Tulare County
Biographies
GEORGE BIRKENHAUER
George Birkenhauer is the proprietor of the
only cigar manufactory in Visalia. He was born in the State of New York, January
24, 1861, son of Henry Birkenhauer, a native of Germany. He was educated in
Pennsylvania, learned the drug business in Philadelphia, and holds a certificate
from a school of pharmacy. He afterward embarked in the cigar business, removed
to Denver, Colorado, and a year later came to California.
July 8, 1888, Mr. Birkenhauer opened his cigar business in Visalia, and from the
beginning it has been a success, his cigars being now owned quite generally
throughout Tulare County. He is an active and energetic young man, and has
thoroughly identified himself with the interests of Visalia: he is a member of
the I. O. O. F. in all its branches, of the Foresters, and also of the Militia
Company of Visalia, N. G. C. Politically he is a Democrat, and is now serving
his second term as a member of the Common Council of the city. In addition to
his other interests he has given some attention to fruit-culture, owning thirty
acres of land, adjoining the city, planted to peaches, prunes, and vines.
Mr. Birkenhauer was married December 4, 1882, to Miss Jessie Slinker, a native
of Pennsylvania. They were reared within two miles of each other.
SOURCE: Memorial and Biographical History of the Counties of Fresno, Tulare and
Kern, California
Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1892, Page 707, 708 Transcribed by
Beverly Green
B. F. BISHOP
B. F. Bishop, who is prominently identified with the stock interests of Tulare County, was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, November 6, 1853. His father, Payton R. Bishop, settled in Bridgeport when that now famous city was a town of 1,500 inhabitants, and, as a contractor and builder, was intimately connected with the city's growth, erecting many of its business blocks and private residences. About Golden Hill stand many beautiful homes as monuments to his artistic skill and masterful workmanship.
The subject of this sketch was educated in the private institution of Mr. Guy B.
Day, a prominent and popular school; and at the age of sixteen he began
mercantile life as a clerk, at nineteen starting a general grocery store on his
own account and continuing it one year. He then gave up his business in order to
accompany his father to California and engage in raising sheep. They arrived on
California soil in the spring of 1874, came direct to Tulare County and
purchased a band of 2,500 sheep, locating east of Tulare on the ranch our
subject now occupies. They pre-empted 320 acres of Government land, with free
grazing on all sides. Their band gradually increased to 7,500 and they continued
the business until 1882, when they sold out and engaged in raising horses and
mules. Father and son lived together until 1886. At that time, owing to failing
health of the former, they went East, and he died October 20, 1886, at the
advanced age of seventy-six years.
Mr. Bishop subsequently returned to his ranch, which they had increased by
purchase to 2,400 acres, with 640 acres of grazing land in the mountains and 343
acres elsewhere about the valley. He has about 225 head of horses and mules on
the ranch, a large part of which he rents for farming purposes. He has 250 acres
in alfalfa and twenty-eight acres in vines, with fruit for home use. Four
hundred acres of his land he has colonized under the name of the Oakdale Colony,
to which he will add other lands as required.
Mr. Bishop was married, in Brooklyn, New York, January 16, 1889, to Miss Anna
Roberts, a native of Norwalk, Connecticut.
He still owns important interests in the East among which we refer to the
Islands of Chimous, Hay and Copp, his brother-in-law being a partner with him in
their ownership. These islands comprise about seventy-five acres and lie just
off the shore at South Norwalk. They are being improved and are likely to become
a popular resort for pleasure seekers of New York City, who desire rest and
quiet and still wish to live in the enjoyment of the cooling breezes of Long
Island Sound.
SOURCE: Memorial and Biographical History of the Counties of Fresno, Tulare and
Kern, California
Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1892, Page 639 Transcribed by Beverly
Green