Tulare County
Biographies
HON. ALLEN J. ATWELL
The name above will be recalled as that of one who as lawyer, journalist, legislator and man of affairs was long prominent in Tulare county. The late Allen J. Atwell was born at Pharsalia, Chenango county, N. Y., April 16, 1836, and died at Visalia November 21, 1891. His parents were Daniel L. and Mehetabel (June) Atwell, both natives of the Empire State. When he was ten years old his family removed to Wisconsin, and after a preparation in the public schools he became a student at the Lawrence University at Appleton, Wis., graduating with first honors from the first class of that university. Because of alphabetical precedence his name headed the membership list of the class.
The day after graduation, Mr. Atwell went to Nebraska, where he read law a year under competent direction. In the early '50s he crossed the plains to California, and after stopping for a time in San Diego he came to Visalia, where he was soon afterward admitted to the bar and where in due course of events he gained a place in history as the orator who delivered the first Fourth of July oration at that county seat. He succeeded as a general practitioner of law, was made district attorney of the county and was elected to represent Tulare county in the legislature of California. He won much success as prosecuting attorney, several important cases having fallen to his management during his term of service, and as an assemblyman the records show that he not only achieved distinction on the floor of the house, but did important and patriotic work as a member of committees. He was for a time owner of the Visalia Times, which under his control was a local newspaper of much influence. During another period he owned and operated a lumber mill near Mineral King, and among his possessions at one time was Atwell's Island, in Tulare lake, where he raised cattle and hogs. For some years he was associated in the practice of law with N. O. Bradley of Visalia. In his long and useful career he was identified from time to time with various local organizations, and as a citizen he was notably public-spirited.
In 1861 Mr. Atwell married Miss Mary M. Van Epps, a native of Illinois, who survives him, and they were the parents of nine children: Mary, wife of F. M. Creighton; Arthur J.; Nellie, wife of B. J. Ball, of Visalia ; Irving, who is dead; Clarence C.; Allen L.; Paul ; Ethel, who is the wife of Hugh McPhail; and Lizetta, who is Mrs. E. Martin.
History of Tulare and Kings Counties, California with Biographical Sketches - Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company, 1913
Pp 855-856
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
HENRY CHRISTOPHER ROES
A native of Hanover, Germany, Henry Christopher Roes, who now lives three and a half miles southeast of Dinuba in Tulare county, Cal.. was born November 10, 1835. He received the usual common school education of the place and time and when he was in his fourteenth year came over seas to New York. There he attended night school and was for six years a clerk in a grocery store. Then he came to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama, sailing to Aspinwall, crossing the Isthmus on foot and transporting his baggage on a mule, and from Panama came to 'Frisco [San Francisco] on a ship that had come around the Horn. The voyage from Panama to San Francisco consumed eight days and was not marked by any accident. After a short stay in 'Frisco Mr. Roes went to Stockton, where during the ensuing eighteen months he was proprietor of a general store. Then for three years he was mining in Calaveras county, where he and a man named Hines staked out a claim and were measurably successful, taking out some days as much as $50 worth of ore, but not being experienced miners they lost in one way or another about as much as they made. Returning to Stockton, Mr. Roes operated a grocery six months, then went to La Grange, where he mined until 1868. Early in that year he went to Europe, and returning he made a tour of the Southern states and in November was in South California when General Grant was elected president the first time. About two years later he started for San Francisco by way of Panama. He arrived in San Francisco in February, 1870, and soon went to Stanislaus county, where he was for three years a merchant. His next place of residence was Merced, which was then coming into prominence by reason of the building of the railroad. There he dealt in lumber. It was in Merced that he married Miss Louisa Snedeker, of French descent and a native of New Orleans, in 1874. She bore him two children, Edna L. and Edna Louisa. The latter has passed away. Edna L. married W. E. Rushing, a native of Texas. Mrs. Roes died in 1887.
Mr. Roes sold his lumber yard two years before he was married and started in the sheep business in the Smith mountain district. At one time he was the owner of twelve thousand head of Spanish Merinos, had other important interests and was in receipt of a salary of $125 a month and expenses as manager. The country all about him was in a state of nature. Standing on the mountain with a spy glass, he could see sheep, cattle, horses and antelope for many miles in every direction. Many herds of antelope contained as many as fifty or sixty animals and he killed many antelope for meat. Deer and bear were numerous in the mountains. He had but few neighbors and one of them, in his early days there, was Mr. Edmonson. He was in the sheep business eighteen years and made many thousand dollars. He left it to engage in wheat growing and eventually homesteaded and improved land. The business had not been without its disadvantages. Many of his sheep had been killed by bear and his loss by accident and disease was sometimes heavy. He was twenty-two-miles, distant from Visalia, his nearest market town, which he had frequently to visit for many purposes, on one memorable occasion running his horse nearly the whole distance. The journey to and fro consumed a day or more time. There being no roads a part of the way was necessarily difficult. About six years ago he bought twenty acres which he has devoted to vines and alfalfa and he has charge of twenty acres, the property of another man. He has been particularly successful with the Thompson seedless grapes.
When he was twenty-three years old Mr. Roes became a member of the Masonic order and he has been identified with the Blue Lodge at Merced since 1899. In his politics he is Republican. He is a communicant of the German Lutheran church.
History of Tulare and Kings Counties, California with Biographical Sketches - Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company, 1913
Pp 856-858
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler