Kings County
Biographies
HENRY ALDEN CRANE
The career of Henry Alden Crane of the Paddock district, southwest of Hanford, Kings county, Cal., has been that of a self-made man, who, by his sterling qualities, has profited by his opportunities and done, directly and indirectly, a good deal for the benefit of his community. Formerly one of the leading apiarists of Central California, he is now making a success in the production of fruit and stock. Mr. Crane is a native of Kansas and was born September 2, 1872, son of O. Crane, who came from the Sunflower State to California in 1874, when Henry A. was about two years old, and lived in Yolo county until 1877. Then the Crane family moved to Tulare county, locating eight miles southwest of Hanford, in what is now Kings county, and the elder Crane took up railroad land which he later lost through litigation. While he occupied the property he farmed it successfully and took an active interest in the development of the district. He was a factor in securing the construction of a ditch through his part of the county and in bringing about the utilization of Mussel slough as a source of irrigation. He passed away May 7, 1909, after a life of industry and usefulness.
In the neighborhood of his present home Henry Alden Crane was reared and educated, and to the public schools he gives credit for his literary start in life. His business beginning was as an apiarist in the district between Hanford and Cross creek, and he soon extended his operations until he had at one time four hundred colonies of bees. In 1900 he bought eighty acres in the heart of the Paddock district, eight miles southwest of Hanford, on which there was then twelve acres of old vineyard, but no other improvements. He has developed the place into a modern home ranch, with good and ample buildings and up-to-date appliances and appointments. He now has twenty-nine acres of his land in vineyard, six acres in peaches and the balance in alfalfa. He gives considerable attention to the breeding of horses, cattle and hogs, which bring a high price in the market. In 1911 he bought forty acres of the Jacobs tract, about twelve miles southwest of Hanford, which he is improving and expects soon to devote almost entirely to alfalfa.
In April, 1902, Mr. Crane married Winifred Battenfeld, of Kings county, and they have a son, William Dale Crane. Mr. Crane takes a public-spirited interest in the economic and political affairs of his county, state and nation, and his solicitude for the improvement of the public schools in his vicinity caused him to accept the office of trustee of the Paddock school district, which he is filling with much ability and credit.
History of Tulare and Kings Counties, California with Biographical Sketches - Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company, 1913
pp. 589-590
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
WILLIAM BURGAN CLARK
One of the many self-made men of Kings county, Cal., who are deserving of an especial place in this work, by reason of their perseverance in the face of difficulty and their ultimate worthy achievement, is William B. Clark, whose farm property is located six miles south of Hanford. Born October 21, 1865, he made a beginning in active life in 1883, when he was about eighteen years old, by working on ranches in his neighborhood. Later he rented land and farmed on his own account till 1898, when he went to Alaska, being one of those who made the first great rush for the Klondike. Perhaps he had inherited some of the venturesome spirit of his father, who had been a pioneer miner in California. After four years of hard work and indifferent success, the young man came back to Kings county and soon afterward bought his present home ranch of eighty acres, on which he has put all improvements. He devotes himself to stock-raising, dairying and the breeding of hogs and has twenty acres of his homestead in alfalfa. In 1907 he bought one hundred and twenty acres near Guernsey and in 1911 thirty-five acres adjoining that purchase, which land he uses for stock.
The mother of William B. Clark is Mrs. Amanda B. Clark, a daughter of William Burgan. She was born in Ohio, November 11, 1833, and when she was fifteen years old was taken by her father to Wisconsin, where she lived till 1854, coming then to California. She was married in January that year to Charles W. Clark, who was born September 13, 1822, and they came overland to Tuolumne county, Cal., where Mr. Clark mined several years, finding some gold, but experiencing much disappointment. In 1866 he was made superintendent of the Pittsburg coal mine in Contra Costa county, and there he labored till in the spring of 1873, when he came to Tulare county and bought two thousand acres of land on Lake Tulare, nine miles south of Hanford, at $2.50 an acre, and engaged in stock and cattle raising and in the growing of alfalfa. It is generally conceded that he had the first alfalfa in Kings county. He was one of the promoters and builders of the Lakeside ditch and was its principal manager for several years. Later, he took up grain and sheep, and became one of the most extensive sheep men in the county. He had bought a flock which his brother in Fresno county looked after for him and which he brought with him to this county, and that was the necleus of is later large property of this kind. In time he took up a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres adjoining his land and bought three hundred acres of mountain land in Fresno county. In 1880 the reverses of several successive dry years culminated in his loss of his property, and he rented land at Lambert's Grove, six miles east of Hanford, and resumed sheep raising, also doing a little farming. In 1885 he and his family emigrated to Woodville, Jackson county, Ore., where he bought a small ranch, put in an orchard and engaged in merchandising. For four years they remained there, and then came back to a ranch on the plains, near their old place. Mr. Clark died at the home of his son, May 13, 1894. Mrs. Clark lived with her son Frank at Tulare till 1902, since when she has been a member of the household of her son William B. She bore her husband six children: Frank B., born January 28, 1855, lives in Tulare. Albert, born December 3, 1855, died April 22, 1859. Ida B., born May 2, 1860, died November 16, 1862. Grant U., born October 1, 1863, lives near Hanford. William B. was next in order of birth. Gracie G., born January 18, 1868, died April 19, 1878.
Not only is William B. Clark a well-informed and resourceful rancher and stockman, but he is as well a useful and patriotic citizen, a promoter of all good for the public and a firm believer in the ultimate great destiny of California and of America.
History of Tulare and Kings Counties, California with Biographical Sketches - Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company, 1913
pp. 590-591
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler