Merced County
Biographies
HARVEY A. BAKER
A progressive business man and an able official is found in Harvey A. Baker, who conducts a real estate office in Livingston and serves as judge of the city recorder's court; he was appointed to this position by the mayor, C. A. Ottman, and the city board of trustees in April, 1923. From the time of his appointment in April until October, he tried fifty-nine cases and collected $909 in fines. Mr. Baker, assisted by his wife and daughter, have charge of the stage depot; the line is known as the California Transit Co. and connects with Sacramento, Stockton, Merced, Fresno and Los Angeles and intermediate points with hourly departures. He was born at Danville, Ind., November 20, 1881. His father, G. W. Baker, was for many years a successful farmer and real estate broker at Eureka, Cal.; he married Miss Lucretia H. Jones, born in Indiana, who can trace her family history back to Sir Isaac Newton; her maternal grandmother, Lydia H. Jones has reached the age of ninety-nine years and is living at Craig, Nebr. Three sons were born of this union: H. J. is a real estate broker in Livingston; H. M. resides in Berkeley, and Harvey A. is the subject of this sketch. Both parents are still living.
While still a small child, Harvey A. Baker accompanied his parents, in a prairie schooner, to Nebraska and he grew up and was educated at Beatrice. His father was a traveling salesman for a school supply house and made his home at Beatrice. During the panic of 1893, Mr. Baker resided in Omaha, Nebr.; from there he removed to Deadwood, S. D. and in 1898 enlisted for service in the Spanish-American War, but was discharged on account of disability. In 1901 he removed to Denver, Colo., and was for ten years in the employ of the street car company; he resided in Denver until 1918 and during that time made frequent trips to California to visit his family, who had located at Eureka, where the father was engaged in the real estate business. Mr. Baker permanently located at Livingston in 1920, and became a salesman for his brother H. J. Baker, who is engaged in the real estate business. Later Mr. Baker established his own real estate office.
At Denver, Colo., in 1903, H. A. Baker was married to Miss Bertha Damon, born in Missouri, a daughter of the late John Damon, a Civil War veteran who died from the effects of a wound received during the war. Her mother is making her home with our subject at Livingston. Two daughters have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Baker; Elsie is the wife of Maynard Pierce, a rancher living near Delhi, Cal.; and Lucetta G. married Eldridge C. Swan, traffic officer at Livingston. Mr. Baker belongs to Denver Lodge No. 41, K. of P. in Denver.
History of Merced County, California – Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1925
page 786-787
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
LEO HEID
As far as lies in the power of any one individual, Leo Heid has illustrated in his life the control of circumstances and the manifest advantages that await the industrious and enterprising men which have characterized for generations the race from which he springs. Born in Bavaria, Germany, September 26, 1881, he was left an orphan at the age of seven years and was brought up by his uncle. His parents, Paul and Margaret Heid, had both passed away by 1888. The Lutheran minister assisted him through the parochial school until the age of twelve, but from that time on he has made his own way in the world, first by working in a planing mill and serving an apprenticeship at the carpenter's trade for three years. It was a work to which he naturally gravitated for his father had operated a planing mill, as well as a farm. At fifteen years of age he worked as a journeyman carpenter, but in common with all of his countrymen he had to serve in the army and he didn't get free until 1909, when he struck out for the "Land of the free and the home of the brave."
Landing in Fresno, Cal. he found employment at once in a planing mill; later he took up carpentering and bought a twenty-acre ranch in Fresno County. It was a good investment for in two years he sold it at a good profit. In 1920 he investigated Livingston and, as it appeared to be a good proposition, he bought twenty acres. He continued his trade and as contractor and builder has erected a number of bungalows, including the Methodist parsonage. Many other buildings in Livingston are to be credited to his industry among which may be mentioned the residences of A. A. Harrington, Mrs. Ottman, Frank Emerich, L. Prusso, Forest E. Hammond, and John J. Hoch, besides several garages and other buildings, including the Lutheran Church and Dr. C. E. Saunders' office building. Mr. Heid was made a citizen of the United States in 1917 and is a Republican in politics. In many ways he has proved a valuable citizen of Livingston, contributing to its growth, fostering its enterprises and promoting its welfare.
History of Merced County, California – Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1925
page 787-788
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
ADOLPH SWENSEN
Among the dairymen and farmers of the Livingston section of Merced County is Adolph Swensen, proprietor of the Greenacre Dairy located a mile southwest of the city in precinct No. 2. He owns sixty acres, twenty acres devoted to his dairy, twenty-five acres in bearing Malaga grapes, and twelve acres in alfalfa. When Mr. Swensen purchased this tract of land in 1910, it was known as "blow land"; here the wind blew unobstructed and the sand drifted, but by the application of water it has been turned into vineyards, orchards and alfalfa fields. At the Pacific Slope Dairy Show held in Oakland, Cal. in November, 1923, Mr. Swensen made an almost perfect showing; his milk scored 95.5 out of a possible 100; on the item of bacteria, for which a perfect score was 35, Mr. Swensen's milk scored 35; other perfect scores by Mr. Swensen were butter fat, 15 points; and temperature and acidity, 5 points. He lost points on bottle and cap or otherwise would have had a perfect score. He runs fourteen cows on his dairy farm.
Mr. Swensen was born at Skane, Sweden, on April 18, 1873, a son of Peter and Anna Swensen, both natives of the same country. There were six children in the family, two sons and four daughters, our subject being the second in order of birth and the only one living in America. Peter Swensen was a farmer and a creamery man and is now deceased; the mother is still living in Sweden, aged seventy-six.
Adolph Swensen left the parental roof when only fifteen years old, and landing in Quebec, Canada, came directly to the United States, settling at St. Paul, Minn., where he found work in a store. He was ambitious to learn the language and manners of the Americans, and he attended night school, and also had private instruction in English. At Hallock, Minn., he learned the trade of harness and saddle-maker. While residing in Kittson County he was appointed a deputy sheriff. In 1902 he removed to Washington and worked at Spokane, Seattle and Tacoma as a journeyman saddler, and was also engaged as a salesman. In 1909 he arrived in Merced, where he was employed as a traveling salesman for Barcroft & Company, hardware dealers; in the meantime he purchased his present farm and began to improve it and in 1917 moved onto it, where he has since made his home.
At Modesto, Mr. Swensen was married to Miss Pearl Turner, born and reared in Merced, the daughter W. H. and Marian (McSwain) Turner, early pioneers of California. Two children, Marian Catherine and Virginia June, have blessed the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Swensen. Mr. Swensen is a member of the local Farm Bureau and takes a good citizen's part in the advancement of his section.
History of Merced County, California – Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1925
page 788-789
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler