Kings County
Biographies
MANUEL R. HOMEN
Conspicuous among Hanford's men of affairs, and locally prominent as a Republican, Manuel R. Homen is fraternally popular through his identification with the U. P. E. C. and I. D. E. S. He is a native of the Azores islands, born December 6, 1855, and lived at Pico until 1875, when on becoming of age, he came to the United States and stopped in Boston until October of that year. From Boston he crossed the continent to San Francisco, and locating at Los Banos, Merced county, he worked there five years. He then went to Merced and built a hotel which he managed a year and then disposed of it. He had been to Hanford with sheep in 1881 and had become so favorably impressed with its possibilities that in 1886 he returned, intending to make his home here. His first year in the town he spent as a hotel keeper, meanwhile making a start in the sheep business, in which he has been actively interested to the present time. He was in the retail liquor business three and a half years. After he had established himself here he built his old home on Front Street, where he lived twelve years, then moved to a second home in the town, at No. 924 N. Redington street, where he remained eight years. He has since sold both houses, and in May, 1910, he bought eighty acres of the Ira Rollins ranch, adjoining the south border of the city, on which is one of the largest houses in Kings county, which serves as his residence. During all this time sheep raising has been his principal interest, but latterly he has given considerable attention to fruit. At one time he owned five thousand sheep which he says he fed at points all over the state. The west side is now the feeding ground for his flocks. Thirty-five acres of his homestead is in vines and thirty acres is in alfalfa.
Other interests than those mentioned have to some extent commanded Mr. Homen's attention. He is a stockholder and director in the Hanford Mercantile Company and has invested quite extensively in oil stocks. The economic affairs of the city and county are matters of solicitude to him and he responds generously to all demands upon his public spirit. At Oakland, Cal., in December, 1890, he married Rita Silva, who like himself was born in the Azores and had been reared to maturity at Pico. She has borne him six children: Manuel R., Jr., Alice, Adelaide, Arthur, Elvina and William, all members of their parents' household.
History of Tulare and Kings Counties, California with Biographical Sketches - Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company, 1913
pp. 715-716
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
W. W. BLOYD
In Illinois, October 5, 1860, was born W. W. Bloyd, a son of Washington Bloyd. He was only a baby when his father brought him to California and he lived near Goose Lake until he was eight years old, and then his family moved to Marysville, Yuba county. In 1873, when the boy was thirteen years old, they came to what is now Kings county and located near Hanford, the father taking up a homestead and settling on a hundred and sixty acres of railroad land, to all of which property he subsequently obtained clear title. Making a home farm of it he lived there until his death, which occurred in July, 1910. His eight children and his widow all survive him and they all live in Hanford.
It was near Hanford that W. W. Bloyd began farming, and he was successful there until 1886, then going to Fresno county, where he farmed until 1902, when he bought ten acres near Hanford. He also bought twenty acres adjoining the first purchase and diminished the latter by selling eight acres of it. He improved the place by the erection of a house and good barns, and as rapidly as possible put it under cultivation. He has four acres of vines, three and one-half acres of apricots and three and one-half acres of peaches, and gives attention to the breeding of horses. In June, 1904, he was made superintendent of the ditch systems of the Chamberlain-Carr Company, the Guernsey Canal and Lakeside System and the Branch Canal Union Water and Ditch Company. He is a director and the secretary of the Settlers' Ditch Company.
In 1882 he married Mary A. Bostwick, and they have three children: Charles Edward, of Fullerton; Chester A., who lives near Hanford; and Ethel, who is a member of her parents' household. Mr. Bloyd affiliates with the Woodmen of the World and is a citizen of unquestionable public spirit.
History of Tulare and Kings Counties, California with Biographical Sketches - Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company, 1913
pp. 716-717
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler