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 56
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 56
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the names of his children: John C .; Laura, wife of E. Edwards, of Globe, Ariz .; Mrs. Melissa Smith, of Dinuba; Ella, wife of John Bacon, a rancher north of Visalia; Maimie Burke; Jessie B., who mar- ried James Ryce of Selma; Thomas; Hattie, wife of William Hunter; Charles and Frank.
Through the first winter after the departure of his father from Vacaville, John Culberson Rice remained there. He spent the next two years in Nevada and came to Hanford on Christmas Day, 1876, and farmed for a time south of the city. His present ranch, one mile from the city line, contains seventy-six acres set to fruit and vines, including twenty acres of Muscat grapes, eight of Thompson seedless, three of prunes, twenty of peaches and three of apricots. The re- mainder of the place is devoted to alfalfa and pasture.
In 1877, Mr. Rice married Miss Carrie Barton, a native of Bur- lington, Iowa, and they have children, George, at Reedley; J. Clar- ence, coroner of Kings county, a biographical sketch of whom appears in these pages; Mrs. Leila (Rice) Shields, and Lulu, a student at Mills College. Mr. Rice is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Woodmen of the World.
J. CLARENCE RICE
The coroner of Kings county, Cal., J. Clarence Rice of Hanford, prominent as a funeral director, was born near that city December 5, 1880, son of John Culberson Rice, and was educated in the pub- lic schools of Hanford and at Heald's Business College in San Fran- cisco. For a time after his return from the institution just men- tioned he was in commercial employment, but eventually he went into the undertaking business with E. J. Kelly as a partner. Later Mr. Kelly retired from the enterprise and in September, 1902, W. M. Thomas became a member of the firm. In 1908 Mr. Rice bought the interest of Mr. Thomas, and since then has been sole proprietor. He served as deputy county coroner under Coroner Thomas and under Coroner Denton, and so efficient was he in the office that in 1910 he was elected to the office of coroner.
Real estate has commanded Mr. Rice's attention for some years and he has bought and sold quite extensively. At this time he is the owner of fifty acres of apricot and peach orchard, a mile and a half south of Armona. He served as the first president of the Kings Connty Chamber of Commerce, which was organized in No- vember, 1908, to succeed the Kings County Promotion association. In other ways he has amply proven his public spirit, and he is regarded as a patriotic and helpful citizen who has close to his heart the best interests of his community. Fraternally, he affiliates with
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the Masons, being a Shriner and a member of subordinate orders, with the Knights of Pythias and with the Woodmen of the World. In September, 1902, he married Miss Eva M. Sutherland, a native of California, whose father was a pioneer in Tulare, and they have a son, Leland Rice.
WILLIAM H. DAVENPORT
For more than a quarter of a century there has been identified with Tulare county William H. Davenport, the present general man- ager of the Wutehumna Water company, who was born in Missouri in 1842 and was among the early pioneers of the state of California. The son of Stephen and Elena (Holloway) Davenport, both natives of Kentucky, he shared their early experiences, which were filled with adventure incident to the coming to the west. In 1846 his father went to New Mexico, but returned in the winter of 1847-48 and in the following spring he treked back to Santa Fe, N. M., taking with him his wife, but leaving William H. and his elder brother, John, with their grandparents. In the fall of 1849 Stephen Davenport followed the onrnsh to California for gold, arriving at the town of Mariposa on March 17, 1850.
In 1853 William H. Davenport and his brother John crossed the plains to California with the late William R. Owen, a California pioneer of 1849, who brought with him about five hundred head of cattle, and they arrived at Mariposa in September, 1853, joining their parents there. Until the fall of 1857 the family remained there and then moved to Tulare county, settling just north of Visalia near the present site of that city, and here the parents passed away.
In 1863 William H. Davenport went from Tulare county to Ne- vada, where he was employed in lumbering operations until in 1870, when he made his way back to Tulare county. After ranching in a small way until 1875 he expanded his operations in the Mussel slough district, where he met with varying success until 1882. Then he came to Visalia and connected himself with the Wutchumna Water company, for which he has been general manager ever since. This irrigation ditch company was founded in 1871 by Stephen Bar- ton, Sammel Jennings and Joseph Spear. Its ditch was enlarged in 1879 and its system now comprises twenty miles of irrigation ditches, supplied by the water of the Kaweah river. The system, which fol- lows the contour of the land, has its terminal on section twenty, township eighteen, range twenty-five, and includes the largest arti- ficial reservoir in the county, which has an area when full of one hundred and sixty-five acres, when empty of sixty acres, its sides extending ten feet above low-water mark. Many of the orchards,
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as well as other farming lands, situated to the north and east of Visalia, are irrigated by this canal.
In 1870 Mr. Davenport married Miss Ann Early, a native of Texas, and a daughter of a hero of San Jacinto, who fought nnder Gen. Sam Houston in that memorable battle of 1836 by which was won the independence of Texas. Her father crossed the plains to California in 1849 and returned to Texas, bringing his family to the coast in 1852 and locating in Mariposa county. In 1868 he moved to Glennville, Kern county, where he lived until 1884, when he passed away. Mr. and Mrs. Davenport have a son, Frank Davenport, who married Mrs. Helen Huff and is a conductor on the Sierra railroad in Tuolumne county. Mr. Davenport is a man of much public spirit, devoted heart and soul to the interests of his community, who never neglects an opportunity to aid to the extent of his ability any move- ment for the general good.
ETHELBERT S. WEDDLE
The family of which Ethelbert S. Weddle was a member re- moved to Tennessee in 1854 and lived there until 1865, then settled in Indiana, where it made its home until 1874, when it came to Cali- fornia. Mr. Weddle was born in Virginia, April 1, 1849.
Soon after he came to Tulare county, Mr. Weddle went into the sheep business, which profitably occupied his attention four years. At that time the land was all raw and sheep could roam throughout all the territory between the river and the mountains. When he sold his sheep he engaged in contracting and building. Later he took np grain farming and fruit raising and now he has eighty acres in fruit, fifty-five in vines, two in oranges and forty in alfalfa. In 1911 he sold a ton of Muscats to the acre. His seedless grapes yield a ton and a half to the acre. He is a thoroughly up-to-date farmer, filled with new ideas, and he employs modern methods in every de- tail of his work. As a citizen he is publie-spirited and devoted to the general interests. Fraternally, he affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and politically he is a Republican.
In Indiana Ethelbert S. Weddle married Theresa Wilson, a native of that state, who bore him children named Charles and Walter E., who are now physicians in the active practice of their profession, one in Fresno, Cal., the other in Reedley, Cal. Dr. Charles Weddle, of Fresno, married Maymie Jacobs and has daugh- ters named Barbara and Beatrice. Dr. Walter E. Weddle, of Reedley, married Margaret Parker, and has children named Robert and Dorothy.
Mrs. Theresa Weddle, who died November 30, 1908, was the daughter of Olli S. and Elizabeth (Hamilton) Wilson, and a lineal
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descendant of Alexander Hamilton. The Wilsons figured in the period preceding the Revolutionary war, and trace their ancestry to John Wilson, who participated in that conflict.
J. ALBERT RAGLE
Farming has been the chief occupation of J. Albert Ragle. A son of California, he was born in Sonoma county in 1861 and has lived in Tulare county since he was four or five years old. Here ne was reared and educated and taught practical farming in a most practical way. His first memorable experiences were in the cattle business in the period after 1870. It was in 1871 that he began to take an active part in the work of the ranch, his father owning at that time six hundred and forty acres and being a leader among the ranchers of his part of the county.
In 1884 Mr. Ragle located on his present home farm, then new land with negligible improvements, and since that time he has de- voted himself to its development, making it one of the best orange and general fruit ranches in the vicinity. In 1889 occurred the mar- riage of Mr. Ragle to Miss Jennie M. Lynn, a native of Arkansas, whose parents are living in Fresno county, where her father, Wil- liam F. Lynn, is well known. Mrs. Ragle has borne her husband three children. Adah was edneated at Tulare, and on December 26, 1912, was married to W. A. Stone, of Fresno; Etta is in the high school at Exeter, and Orval is attending school near home. William C. Ragle, Mr. Ragle's father, came to California in 1853, one of a party who made the trip with an ox-team train, consuming more months than it would now consume days to accomplish the same journey. Ile began his active life practically without means and achieved a success which made him one of the well-to-do men of his community. He passed away in 1895.
The public spirit of J. Albert Ragle has been demonstrated in so many ways that he has come to be known as a useful citizen of the progressive type. For fifteen years he has been a member of the school board, and in a fraternal way he affiliates with the Woodmen of the World, and with the order of Artisans.
J. M. SAGE
That popular and successful dairyman of Wankena. Tulare county, Cal., whose name is well known throughout the county, was born in Jackson county, Mo., August 13, 1858, and has lived in Tulare county since 1890.
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J. M. Sage grew up in the states of Iowa, Missouri and Kan- sas, where he was a student in the public schools until he was sixteen years of age. At seventeen he began work with a gang on a con- struction train in Carroll county, Mo., and continued at this work until he was twenty, then procuring employment in the roundhouse as fireman, determining to become a locomotive engineer. Later he accepted a position as fireman and stationary engineer. In 1881 he engaged with the Santa Fe at Las Vegas, N. M., soon thereafter going to Los Angeles, where he went to work for the Southern Pa- cific and later became engineer on a run from Bakersfield to Fresno by way of Porterville. He saved his earnings and used the $2500 saved as an investment in farming operations in San Joaquin and Tulare connties, having eight hundred acres planted to wheat, but met with almost complete financial failure in this venture owing to the drouth. His holdings now comprise forty acres, which he has developed into a fine dairy property, it being in Kings county, and he feeds and accommodates thirty-seven milch cows. In this venture he has proved most successful.
In 1886 Mr. Sage became the husband of Miss Lonisa Minges, horn at Stockton, Cal., in 1859, a most worthy woman who was to him an admirable helpmate until her death, which occurred in Aug- ust. 1905. Mr. and Mrs. Sage had children: Bernice, Hazel, Philo- pena and Wesley, who survived her. Mr. Sage married (second) Mrs. Josephine Simpson of Salt Lake city.
As a dairyman Mr. Sage has won high reputation, and his busi- ness, already large, is rapidly increasing. The quality and purity of his products commend them to all discriminating buyers. His dairy is up-to-date in every respect and all his methods and appliances are such as meet the approval of the most critical judges. As a citizen he is public-spirited and helpful.
ANDREW SCIARONE
A pioneer farmer of Tulare county as well as a pioneer busi- ness man of Hanford, Andrew Sciarone was born in the Canton of Ticino, Switzerland, July 13, 1834. There he received his educa- tion and remained until he was twenty-one years old, when he went to Australia and was variously engaged until 1870, then returning to his native country. He arrived in the United States in January, 1872, and came direct to San Francisco. Ile traveled to Gilroy, Hol- lister and Fresno, and engaged in farming, and became the owner of land by pre-emption and later on homesteaded a tract of eighty acres, owning two hundred and forty acres in Tulare county, near the
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boundary of Fresno county. In 1879 he came to Hanford, when it was a struggling village, and ever since then has made it his home, where for the past fifteen years he has lived retired from all business pursuits. He invested in business property in Hanford and has been interested in the growth and development of the city from its start. Agriculture has interested him ever since he arrived in this country.
In 1854, Mr. Sciarone married in Switzerland and became the father of one daughter, Josephine, who married J. Martinetti. Mr. Sciarone has two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. His wife passed away in 1897. Of his descendants one grandson, Albino Martinetti, is attending the University of California at Berkeley. In every way Mr. Sciarone has demonstrated his publie spirit and has lived to see a wonderful change in the Golden State. Frater- nally he is a member of the Knights of Pythias of Hanford.
JOHN SIGLER
It was in the Old Dominion, the Mother of States, and the mother also of men who have won fortune in every state in the Union, that John Sigler was born, February 3, 1852. Such schooling as was available to him in his boyhood he obtained near his father's home, and at seventeen he moved to Maryland, where he lived four or five years before he came to California. He located in Yolo county in 1873 and in 1875 came to Tulare county and bought three hundred and twenty acres of land six miles southwest of the site of Hanford, his present home. lIe helped to secure the Lakeside ditch and with its aid developed his farm and grew grain for twenty years until he gave up grain in favor of cattle and sheep, which were his principal products till he turned his attention to general farming, though he raised a good many hogs. He has re- cently bought one hundred and sixty acres, distant from his home- stead about half a mile, which he will put into alfalfa. His interests in irrigation ditches has not been confined to the one just mentioned, for he is a stockholder in both the Lakeside ditch and the New Deal ditch.
In 1875, when Mr. Sigler first came to Tulare county to buy land, which was selling very cheaply at that time, he arrived in Visalia and from there he came across the country to Lemoore. Some few ditches had been started, but none completed. From the ap- pearance of the soil he concluded that the land would wear ont with a couple of crops after irrigation began, and cease to yield pay- ing returns. However he determined to purchase property and the returns he has reaped since that date show that his prediction was
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not fulfilled. By farming to wheat many years the soil did show the ill effects, but with fruit and rotation of crops wonderful returns are possible.
In all things Mr. Sigler is conservative. He is especially so in his political views, and while he glories in the progressive prin- ciples of American democracy he has no desire to be classed with traveling Republicans. His interest in public education impelled him to accept the trusteeship of the Rustic school district, which he is discharging with characteristic efficiency and fidelity.
In 1887 Mr. Sigler married Miss Lodema N. Dewey and she has borne him three daughters, Leah and Catherine, who are members of their parents' household, and Arlie, who is the wife of Marvin Roberts.
OSBORNE L. WILSON
That venerable and honorable citizen of Kings county, Cal., O. I .. Wilson, who is living in retirement at No. 602 East Ninth street, Han- ford, was born in Washington county, Ind., August 29, 1825, and has lived in California since August 8, 1849. He grew to manhood on a farm on Blue river, went to school at Salem and was managing a farm there for his father at the time of the outbreak of the Mexican war. Enlisting in Company D, Second Indiana Volunteers, he was sent to Mexico in 1846 and served until the expiration of his term of enlist ment. He returned to his home in Indiana, but again enlisted in Com- pany B, Fifth Indiana Volunteers, under Captain Green, and was sent again to Mexico in 1847 and served gallantly until the end of the war. when he was honorably discharged. He took part in many important. engagements, including those at Buena Vista and Del Rey under such commanders as Generals Taylor, Woolfe and Scott, the latter having been commander-in-chief. He has kept a copy of the Salem News, pub lished at Salem, Ind., April 7, 1847, an extra edition devoted largely to the events of the Mexican war and containing bulletins of the very latest news from the camp of General Taylor. After the war he went to Scotland county, Mo., where he remained through the winter of 1848-49. On April 15, 1849, he started with an ox-team wagon train to California and arrived within the borders of this state August 8 fol- lowing. For two years he mined at Ringgold and Weavertown, on the American river, at Yuba, at Rough and Ready, at Nevada City and in Nevada, meeting with fair success. His associations were not to his taste and in 1851 he bought land at Gilroy, Cal., part of the Los Alamos grant, and devoted himself to cattle raising with farming as a subsidiary business. There he remained until he sold his land to
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Thomas Rey and drove his cattle and sheep over into that part of Tulare county which is now Kings county and squatted on part of the Laguna De Tache grant. Later he secured one thousand acres of land on his Mexican war land warrant, lying on the Kings river in sections 1, 12 and 13. After that he bought land from time to time until he owned six thousand acres in that vicinity and in Fresno county and for about thirty years he was engaged in sheep raising. Even- tually he divided most of his land among his children and in 1900 re- tired from active life.
On December 3, 1854, Mr. Wilson married Miss Rose Wilburn at Gilroy, and they had thirteen children, six of whom are now living. Mr. Wilson has nineteen grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Those children who survive are: John A .; William C .; Julia, widow of John Alcorn; Mrs. Rose Henry; Mrs. Fannie Hughes, and Calhoun Wilson. During all his long and honorable career Mr. Wilson has consistently demonstrated his public spirit and has been in the van of all worthy movements for the public uplift. He has bought eight cemetery lots, on which he has erected a replica of the Washington monument, which when he has passed away will be his lasting memorial.
THOMAS CLINTON NEWMAN
A member of an old pioneer family of California and a native of Tulare county, Thomas Clinton Newman, who lives nine miles north of Exeter, on rural free delivery route No. 1, was born Decem- ber 5, 1882, a son of Thomas W. Newman, who was born while his parents were en route across the plains, in 1856, from their old home in Ohio. William Newman, grandfather of Thomas Clinton. had come ont to California in 1848 and gone back in 1849. He finally returned accompanied by his sons, R. S., C. O. and Thomas W. New- man, and the latter's wife, and the family settled on the Sacramento river, but were driven out by floods, and after living at different places in the state Thomas W. Newman at length located in Tulare county and in 1872 settled on the present homestead of his son.
Hlad William Newman arrived at his first location in California one day earlier than he did he would have been the pioneer of pioneers there. While crossing the plains half of his party had been killed in the Mountain Meadow massacre. Thomas C. Newman has several relies of the overland trip, among them part of the chain used by his grandfather on the cattle he drove and an old shotgun that his grandfather used while standing guard over the train.
After locating in Tulare county Thomas W. Newman set about
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clearing land and putting it under cultivation and soon developed a farm that compared favorably with any in his neighborhood and which he operated successfully until 1909, when he passed away, his wife having died when their son was about five years old.
December 20, 1905, T. C. Newman married Miss Eva May Ster- rett, a native of California, and their two children are Iola, now six years old, and Bernice, who is four years old. In the house which is now his home there passed away his grandfather, his grandmother, his father and his uncle, R. S. Newman. The place now consists of eighty acres, and is devoted to the cultivation of alfalfa and potatoes and to the purposes of a dairy of abont ten or twelve cows.
It was in the St. John's district school that Mr. Newman was educated, and to him belongs the honor of having been the first grad- nate of its grammar school. While not active in political affairs, he is helpfully public spirited. Fraternally he affiliates with the Masons.
FRED STORZBACK
Germany has given to the United States a class of citizens indns- trious, honest, thrifty and law abiding, who have done much to build up the interests of the communities with which individually they have cast their lots. One of the most progressive citizens of Corcoran, Kings county, Cal., is Fred Storzback, a native of Wurtemberg. Yonng Storzback attended public schools near the parental home until he was fourteen years old, when he immigrated to England and engaged in the butcher business. From there at the age of twenty he came to the United States in 1885, settling in Philadelphia, where he acquired a practical knowledge of the baker's trade. After work- ing as a baker in different parts of the United States he came to California in December, 1905, and January 15, 1906, he settled at Corcoran, where he operated a combined bakery and restaurant for two years, then transformed his establishment into a combined bakery and ice cream parlor. His business, which from every point of view is successful, is one of the most popular in Corcoran, and the purity of his goods and his courtesy to all patrons commend him strongly to the general public.
In 1895 Mr. Storzback married Elizabeth Schiep, who was born August 17, 1876, in the state of Louisiana, and they have children as follows: Panline, Augusta and Bertha, who are mentioned here in the order of their nativity. Mr. Storzback is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is a Woodman of the World, loyally devoted to the interests of these orders and ready at all times to meet any demand upon him in behalf of their beneficent work. As
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a citizen he takes a vital interest in everything that pertains to the growth and development of the town and to the economic problems of its people. So flattering has been his success thus far that to his observant neighbors his future is full of brilliant promise. In 1913 Mr. Storzback built a fine two-story brick building, 50x112, which is equipped with the finest and most up-to-date machinery and appli- ances for the bakery business and is a fitting testimonial to his laud- able enterprise.
JOHN BURRELL
The most extensive breeder of jacks in the territory round Han- ford, and in fact in the state, is John Burrell, who is operating seven and one-half miles southwest of that city. It was in Tulare (now Kings) county that Mr. Burrell was born January 5, 1880, a son of Monroe Burrell, who lived near Armona. The elder Burrell, who had grown to manhood in California, had come to this vicinity in 1876. He is now running a fruit ranch near Grangeville.
It was in the neighborhood of Grangeville that John Burrell was reared on a farm and educated in the public schools. When he made his start in life for himself it was in the oil fields at Coalinga, where he worked two years. Then, returning to Kings county, he rented the Haas ranch, near Grangeville five years, operating it successfully as a stock and alfalfa farm. Then he rented three hundred and twenty acres seven and one-half miles southwest of Hanford, twenty acres of which is in vineyard. He devotes himself chiefly to the raising of mules and hogs, his yearly average being forty mules and eight hundred Duroc hogs. Some time ago he bought seven valuable imported jacks for breeding purposes, which he has sold besides a number of others that he has raised, in all about twenty head have been disposed of during the past three years. He has another importation of jacks from Kentucky and Missouri to arrive about January, 1913. Besides these he owns twenty head of Mammoth jenneys which he uses for raising jacks. Thoroughly up-to-date in all his methods, having intimate knowledge of the work in hand and using only the latest improved aids, he is successful in his special line beyond many of his neighbors and competitors. His knowledge of the market is such that he is usually able to sell to the very best advantage. He is a member of the Woodmen of the World. devoted to all the interests of that beneficent fraternity. As a citizen he is notably public spirited and helpful.
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