Kings County
Biographies
JOHN WALTON BOZEMAN
In Hinds county, Miss., August 31, 1836, was born John Walton Bozeman, who has lived in Tulare county about as long as any surviving pioneer. His grandfather, Howell Bozeman, built the first state house, at Milledgeville, Ga., and eventually moved to Mississippi, accompanied by members of his family and others. Thomas Jefferson Bozeman, who was John Walton's father, remained in Hinds county, Miss., until after his son was born and he left his wife Rachel Parker, buried there. In 1842 the family moved to Louisiana, where the father married Miss Eliza Ford, of which union two children, William and Mary Near, survive. In 1849 they settled in Texas and in 1854 crossed the plains in a party with ox-team outfits to California, where he became engaged in farming on Kings river and mining in Mariposa and Kern counties, putting up the first tent on Poso creek flats, where he mined, kept a boarding house, and did freighting.
J. W. Bozeman's recollections of that cross-country trip would be interesting reading could they all be put into print. He helped to bury the bodies of members of the Oatman family, who had been murdered by Indians on their way from Texas to California. Two of the Oatman children were captured by the savages and one of them was rescued later by friends. Usually emigrants were safe so long as goodly numbers of them kept together, but there was great peril for any who became separated from their trains.
It was when he was about eighteen years old that Mr. Bozeman arrived in California, passing through Tulare county along the immigrant trail, and on October 12, 1854, they stopped on Kings river. His opportunities for education had been very limited, as almost from childhood he had ridden after cattle or worked in the cotton field. In 1864, in San Bernardino county, he married Miss Susan Hendrey, born January 16, 1842, in Indiana, daughter of Isaac Hendrey, who was a pioneer of Oregon. He was a descendant of old Irish families and his wife was Miss Mary White of Indiana. Mrs. Bozeman passed away in Kings county in 1898, while the family were living near Hanford. She was the mother of a large family of children, all natives of California, eight of whom grew to maturity and married, viz.: Preston Leander, of Exeter; Julia A., married to L. H. Byron, of Lemoore; Armazila U., wife of E. C. Nowlan, of Exeter ; Jesse D., of Hanford; Melissa A., wife of J. Bloomhall, of Alhambra ; John W., of Fresno ; Hattie, married to Warren Hawley, of Lindsay; and Rachel, wife of Ralph Berridge, of Porterville. Three children died in infancy, and Chester W. passed away in early childhood. The father of Mrs. Bozeman lived to the age of ninety-six years, and one of his daughters, Mrs. Cleghorn, now lives at Highlands, San Bernardino county. Two of his sons are making their home at the Soldiers' Home at Eugene, Oregon.
After his marriage Mr. Bozeman went into the sheep business and was successful for about twenty years, keeping most of the time about ten thousand head. He became the owner of three hundred acres of land on Kings river, where he settled in 1854, with his father, and later rented large tracts on which he sowed grain. His last wheat crop was garnered from thirty-five hundred acres. He disposed of all his holdings in Kings county and lives with his children, and has been a resident of Porterville since January, 1911. He has always been an active, influential and public-spirited citizen.
History of Tulare and Kings Counties, California with Biographical Sketches - Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company, 1913
pp. 833-834
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
STILES A. McLAUGHLIN
The McLaughlin family, to which belongs Stiles A. McLaughlin, originated in Scotland. His grandfather, John McLaughlin, lived in Pennsylvania. His father was William Harrison McLaughlin and was a native of Pennsylvania, where he grew up and learned the trade of carriage maker, later removing to Ohio. Following his trade there for a short time he engaged in merchandising and various other pursuits with varying success. It was in Ashtabula county, Ohio, that Stiles A. was born January 3, 1852. When he was about ten years old his parents moved to Pennsylvania, and after a residence there of six years they went to Illinois, where they remained for a like period.
The changes of time brought the younger McLaughlin to California when he was about twenty-one years old. He worked in Yolo county about a year, then came to Lemoore, Kings county, and soon afterward acquired a land claim half a mile south of that town. He relinquished it, however, and bought forty acres, bounded on one side by the city line, which he planted to fruit trees and retained until 1902, when he sold it to advantage. He then bought forty acres west of the forty just referred to and eighty acres adjoining this last purchase. After having lived there six years, he sold forty acres of the property, retaining the eighty acres, forty of which is in vineyard, and moved to Lemoore. In these various real estate deals he was quite successful, gradually accumulating money and land until he has come to be considered one of the well-to-do men of that part of the county. He is a director of the First National Bank of Lemoore and has been in one way or another identified with several interests of importance. His public spirit impelled him to accept the nomination of his party for membership of the Board of Supervisors of Kings county. He was three times elected and served continuously from November, 1895, to December, 1906.
Local lodges of Free & Accepted Masons, Woodmen of the World and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows include Mr. McLaughlin in their membership. In 1876 he married Mary Wright, daughter of Samuel Wright, a pioneer of 1868 in Kings county, who made his mark as a farmer and stockman. They have children as follows: Wilmot Wright, of Lemoore; Aimee, wife of Samuel McCorkle. of Dinuba ; Mary, who is a clerk in the post-office at Lemoore ; and Elmira, a student in the high school. In April, 1912, Mr. McLaughlin completed his comfortable brick residence on West D street, which is up-to-date in every respect and adds greatly to the residence district of Lemoore, being most tasteful and attractive in design and appearance.
The Wright family of which Mrs. McLaughlin is a member came originally from England and were old Virginia settlers, coming to Ohio in the early part of the nineteenth century. Later they removed to Iowa, whence Mrs. McLaughlin's parents, Samuel and Amelia A. (Orton) Wright came overland to California in 1849. Mrs. Wright is of Scotch ancestry and is now making her home at Lemoore, bright and active at the advanced age of eighty-four.
History of Tulare and Kings Counties, California with Biographical Sketches - Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company, 1913
pp. 843-844
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler