Merced County
Biographies
A. W. STOTHERS
It was on August 28, 1874, that A. W. Stothers was born, a son of William and Caroline (Duff) Stothers, in Pratt County, Mo. Six weeks later the parents brought their son with them to California and here he grew up and attended school in the Russell district in Merced County. When he was twenty he started out for himself and leased 1260 acres of the Ivett property, south of Planada, and began operations as a grain farmer. He continued thus occupied for twelve years, sometimes having as many as 2500 acres in grain, principally wheat. In carrying on his operations he employed from three to forty men, as occasion required, and he had a combined harvester drawn by mules and horses, but as more modern methods came into vogue, Mr. Stothers kept up with the period and was one of the first in this section to use a caterpillar tractor and combined harvester and thresher. In 1919 he gave up grain farming, and by 1923 he had set ninety acres to figs and twelve acres to almonds on his own property, which comprises some 414 acres in all; and on this ranch he has made every one of the improvements seen today, he having owned the land for the past twenty-five years.
On January 29, 1896, Mr. Stothers was united in marriage with Miss Violet A. Brady, born in San Diego County. Her parents having died when she was twelve years old, she came to Kings County to make her home with relatives and there she was married. Mr. and Mrs. Stothers have had five children: Eva, a stenographer in San Francisco; William Earl, still at home; Alma, a resident nurse at Lane Hospital in San Francisco; Eileen, also a stenographer in San Francisco; and Shannon Elmo, attending the Merced Union High School. Mr. Stothers is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Merced. In politics he votes the Republican ticket.
History of Merced County, California – Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1925
page 609-610
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
JOHN JERDINE BAXTER
It is getting more and more uncommon in this day to find a man who has remained on the home ranch, faithful to the responsibilities he took up as a boy, and carrying on the work of his pioneer parents, who undertook to develop barren land into acres of fruition for future posterity. And when we do find such men, we know that their outstanding characteristics are reliability and and a steadfast "hewing to the line." J. J. Baxter was born on the ranch where he now makes his home, January 28, 1883, the youngest child now living in the family of James Campbell Baxter, pioneer rancher of Merced County. He received a good education, attended the Oakland High School, and later was graduated from the Oakland Polytechnic Business College in 1905.
Mr. Baxter resided in Oakland until 1906, which year he returned to the home ranch and worked for his brothers, D. A. and J. R. Baxter, and learned the fundamentals of ranch life from practical experience. He started ranching on his own responsibility in 1911 and has made a success of his chosen work in life, and he feels that Merced County has much to offer the settler who chooses this part of California in which to carry on development work. His ranch property now consists of 700 acres, and embraces the old Baxter home, in the Appling District, Merced County.
The marriage of Mr. Baxter, which occurred September 25, 1907, at Florence, Ore., united him with Miss Roberta Bond, born at Plainsburg, Merced County, September 25, 1885, the only daughter of the late Rev. Lewis Robert Bond. She is a graduate student of music under Prof. Z. M. Parvin. One child has blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Baxter, Christine Margaret, born in Oakland, Cal., and a student in the Le Grand High School, class 1925. Fraternally, Mr. Baxter is a member of Merced Lodge No. 208, I. O. O. F., having joined that order in 1911; he also belongs to the Fraternal Aid Union of Le Grand, and in line with his ideas on cooperation, he is a member of the Le Grand Farm Bureau. In religious belief the family are members of the Presbyterian church.
History of Merced County, California – Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1925
page 610-611
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
LUTHER BATTEN
Coming from a long line of New England ancestors, Luther Batten was born August 28, 1848, on the Eau Claire River, in Wisconsin, a son of John Batten, Jr. His grandfather, John Batten, Sr., a native of Massachusetts, moved to Vermont when young and there spent the rest of his life, dying at the age of seventy-three. His wife, in maidenhood Hannah Banfield, spent her sixty years of life in the Green Mountain State.
John Batten, Jr., was born in Orange County, Vt., September 8, 1805. He served a seven-year apprenticeship as a carriage-maker in Springfield, then followed the trade in various parts of the country, finally going to Maryland, where he was connected with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad as an employe. He subsequently assisted in building a canal along the Potomac River as far as Hagerstown. He then located in Philadelphia and was engaged in transporting coal from Mauch Chunk to that city. Resuming his trade he went to New York City and Buffalo, thence to Canada, where he embarked in the lumber business at Port Kent. His next move was to Michigan, settling at Monroe, then a straggling hamlet. In 1839, three years after his marriage, he moved to Galena, Ill., and from there to Grand Rapids, Wis., where as a pioneer dealer and operator he ran the first sawmill. He later went to Stevens Point, remaining there until 1870, when he went to Gar Creek, Lincoln County, Nebr., where he took up a tract of raw land and improved a farm. In 1879 he sold out and bought a tract in Lancaster County, where he lived until his death in 1891.
John Batten, Jr., was married in 1836, in Monroe, Mich., to Sophia Allen, a native of New York State. She died in Wisconsin at the age of eighty-six. Her father, Samuel Allen, was a cousin of Col. Ethan Allen of Revolutionary fame. She bore her husband seven children, one of whom, Hannah, born in Galena, Ill., died in childhood. The others grew to maturity: Mrs. Mary Chapin died in Nebraska in 1903; William lived in Wisconsin; Clarissa died in Wisconsin; Luther; John, of Waupaca; and Mrs. Adaline Dunbar, also of Wisconsin.
Luther Batten attended the schools of Wisconsin, then went with the family to Nebraska in 1870. In 1872 he homesteaded eighty acres on Gar Creek, and when he sold out he bought 160 acres in Oak Precinct, Lancaster County, where he settled with his family. He became owner of 290 acres, which he broke and improved into a very productive farm and where he carried on farming for many years, also raising stock and operating a threshing machine for about a quarter of a century, first using horse-power, but later using steam power. He was prominent and popular both as a citizen and a farmer and wielded a wide influence. In 1894 he came to California with his family and bought twenty-four acres near Dos Palos, where he started an orchard and developed eighteen acres to apples, pears, peaches, apricots, walnuts, figs, etc. He had thirty different kinds of trees on one acre for experimental purposes. He owned sixty acres in all and had an interest in the local telephone company and was manager of the G. A. R. park of ten acres.
On April 19, 1874, in Lancaster County, Luther Batten was married to Helen Hermance, born in Scio, New York, a daughter of J. L. Hermance. Her grandfather, John S. Hermance, born in 1806, died in Cuba, N. Y., in 1885. His wife was Marion Bristol, daughter of a clergyman. J. L. Hermance was born in 1832 in Rensselaer County, N. Y., and was a farmer. He served in Company C, Sixty-seventh N. Y. Volunteer Infantry, and was on detached duty at the Douglas Hospital, Washington, until July, 1862, when he was discharged on account of ill health. When he had recovered he reenlisted in Company A, 188th N. Y. Infantry, in which he served as color bearer for the Fifth Army Corps. He was mustered out after the Grand Review at Washington and returned home to take up civil life. In 1872 he went to Nebraska and took up a homestead north of Lincoln and improved a farm. He served as superintendent of the poor farm for six years. He later set out a fine orchard and improved a good farm five miles north of Lincoln, and eventually became a wealthy man. He was married March 28, 1852, to Esther Hawkins, also a native of New York. They had two children who grew up: Ernest Hermance and Mrs. Batten. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Batten was blessed with eight children: Ernest LeRoy died December 8, 1904; Carrie Addie died in 1901; Winnie died in 1903; and Elmer died in 1906, all dying or being buried on their twenty-first birthdays. Three other children died in infancy. Fay is the only survivor. Mr. Batten was a Republican and fraternally belonged to the Maccabees. Mrs. Batten was a member of the Methodist Church, South. Mr. Batten died on August 29, 1911, and Mrs. Batten passed away on October 28, 1922.
History of Merced County, California – Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1925
page 611-613
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler