insured him the respect of all who have known him.
JOHN V. CLEMENTE
It was across the ocean on the other continent at Pico, in the Azores islands, that John V. Clemente was born, May 6, 1864, and he now lives a mile north of Hanford, Kings county, Cal., and is a successful dairyman and fruit grower. He is a true citizen of America, devoted to the best interests of his adopted country and especially to those of the community with which he has cast his lot. He re- mained on his native isle in a far-away sea until he was eighteen years old, then came to the United States, and direct to California, 33
594
TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES
locating at Pescadero, San Mateo county, where for four years he was employed at ranch work. For the five years thereafter he worked on ranches in San Luis Obispo county. In 1891 he came to Kings county, bought a band of sheep and went into the sheep business, to which he devoted himself nine years, having at one time a flock of twenty-five hundred.
In 1901 Mr. Clemente bought one hundred and sixty acres of unimproved land, on which he has put fences and buildings and which he is now cultivating with success. He has ten acres of vines, two acres of orchard and thirty acres of alfalfa, the remainder of his tract being given over to pasturage. In connection with this business he manages a small dairy. With three associates, he bought four hundred and eighty acres of land north of Lemoore, his interest in which he sold in 1910. He is a stockholder in the Hanford Mer- cantile company and affiliates fraternally with the U. P. E. C. and the I. D. E. S. As a citizen he is publie-spirited to a degree that makes him helpful to every worthy local interest.
In June, 1903, Mr. Clemente married Maria Garcia, and they have three children: Leonard, Elvira and Maria.
CARLETON JAMES SHANNON
Prominent as a farmer and dairyman and through his con- nection with the Dairymen's Co-operative Creamery association and the Farmers' Irrigation Ditch company, Carl James Shannon of Tulare is probably as favorably known as any other citizen of Tulare county, where he has lived since 1889. He was born in Coleborne, Ontario, Can., June 9, 1870, the second in a family of four sons and one daughter, born to Robert and Deborah (Richardson) Shan- non. The parents left Canada in 1891 and came to California, mak- ing their home on a farm near Visalia, where Mr. Shannon died. His widow lives at Dinuba. Their son, Carleton J., lived on the parental farm in Canada until he was sixteen years old, attending the public school near his home. At sixteen he became self-supporting and for three years worked at such employment as he could find in the vicinity of his birthplace. At nineteen he was making only fifteen dollars a month and he was not at all satisfied with his income. But he saved the little money that he could and in 1889 reached Tulare county, all traveling expenses paid, with twenty dollars in his pocket. Here he began working for one dollar a day. He remained with his first employer, J. R. Robinson, a year and eight months and then worked two full years for John Frans at stockraising. Next he ventured in the field of business on his own account, renting the R. H. Stevens ranch near his present farm for
593
TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES
five successive years. Returning to the Frans ranch he became Mr. Frans's partner in handling stock, and by 1897, through good man- agement, acquired enough capital to purchase a farm of one hundred and forty acres, which was the nuclens of his present ranch. In 1900 he bought two hundred and forty acres more and in 1902 an- other hundred acres, bringing his holding up to four hundred and eighty acres in sections thirty-two and thirty-three, township nine- teen, range twenty-five, located five miles northeast of Tulare. He has improved and cultivated the tract until it ranks with the best ranches in the county. By later purchases he has become the owner of fifteen hundred and sixty acres. Forty acres is devoted to peaches, one hundred to alfalfa and eighty to vineyards. He has a dairy of sixteen Holstein cows, keeps an average of four hundred hogs and raises seventy-five beef cattle yearly, and he has also raised some fine Percheron colts. In 1911 he planted one hundred and two acres to Egyptian corn which yielded thirty-three hundred sacks. He is a member of the Dairymen's Co-operative Creamery association and president and manager of the Farmers' Irrigation Ditch company, which has an eight-mile ditch whose practical length is greatly in- creased by many laterals. Besides President Shannon, the officers of the company are W. P. Ratliff, secretary, and Bank of Tulare, treasurer. Its directors are Carl J. Shannon, P. F. Roche, E. P. Foster, Joseph LaMarche and A. W. Church.
In Fresno, Cal., in 1902, Mr. Shannon married Mrs. Lulu B. (Jordan) Smith, born near Visalia, daughter of James B. Jordan. By her former marriage Mrs. Shannon had one son, Leslie Smith. Mr. and Mrs. Shannon have three children, Gordan, Dorothy and Richard. Fraternally Mr. Shannon is an Odd Fellow, affiliating with Four Creeks lodge No. 92, of Visalia, and politically he is a stanch Democrat. Public-spiritedly he is all that his many admiring friends could wish him.
DANIEL HEADRICK
It was in Kentucky in 1832 that Daniel Headrick was born, and when a child was taken to Missouri. From there he came to Cali- fornia in 1860 with his mother, his father having died previously. He had learned the blacksmith's trade, but settling in Butte county, he worked there as a farmer for some time and from there went to San Joaquin county, where he was both farmer and blacksmith several years, as he was later for ten years in Fresno county. His next place of residence was near Kings river, in the vicinity of Han- ford, until 1883. He removed from there to Deer creek, thence to
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.