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 59
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 59
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In 1866 Mr. Whitaker married Ada Ferguson, a native of Penn- sylvania and she bore him six children: Mary J. married Wilbur Devoll and has four children. Ada became Mrs. Clifton Wright and died leaving three children. Eva married Clifton Church and they have two children. Etta married Charles MeDonald and they have three children. Helen is Mrs. William Heffron, who is the only one of the children residing in California. Jesse L., the fourth in order
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of birth and the only son, met an accidental death in December, 1909. The wife and mother passed away in 1899 and in 1901 Mr. Whitaker married Mrs. Frances C. White.
HANFORD NATIONAL BANK
This well established and dependable institution, one of the strong and popular banks of Kings county, Cal., was organized in May. 1903, was incorporated in the following month, and was opened for business July 28, that year. Its savings department, known as the Peoples Savings Bank, was organized November 1, 1903.
The first president of the bank was Dr. N. P. Duncan, who died February 15, 1905, and he was succeeded by W. V. Buckner. Its original vice-president died and was succeeded by Charles A. Kimball; H. E. Wright was cashier, S. E. Railsback, assistant cashier. The capital stock of the Hanford National Bank was $50,000, all paid in, and the capital stock of the Peoples Savings Bank was $25,000, $12,500 of which was paid in at the time of its organization, and the remainder of which was paid two years later. The board of directors serves for both banks and is constituted as follows: W. V. Buckner, L. Hansen, Charles A. Kimball, S. E. Railsback and H. E. Wright.
The cashier and manager of this bank, Harland E. Wright, is represented in a biographical sketch in this work. He came to Han- ford as assistant cashier of the Farmers and Merchants Bank and soon became cashier. In 1903 he sold out his interest in that bank, in which he had become the largest stockholder, in order to promote the organization of the Hanford National Bank. Mr. Railsback is still assistant cashier.
SIDNEY H. WOOKEY
Among Hanford's most progressive business men is Sidney H. Wookey, proprietor of an enterprising hay and feed trade. It was at Fond du Lac, Wis., that Mr. Wookey was born November 19, 1861, and there he grew to manhood and obtained his education both in books and in the business which engaged his attention for many years. He began his active career in his native town as a contrac- tor and builder and engaged also in the fuel trade. The latter became his sole business and he followed it with success until October, 1901, when he again turned his attention to contracting and building until
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1906, when he located at Hanford, where he established a wood-yard and operated it until July, 1911, then selling it to the Hanford Fuel Company.
The retail hay and feed trade at Hanford now commands Mr. Wookey's ability and attention. His warehouse, which he erected in August, 1911, occupies a ground space of forty by ninety feet and af- fords storage for three hundred tons of hay. With his office, it con- stitutes a thoroughly adequate and np-to-date business plant, well appointed in every detail and equipped for the successful transac- tion of his large and constantly growing enterprise.
By his personal geniality and his "live and let-live" business methods Mr. Wookey has commended himself to the good opinion of the people living at Hanford and throughout its tributary territory, and the success which he has obtained is popularly regarded as but an earnest of the still greater successes which will come to him in the future. As a citizen he has in many ways manifested his loyalty and public spirit, and his neighbors at Hanford find him ever ready to yield generous support to any measure proposed for the develop- ment of the town or for the improvement of general conditions through the introduction of such economic provisions as seem to him possible. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America.
BENJAMIN DONAGER, SR.
Natives of Ireland have always been peculiarly welcome as immi- grants to this country and their prosperity here has equaled that of our native-born citizens. One of those who have been successful in the quest for home and prosperity in Kings county, Cal., was the late Benjamin Donager, whose widow and son own and operate the New Method Laundry in Hanford. Mr. Donager came to the United States in 1874 and after stopping for a time in Sacramento, came on to Tulare connty and located at the site of Hanford, in the portion of that old county which is now known as Kings county. At that time Hanford had just been platted and offered for sale in lots convenient for building purposes. Mr. Donager became the local station agent for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company and filled that position ably and honorably until September 25, 1882, when he died. His marriage occurred in 1879 to Miss Hattie Coe, a daughter of Julius T. Coe.
It will be of interest here to say something of the career of Mrs. Donager's father. Julius T. Coe was born in Fulton county, N. Y., where he farmed in early life and later manufactured gloves. In 1874 he was attracted to California as offering a field for larger oppor-
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tunities and brought his family to a farm near Vacaville, Solano county. In 1876 he came to a tract of government land two miles south of the site of Hanford and his original purchase of one hun- dred and sixty acres of land was increased by the acquisition of other tracts until he owned two hundred and forty acres, which he managed and cultivated with fair success and which was his home until in 1884, when he died, aged sixty-four years. In his religious belief he was a Presbyterian, and politically he allied himself with the Re- publican party. His wife, who before their marriage was Miss Cath- erine Simpson, also a native of Fulton county, N. Y., survived him, making her home in Hanford, until 1909.
To Mr. and Mrs. Donager was born a son Benjamin, Jr., June 10, 1880. He began his education in the public schools in Hanford, continued it at Santa Cruz and at Oakland, and took a commercial course at Heald's Business College. He then found employment for two years with George West & Son and later for three years with Schnerger & Downing. In 1906 he married Miss Frances Kuntz of Hanford. Fraternally he affiliates with the Hanford organizations of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Improved Order of Red Men, the Woodmen of the World and the Native Sons of the Golden West.
In 1906 Mrs. Donager and her son started their enterprise, the New Method Laundry, installing it in a building fifty by ninety-two feet, which was erected for the purpose. It is a modern, well-ap- pointed structure, occupied entirely by their flourishing and constantly growing business. Besides doing fine laundry work they have a cleaning and pressing line. Their methods and machinery are thor- oughly up-to-date; they employ only experienced help and their rela- tions with the public are based on the idea of the square deal. Their prosperity is in every way richly deserved.
FREEMAN RICHARDSON
During the last half century the laundry business has been developed to proportions which make it, in its peculiar way, one of the important industrial interests of the country. Among the lead- ors in this industry are many Californians, and among the best known of these in the central part of the state is Freeman Richardson, proprietor of the Hanford Steam Laundry, an auxiliary feature of which is his establishment for the cleaning and pressing of tailor-made clothing.
Mr. Richardson first saw the light of day in 1868, over the Cana- dian border line, in New Brunswick. There he was reared and edu-
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cated and from there he came in 1889, when he was about twenty- one years old, to California, locating at Fresno, where he worked in a laundry until 1893. He then made his advent in Hanford and established the Hanford Steam Laundry, until 1900 occupying quarters on Front street, which by that time became too small for his enter- prise, and he then moved into his present principal building on West Seventh street. Later he erected an adjoining building and now has a ground space of fifty-eight by one hundred feet, equipped with modern machinery which is operated only by skillful laundry workers. His pressing and cleaning plant for gasoline work is located on Second street, beyond the fire limit, and his laundry work as well as cleaning and pressing process are equally satisfactory to his large and growing list of patrons.
In 1903 Mr. Richardson married Miss Lola Manning of Han- ford and they have a daughter named Mary Eleanor. Fraternally, he is a Knight of Pythias and a member of the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks. As a citizen he has proven himself to be most patriotic and public spirited.
J. GRABOW
In the promotion of irrigation in central California the sinking of wells is an important factor and among the enterprising men giving attention to this industry is J. Grabow, of Hanford, Kings county, a native of Denmark, born in 1841, who came to the United States in 1881. He had learned the trade of well borer in his native country; his first employment here was as a farm hand, but it was not long before he was called upon to help bore for water, and the possibilities of well-drilling at once became apparent to him. Lo- cating at Paso Robles, he gave his attention to this work and was one of the first, if not the first, in the state to develop water by the hydraulic process for domestic nse. Ile operated in that vicin- ity until 1903, then came to Hanford, where he has devoted himself to well-boring on a larger scale than before, having put down more than a thousand wells, among which were those of the Ogdens, the Armona Winery, Dr. Miller (on his dairy ranch), Mecfussel (of Hardwick), Richards (of Grangeville), fourteen on the Floribel ranch and others, all of which have been so successful in operation that they have attracted wide attention to his enterprise. Mr. Grabow finds that in this vicinity good water for domestic uses is reached sixty to one hundred feet below the surface of the ground.
In 1876 Mr. Grabow married Miss Nanny Heger, a native of Sweden, who has borne him seven children: Fannie is a school
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teacher at Coalinga; Hans is his father's assistant in the latter's well-drilling operations; Ellen married Fred Donohoo; Esther is a student at the Conservatory of Music at San Jose; two died in in- fancy; and Anna died at the age of twenty-one years.
The progressive spirit which has marked Mr. Grabow's per- sistent development of his enterprise commends him to the general public as one of the leading business men in the country round about Hanford. He has established a shop in which, during the past two years, he has made all the casing he has used in his wells. The metal which he most favors for use for this purpose is gal- vanized iron. In municipal affairs he favors and supports those measures for the betterment of local interests, and has come to be known as a most helpful and up-to-date citizen, who has the welfare of the community at heart.
NAPOLEON PETER KAANAWYER
Peter Kanawyer, the first of the name to come to California, brought hither his son, Napoleon Peter Kanawyer, when he was a lad of fourteen years. He was born in Indiana in December, 1849. and was a small child when the family moved to the frontier of Iowa and from that state came to California. The family settled near Sacramento and later were pioneers at Grangeville in Kings county, where they became well and favorably known. Mr. Kanawyer married Viola Blunt and she bore him three children. Napoleon mar- ried Cisly Collins and they have seven children: Napoleon, Doris, Cyril, Gertrude, Mervin, and twin babies, and they reside at Sanger in Fresno county. Thomas is next in order. Frances is the wife of Jay Robinson. Mr. Kanawyer died in 1908.
Thomas Kanawyer, the second son, was born in Tulare county, the part now set aside as Kings county, on September 26, 1879. He was reared and educated in the common schools and with the family moved to Fresno county, settling near Dunlap. He married Miss Margaret Main, born in Fresno county February 20, 1882. They are the parents of two children, Viola Frances and Margaret Ruth. In 1910 Thomas Kanawyer purchased three hundred and ninety-five acres of land which he is clearing and developing. One hundred and twenty acres of it is tillable and the balance is in timber and pasture. IIe keeps about one hundred head of stock on his place and has about thirty-five hundred cords of marketable wood.
With his mother he is the owner of several jenneys which are used for pack animals, and he is otherwise assisting his mother in the care of the family homestead. As a farmer he has won a place for
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himself in his neighborhood and as a citizen has proven his worth as helpful to the general interests. He is a Republican in politics but has never sought office. Like his father, who was a well known citizen, he is giving his attention to the building up of his own for- tunes and in aiding publie movements to the best of his ability.
HARVEY N. DENNY
Born in Putnam county, Ind., June 25, 1834, Harvey N. Denny. whose residence is now at No. 602 North Church street, Visalia, Tulare county, Cal., passed his early life on a farm in his native state. lle and two of his brothers did duty as soldiers in the Federal army in the Civil war. Enlisting in the Fifty-first Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, he served under Major-General George H. Thomas until he was mustered out at Nashville, Tenn., June 18, 1865. during his service participating in many historic battles and in numerous minor engagements. Returning to his old home in In- diana he was given charge of the old Denny homestead, which he operated six years, clearing $1,000 annually.
In 1870 Mr. Denny married Miss Melissa D. lloskins. His wife's health failing, he sought relief for her in California, arriving in the spring of 1873, and here for twenty years, until his retirement a few years ago, he was engaged successfully in the undertaking business at Visalia. Mrs. Denny died in March, 1875, leaving a daughter, Carrie A. In a patriotie way Mr. Denny is deeply inter- ested in everything that makes for the betterment of the community. He is a charter member of the Visalia organization of the Grand Army of the Republic and because of his many sterling qualities of head and heart is popular with the leading citizens of all sections of the county.
C. E. FREEMAN
In Boone county, Mo., which has given several prominent citi- zens to this part of California, C'lorie Elmer Freeman has born March 20, 1879. When he was about twenty years old he came to California. Ilis parents, James Monroe and Sarah Roxanna (Green) Freeman, natives of Missouri, are living in Callaway county. . Ilis father enlisted in 1862 in a Confederate regiment under Captain Price and served in the infantry until the end of the Civil war.
When C. E. Freeman arrived at Dinnba, which is now a town of . (
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two thousand people, he found only one hotel, two general merehan- dise stores, a drug store, a livery barn and a few dwellings. The country round about was all under grain and the fields stretched clear down to the village limits. In 1902 Mr. Freeman bought fifteen aeres near Orosi at $50 an acre. It was just plain wheat land with no vines. He has since planted thirteen acres to grapes, eight to Muscats, five to Sultanas, and in 1911 he sold eight-and-a-half tons of Mnseats and five of Sultanas. He keeps ten head of live stock and has a small family orchard. Among the many improvements which he has witnessed in the country round abont has been the introduction of a telephone system. When he came there was not a yard of telephone wire to be seen in any direction and now nearly every house is reached by this means.
In his politics Mr. Freeman is a Democrat, devoted heart and soul to the principles of his party. He and Mrs. Freeman are men- bers of the Baptist church. She was Miss Lena Johnson, a native of Missouri, and they were married in Visalia in 1904. They have one daughter. Grace Ellen.
EARL POWERS FOSTER
Not only a native Californian but a native of Tulare county, where he now lives, Earl Powers Foster was born November 4, 1867. the oldest of the six children of Leander P. and Hattie (Mun- son) Foster, four of whom survive. His father, who first saw the light of day in Vermont, settled early in life on a stock ranch in Tulare county. but later moved to a farm of three hundred and twenty acres near Atlanta, San Joaquin county, where he grew grain until in 1875, when he died. His wife, Miss Munson, whom he married in California, was a native of Maine. She came to the coast in her girlhood with Nathan Munson, her father, who lived ont his days and passed away in Humboldt county. For some years she has made her home at Pacific Grove. She died November 26, 1912.
Only eight years old when his father died, Earl Powers Foster grew to manhood and gained a knowledge of farming on the Foster home- stead near Atlanta and later was a student at Woodbridge College. He came to Tulare county in 1894 and engaged in stockfarming and grain raising in which he has since been successful. He rented two thousand acres, two miles and a half sontheast of Tulare. the property of James Turner, of San Joaquin county and popularly known as the Turner ranch. He farms six hundred and forty aeres to grain, summer-fallows about two hundred and fifty acres a
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year and uses the remainder of the property for pasturage, carry- ing about one hundred head of cows year after year.
The marriage, in 1892, of Mr. Foster and Sarah, daughter of James Turner and a native of San Joaquin county, has resulted in the birth of three sons. James, Powers and Forest Frederick. Their wedding was celebrated at French Camp, San Joaquin county. This California family of Turners was founded by John Turner, an Englishman, who settled in San Joaquin county, lived afterward in Stanislaus county and died in Tulare county at the advanced age of ninety-two years. His son James was a California pioneer of 1850, who came into this country with a party that had made its way across the plains with an ox-team outfit. In his first winter here the mines yielded him $400, but he later engaged in teaming and in the spring of 1852 settled on a quarter section of land near Stock- ton, which he bought. He now owns two thousand acres of tillable land there, on a part of which he makes his home. In his polities he is a Republican, in his religion a Methodist. His wife was Hannah Blosser, a native of Pennsylvania, who died on their California home- stead in 1882. Jacob Blosser, her father, came overland from the east with oxen in 1850 and settled on raw land in San Joaquin county, and the closing years of his life were passed in Mendocino county.
Fraternally Mr. Foster affiliates with the Woodmen of the World and with the order of Fraternal Aid, holding membership in local organizations of these bodies whose stated meetings are held in Tulare. He has achieved remarkable success in his efficient handling of such extensive tracts of land and has taken rank among the leading business men in this part of the county, and is known to his fellow citizens as a man of public spirit who aids to the extent of his ability every measure proposed for the general uplift or for the advancement of the prosperity of his commmity.
R. M. GRAAIIAM
It was in the lloosier State that R. M. Graham was born in 1849. In the years of his young manhood he was a successful school teacher, then for many years he published the Boonville Standard. a weekly paper, at Boonville, in his native state, disposing of it in 1886 to come to California. Here, finding no opening in the pub- lishing line, he worked by the day on ranches and as a carpenter until eight years ago, when he went into the real estate business at Visalia, maintaining his residence at Lindsay. Three years later he established his office at Lindsay, where he has done a successful
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business to the present time. He has a beautiful orange grove of twenty-five acres and has given considerable attention to the growth of olives. As a citizen he is public-spirited to an eminent degree, and in a business way and otherwise he has done much for the pro- motion of the best interests of the community. In 1873 he married Miss Mary J. Hunsaker, a native of Indiana, who has borne him two children, one of whom has passed away. Joseph B. Graham, his father, was a native of Ohio; his mother was born in Pennsylvania ; both have passed away. He is the present city recorder of Lindsay, which office he has held since the summer of 1912. When he ac- cepted this office he resigned as a member of the Board of Health of Lindsay. He is also ex-president of the Board of Trade and has ably filled the office of justice of the peace. Fraternally he has affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Lindsay since he came to the town. He became a member of the order in Indiana in 1872 and has passed all the chairs of the subordinate lodge and been a representative in the Grand Lodge. In real estate cireles he is widely known through his efficient management of the Central California Realty Company of Lindsay.
DAVID H. HICKMAN
Born in Missouri, March 6, 1877, the subject of this sketch is a son of Anthony G. and Louisa ( Rose) Hickman, natives respectively of Kentucky and of Missouri. He lived in his native state, acquiring a good common school education, until he was about twenty years old, and then, in 1897, came to Tulare county, Cal., where he has lived during the past fifteen years, making an enviable record as a citizen, as a farmer, and as a man of affairs. The days of his youth were spent on a farm and in his new environment he natur- ally depended on the land as a source of livelihood. On coming to the state he at once apprehended the wonderful opportunities that it presented. In 1901 he bought forty-one and one-half acres, most of which he devoted to hay and alfalfa, reserving a few acres for pasturage. He bought a number of cows and began feeding them for their product. Later he made another purchase of eighty acres. of which he devoted thirty-five acres to hay, thirty to alfalfa and fifteen to pasture. During the last four years he has operated a cheese factory, and he mannfactures thirty-six pounds of cheese per day from the milk of fifteen cows, keeping about this number of cows year to year and selling the increase for veal. His cows produce an average of fifty cents a day the year around for each animal, paying for themselves in about twelve months. Mr. Hickman is the owner
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of two of the finest mammoth jacks to be found in the county, each of which commands from $10 to $15 for service. He gives consider- able attention to mules and during the past two years has sold ten mule teams at from $350 to $450 per team. Keeping seven good brood mares and eleven head of young horses he raises several good mule teams each year. One of the most notable of the animals owned by Mr. Hickman is an Australian shepherd pup which has but three legs, being minus one leg and shoulder in front.
In politics a Republican, Mr. Hickman is also a Prohibitionist. He is a member of the Woodmen of the World and he and members of his family are communicants of the Baptist church. He was mar- ried at Orosi to Eunice Dye, who bore him three children: Marie, Kathleen and Rita May. Marie is a student in the public school at Orosi. Mrs. Hickman died January 6. 1912.
WALTER D. MURRAY
Near Palo, Linn county, Iowa, Walter D. Murray, a son of Alex- ander and Jane (Morris) Murray, natives of Ohio and Massachu- setts, respectively, was born March 8, 1865. When he was twenty years old he went to Beadle county, S. Dak., where he lived five years. In three successive years during that time he did all that was possible for him to do as a farmer. The first year his crops were destroyed by hail; the second they were killed by drought. In the third year he garnered a good crop, with the proceeds of which, minus what he used to pay his debts with, he came to Cali- fornia. Locating in Tulare county, he engaged in the raising of goats, in which he continued six years, at one time owning twelve hundred Angoras, ranging them in the Sierra Nevadas on eight hundred acres he owned. Later he bought thirty acres of land one mile east of Sultana. During the last ten years much of his land has been under alfalfa, which he has been able to cut four times each season withont irrigation. He runs a dairy of eight cows and keeps twenty head of horses and mules and about thirty-five hogs. When he started in the goat business he had one hundred and twenty-five head, for some of which he paid as high as $7.50 each, and the others cost him $3 a head. He sold the mohair at thirty- five cents per pound, the larger animals yielding twelve and the others eight pounds each. Politically Mr. Murray is a Republican, and as a citizen he has demonstrated a fine publie spirit. Frater- nally he affiliates with the Woodmen of the World, Mrs. Murray with the Women of Woodcraft. They were married in South Dakota in 1886, and she has borne him four children, Florence, Lionel, Sam-
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