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 67
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 67
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In the affairs of his community Mr. Bassett is patriotically inter- ested and he is now filling the office of deputy sheriff by appointment of L. D. Farmer and is serving in his second term as trustee in the Armona school district. Fraternally he affiliates with the Hanford organization of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
In May, 1903, Mr. Bassett married Miss Chloe Pursell, of Han- ford, Cal., who has borne him three daughters, who are here named in the order of their nativity: Mildred Irene. Wilma Helen and Marjorie Ethel.
MANUEL R. HOMEN
Conspicuous among Ilanford's men of affairs, and locally prom- inent as a Republican, Manuel R. Homen is fraternally popular through his identification with the U. P. E. C. and I. D. E. S. He is a native of the Azores islands, born December 6, 1855, and lived at Pico until 1875, when on becoming of age, he came to the United States and stopped in Boston until October of that year. From Boston he crossed the continent to San Francisco, and locating at Los Banos, Merced county, he worked there five years. He then went to Merced and built a hotel which he managed a year and then disposed of it. He had been to Hanford with sheep in 1881 and had become so favorably impressed with its possibilities that in 1886 he returned, intending to make his home here. His first year in the town he spent as a hotel keeper, meanwhile making a start in the sheep business, in which he has been actively interested to the present time. He was in the retail liquor business three and a half years. After he had established himself here he built his old home on Front street, where he lived twelve years, then moved to a second home in the town, at No. 924 N. Redington street, where he remained eight years. He has since sold both houses, and in May, 1910, he bought eighty acres of the Ira Rollins ranch, adjoining the south border of
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the city, on which is one of the largest houses in King's county, which serves as his residence. During all this time sheep raising has been his principal interest, but latterly he has given considerable attention to fruit. At one time he owned five thousand sheep which he says he fed at points all over the state. The west side is now the feeding ground for his flocks. Thirty-five acres of his homestead is in vines and thirty acres is in alfalfa.
Other interests than those mentioned have to some extent com- manded Mr. Homen's attention. He is a stockholder and director in the Hanford Mercantile Company and has invested quite exten- sively in oil stocks. The economic affairs of the city and county are matters of solicitnde to him and he responds generously to all demands upon his public spirit. At Oakland, Cal., in December, 1890, he married Rita Silva, who like himself was born in the Azores and had been reared to maturity at Pico. She has borne him six children: Mannel R., Jr., Alice, Adelaide, Arthur, Elvina and William, all members of their parents' household.
W. W. BLOYD
In Illinois, October 5, 1860, was born W. W. Bloyd, a son of Washington Bloyd. He was only a baby when his father brought him to California and he lived near Goose Lake until he was eight years old. and then his family moved to Marysville, Yuba county. In 1873. when the boy was thirteen years old, they came to what is now King's county and located near Hanford, the father taking up a homestead and settling on a hundred and sixty acres of railroad land, to all of which property he subsequently obtained clear title. Making a home farm of it he lived there until his death, which occurred in July, 1910. His eight children and his widow all survive him and they all live in Hanford.
It was near Hanford that W. W. Bloyd began farming, and he was successful there until 1886, then going to Fresno county, where he farmed until 1902, when he bought ten acres near Hanford. He also bought twenty acres adjoining the first purchase and diminished the latter by selling eight acres of it. He improved the place by the erection of a bonse and good barns, and as rapidly as possible put it under cultivation. He has four acres of vines, three and one-half acres of apricots and three and one-half acres of peaches, and gives attention to the breeding of horses. In June, 1904, he was made -perintendent of the ditch systems of the Chamberlain-Carr Com- pany. the Guernsey Canal and Lakeside System and the Branch Canal
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Union Water and Ditch Company. He is a director and the secretary of the Settlers' Ditch Company.
In 1882 he married Mary A. Bostwick, and they have three chil- dren : Charles Edward, of Fullerton; Chester A., who lives near Han- ford; and Ethel, who is a member of her parents' household. Mr. Bloyd affiliates with the Woodmen of the World and is a citizen of unquestionable public spirit.
MARK BASSETT
A native of England, Mark Bassett, who has achieved more than state-wide reputation as a breeder of horses, cattle, hogs and poultry and whose ranch three miles north of Hanford is one of the show- places of that part of Kings county, was born August 1, 1848. le remained there until 1880, becoming a farmer, then came to Canada and located in Ontario, where he farmed eleven years, until he made his way across the continent to California. He came to Kings county in 1895 from Fresno county and bought one hundred and sixty acres of land two miles north of Hanford, one hundred and sixty acres four miles north, and eighty acres at Armona. His one hundred and sixty-acre homestead has one hundred acres in orchard and vineyard; the other one hundred and sixty acres is in alfalfa except forty acres which is given to fruit; and his eighty acres at Armona is devoted to the cultivation of fruits and grapes. He has a total of eighty aeres in vineyard and one hundred and twenty acres in apricots and peaches. Soon after he came to the county he began raising thor- ongh-bred Poland-China hogs. He imported his original stock and now has forty registered sows. During the past six years he exhib- ited hogs at varions state fairs and it is of record that he took first prize at the Seattle Exposition in 1909. His hogs and chickens have taken hundreds of first prizes at fairs and exhibitions in Oregon, Washington and California, and are known for their excellence thronghont the entire coast country. He also makes a specialty of Percheron horses and is the owner of a thoroughbred stallion and owns a share in another. His chickens are barred Plymouth Rocks and black Minoreas. His land is all well improved and his home is one of the most attractive in this vicinity.
From time to time Mr. Bassett has very publie spiritedly inter- ested himself in numerous enterprises. He is a stockholder in the Lneerne Creamery, in the Armona Fruit and Raisin Packing Co. and in the Farmers and Merchants' Bank of Hanford, and is a member of the Kings County Chamber of Commerce.
In October, 1872, Mr. Bassett married Miss Helena Lander, a
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member of old English families, who has borne him twelve children, ten of whom are living: Helen, wife of J. Malott; Mabel, who married Frank Pursell; William George; Mark, Jr .; John; Bertha, wife of John Day: Edith, who married Louis Nieson; Ernest; Guy, and Archie.
MELVIN A. HILL
A native of Indiana, born in La Grange county on March 14, 1844, Melvin A. Hill is a son of the late William Remington and Sarah (Gregg) Hill, natives of Monroe county, N. Y., and South Carolina respectively. The former was born in 1815, went to Indiana at an early day and grew up with the pioneer life of that period. IIe married in that state about 1841, and remained there until September 10, 1859, when with his wife and seven children he started across the plains with ox-teams and prairie schooners. Arriving in this state he settled down to the life of a rancher, following this until his death here, with the exception of a short time spent in Oregon, where he went to join his son Melvin A.
Melvin A. Hill attended school until he was fifteen and remained in California with his parents until 1864, when he went to Oregon. Soon after he returned to this state, and in 1874 we find him in Tulare county after having lived and labored for a time in Ventura county. Farming has been his ocenpation ever since reaching man- hood. When he came to this part of the state King's county had not been set apart from the mother county of Tulare and all trading was done in Visalia for many years. He bought one hundred and sixty acres of land on the Ilanford-Tulare road, began its improve- ment and assisted to build the Lakeside ditch to supply the water for irrigation. All the improvements seen on his ranch have been placed there by himself and he has carried on general farming and stock raising with increasing success all these years. There is probably no man better informed than is Mr. Hill on the successful production and sale of crops and stock, and it would be impossible for any one to give himself more devotedly to his business or to have brought an enterprise to a higher plane of success.
In Santa Barbara, Cal., on September 1, 1872, occurred the mar- riage of Melvin AA. Ilill with Cynthia Renk, a native of Adams county. Ill., and two children were born to them, Henry, who is farm- ing on eighty acres given him by his father, and Cora, who died in infancy. Mrs. Hill passed away in September, 1909, and on Septem- ber 15, 1912, Mr. Hill was united in marriage with Mrs. Mary Ball. Mr. Ilill has not taken an active interest in politics other than
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to cast his vote for the men and measures that he considers for the greatest good to the greatest number. He is interested in the cause of education and served as trustee of the Frazer district for two years. He is patriotically interested in economic questions local and national, advocated the organization of Kings county, and assists all worthy enterprises for the advancement of the interests of the people and county. His success has been of his own making and he is looked upon as one of the substantial pioneers of the county, and has a wide acquaintance in this section of the state.
GEORGE W. HOUSTON
A breeder of cattle, horses and hogs in the district of Kings county, Cal., southwest of Hanford, who has won prominence by his excellent stock and good business ability is G. W. Houston. Born near Bloomington, Monroe county, Ind., August 11, 1853, Mr. Houston passed his early life there, learning farming and studying in the public schools. He was married in 1877 and some time later went to Kansas, where he lived about three years, and in 1889 he came to California, locating in what is now Kings county. His first year here was spent in operating the George Camp ranch near Armona, and the following year he was on the Ernest Rollins ranch. His next venture was to lease two hundred and forty acres for five years, on which property he put in ten acres of vineyard and twelve acres of orchard. His first purchase of land was in 1904, when he bought eighty acres which he has developed into a fine ranch. When it came into his possession part of it was devoted to vineyard and some of the rest of it to orchard. He has put out eleven acres of it to vines and taken up the old orchard and has forty acres under alfalfa. All the improvements on the place are due to the enterprise of Mr. Houston, who has used the best judgment in the selection of trees and vines. Cattle, horses and hogs are among his chief products. They are of the best breed and bring the best prices in the market.
On December 26, 1877, Mr. Houston married Miss Minerva A. Morris, a native of Indiana, and a daughter of Hiram and Rebecca Morris, and it was in the Hoosier state that their wedding was cele- brated. Mrs. Honston has borne her husband four sons and two daughters, Ernest W. and Everett R., born in Indiana; Grace S. in Kansas; and Oscar C., Howard G. and Blanche in California.
Everett R. and Ernest W. are in the real estate business at Han- ford. Grace S. is the wife of Clande C. Overstreet and lives in Lemoore. Oscar (. is a member of his parents' household. Howard G. is in the Coalinga oil field and Blanche is a student in the high
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school at Lemoore. While Mr. Houston is a lover of home and confines himself very closely to his own private business, he is intelligently interested in public questions and is glad, whenever possible, to do his ntmost for the good of his community.
U. G. HASTINGS
Two and a half miles northeast of Lindsay, Tulare county, ('al .. is located the productive ranch of U. G. Hastings, a farmer and orange grower, who is well known throughout the community as a progressive, enterprising business man. Mr. Hastings was born in Contra Costa county in 1868 and was only four years old when his parents moved to Tulare county and settled near Woodville. Lyman H. Hastings, his father, a native of Ohio, came to California in 1850 and died in 1874. His mother, a daughter of Missouri, is still living.
After he was old enough to go to school, Mr. Hastings devoted his years until he was sixteen to his educational advancement in preparation for the life of endeavor which was before him. In his seventeenth year, he became self-supporting and was variously employed until 1892. when he began farming for himself. In 1896 he bought one hundred and sixty acres of land at $6 an aere and devoted his energies with considerable snecess to the enltivation of wheat and barley. In 1900 he made a purchase of eighty acres and in 1909 one of twenty acres more. He is now giving his attention almost exclusively to oranges and grain. His ranch is well improved and outfitted with every essential to its successful cultivation.
In 1904 Mr. Hastings married Miss Agnes Limegrover, of this county, who has borne him a daughter, Norma A. Mrs. Hastings' father has passed away, but her mother survives. It cannot be said that Mr. Hastings has been a lifelong resident of California. It is true that he was born here and lives here now, but in 1898 he entered upon a four years' gold quest in Alaska, in which he was successful. During this time however Mr. Hastings returned to California in 1902 and the next year made a second trip to Alaska, locating a claim in the Fairbanks camp, but he returned to California in the same year and was married in San Francisco in 1904. He then went back to his mining claim in Alaska, taking his bride with him, and they remained there until 1911, he meeting with marked success in his mining ventures. Their little girl, Norma A., was the first white child born on Clear Creek in the Tanana district, Alaska. Fraternally he affiliates with the Woodmen of the World. Having no active par- ticipation in political work he is, however, intelligently interested in every question affecting the welfare of the people and does his full duty as a voter and a publie-spirited citizen.
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JUDSON ANDREW DIBBLE
The progressive and thoroughly up-to-date farmer and stockman who has won an enviable reputation among his fellow citizens, is Judson Andrew Dibble, a native son of this state, having been born at Santa Cruz, Cal., October 12, 1869. He was four years old when his parents moved from Santa Cruz to Tulare county and settled in the Lakeside district. There he attended school until he was sixteen years old, and after the completion of his studies he was busy until he was twenty-one years old in assisting his father in the latter's agricultural operations. The time had now come when he was to assume responsibilities for himself, and he went into stock-raising and farming and achieved success almost from the outset. In 1895 he acquired one hundred and sixty acres of good land which he has developed into a fine homestead, fitted up with suitable buildings of all kinds, including a comfortable residence, the farm being well stocked and provided with modern machinery and appliances such as are demanded in scientific farming in California.
Politically Mr. Dibble is a Republican, proud of the history of his party and devoted to the measures by which it plans to promote the best interests of our citizens of all classes. He faithfully performs his duties as a citizen and so far is he from having been an office seeker that he has declined such public preferment as he has been urged to accept. His interests in education impelled him, however, to assume the duties of trustee of the Lakeside schools, and in that capacity he was efficient in raising the educational standard in his neighborhood.
May 24, 1893, Mr. Dibble married Miss Lulu Skaggs, who was born in Tulare county, April 5, 1875. They have three children, Ella A., Alta E. and Nora L.
FRANK POE
From the position of an humble employe in the Farmers' Union Warehouse at Tulare, Frank Poe, through diligence and painstaking effort, rose after five years' service to his present place as manager. He is a native of Minnesota and was born August 5, 1868. a son of Hiram B. and Eliza Poe. Reared and educated in Minnesota he came to California with his parents when he was eighteen years old. After having devoted his energies to farming for many years, the elder Poe in 1907 sold out his ranch interests and moved to Tulare. where he died in July. 1911, his wife having passed away two years earlier.
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From the time of his arrival in Tulare county until the begin- ning of his connection with the warehouse Frank Poe was variously employed, and after five years' faithful service he was made man- ager, this being seven years ago, and since has ably filled the position. The Farmers' Union Warehouse Company has a history of success dating from 1885, when it was organized at Tulare by outside capital.
By his marriage with Miss Phoebe Garrison Mr. Poe united his life with that of a good woman who has proven herself a most worthy helpmeet. Fraternally he affiliates with the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Independent Order of Red Men and the Woodmen of the World, all of which orders have representative bodies in Tulare. As manager of the Farmers' Union Warehouse, Mr. Poe is in close tonch with the business community of Tulare and its tributary territory, and as a business man and citizen he has demonstrated a publie spirit which has made him helpful to all local interests.
CHARLES FISHER
Philadelphia, Pa., was the scene of the birth of Charles Fisher, now of Tulare county, C'al., April 15, 1853. When he was three years old his family moved to Missouri, and there were passed the years of his boyhood and young manhood. It was not till 1886, when he was thirty-three years old, that he turned his back on Missouri with an intention of making a home elsewhere. Then he came to Cali- fornia, and locating near Cottonwood creek, Tulare county, farmed there for a year. Next we find him on the Robert March ranch, where he remained two years. The succeeding nine years he spent on the John A. Patterson ranch. On his present home place, south- west of Visalia, he has lived fourteen years. He rents the ranch, which consists of two hundred aeres. Thirty-five acres he devotes to alfalfa, fifteen aeres to prunes and peaches and seven acres to raisin grapes. lle has also a fine dairy of seven cows. lle has sold as much as $1900 worth of fruit off the ranch in a single season. He has made a study of fruit-growing, to which he has given twenty years, and has not hesitated to experiment; some of his experi- ments have turned ont well. At this time he has six acres planted to Egyptian corn. In the early days of his residence in California, he hanled grain from Lindsay. Then that part of the county was a wheatfield and land could be bought at $5 an acre which now com- mands a high price.
In 1879 Mr. Fisher married Jane Kirkman, a native of Missouri, and they have six children: Agnes, Jacob C., James F., Anna May, Deva E. and Harley M. While he takes an intelligent interest in all
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matters of public moment, Mr. Fisher has little liking for the activ- ities which are popularly known as practical politics. He is, essen- tially, a business man and by choice devotes his abilities to farming and fruit-growing. In many ways he has demonstrated a public spirit which has been helpful to the community.
J. A. HANNAH
While the American people present to view about the most het- erogeneous conglomeration of humanity ever known in history, it is true that the population has long been made up mainly of descendants of emigrants from the British Isles. Canada is a distributing station for much British immigration to the United States, and in our industries, from the railroad builder to the bank president, the men from Canada have shown excellent qualities and their offspring have not only been successful, but in most instances have been exceedingly prosperous. J. A. Hannah, lawyer, with office in the Harrell building, Visalia, Tulare county, comes of old families well known in the history of the mother country and its colonies and is a native of New Brunswick. He was educated in Canada and at the Harvard Law School, which he entered in 1876 and from which he was graduated in 1878. He practiced his profession in Nevada until 1888, when he located at Visalia, where he has since lived, gaining distinction at the bar. He is the owner of twenty-six hundred acres of valuable ranch land near Strathmore, Tulare county, on which he grows vines and alfalfa and has bred many fine cattle.
In 1899 Mr. Hannah married Miss Kate Miller, a native of Cali- fornia, and they have daughters, Margaret and Dorothy. Fraternally he affiliates with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and as a citizen he is helpfully public-spirited and not without recognized political influence.
JOHN MITCHELL GLASGOW
A native of the Emerald Isle, John Mitchell Glasgow was born near Belfast, September 20, 1864. He lived in Ireland until he was seventeen years old, acquiring a primary education and receiving some training in useful work. Then he crossed the ocean to the United States and located at Auburn, N. Y., where he was employed in the delivery of milk for a dairy. In 1887 he came to California on his wedding trip and settled in Tulare county. His first few
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years here were busy ones. Ile farmed the old Terman ranch on shares, raised cattle in a small way and cut and hauled wood. Thus, and otherwise at times, he was employed until he bought his home- stead of nine acres, which was the nucleus of his present one hundred and eleven acre farm, which includes several subsequent purchases. lle has a dairy of twenty cows, six acres planted to Egyptian corn, and four acres in prunes and peaches. ITis land produces a ton and a half of alfalfa to the acre and he sold during the season of 1912 eighteen tons of prunes from three acres for $450.
In 1887 Mr. Glasgow married Maggie Henry, a native of New York, and they have four children: larry H., Ina B., Iva M. and Lena. Ina B. is attending business college in Stockton. In all things pertaining to the advancement of the best interests of his community, Mr. Glasgow is patriotically interested, and there is no measure that in his opinion promises to benefit any considerable number of his fellow-citizens that does not receive his encouragement and support. He is a member of the Loyal Order of Moose, devoted to its various interests and respected by its brotherhood. His snc- cess is bnt another demonstration of the fact that grit and hard work will win in the game of life if intelligently applied to everyday prob- lems and persisted in until the hoped-for end is gained. What he has done and is doing other Irish-Americans have accomplished and are accomplishing, and they are proving the claim that has been made for them by many observers that they constitute one of the really admirable elements in our foreign-horn citizenship.
ARTHUR BURTON
Scions of the old New England stock do well in California, and California is justly proud of many of them. They have helped make history from coast to coast. Of such ancestry is Arthur Burton, a native of Lee county, Iowa, born October 7, 1866. Ilis parents were Edward and Mary J. (Wren) Burton, his father a native horn Vermonter and his mother a product of Illinois. Edward Burton left Vermont in the early '40s and crossed the country with an ox- team to Chicago, then little more than a big country village, sitting low down in the mind and scarcely alive to the prospect of things to come. Ile farmed in Towa until 1885, and then came to California. Having brought some money with him, he was able to buy a ranch near Visalia, Tulare county, which comprised seventy acres, on which he raised stock and alfalfa. He lived on that place until March 4. 1912, when he passed away, aged seventy seven years, active to the
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end. His children are Mrs. Edith Weston, and Arthur, whose name introduces this article.
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