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 71
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 71
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architectural draftsman and resides in Baltimore, Md. Mr. Leach's snecess is all his own and he is recognized as a self-made man who deserves the high place in the community that is his, not alone by his record as a man of affairs, but by the fine character which has been manifest in his entire career and the generous public spirit that makes him promptly responsive to every demand for the general good. Mr. Leach's mother, now eighty-six years, is a mem- ber of his household.
SAMUEL C. BROWN
In Franklin county, Vt., Samuel Carr Brown, late of Visalia, Tulare county, Cal., was born Angust 17, 1826. He died December 31, 1908. Ilis parents were James and Sarah (Smith) Brown, natives respectively of Rhode Island and of Massachusetts, and his father was long a merchant and an extensive land owner at Swanton. Frank- lin county, N. Y., but they moved eventually to St. Lawrence county, N. Y., where they passed away. Of their four sons and three daugh- ters. Samuel Carr was the youngest. He was educated in the com- mon schools, at the Pennsylvania College in the Western Reserve, and at Oberlin College, where he was a student in 1848. Under the in- struction of Judge Wallace of St. Lawrence county, N. Y., he acquired a rudimentary knowledge of law; later through long connection with the justice court, he gained considerable experience of its practice and during all his active life gave much attention to legal matters. In 1849 he located in Pike county, Ill., and six months later joined a band of gold seekers who were turning their faces toward California.
The journey across the plains was begun in April and in Septem- ber Mr. Brown reached the North Fork of the American river, where he mined for a year, but meeting with no success then went to San Francisco, where he was for six months a steward on the Vincennes, a sloop sailing out and in that port. In January, 1852, he came to Tulare county in company with about fifty people, most of whom were farmers from Iowa. Learning that the Indians had two years before killed the primitive white settlers, they built a stockade in which they erected eight or ten log houses. He came as a Immter and remained as a citizen, to practice law, teach school, buy land an.l engage in multifarions activities as settlement advanced and civil- ization took root and spread. In the Civil war period he was an active sympathizer with the Union canso and Confederate sympathiz- ers nade three attempts to wreck his office, but United States troops preserved order till the end of the war, by a request of a committee of three prominent Republicans and three prominent Democrats.
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For a time Mr. Brown had as his law partner William G. Morris, later was a member of the firm of Brown & Daggett, and in 1891 retired from professional work and until his death gave personal supervision of his extensive property interests, which included an office building in Visalia, twenty-five hundred acres of farm land near that town and a half interest in four thousand acres in the mountain foothills. His land was divided into five ranches, most of which he usually leased. Many of the important enterprises of Visalia were encouraged and promoted by Mr. Brown. Ile was influential in the establishment of the Bank of Visalia, of which he was a director. The same may be said of his relationship to the local ice concern and to the Visalia Steam Laundry. He was a director of the Tulare Irrigation Company and of the soda works. Politically he was a Freesoiler and later a Republican. During early days here he was for two years district attorney, for two terms mayor and for three terms a member of the city council.
After Mr. Brown became a citizen of Visalia he married Miss Mary F. Kellenburg, a native of Illinois. The following are their children who are living: May, wife of William II. Ilammond, of Visalia; Fannie, wife of C. G. Wileox of Visalia; Philip S., who is succeeding as a farmer in Tulare county; Mande, who married J. E. Combs. of Visalia; and Helen, who is a member of her mother's honsehold.
PETER BONDSON
The progressive and successful farmer whose name is above, and who is well known in Hanford and vicinity for his high character and respectable achievements, was born in 1848. Ile is a native of Denmark, a country that has given to the United States many citizens of the purest motives who are leaders in their communities and ex- amples to all who take notice of their integrity, industry and deter- mination, national traits brought to bear upon their careers in a strange land. Peter Bondson came to America in 1870 and was a pioneer at Merced. In 1876 he made his advent in Kings county. set- tling on the land which he has since developed into one of the most productive and valuable farms in its vicinity. Originally the place consisted of three hundred and twenty acres, but in the process of bringing it to its present perfection he redneed it to two hundred and forty aeres. He gave eighty acres to his son Arthur, and he now gives his attention to general farming, hog and cattle raising. His stock is of good hreeds and is always so well fed and skillfully handled that it brings the highest market price. The farm is ont
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fitted with modern buildings and accessories and is in every respect thoroughly up-to-date.
The first marriage of Mr. Bondson occurred February 22, 1882, uniting him with Cordelia Nance, and they have three living children : Stella, wife of A. L. Miller; Pearl, wife of Charles (. Church; and Arthur. On June 16, 1910, Mr. Bondson married Miss Maud Waite, a young woman of many accomplishments, who is his devoted helper in his endeavors for success. They have one daughter, Ethel. Mr. Bond- son has not thus far had much to do with practical politics, but he has decided opinions upon questions of local and national policy to which he gives expression at the polls. A friend of education, he has served two years as school trustee, and in that capacity has ably served the interests of his district. On several occasions his publie spirit has commended him to his fellow citizens who recognize in him one who is ever ready to encourage to the extent of his ability any proposition having for its object the general uplift of the community.
WILLIAM WILLARD BROWN
In Jefferson county, N. Y., William Willard Brown was born November 13, 1851. When he was five years old he was brought to California by her mother, his father, William A. Brown, having come out a year before to look over the ground with a view to making a settlement here. The father was a school teacher and he was em- ployed at Stockton and Visalia. He opened a school at Camels Cross- ing. Kings river, one of the first schools in the county. He enlisted as a musician for service in the Civil war, returned east and was transferred to El Paso , Texas, where he was mustered out and began teaching school at Terrill, Texas. Ile spent his remaining days in that state.
The son left Visalia in the fall of 1859, when he was about eight years old, with the family of his mother and her second husband. Huffman M. White. The latter homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land in the Frazier valley and went into the sheep business, giving some intelligent attention to fruit growing. Mr. Brown states that in 1864 the first orange trees ever planted in Tulare county were planted on the farm of his step-father. The boy was educated in the schools of Tulare county and remained on the White ranch until 1882. He took up a government homestead in 1878 and remained on it most of the time until 1889, for a time making his home with his mother. In the year last mentioned he sold out and located in Porterville. Since settling in town he has been engaged in the
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machine business and since 1904 has been the local representative of the Samson Iron Works of Stockton and San Francisco.
In 1882 Mr. Brown was a guide for the United States Govern- ment surveying party working in the mountain district of Tulare county and for a time he filled the office of road overseer. So well developed is his publie spirit that he has been found ready at all times to aid to the extent of his ability movements which in his opinion have promised to benefit the community. Socially he has associated with the Knights of Pythias since 1884 and he has repre- sented his lodge at the Grand Lodge in 1886 and again in 1911.
In 1876 Mr. Brown married Rosalia Ford, a native of California, and daughter of J. P. Ford, a pioneer of 1856. She has borne him six children, three of whom are living. Roy F. is in New Mexico. Lahalla A. is the wife of Thomas Ferguson, of Porterville, Cal., and Pauline is a student in the Porterville high school.
ALFRED BALAAM
It was in Louisville, Ky., that Alfred Balaam, stockman and farmer, ex-sheriff of Tulare county, was born September 5, 1839, a son of George and Sarah (Swain) Balaam, natives of England. The family moved from Kentucky to Arkansas and from there to Texas, and from the Lone Star State came with a train of fifty ox-wagons across the plains to California in 1853, settling at El Monte, Los Angeles county, where they remained until the end of December, 1857. They then set out for Tulare county, where they arrived soon after January 1, 1858. The head of the family took up land a mile west of Farmersville, entering it at the government land office, a raw tract of one hundred and sixty acres, on which he raised horses, cattle and sheep. He was a man of ability who took a leading part in local politics, served in the office of justice of the peace and promoted the best interests of the community as long as he lived.
The following nine children of George and Sarah (Swain) Balaam are named in order of birth: George, the eldest, is dead; Sarah Ward; Ann Ward; Martha is the wife of Joseph Homer; Frank S .; Alfred; Edward; Mary Van Gorden is dead; and Mrs. Emily Van Gordon resides at Watsonville.
Alfred Balaam was educated in the public school near his boy- hood home and early worked with his father at stock-farming. Later he farmed for himself and at one time operated a half section of land. At this time he owns thirty-one acres near Farmersville. Tulare county, which he devotes principally to hay, alfalfa and Egyptian corn. For sixteen years he has filled the office of roadmaster and has been
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instrumental in introducing great improvements in local roads and bridges. By appointment of Sheriff Wells, he served as deputy sheriff under that official and in 1885 was elected sheriff of Tulare county, which office he filled for one term with great efficiency and integrity. A man of abundant publie spirit, he has always promoted the prosperity of the community.
In 1862 Mr. Balaam married Anna Whitlock, a native of Ohio, who bore him two children, Charles and Nellie. His present wife, whom he married in 1869, was Miss Marion Bequette, a native of California, and children as follows were born to them: Ida Higdon, ('ar) and Edward.
DANIEL FINN
The late prominent and successful man of affairs of Kings county, Cal., Daniel Finn of Hanford, was born at Oswego, N. Y., May 11, 1858, and lived there, meanwhile acquiring an edneation, until he was about twenty years old. He then went to Colorado and between that state and Idaho and Nevada he divided his time until in 1883. when he came to Colusa county, Cal., and farmed abont a year. In 1884 he located in Hanford, which has since been his home town, and it is probable that in all the years since he came no man has been more devoted than he to its growth and development. For about ten years he worked on farms and conducted a drawing and transportation business and in the period 1895-1901 he was in the retail liquor trade. After the oil business began to assume some importance in California he gave attention to it and in 1898 was one of the locators and incorporators, whose foresight was destined to bring snecess to the Hanford Oil Company, the property of which was located at Coalinga, where the first discovery of oil was made in that district outside of section twenty. The holdings of this com- pany were bought in small pieces by the Standard Oil Company in 1906-1907. the parcels having been deeded one by one to Martin & De Sabla, who later transferred them to the great corporation men- tioned. Mr. Finn was president of the Hanford Oil Company antil the termination of its corporate existence; he was one of the organ- izers and was from the first vice-president of the Hanford Gas and Power Company, which was incorporated in 1902; and in 1901 he was one of the incorporators of the Old Bank, of which he was a director through all its history and of which he was president after the death of the late President Biddle. As a Knight of Pythias he passed all the chairs of the lodge. In 1890 he married Mary Corey, who survives him. Mr. Finn was a self-made man, and found his true
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field of endeavor and the profitable scene of his success at Hanford, hence the reason for his manifest devotion to the town and to all of the various interests which make for its advancement and pros- perity. It is doubtful if any measure for the general good was pro- posed that did not receive his co-operation. As his fortunes advanced he was more and more generously responsive to demands npon his publie spirit. He passed away June 22, 1912, mourned by many friends and admirers.
PIIILIP S. BROWN
The home of Philip S. Brown, on the Exeter road near Visalia. is one of the show places of that part of Tulare county. A fine new residence graces the property, and its approach is by way of a road- way past a fountain and underneath palms and other ornamental trees and bordered on either side with many of the kinds of flowers for which California is famous.
In Visalia, June 15, 1867, Philip S. Brown was born, a son of S. C. Brown, who came to Tulare county among the pioneers. After he had finished his education he engaged in the real estate business in Visalia, as a member of the firm of Frasier, Prendergast & Brown. to the interests of which he devoted his energies until in 1896, when he began dairying and farming on nine hundred acres of his fath- er's land near Visalia. He soon built up a large business which brought him good yearly profit and he had at one time one hundred registered Holstein cows, four or five hundred hogs, and one hundred acres of prunes and peaches. His fruit was killed by a flood a few years ago. At this time his ranch consists of three hundred and fifty aeres, one hundred and fifty acres of which he has planted to alfalfa. As has been seen his career has not been without its vicissitudes, but he has overcome all obstacles and achieved success in the typical California way, and while he has prospered he has publie-spiritedly promoted the welfare of the community. In 1896 he married Miss Jenevieve Loraine, a native of New York, who has borne him a daughter whom they have named Bernice.
DALLAS H. GRAY
One of the Few men represented in this work who were born on property which they now own is Dallas HI. Gray, who made his ad vent into the world in February, 1882, near Armona. Harvey P. Gray.
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his father, was born in Wayne county, Pa., April 20, 1841, and came to C'alifornia from Nebraska in the '50s. Before 1870 he came to Tulare connty, before settlement had advanced to any considerable extent, and here homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land. He mined in Tuolumne and Placer counties and in 1863 enlisted in the Federal army, serving until the close of the Civil war. It was in December, 1869, that he came to Tulare county and engaged in farm- ing, taking over one hundred and sixty acres on army serip and made a home to which he moved and lived out his days, passing away June 2, 1896. He was one of the pioneer raisin growers in the county. In 1879 he married Miss Emma C. Hurd, and they had two sons, Donly C. and Dallas H., the former living in Visalia. Harvey Gray was a man of public spirit and forceful character, and helped to promote the Peoples, Last Chance and Lower Kings River ditches and improved the home ranch to splendid condition.
Dallas Gray was educated at Armona and in the Hanford high school. After his graduation in 1903 he established a vineyard and orchard of eighty acres of the family estate, to which he has added by purchase from time to time. He now has ninety acres in vines, forty in orchard and ten in pasture. He is encountering success, drying fruit of various kinds and packing raisins. His packing house, covering a ground space of 80x120 feet, has a storage capacity of four hundred tons. He has erected nearly all the buildings on his place except the packing house. His dairy of twenty Holstein cows is becoming well known. He has erected sanitary buildings with con- crete floors, 45x64 feet, for dairy purposes, and a hay storage building with a capacity of one hundred tons, elevated on concrete piling. His dairy requires thirty-four acres of alfalfa. He has also sixty acres in the orange belt of Tulare county and has an interest in one hundred and sixty acres of timber land in Madera county. From sixty-seven acres of vines he took one Imundred and sixty-eight tons of product in 1910 and one hundred and fifty in 1912. He markets all his own produce in the East, selling direct to jobbers. On his ranch he has two three-room cottages and one five-room cottage for hired help. He has installed electric machinery and two electric motors and has a modern pumping apparatus. His chicken business dates from 1909. He raises thoroughbred White Leghorns only, increasing from one thon- sand to five thousand laying hens, and operates six incubators of a capacity of four hundred and eighty eggs each. All the eggs he sells are bought thronghont the coast states for hatching, and to this interest he devotes three acres. He gives employment to from five to one Indred men in his various enterprises, according to season. Ilis brooder house is one hundred feet long, with capacity for two thousand chicks. His fireless brooders generate their own heat. The hens have sanitary drinking fountains. Mr. Gray advertises his
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chicken business extensively and cannot supply the demand that he has created.
In 1905 Mr. Gray married Miss Katie Biddle, daughter of S. E. Biddle of Hanford, and they became the parents of a son, Dallas H., Jr., who was born February 4, 1913. Mr. Gray is a man of much publie spirit, having at heart the interests of the community, gener- ously helpful to all good work.
FRANCIS MARION AINSWORTH
In Missouri, in 1845, was born Francis Marion Ainsworth, and in 1857, when he was about twelve years old, he participated with his parents and others in a memorable overland journey to California. They came with ox-teams and endured many hardships and braved many perils. Their first home in this state was in Mendocino county. There his father acquired land which he farmed and improved three years. Then, after living a little while at Santa Rosa and a short time at Sonoma, the family moved to Napa county, where they re- mained until 1864. Stockton was the scene of the family's activities for some years and after that Modesto numbered its members in its population. At Modesto the father died in 1870; the mother had passed away in 1863. It was from Modesto that Francis M. Ains worth came to the Mussel Slough district of old Tulare county, near Hanford, where he soon began ranching. He moved to his present location at Milo in 1876. He owns here two hundred and forty aeres of land which he is operating very profitably. It is remarkable to realize that Mr. Ainsworth, who at the age of sixty-seven years is enjoying splendid health and is giving personal attention to the conduct of his ranch as well as the duties of postmaster at Milo, was at one time a consumptive in a most precarious condition, suffering from hemorrhages of the lungs. His cure may be attributed to his tremendous will power and the exceptional climate and he has every reason to count his blessings and be happy that he has sought this country as his place of residence.
In 1872 Mr. Ainsworth married Nettie Braden, a native of Iowa, who bore him ten children, all native sons and daughters of Cali- fornia, four of whom have died. Royal Jasper Ainsworth married ('lara Hinkle and lives in Tulare county. The other survivors are named Chester O., Archie W .. Frances M., Lisle R. and Alden R. The parents of Mrs. Ainsworth moved to Kansas when she was about five years old and some two or three years later they came overland to California, settling in Santa Clara county, whence they later removed to Stanislaus county, and it was here that she first met her future
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husband. She was the second child of a family of four children, one son and three daughters, born to her parents, the others being: William Braden, of Ventura county, Agnes Richardson of Porterville, and Malissa, who died in Tulare county in 1878, being at that time the wife of S. W. Webb and leaving no children. Mr. Ainsworth's uncle. Davy Crockett, is a justice of the peace at Ukiah, Mendocino county. Col. Davy Crockett, the hero of the Alamo, was Mr. Ainsworth's great-unele. His life of adventure, his devotion to the cause of liberty and his tragie death for the freedom of Texas are all matters of history. Mr. Ainsworth is a man of public spirit and as a Democrat he has been elected school trustee and in 1907 was appointed post- master at Milo, which responsible office he still fills with ability and credit.
M. E. WEDDLE
In Virginia, M. E. Weddle, late of the Dinnba district of Tulare county, C'al., was born July 28, 1844. When he was ten years old he accompanied his parents to east Tennessee. In 1861. before he was seventeen years old, he enlisted in Company H, Second Ohio Cavalry. under Captain Chester, with which he served until in 1863. In June of that year he re-enlisted, and served until the end of the war and was mustered out at St. Louis, Mo., in 1865. He took part in sixty- three battles and skirmishes, some of his memorable experience> having been in the Wilderness campaign and at the battle of Cedar Creek. In 1865 his father had removed from Tennessee to Indiana. In Tennessee he had had his war experiences as well, having operated there a corn mill which was patronized by passing soldiers, sometimes, but not always, to the profit of its proprietor.
At the close of the war young Weddle joined his father in Indiana, worked at ranching and at teaming and learned the car- penter's trade. He married Miss Lucy J. Newlon. They had six children : John (. married Mabel Day and has three children. Mary E. married Charles Snyder of Oregon and they have three children. George W. married and has four children. Hester married William IIeine of San Jose, Cal., and they have a son and a daughter. Two have passed away. By his later marriage with Mary E. Robbins he had no children. She was the widow of David Alden Robbins of Iowa and had two children by her first marriage. Her maiden name was Mary E. Fnlton and she was born in Westmoreland county, near Monongahela City, and is the danghter of Abraham and Rachel (New- lon) Fulton.
Mr. Weddle came to Tulare county in 1888. As far as the eye
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could reach in every direction lay an expanse of wheat fields and Dinuba had just been platted. He found plenty of work as a carpen- ter, and helped to erect the first building in the town for a store and real estate office. He became owner of ten acres of land on Wilson avenue. Three and a half acres of it are under vines, one acre is planted to trees. For a number of years he prospered as a house- mover. Politically Mr. Weddle supported Republican principles and was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He passed away August 12, 1912.
JAMES THOMAS BOONE
In Missouri, Benton county, in 1862, James Thomas Boone was born. There he grew up and was educated. He began his active career as a clerk in a factory in St. Louis. When he was twenty-one years old he came to California and not long after his arrival he located at Traver. For a time after he came to the state he was bookkeeper in connection with one of the old canal projects which in their time promised to be influential factors in the commercial pros- perity of this then new country. In 1884 he bought land at Traver, on which he lived until 1895, when he moved to Orosi. After two years' residence there he located at Dimba and in 1899 he bought forty acres near that place. He was the first man to build a home in Section Eight, and when he planted most of his forty aeres in vines it was as a pioneer vineyardist. The land cost him $37.50 an acre and $600 an aere would be a low price for it now.
In 1887 Mr. Boone married Matilda Isabelle Blakemore, a native of Tulare county, and their five children are all living in Tulare county. Roy B. Boone, prominent in the drug business at Dinuba, married Frances Williams. He is one of the few graduates in pharmacy who live in this part of the county. Gny H., who is prospering at Dinuba as a liveryman, married Ethel Alford. Estella Jeanette is a graduate of the high school at Dinuba; William is a student in that school; and Clyde Thomas is attending the grammar school. Thomas Jefferson Boone, father of James Thomas Boone, was a native of Kentucky and the woman he married was also a native of that state. William Bailey Blakemore, father of Mrs. Matilda Isabelle (Blake- more) Boone, was a native of Arkansas, who in pioneer days made the overland journey to California with ox-teams. His daughter, who was born in Tulare county, recollects seeing much game on the plains and in the woods round her home when she was young.
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