Kings County
Biographies
BREWER, SAMUEL A.
The prosperous rancher whose name is sufficient to direct the attention of the reader to this notice had lived in Kings county since 1873 and is one of the best known tillers of the soil and breeders of fine stock and poultry in all the country about Hanford. Born at Coyote, Santa Clara county, Cal., March 8, 1867, he attended public schools until he was nineteen years old, then working on the ranch for his father until he was twenty-three, at which age he entered upon an independent career. It will be noted that he was only six years old when his family settled in Tulare county, in that part now known as Kings, and that he has lived here practically all his life. His first land purchase was one of twenty-one and one-quarter acres, but he rented and ran in connection with it the old Dillon place. This arrangement lasted but a year, however, for at the beginning of his second season he settled on his home place and branched out in the raising of cattle, hogs and chickens. Six years later he added to his holding by the purchase of another twenty-one acres, and by subsequent purchases he brought the area of his ranch up to eighty-five acres, well stocked, well provided with buildings, machinery and appliances, and exceptionally well tilled. In recent years Mr. Brewer has devoted himself particularly to dairying and to hog-raising.
In 1908 as an experiment, Mr. Brewer put in four acres of sugar beets and from that planting secured sixty-two tons, which netted him $164, showing that, all things being equal, this is a profitable crop. He brought the first beet-drill to his ranch, the first cultivator, plowed the first beets and put the first beets in the car at Odessa. He was successful, following directions given to see what the possibilities were.
January 18, 1890, Mr. Brewer married Miss Effie Webber, who was born in Newport, Pa. June 22, 1871, and they have three children living, whom they named Harry A., Ethel M. and Clara L. One child died in infancy. While he is not very active politically, Mr. Brewer takes a broad view of all economic questions and loyally performs his duties as a citizen. He has never sought office, nor has he ever accepted it except in one instance, when he consented to become a school trustee, in which capacity he labored effectively for local education during a period of six years. His public spirit has been many times tried and never found wanting and his influence is always exerted for the amelioration of the conditions under which he and his neighbors must work and live. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Fraternal Brotherhood.
SOURCE: History of
Tulare and Kings Counties,
California
with Biographical Sketches - Los Angeles,
Calif.,
Historic Record Company, 1913
Pp 481, 482
Transcribed by: Craig A Hahn
One of the progressive and up-to-date business men of Lemoore is Lincoln Henry Byron, who was born in 1866, in Contra Costa county, Cal. In 1868 he was brought by his parents to Lemoore, Kings county, where he has since lived and which is now his headquarters for the automobile agency, the success of which has made him well known throughout this part of the state. He was educated in the public schools of Lemoore and in the University of the Pacific at San Jose, and then engaged in farming on the lake bottoms near the lake, where, in association with his father for seven years, he operated twenty-seven hundred acres. For two years thereafter he was in the livery business at Los Angeles, and the next two years he spent as proprietor and manager of the Germania hotel at Oxnard. Returning to Kings county he was for two years engaged in boring wells for water, and during the next four years he was a traveling agent for the Watkins Medicine company, with headquarters at Vancouver, Clark county, Wash. Then coming again to Lemoore, he bought in 1906, the Joseph Marriott homestead of eighty acres which he developed into a fine vineyard, meantime devoting part of his time to dealing in horses and selling tents and awnings. In 1911 he bought a half interest in the Lemoore garage. He is the agent for the Ford auto for the western half of Kings county, including Lemoore and Coalinga and their tributary territory, and so successful has he been in handling this car, which ranks among the best, that he sold twenty-one machines between October 31, and February 10 following. From time to time other interests have commanded his attention and he has invested in oil land in the Devil’s Den country and is promoting the oil development in that field.
In 1887 Mr. Byron married Julia Bozeman and they have three children. Their daughter Bertha is the wife of Louis Burke of Coalinga, and their sons, Carl and Lawrence, are students in the high school at Lemoore. As a family the Byrons are popular wherever they are known. Their circle of acquaintance is wide and constantly extending and their influence in all their relations is exerted for the uplift of the community. Mr. Byron is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
SOURCE: History of
Tulare and Kings Counties,
California
with Biographical Sketches - Los Angeles,
Calif.,
Historic Record Company, 1913
Pp 485, 486
Transcribed by: Craig A Hahn