Merced County
Biographies
BENJAMIN HOWARD BUSH, M. D.
The city of Los Banos is to be congratulated on having the services of so accomplished and experienced a physician and surgeon as Benjamin Howard Bush, M.D. Though born in Nebraska, he came to California at such an early age that he has grown up with the progressive California spirit. He was born in Broken Bow, on July 11, 1884, and he was brought to California at the age of six years, and educated in the Santa Cruz public schools, after which he entered Cooper Medical College in San Francisco, graduating with the Class of 1911 as an M.D. His first field for practice was in Santa Cruz, where he also served as city health officer. When the United States was drawn into the World War, Dr. Bush enlisted in the U. S. Navy, was commissioned a lieutenant and served on a flotilla of destroyers as medical officer. Later he had shore duty in the Panama Canal zone for seventeen months, and was five months in the hospital at the Mare Island Navy Yard in California. Coming to Los Banos in 1919 he began the practice of medicine and established a private hospital in company with Dr. C. E. Stagner, of Gustine. The success he has made and the position he holds are a practical recognition of his skill and efficiency in his calling.
Dr. Bush married on June 20, 1920, Miss Margaret Hugus of Wyoming, and they have a son, Dean Howard. Dr. Bush belongs to the Merced County Medical Society, the State Medical Society, and the American Medical Association. He is serving as city health officer of Los Banos. His good fellowship is betokened by his membership in Santa Cruz Lodge No. 38, F. & A. M., and in Merced Lodge No. 1240, B. P. O. E. He is also a member of the American Legion of Los Banos.
History of Merced County, California – Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1925
page 809-810
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
REUBEN DAVID FESSLER
Though a comparatively recent accession to the business ranks of Cressey, Merced County, Reuben David Fessler is thoroughly satisfied to make this part of California his permanent home. Since 1919 he has been associated with his brother-in-law, L. H. Moyer, in the general merchandise business at Cressey, a prosperous town on the Santa Fe Railroad. This, firm is enjoying a lucrative business throughout this section of the county. Reuben David Fessler was born on his father's farm near Middleworth, Snyder County, Pa., April 21, 1895, a son of Franklin Pierce and Lovina ( Benfer) Fessler, both natives of Union County, Pa., but of German-Swiss ancestors. Of the eleven children born of this union, nine are now living, namely: Sally is the wife of O. B. Sanders, a farmer at Beavertown, Pa.; Lettie is the wife of L. H. Moyer, whose sketch may be found in this history; Libbie is the wife of Merle Sanders, a farmer in North Dakota; Harry resides in Santa Rosa, Cal.; Lena is the wife of W. A. Brubaker, a draughtsman, and they reside at Akron, Ohio; Maud lives in Akron, Ohio; Reuben David is the subject of this review; Edna is the wife of W. E. Norr and they reside in Cleveland, Ohio; Franklin Pierce, Jr., is a tiremaker living at Akron, Ohio. Two children died at the ages of twenty-one and fifteen, respectively. The mother is still living and makes her home at Centerville, Pa. The father died in 1924, aged seventy-four.
Reuben David Fessler received a public school education and grew to young manhood on his father's farm of 105 acres in Snyder County, Pa. When he reached the age of eighteen he went to North Dakota where, for fourteen years, he was associated with his brother in farming pursuits. In 1915 he came to California and in 1917 enlisted in Company L, 363rd Infantry; he was sent to France and served in the St. Mihiel, Argonne and Flanders campaigns; on September 27, 1918, he was wounded by a machine gun missile. He returned to the United States and received his honorable discharge at the Presidio, San Francisco, April 26, 1919; he then made a visit to his parents in Pennsylvania of a few months and upon his return to California became a partner with L. H. Moyer as before stated. Mr. Fessler acts as assistant postmaster of Cressey.
At Cressey, Cal., August 10, 1919, Mr. Fessler was married to Miss Anna Christine Jueneman, the eldest daughter of Herman Paul and Eva (Reiter) Jueneman, natives of Saxony, Germany and Austria-Hungary, respectively. Her father, Herman Paul Jueneman, lives on a farm of sixty-seven acres near Cressey, and also owns 186 acres on the islands west of Stockton, Cal. There are eight living children in this family, namely: Anna, the wife of our subject; Helena, the wife of Marvin McConnell, a farmer of Livingston, Cal.; and Herman, Minnie, Emma, Ellwood, Walter, and Willie. Mr. and Mrs. Fessler are the parents of two children: Eva Lovina and Francis Franklin. Mr. Fessler was brought up in the English Lutheran Church; fraternally, he is affiliated with the Turlock Lodge No. 395, F. & A. M.
History of Merced County, California – Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1925
page 810-811
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
RINALDO M. MIANO
One of the best and most fully equipped schools in Merced County, or in any town of equal size in all of California, is the Los Banos Grammar School. The children are brought in busses, within a radius of eight miles; there are fifteen teachers, and a student body of 475. The building has an auditorium with a seating capacity of 500; a Kindergarten department; and a nurse in attendance for the whole school.
The district superintendent of the elementary schools of Los Banos, Rinaldo M. Miano, was born in Tombstone, Ariz., on April 29, 1892, a son of John B. and Christina (Desimone) Miano, the latter born in Columbia, Cal., daughter of a pioneer gold seeker who eventually settled in Santa Clara County. Here in San Jose, J. B. Miano married, and then went to Tombstone, Ariz., where he was a pioneer miner and cattleman. He died in San Jose in 1906. Mrs. Miano makes her home with her children. Rinaldo M. was educated in the Tombstone schools, and then took a year in the New Mexico Military Institute, three years in the San Jose High School, and a teacher's course of three years in the San Jose Teachers' College. His college work finished, he taught two years in the school at Wheatland, Yuba County, and three years in Los Banos High School. For the past four years he has been district superintendent of the Los Banos elementary schools, and has made a very fine record in educational circles in California.
In 1915 Rinaldo M. Miano married Thelma Ostrom, a native of Wheatland, and they have two children, Phyllis and Melvin. Mr. Miano is a member of Los Banos Lodge No. 312, F. & A. M., and Merced Pyramid of Sciots No. 14. He belongs to the volunteer fire department of Los Banos.
History of Merced County, California – Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1925
page 811-812
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler