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 62
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 62
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miles south of Hanford, all in peaches, prunes and vineyard. He has fifty acres in vineyard, forty-five acres in peaches and apricots, has improved his property in every way, and gives attention to general farming. From time to time he has interested himself in noteworthy enterprises and he is now a stockholder in the California State Life Insurance company. Fraternally he affiliates with the Woodmen of the World. In 1891 he married Miss Jennie MeCamish, a native of Henry county, Iowa, and a daughter of the late R. B. McCamish, of Orange county, Cal.
LEO LEONI
One of the successful farmers of Hanford and vicinity is Leo Leoni, who was born in Canton Ticino, Switzerland, in 1865. IIe remained in his native land until 1884, when he came to California and located in what is now Kings county. For five years after his arrival he was employed as a farm hand, then renting land in various parts of the county at different times, engaged in grain farming for him- self. After several successful years he made his first purchase of land, consisting of twenty acres near Grangeville, which he set out to fruit and grapes. As he prospered he kept adding to his holdings from time to time, buying, improving and selling, and in 1906, pur- chased forty-two and one-half acres west of the city limits of Hanford, which is now known as the Pfeil tract. At intervals he sold a greater · part of this acreage, retaining his home place, which he now occupies with his family. Mr. Leoni buys and sells real estate, is a stock- holder in the Farmers' and Merchants' bank of Hanford, has other in- terests of various kinds, and in many ways shows his publie spirit.
In 1906 Mr. Leoni was united in marriage with Lena Onesti, a daughter of A. Onesti, and a native of Tulare county. They are the parents of two children, Milton and Verna.
HON. E. DEWITT
The busy, useful and patriotic citizen of Tulare county whose patriotic interests and unusual executive ability have won him much commendation throughout the county, is E. DeWitt, who was born in Kentucky, February 5, 1844. His family left that state when he was a mere boy, and coming to California in 1859, his father lo- cated with his household at Red Bluff, whence removal was later made to C'olsa county. There young De Witt lived until 1872, when
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he was abont twenty-eight years old, and from that time until in 1877 he was in the dairy business in Nevada. Then, coming to Tulare county, he located on goverment land near Deer creek, where he lived two years. In 1879 he settled on eighty acres just east of Tulare on which he lived until 1893, when he moved into the city and made his home until in 1908, farming meanwhile near that town. In the year last mentioned he moved to his present location, two miles and a half southwest of Tulare, which consists of three hundred and sixty acres of land which he had bought in 1903. He has since sold all but one hundred and twenty acres of this land and now has eighty acres in alfalfa, the balance in grazing land.
Politics from the point of view of the Democrat has commanded Mr. De Witt's attention since he was a young man. He has served many years as a member of the Democratic County Central com- mittee and was elected to represent his district in the state legis- lature at the session of 1885 and the extra session of 1886. Ile is a member of the board of directors of the Tulare Irrigation district, and as such has served ably for eight years, and he superintended the building of the Kaweah canal and in a general way has been influential in the work of canal and ditch construction.
In 1870 Mr. DeWitt married Margaret Ford, of Yolo county, and they have children as follows: Marcus of Porterville: Mrs. Edmondson of Tulare; Mrs. Frank Ellsworth of Tulare; Mrs. Joseph Sherman of Visalia; Mrs. Gertrude Evans of San Francisco, and Il. C. De Witt.
ROBERT P. FINCHER
It was in Kansas, the Sunflower state, that Robert P. Fincher was born June 3, 1857. son of Nelson and Paulina (Moore) Fincher. and there he lived until in 1862, when the family removed to Cali- fornia. As a forty-niner the father had visited that state before, coming overland and returning by way of the Isthmus, and had mined three years in Shasta, Sacramento and Placer counties. Now he brought his family overland, with a train of one hundred and eight wagons. Homesteading one hundred and sixty acres of land in Stanislaus county, seven miles northeast of Modesto, he lived there twenty-five years. He then sold out and went to Fresno, where he passed away April, 1908. He was a native of North Carolina; his wife, who died in 1887, was born in Tennessee. There were born to them six daughters and five sons, all of whom are living. Alice is the wife of Prof. C. P. Evans of San Diego. Mary married G. D. Wootten, of Santa Cruz. Jesse M. lives at Madera and Nancy is
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the wife of John High of that city. James, Letitia, Francis, Elizabeth, Vetal and Matilda live at Fresno.
Robert P. was reared at Modesto, where he remained until 1876, when at the age of nineteen he took up the battle of life for him- self in Modoc county, where he was employed by Captain Barnes for a year as a buyer of cattle and a breaker of horses. After that he came home and in 1879 went to Nevada, where he bought and sold cattle until in 1881, when he came back to Modesto and purchased a ranch near Oakdale, where he farmed five years. Mean- time, in 1882, a dry year, he went to British Columbia and for a time worked on a railroad near Westminster. Later he was employed for a while in a lumber camp near Seattle. Returning to Modesto in 1885 he worked his land until 1888, when he sold it and removed to Fresno, where he farmed until in 1890. Then he came to Tulare, now Kings county, and during the succeeding eighteen months was surveying land and locating settlers, until he took up land for himself near the lake. This he soon sold to William Hammond and went to work for L. Hansen. Then for three years he farmed land which belonged to Mr. Sharples. Next he moved onto the Woodgate place, which adjoins the Sharples ranch, where he lived until he bought ten acres of Mr. Hansen near his present home- stead. He let this land go back and moved to Fresno and man- aged his father's ranch one year. Returning to Kings county he farmed Judge Neiswanger's place ten years. In the meantime he bought one hundred and sixty acres of the Stone ranch, on which he raised cattle three years, developing the land as rapidly as he was able. He sold this property and in 1908 bought his present ranch of eighty acres, eight miles southwest of Hanford. He has eight acres under vines and the remainder of the land is given over to alfalfa and pasturage. He has erected a fine residence, a good barn and other farm buildings and gives much attention to the breeding of cattle and hogs. In 1912 he purchased eighty acres five miles from his home place, which he intends putting in alfalfa.
In 1888 Mr. Fincher married Miss Minnie Hansen, a native of Germany, who had lived at Stockton and Modesto. They have had four children: Nelson, Mabel, Edna and Forrest. Nelson and Mabel died in Fresno. Edna was born in 1889 in Tulare county, and Forrest was born in 1891.
Of the first Sunday school of the Methodist church organized northeast of Modesto, Mr. Fincher was a member. It was or- ganized in his father's house and his parents were influential in bringing it into existence. Ile was a student in the MeHenry district school, the first school organized in Stanislaus county, and has dur- ing all his active life been a friend of education and a man of public
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spirit. Fraternally he affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the encampment and canton, and passed through the chairs of these organizations.
MARTHA J. BUCKBEE
Since Martha J. Bnekbee has made her home with her cousin, Mrs. Catherine Louisa Traut, of Hanford, Kings county, Cal., she has been known and beloved by many citizens of Hanford and vicinity. She was born in Livingston county, N. Y., and was reared there on one of the large farms for which the Genesee valley is famous. Her parents were Edmund and Hannah (Clark) Bnekbee. She has lived at the Trant homestead since October, 1909, when she took up her residence in Kings county. In 1905 Mary E. Buekbee, a sister, came to California, hoping to benefit her health, and found a home with Mrs. Traut, who cared for her with more than sisterly solicitude until her death, which occurred Angust 25, 1910. Before coming west the sisters Martha J. and Mary E. sold the old Buekbee homestead in New York. The former is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and during her residence here has affiliated with the Hanford congregation.
The only brother, Charles Buckbee, enlisted at the beginning of the Civil war in Company E, Eighty-fifth Regiment, New York Vol- unteer Infantry, which regiment contained many recruits from Liv- ingston connty. After three years' service he veteranized by reen- listment. and was soon taken prisoner and confined in Andersonville prison, where he was kept for more than a year, and while being re- moved to another prison died as the result of starvation. During a portion of his service his regimental commander was Col. T. J. Thorpe, who is now at the Soldiers' Home at Sawtelle.
JESSE THOMAS TURNER
The native son of California whose name is above is a son of an overland pioneer of 1849 who is now living in San Joaquin county, and was born near Stockton. September 8, 1850. His edneation was ob- tained in the public schools and at a business college at Stockton. IFe assisted his father, James Turner, in the latter's farming operations, until in December, 1854. The elder Turner had bought the Hyde tract of fourteen hundred acres in 1881 and another tract of nine hun- Irel aeres in 1884. From the beginning of 1885 until 1897. Jesse Thomas Turner farmed an average of abont one thousand acres of
·
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his father's land on shares, the remainder of the large holding being devoted to live-stock, including cattle and hogs, and to summer fallow. In the fall of 1889 he bought four hundred and seven acres east of the Porterville road, and later he bought thirty acres more adjoining his first purchase. In 1897 he improved the place with a residence and other necessary buildings and has since made it his home and his sole field of agricultural enterprise. He has thirty acres of alfalfa and twenty acres of vineyard and usually devotes one hundred and ten acres to grain, though in some seasons he has given a good deal of attention to black-eyed beans. His vineyard produces fine raisin- grapes which he dries, selling an average of twenty tons annually. Though not making much of a specialty of stock, he raises cattle, horses and a few good hogs. During recent years he has rented one hundred and ten acres of his father's land, across the road from his own property, on which he has grown grain.
November 30, 1907, Mr. Turner married Mrs. Ada Ellis, who has a son by a former marriage. As a Mason he affiliates with Olive Branch lodge, F. & A. M., of Tulare, and is included in a Royal Arch chapter.
JAMES R. BEQUETTE
Conspicuous among those ambitious men who are fast coming to the front in Tulare county is that native son of the county, James R. Bequette of Lemon Cove, who was born near Farmersville, in 1861. His education in the public school, which was well begun, was interrupted when he was fourteen years old by the death of his father, a native of Missouri, who was a California pioneer of 1852. The years after that event which otherwise would have been devoted to his books he was obliged to spend in laboring for his living. His first independent ventures were in stock-raising, with which he was long successful. In 1909 he went into the fruit business and has since set out many orange trees, his entire place being now devoted to that fruit.
In 1891 Mr. Bequette married Miss Carrie McKee, a native of Missouri and a daughter of the late John McKee. Mrs. Bequette has borne her husband two daughters, Rita and Velma. The former was educated at the Lemon Cove public school and at the Exeter high school and is now in her seventeenth year. The latter, now in her fourteenth year, is attending school at Lemon Cove. Mr. Bequette's mother was a native of the state of New York. Mrs. Bequette's mother lives at Lemon Cove.
Fraternally Mr. Bequette affiliates with the organization of Artisans at Lemon Cove. While he is interested in political questions from the point of view of the intelligent voter, he is not a practical
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politician and has never aspired to public preferment. He votes at all elections and usually deposits a Democratic ticket. In a public-spirited way he has always been devoted to the general interests of the com- munity.
JACOB V. HUFFAKER
In Morgan county, Ill., Jacob V. Huffaker was born February 23, 1845, the eleventh in a family of thirteen, and passed away at Visalia, June 16, 1909, in his sixty-fifth year. His mother died when he was young and he was early compelled in a measure to look out for himself. He accompanied his father to Texas, where he herded cattle until in the spring of 1861, passing most of his time in the saddle. As a member of Captain White's company of three hundred and sixty-six wagons, he made the overland journey to California by way of the Platte and Snake rivers through Western Washington and Oregon, and arrived in California seven months after leaving his old home, having experienced many hardships on the way. The party was three days and nights crossing the Snake river, which they accom- plished by caulking their wagons, thus transforming them practically into skiffs, which not without considerable difficulty they ferried over the stream. From time to time they met wandering bands of Indians, with whom they had fierce encounters, and Mr. Huffaker, being an experienced sharp-shooter, was able at one time to save the life of a companion named Wells.
At Visalia, Mr. IInffaker began his career in California as a breaker of wild horses and a herder of wild cattle, and in 1871 he rented an old stable at $25 a month and embarked in the livery busi- ness. In 1882 he bought property of S. C. Brown on South Church street for $1600. From time to time he took an interest in important enterprises at Visalia, where he was regarded as a representative citizen of much spirit and where he built up an enviable reputation as an honest, energetic, enterprising man of affairs. Fraternally he affiliated with Four Creek lodge No. 94. 1. O. O. F., and with the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
In 1871 Mr. Huffaker married Miss Palestine Downing, a native of Missouri, and a daughter of Joseph and Lonisa ( Bell) Downing. Her father settled in Sacramento county and later farmed a year near Visalia. Ile died in Squaw Valley, in 1894, aged seventy-five years, his wife passing away in 1909, aged eighty-six years. Follow- ing are the names of their children: Mrs. Jacob V. Huffaker and Mrs. Clementine Weishar. twins; Mrs. Sarah Stout, of Fresno; William; Eli; and James. Mrs. Huffaker bore her husband these children:
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William H .; Frederick E .; Joseph Edward; J. Arthur; Mrs. Elsie L. Dollner, and Harold P. Surrounded by children and friends, highly respected by all who know her, she is passing her declining years in her home at No. 530 North Court street, Visalia.
SAMUEL WHITSON HALL
The ranching and oil interests of Central California engage the attention of many men of ability and enterprise who succeed here not alone because of the fine natural opportunities presented by the country, but because they would succeed anywhere in any field of endeavor to which they might direct their attention. Of this class is Samuel Whitson Hall, who lives two miles west of Hanford, in Kings county. Mr. Hall was born in Tennessee, April 6, 1865, a son of John Ewell and Eliza Jane (Trigg) Hall. John Ewell Hlall was born in Tennessee, May 11, 1831, the son of Wilson and Lucy (Ewell) Hall. He was reared on a farm in Bedford county, in that state, was edu- cated in local public schools and farmed there until May 12, 1861, when he died. In 1854 he married Eliza Jane Trigg, daughter of William H. and Mary Ann (Whitson) Trigg, Tennesseeans by birth. Mrs. Hall is now living with her son, Samuel Whitson Hall, of Kings, county. She bore her husband twelve children, seven of whom are living, all in the vicinity of Hanford. Mary Priscilla is the wife of J. J. Cortner; Lucy Virginia married W. T. Holt; Neppie Jane is deceased ; William Fergus Hall died November 27, 1912; Louis Edgar Hall and John Ewell Hall are next in order; George Arthur Hall and James Leroy Hall are deceased; Annie died in Tennessee ; Finis Trigg Hall and Robert Vance Hall complete the family.
The immediate subject of this sketch, Samuel Whitson Hall, was reared on the old Hall homestead in C'entral Tennessee and came from there direct to Hanford in 1897. He bought land south of Hanford which remained his home until selling out in December, 1912. It consisted of eighty acres, fifty acres of which were devoted to vineyard, twenty-five to fruit trees. After he took possession he improved the place in many ways, setting out twenty acres of vines and eight acres of prunes and peaches. He bought forty acres of alfalfa land, half a mile west of the Hanford fair grounds, which he is farming to hay, but which he intends soon to set out to orchard. On this last property, where he is now residing, he has erected a fine modern home.
Not only farming but oil operations and other interests demand Mr. Hall's attention and abilities. Ile has been for some time identified with the oil industry in the Midway field in Kern county and is a
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stockholder in the Visalia Midway Company, which has three good producing wells on eighty acres of its own land, and also in the Lacey Oil Company, which owns two sections of land in the Devil's Den country. As a publie spirited citizen he is in the forefront of all move- ments for the general good. In local and national politics he takes an interest at once intelligent and patriotic. At his old home in Ten- nessee he was made a Mason and advanced to all degrees below those conferred in the Royal Areh body. He was raised to the Knights Templar degree at Hanford and is a member of Islam Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of San Francisco.
ELERY H. CHURCH
Nine miles south of Hanford, in Kings county, Cal., is the well appointed dairy farm of Elery H. Church, one of the most progressive and successful men in his line in that vicinity. Mr. Church is a Cali- fornian by right of birth, having been born in San Joaquin county August 7, 1875, a son of Caryl Church. When the son was yet quite young the father moved his family to Tulare county, and there Elery grew to manhood and gained an education in the public schools, meanwhile acquiring a pretty thorough training in farming on his father's ranch and under his father's careful instruction. His first venture for himself was on six hundred and forty acres of his father's land, and the following year he farmed eight hundred acres in the lake district. Thus far his success had been but indifferent. His next move was to his present homestead, which then consisted of one hundred acres, half of which he devoted to alfalfa, the remainder to general farming. In 1908 he bought eighty acres of farm land adjoin- ing the original home farm on the west, and here his success has been all that he could have desired. His principal business is dairy- ing, and he owns usually abont forty cows, milking the year round from twenty to twenty-five, and raises each year as many hogs as he can conveniently feed.
In 1905 Miss Gertrude Brock, of Kings county, became Mr. Church's wife and she has borne him two children, Susan and Clif- ford. Not only does Mr. Church take rank with the leading farmers and dairymen in his part of the county, but as a citizen he has shown a patriotic devotion to the general good which has commended him to the good opinion of all who know him. Though he is not especially active in public work he fully performs his duty as a citizen, as a voter and otherwise, and has well defined opinions npon all qnes- tions of public policy and acts consistently with his party upon every question of political economy which is brought before the people.
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EBER H. LA MARSNA
In the last quarter of a century the development of electricity and its application to many of the economies of our everyday life has involved in its scientific or commercial aspects the connection with the electrical business of many young men of exceptional natural abilities and of very exacting special training, and it has been the business in which a young man of the right spirit could begin at the bottom and speedily reach a high place. One of the young men of central California who has demonstrated this in his career is Eber H. La Marsna, agent for the Mt. Whitney Power Company at Tulare, Tulare county.
It was in Kansas that Mr. La Marsna was born December 31, 1875, and in January, 1887, he was brought to California by his father, Jeffery J. La Marsna, a biographical sketch of whom will be found in this work. He was reared in the Woodville district and educated in the public schools there, and in 1903 began his active business life in the employ of the Mt. Whitney Power Company at Porterville, and in the service of that corporation he labored a year and afterward at Visalia three years. During the succeeding three years he was in the feed and fuel business on his own account in Bakersfield, Cal. From Bakersfield he went to Arizona and was engaged in the electrical business a short time in Clifton, but returning to California, he again entered the service of the Mt. Whitney Power Company, this time as agent of its Tulare division, in which capacity he has served efficiently to the present time.
Fraternally Mr. La Marsna affiliates with the Woodmen of the World. He is a citizen of much helpful public spirit and he and Mrs. La Marsna are popular socially. They married in 1905 and have a son, Dardan, six years old. Mrs. La Marsna was Miss Nellie Barnes, of Hanford, Cal.
ALBERT E. GRIBI
The pioneer jeweler of Hanford, Albert E. Gribi, whose well known establishment at No. 113 West Seventh street is familiar to most of the citizens of Kings county, was born in Wells county, Ind., May 28, 1857. Ile attended public schools near his home and was graduated from the high school when he was seventeen years old. The succeeding three years he devoted to an acquisition of the knowledge of the jeweler's trade, and in 1913 he rounded out his fortieth year as a practical active jeweler. He came to California in 1876, and two years later he removed to Merced, whence he came to Hanford in 38
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1852. Since that time he has done business in the city continuously and his store has become one of its landmarks. He is a skillful work- man and the people of the town have such confidence in him and his ability that many valuable watches and pieces of jewelry are left with him for repair. He keeps a varied stock of high quality jewelry and silverware, and people who want only the best are sure to lind satisfaction at his shop. His business has increased with the growth of the city and he is regarded as one of Hanford's substan- tial and dependable citizens.
On March 25, 1888, Mr. Gribi married Miss Mary A. Manning, who was born in Utah, September 9, 1860, and she has borne him eight children, who were all educated in the Hanford schools: Gerald E., Eugene J., Edward A., Otto R., Bertha A., Marjorie, Alberta and Mildred.
Fraternally Mr. Gribi affiliates with the Woodmen of the World. lle is popular with the people at large and there is no movement for the benefit of the community that does not receive his generous encouragement and support.
JOHN W. DAVIDSON
It was in Bates county, Mo., that John W. Davidson, who now lives at No. 116 West Race street, Visalia, was born Angust 22, 1865, and in Cedar county, that state, he acquired a public school educa- tion and practical knowledge of farming as it was then carried on in that region. In 1885, when he was about twenty years old, he came to Vacaville, Solano county, Cal., and was employed as superintendent of the fruit ranch of Frank H. Buck and for a time by R. H. Chinn. Ile came to Exeter, Tulare county, in 1899, and was for a time super- intendent of the Evansdale Fruit Co. Later he was for seven years superintendent of the Encina Fruit Co. until in November. 1907. when he resigned and moved to Visalia. Ile is at this time the owner of an eighty-acre fruit ranch, six miles east of town, on which he raises peaches of several varieties, having forty acres of Phillips eling- stones. In 1910 he gathered from his orchard and marketed $6.000 worth of fruit and in 1911 one hundred and twenty-two prune trees brought him an income of $747. He is now developing twenty acres of Crawford peaches, and so thorough and informing have been his study and experience in this field of endeavor that he is widely recognized as an expert fruit grower. He set the Phillips elingstone trees, and brought them to perfection with his own hands. Besides these he has Muirs and Lovells.
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