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 65
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 65
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sheep daily. In 1909 Mr. Pyle became a member of the firm and its style was changed to Knierr, Allan & Pyle. Mr. Knierr has always attended to the ontside work of the concern, traveling in its interest and buying cattle wherever he could do so to the best advantage. He has bought many in Tulare county in the last twelve years, and in 1909 he established his home in Visalia, at No. 415 South Court street. Ile has large personal interests in the county, owning three thousand acres of cattle-grazing land between Tipton and Angiola and leasing six thousand acres near that tract and five thousand acres near Cross creek. On these large ranges he constantly keeps fifteen hundred to twenty-five hundred head of cattle. At Visalia he is known, as he has long been known in San Francisco, as a man of great publie spirit, who is alive to the best interests of the community. In the world of commerce he is rated as one of the best informed butchers in the country. His success in life has been won fairly and in the open, and those who know him best realize that it is richly deserved.
By his marriage to Miss Marcella Rowan, Mr. Knierr had four children, Byron, Marcella, Alberta and Francisco. Byron is de- ceased. Mrs. Knierr died in 1910 and in 1911 he married her sister, Miss Annie Rowan.
R. L. BERRY
Among these public-spirited citizens of Tulare county who have put forth their efforts toward promoting better conditions, is R. L. Berry, who was born May 6, 1860, in Tuolumne county, Cal., a son of John M. Berry, a native of Missouri. The latter in 1857 came aeross the plains with ox-teams to California, and his widow, a na- tive of Virginia, is surviving him at the advanced age of eighty- seven years.
When R. L. Berry was ten years old he was taken by his par- ents to Tulare county and the family settled on the site of Lindsay when their house was one of two within the present limits of the city. The boy was given some opportunities for schooling but was early called upon to take the place of a hand at herding sheep and made familiar with the details of dry farming as it was prac tired in the district at that time. Most of the land for many miles round about was government land subject to entry. Some years after his arrival there he entered three quarter-sections, but even- tually went to Kern county and abandoned all claim to them. Re- turning later he took up farming and buying and selling land and
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has since handled or operated tracts aggregating a considerable acreage.
In 1879 Mr. Berry married Miss Ella Berry, a native of San Joaquin county. and she has borne him a daughter, Ethel May, who is the wife of F. G. Hamilton, superintendent of the Mount Whit- ney Power company of Visalia, Cal. In his political affiliations Mr. Berry is a Socialist. Fraternally he affiliates with the Wood- men of the World and the Women of Woodcraft of Lindsay, Mrs. Berry being also a member of the order last mentioned. He is a friend of public education and an ardent promoter of good roads. In fact, no demand made upon him on behalf of the community fails to receive his ready and helpful response.
JOEL KNEELAND
A native of New England, Joel Kneeland was born in Vermont in 1830. In 1860 he removed with his family to Shawnee county, Kans. In 1870 the family went to the western part of the same county and carried on farming there until 1874, when the father died. Subsequently the son came with his mother to Red Bluff, C'al., where they farmed four years, and from there they removed to Mr. Kneeland's present ranch, where he has since prospered. The woman who became Mr. Kneeland's wife was Agnes Wilson, of Scotch descent, who came to California abont twenty years ago. They have five children: Engene S .. Francis F., Joel M., Mary +)., and Willis W .. of whom the three eldest are attending school.
Politically the father of Mr. Kneeland was a Republican, and he himself is a Socialist. His mother died at the age of sixty years, and her mother lived to the advanced age of eighty-seven. Mr. Kneeland is a member of the Farmers' Union and affiliates with the Modern Woodmen. As a farmer he ranks with the best in his neighborhood. Of his thirty-acre farm he has three acres under alfalfa, most of the remainder being pasture land. He keeps fifteen to eighteen head of stock, and from twelve to twenty hogs.
S. GAVOTTO
The name of Gavotto indicates the Italian origin, and it was in Italy that S. Gavotto was born March 18, 1865. There he grew to manhood, was educated in the schools and learned lessons of industry and economy. In 1884, when he was abont nineteen years
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old, he left his native land and in 1886 located in Sacramento, Cal., where he was employed until 1889, then coming for the first time to Tulare. He almost immediately went north, however, but in 1890 came back and paid $800 for an interest in a small ranch which proved such a failure that he lost his entire investment. He then bought a lease of the D. A. Fox ranch with some stock that was on the place of a Mr. Pike, who had been operating the property. Establishing a dairy, he sold milk in Tulare until 1898, when he disposed of his entire dairy and farming interests. For four years thereafter he worked for wages, saving his money and planning for the future, and then embarked in the cattle business in a small way. After the bonds were burned in 1893, he bought seventy acres just outside the city limits of Tulare and established another dairy, and he now has ten cows and keeps an average of about seven hogs. Twenty acres of his land is under alfalfa and he farms a few acres to corn and a few other acres to grain, producing only enough feed for his stock.
In 1895 Mr. Gavotto united his fortunes with those of Margaret Monteverde, by marriage. This lady, who is a native of Italy, has two sons by a former marriage and their Christian names are An- drew and Frank. She has borne her present husband children named Lucca. Carlo, Henry and William. Mr. Gavotto is a man of much public spirit and of a genial and social disposition. Fra- ternally he associates with the Tulare organization of the Woodmen of the World.
JOHN KLINDERA
The popular citizen mentioned above, the second of the name to be known and honored in Tulare county, was born in Visalia in 1873, and is a son of John Klindera, Sr., and his wife, Annie. llis father was born in Bohemia in 1843, made his way eventually to Chicago, and from there came by way of New York around the Ilorn to California in 1865. He remained in San Francisco until in 1867, and then took up his residence in Visalia, where he be- came an accountant in the mercantile establishment of R. E. Hyde & Co. Later he went into sheep raising, three miles west of Tulare, where, in 1878, he was killed by a falling tree. He left four children, viz. : Robert is a railroad man and lives at Mon- talvo, C'al .; G. W. lives in Fresno; Lillie is the wife of Ed Triban, and John, Jr. The mother of these children still survives.
. John Klindera, Jr., lived three miles west of Tulare until he was six years old, then moved to Tipton, where he was reared and
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edneated. With his brothers, he went into the sheep business with sheep which they brought from the home place, and soon bought one hundred and sixty acres of land, their mother three hundred and twenty acres and one of the brothers two hundred and forty acres. They erected brick buildings on this property, improved it otherwise, and eventually sold it. Meanwhile, in 1884, they disposed of their sheep and after that they raised grain on their land until 1905. Then John engaged in dairying and stock-raising on four hundred and eighty acres of the Crowley ranch, near Tipton, on which he also grew grain. In 1909 he rented six hundred and forty acres of the Dresser ranch, of which sixty acres is in alfalfa. He milks thirty cows and raises horses, cattle and hogs, considerable of his acreage being devoted to pasture.
In 1898 Mr. Klindera married Miss Ethel Thomas and they have a son, Martie Klindera, named in honor of his grandfather, Martie Thomas, who was a pioneer in Tulare county and in California. Mr. Klindera owns and rents out a dairy ranch of forty acres on the IJanford road, a mile and a half west of Tulare. He is a stock- holder in the Tipton Co-operative Creamery company and the cream from his place is marketed with that concern. He affiliates with the Tipton organization of the Woodmen of the World and as a citizen is public-spiritedly helpful to all important interests of the com- munity.
GEORGE D. RAMSEY
Among the representative farmers in the vicinity of Hanford is George D. Ramsey, who was born in Knox county, Mo., October 28, 1866, a son of John Wilson and Eliza A. (McVey) Ramsey. The elder Ramsey was born April 3, 1843, in Adams county, Ill., remaining there until moving to Knox county, Mo. Here he lived until he brought his family to California in 1871. Arriving in this state he settled near Danville, Contra Costa county, one year later he went to the Panoche valley in Fresno county, and three years later came to what is now Kings county, settling on the Hanford' and Tulare road. He was a member of the Settlers' league during the Mussel slough troubles. He worked on the Lakeside ditch and helped build and was superintendent of the Mussel slongh ditech. also working on the construction of the Wutehumna ditch. Later he settled down to farming and was one of the first men to put in a crop on Tulare lake, from which he reaped a good harvest. Hle had to do with every progressive movement in the county, was a Mason before leaving for the west. and also held membership in
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the A.O.U.W. for many years. While a resident of Fresno county he served as deputy sheriff and during his life was for many years a school trustee. From 1906 he made his home with his son, George D., his death occurring January 24, 1912, aged nearly sixty-nine years. His wife passed away on December 14, 1894, aged forty- eight. Their three children survive, John Theodore, George D., and Mrs. Effie P. Mcclellan.
George D. Ramsey was brought to California by his parents when he was about five years of age, and in October, 1875, was brought to Kings, then Tulare, county. He attended school until he was about sixteen years old, meanwhile working with his father on the ranch, and eventually he took up farming for himself; and he later drifted into the dairy business, in which he is now making a substantial success. Kings county remained his home until 1901. when he moved to Elk Grove, Sacramento county, and during the ensuing five years made a success of his venture there. Returning to Kings county at the end of that time he bought eighty acres of land from his father and engaged in raising hogs and horses and cultivating fruit. He is constantly developing his place along those different lines and in each of them has come to the front. What success he has made has been by his own efforts.
On November 20, 1898, Mr. Ramsey was united in marriage with Mrs. Margaret P. (Jones) Lewis, and of this union four chil- dren have been born: Velma I., George E., John H., and Delbert E. Wherever he has lived Mr. Ramsey has exercised a generous publie spirit which has won him recognition as a helpful citizen, for he has been solicitious for the general welfare and devoted to the best interests of his fellow townsmen of all classes.
JEFFERY J. LAMARSNA
The life of Jeffery J. LaMarsna embraced the period from 1846, when he was born in Canada, to January 24, 1907, when he died at his home in Tulare, Tulare county, Cal. As a habe of six weeks he was brought from his birth-place to Michigan, whence his parents later removed to Illinois, and there he grew up and ac- quired some little education in public schools. In 1862, when he was only about sixteen years old, he enlisted in the One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Illinois Volunteer Infantry and did soldier's duty in the Civil war until he lost a leg in the battle of Kenesaw Mountain. When he was able to leave the hospital he returned to his home, crippled for life, when but in his eighteenth year.
In 1872, when he was about twenty-six years old, Mr. La-
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Marsua married Miss Maria Clough, a native of New Hampshire, and they soon afterward moved to Pottawatomie county, Kas., where. in association with his father and brother, he raised cattle and sheep sixteen years. Then his services as a soldier and the bodily sacrifice he had made for his country were recognized by his appointment to a position in the pension office at Washington, D. C. After he had labored there four years, he was transferred to Ohio, where for three years he was in the field work of the department. In 1887 Mr. LaMarsna came to California and located on a farm at Woodville, where he raised crops and stock until 1903. Then he moved to Tulare, where he made his home until he passed away. His ranch of eighty acres was sold when he gave up farm- ing. As a citizen he was always patriotic and public spirited. Members of the Grand Army of the Republic were proud to hail him as a comrade and he affiliated also with the Royal Society of Good Fellows.
The children of Jeffery J. and Marie (Clough) LaMarsna, four in number, are named as follows: John Walter, who is a rancher at Woodville; Eber Il., who is represented in these pages by a separate sketch; G. C., who is an electrician, and Ella, who is well known in Tulare.
BENJAMIN E. MCCLURE
AA member of an old-established family in central California, Benjamin E. Mcclure is the grandson of Thomas MeClure, who was a very early settler in Woodland, where he built the first black- smith shop and followed that trade. James M. MeClure, father of Benjamin, was a native of Missouri, as was also his wife, Sarah ( Ely) MeClure. In the early '50s James M. came overland to this state and in 1857 his mother came by way of Cape Horn. Mr. Me- ('Ire identified himself with the best interests of Yolo county in his time and spent most of his life there, winning a success that placed him among the enterprising men of that section.
Benjamin E. Me(Inre was born at Buckeye, near Winters, Yolo county, in 1866. In the public schools near his father's home he was a student in his childhood and boyhood. He began his active career in Yolo county and won distinction there as a successful farmer, operating land in farms of a single congressional section to immense tracts which included five thousand or more acres. He remained there till 1902, when he sold out his Yolo county interests and came to Visalia. Seeing the value of real estate investment there he bought eighteen acres in the southern part of the city,
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which he developed into one of the finest homes in its vicinity, and thirty-five acres south of his home, which he ent up into one- acre lots, on twenty-one of which honses have been erected and families are living. - On his homestead he has a fonr-acre alfalfa field, from which he ent forty tons of hay in 1910 with only one irrigation. For some years, until 1912, he leased the Coombs ranch of two lindred and forty aeres and farmed it with good results. He cleared up the land and raised five crops. In 1911 he planted fifty acres to Egyptian corn and later sowed the same land to barley, which yielded twenty sacks to the acre. In 1910 he sowed eighty acres to barley with like results. With such an experience to refer to, he is naturally enthusiastic in praise of Tulare connty as a place of residence and a promising field for the endeavors of the scientific farmer. He owns two eight-mule teams, one of which is employed in grading alfalfa land in the county, the other on street work at Dinnba. Socially Mr. MeClure affiliates with the Woodmen of the World.
In 1896 Mr. MeClure married Miss Ida B. Dearing, born in California. Mrs. Me( 'Inre was born in California, the third of a family of eight children of John W. and Martha E. (Morris) Dearing, the former of whom was born in Missouri, was a pioneer of this state and died in 1884. Mrs. Dearing survives and makes her home with the MeChnres, enjoying splendid health. Both Mr. and Mrs. Dearing were California pioneers, the former crossing the plains with his father in 1849, driving ox-teams, and upon ar- rival he engaged in gold mining near Hangtown. The mother came overland by way of Texas when a little girl about six years of age. and her father "Uncle" Dickie Morris was one of the founders of Woodland and at one time owned eighty acres where the county hospital of Yolo county is now situated. Mr. and Mrs. Dearing were married in Lake county.
The beautiful residence of the MeC'Inres was built in 1903 on the homestead and is a model of architectural elegance. Here Mr. and Mrs. Mc('Inre dispense a broad and liberal hospitality.
HARRISON F. PEACOCK
Well known throughout central California as a fruit grower, Harrison F. Peacock of Hanford, Kings county, was born in Oneida county, N. Y., May 5, 1836. There he remained until he was twelve years of age and then began his education in the public schools near the home of his childhood. Then he was taken to Wayne county. in the same state, where from his sixteenth year to December.
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1863, he was engaged as a farm hand, and thus he had begun his career as a self made man, and it was to be continued as a soldier. In the year last mentioned he enlisted in Company B, Ninth New York Heavy Artillery, for service in the Civil war. He participated in quite a number of important engagements and in many that were less noteworthy, was promoted to be a sergeant and received honorable discharge at the end of his term of enlistment, in 1865 at the close of the war, and was discharged from the Second Heavy AArtillery.
In 1868 Mr. Peacock came to California and settled in Napa ronty, where he found employment at mason work in which he had had enough experience to gain a practical knowledge of the trade. Ile stuck to such employment for years, until his health failed, then turned to farming and teaming. Eventually he took up railroad land in Tulare, now King's county, which he still owns and on which he has made his home since 1875. While his rareer here has not been withont its reverses, his prosperity has been in a general way progressive and his success compares favor- ably with that of any farmer of the better class in his vicinity. During recent years he has given much attention to fruit grow- ing, which he has made a source of considerable profit. He has taken an intelligent interest in irrigation and was one of the build- ors of the Lakeside ditch.
As a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Mr. Pea- cock keeps in touch with comrades of the Civil war period. He married, Jannary 25, 1872, Miss Rebecca J. Bonham, a native of Illinois, and they had three children: Mary, deceased; Grace and George; of these George is in the dairy business in Kings comty. As a citizen Mr. Peacock is public-spirited to a degree that makes him helpful to the community.
BRIGHT EARL BARNETT
Born in Kings county, Cal., October 15, 1886, Bright Earl Barnett attended public schools near his boyhood home until he was sixteen years old. After that he was employed by his father on the latter's ranch until he attained his majority, when he took up the battle of life for himself and met with much success. He is managing. at this time, three hundred and twenty acres of well improved land, which he devotes to the purposes of stock-raising and dairying. He has a vineyard of fifteen acres, keeps forty milch rows and raises many hogs. One hundred and fifty acres of his
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land is used for pasturage and for the production of alfalfa. of which he harvests from four to six crops annually.
Fraternally Mr. Barnett affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He takes intelligent interest in public affairs from the point of view of his party and is ready at all times to respond with prompt generosity to any call on behalf of the com- minity at large, and there is no proposition which in his judgment promises to benefit his community that does not have his cordial encouragement and support. On December 23, 1907, he married Miss Vera Russell, a native of Pike county, Illinois, born Novem- ber 27, 1884, and she bore him a son, Glenn Ray Barnett, who was born May 8, 1911.
CUTHBERT BURREL
In Wayne county, in central New York, Cuthbert Burrel was born November 28, 1824. a son of George and Mary ( Robinson) Burrel, natives of England, his grandfather, for whom he was named, being an English squire. Of his parents' nine children, ('nthbert was the fourth in order of nativity. In 1834, when he was ten years old, his people moved to Plainfield, Will county, III., where he attended school and grew to man's estate. lle crossed the prairies and mountains to California in 1846, driving an ox- team, and consuming almost six months' time in making the jour- ney. Stephen A. Cooper was the leader of the party which with its belongings constituted the train.
For about six months Mr. Burrel was in army service under Fremont, and after his discharge he went to Sutter's Fort, and there he found the wagon in which he had made his overland jour- ney. Procuring it, he traveled in it to Yount's ranch, in Napa county, taking with him one of the children of the historic Donner party. Later he went to Sonora, where he was employed during the summer of 1847 hy Salvator Vallejo, and for his work received $100 cash, one hundred firkins of wheat and two hundred heifers. In 1848, working in a hay field in Suisun valley one day, he was approached by John Patton, who showed $500 worth of gold that he had brought down from the mountains, assuring Mr. Burrel and the latter's companions that there was plenty more where that had come from. The haymakers at once determined to work no longer in the field, sold their interests in the hay and set out for the mines. Mr. Burrel mined three years, but soon after leaving the mines, he bought land in Green valley, Solano county, where he farmed and raised stock until 1860. Then he sold his ranch for
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thirteen hundred and eleven head of cattle, which he drove to the Elkhorn ranch in Fresno county, where he raised stock until his death, acquiring there a ranch of twenty thousand acres. He was in the east during the period 1871-1874. Coming back to California in the latter year, he bought a thousand acres of land in Tulare county, five miles northwest of Visalia, and later he bought an addi- tional thousand acres.
In 1873 Mr. Burrel married Mrs. Adaliza H. Adams, who has borne him four children, three of whom are living: Varina J., May and Luella ( Mrs. Richard E. Hyde, Jr.). Mr. Burrel was a member of the Society of California Pioneers and was widely known throughout the San Joaquin valley. Ile found time from his farming and stock-raising to interest himself in business and com- mercial matters, as is evidenced by the fact that he was a director of the First National Bank of San Jose, and assisted in the found- ing of the Bank of Visalia. Ilis landed interests became extensive and he was one of the leading men in his vicinity. Ile died Ang- nst 7, 1893, deeply regretted by a wide circle of acquaintances.
WALTER FRY
The family of Fry is an old one in America and in different generations representatives of it have attained prominence. An offshoot of one branch of it located rather early in Iroquois county, Ill .. and there Walter Fry was born in 1859. His father, a native of Ohio, died in 1897; his mother, who was of Illinois birth, passed away when he was ten years old. When he was nine years old the boy was taken from the Prairie state to Kansas, and he lived there and in Oklahoma, by turns a cowboy, a miner, a rancher and deputy United States marshal, till he came to Tulare in 1887. Then he was given employment with the railroad company and was made a peace officer, in which capacity he served until 1895. During the snerceding two years he lived elsewhere, and in 1899 he moved on his present homestead, comprising fifty-five acres, near Three Rivers. Ile has for some time been in charge of General Grant park and Sequoia park, with official standing as a ranger, and acting superintendent, which latter position he holds at the present time. With a record of eleven years' service under the United States government, he has for eight years filled his present position, for which he was selected by the Secretary of the In- terior because of his special fitness and experience. As rancher, cowboy and ranger he has spent most of his years ont doors.
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and his life has been the full, free, broad life of the western plains. forests and mountains.
In 1879 Mr. Fry married Miss Sarah A. Higgins, a native of Illinois, whose father, John T. Higgins, died in Illinois in 1880 and whose mother is living in Tulare. Mr. and Mrs. Fry have four children, two of whom are citizens of this county. Frater- nally, Mr. Fry affiliates with the Exeter lodge of Independent Order of Odd Fellows and with the local division of the auxiliary order of Rebekahs, in which Mrs. Fry also holds membership. As a citizen Mr. Fry is public-spirited to a notable degree, ready at all times to assist to the extent of his ability any movement which, in his good judgment. is promising of benefit to the community.
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