Tulare County
Biographies
JEAN B. BILHOU
Jean B. Bilhou, one of the best known sheep men in Tulare county and for twenty years and more a resident of Porterville, where he and his family have a pleasant home on South Main street, is a native of the republic of France, but has been a resident of California since the days of his young manhood. He was born in the department of the Basses Pyrenees, in Frances, October 29, 1885, and is the son of Joseph and Ann Bilhou, both also natives of that country. He was reared in his native place and received his education there, remaining there until he was nineteen years of age, when, in 1904, he came to the United States and by prior arrangement made his way on out to California and to compatriots who had become established in the Porterville district.
The day following his arrival in Porterville, Mr. Bilhou secured employment as a shepherd and thus entered upon a career which he has followed on to success, now being recognized as one of the leading sheep men in this section of the state. He continued along this line, taking care of the sheep in some of the big flocks in the Porterville district, and was thus employed for years, or until 1917, by which time he had accumulated a fund which enabled him to own a flock of his own. In that year he bought one thousand sheep and started in as a sheep man on his own account, grazing his flocks on the nearby hillsides. Though he has met with numerous trials common to the sheep business since he ventured out “on his own”, Mr. Bilhou has done well in the main and now feels that the worst of these trials are over, for he now has become well established in the business and has a profitable flock.
On December 18, 1909, in Porterville, Mr. Bilhou was united in marriage to Miss Theresa Camou, who also was born in France and who has been a resident of California since 1908. They have two sons: Ernest and Eloy Bilhou, who are now attending the public schools in Porterville. The Bilhous have a comfortable home on South Main street and are very pleasantly situated. When he came to California, Mr. Bilhou was unacquainted with the language of his adopted country, but by attention and application he soon acquired a good working knowledge of the tongue, and when he presently acquired his American citizenship he was able to feel that he was a true Californian indeed. He takes a warm interest in local civic affairs and does his part as a good citizen in promoting the general interests of the community. He is affiliated with the local camp of the Modern Woodmen and in the affairs of that popular fraternal organization takes an active interest.
History of Tulare County and Kings County, California – Kathleen Edwards Small & J. Larry Smith, Vol. I, Chicago, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1926, Page 261
Transcribed by Jeannie Miyama
GEORGE BIRKENHAUER
No doubt the people of Visalia, California, will remember for years to come the late George Birkenhauer, who for thirty-four years was an active participant in the industrial, civic and fraternal life of the city. He was born in the state of New York, January 21, 1861, but while still a young man went to Lockhaven, Pennsylvania. Having graduated in a school of pharmacy, he began his business career as a clerk in a drug store. His uncle in Lockhaven was engaged in the manufacture of cigars and after a time George gave up the drug business to learn the trade of cigar maker with his uncle. He became an expert in this occupation and when he was about twenty-seven years old he decided to try his fortune on the Pacific coast.
On August 1, 1888, Mr. Birkenhauer arrived at Visalia, and liking the appearance of the town, settled down to become a permanent resident. With a rather limited capital he opened a cigar factory in the Palace Hotel annex on Court street. As this was the first cigar factor in Visalia, and one of the first in the San Joaquin valley, it attracted no little amount of attention. Being a good workman and a thorough judge of tobacco, Mr. Birkenhauer’s cigars quickly found a market and the demand for them grew as their quality became known to smokers. The result was that he prospered and invested some his earnings in a ranch on the Tulare road. After some years he disposed of his cigar factory and devoted all his time to fruit growing on his ranch, where he had one of the most productive orchards in the county.
Mr. Birkenhauer, from the time he came to Visalia in the summer of 1888 until his death on June 17, 1922, manifested a consistent interest in the affairs of Tulare county and his adopted city. As a democrat he was influential in the councils of his party, rejoiced with other democrats over a victory at the polls, but was never seriously cast down when his party ticket was defeated. While not an office-seeker, he was three times elected to the Visalia city council, and was at one time a member of the board of supervisors of Tulare county. It is worthy of note that in his candidacy for supervisor he ran on an independent ticket and was triumphantly elected over two opponents. No better evidence of his personal popularity and the esteem in which he was held by his fellow citizens is necessary. As supervisor he always tried to apply the same principles to county affairs that he had applied and proved in his private business. Progressive and public-spirited, he believed in public improvements that would be of general benefit to the community, but he also believed that the county should receive value to the amount of 100 cents for each dollar of the public fund expended in making such improvements.
In the fraternal organizations of Visalia few men were better known than George Birkenhauer. He was a thirty-second degree Mason in the Scottish Rite and about a year before his death, when sixty years of age, he was made a member of Islam Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of San Francisco. As one of the charter members of the Visalia Lodge, Fraternal Order of Eagles, he was one of the organizers of the Lodge and its first presiding officer. He also belonged to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Visalia Lodge No. 1298, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
On December 14, 1879, in Flemington, Pennsylvania, Mr. Birkenhauer and Miss Jessie Slenker, a native of Pennsylvania, were married. Mrs. Birkenhauer accompanied her husband to California and is still living in Visalia, where she is active in the work of women’s clubs and civic orders. She recently headed a subscription list with one thousand dollars for the erection of a new Masonic temple as a memorial to her late husband. She owns seventy-two and one-half acres of prunes, peaches and plums, and the ranch is being handled by William Brown.
History of Tulare County and Kings County, California – Kathleen Edwards Small & J. Larry Smith, Vol. I, Chicago, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1926, Page 112
Transcribed by Jeannie Miyama