Kings County
Biographies
J. T. BROOKS
one of the pioneers of California, was born in Jackson County, Georgia, in 1822. His early life was passed on a farm near Columbus, to which his parents had moved in 1829, and as he approached manhood he first learned the butcher’s business, and subsequently the trade of carpenter, which he followed until 1850. February 11 of the same year he started for California, going first to New Orleans, where he embarked on the steamship Ohio, on her first trip to Chagres, and was one among 600 passengers. From Chagres our subject crossed the Isthmus to Panama on foot, and there re-embarked on the steamship Tennessee, on her first trip up the coast, she having just arrived around the Horn. They arrived in San Francisco in April, 1850, after which Mr. Brooks went to the mines at Sonora, and followed mining about five years. In 1852 he bought an interest in a sawmill on Hangtown creek, one of the oldest mills in the State, which he operated for two years in connection with his mining interests. In 1855 he went to Sacramento County, rented lands on the river, and engaged in the vegetable business, which he followed until the extravagant rents consumed the profits; next he went to the plains in the same county, but the land being too dry he returned to the river and ran a dairy one season; then, in 1865, he came to King’s river and settled on what was supposed to be Government land; but after five years of labor and improvement a Spanish grant was floated over him and he had to leave, but was allowed to take what improvements were portable. He then crossed the river and purchased 160 acres on the south side, established his home, and engaged in the stock business. Before the fence law was adopted, in 1873, Mr. Brooks lost about 100 head of horses, which were stolen and driven off, no trace of them ever being discovered. He has since continued the stock business, and also farms from 150 to 300 acres on the outside. He has made but few improvements in the line of fruit-raising, preferring the old business, to which he has devoted a large part of his life.
Mr. Brooks was married near Hangtown (now Placerville), to Miss Frances Foster, a native of Alabama. Her father, John C. Foster, was one of the California pioneers of 1849. Mr. and Mrs. Brooks have eight children, viz.: Susan A., now Mrs. Jeff Hames; Charles H.; Georgiana, a teacher in the Excelsior school district; Edward L.; Mary, now Mrs. J. N. Bowhay; A. Bert, William A. and Wesley W.
Memorial and Biographical History of the counties of Fresno, Tulare and Kern, California
Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1892 p401-402
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
FRED HAERING
one of the successful ranchers, three and a half miles northeast of Hanford, was born in Switzerland, in 1831. He was reared on a farm until his eighteenth year, when he came to the United States, first settling in St. Louis. There he found employment in a tobacco factory, but preferring an agricultural life he went to Clayton County, Iowa, where he bought 145 acres of land, and engaged in general farming and stock-raising. In 1878 he sold out and came to California, first stopping in Sonoma County, where he engaged in farming; but the soil and climate being so different from the East his first efforts were a failure. In 1881 he came to Tulare County and bought his present ranch of 200 acres, where his efforts have been more successful. He now has 120 acres in alfalfa, nine acres in orchard and vineyard, and is also engaged in the stock business, keeping horses, cattle and sheep.
Mr. Haering was married in Hanford, in 1883, to Mrs. Anna M. Hochstrasser, nee Brugger, a widow with three children, and a native of Switzerland. He dates the commencement of his prosperity at the date of his marriage, and his handsome two-story house, built in 1890, with his well-kept ranch and happy home relations, are the best evidence that his union strengthened the purpose of his life.
Memorial and Biographical History of the counties of Fresno, Tulare and Kern, California
Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1892 p. 402
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler