Tulare County
Biographies
WILLIAM H. BLAIN
More than a half century in the land where he came as a pioneer brought to the late William H. Blain well deserved rewards. California has proven herself a generous mother to her adopted children, and Mr. Blain was loyal to her. He was a Missourian, born in Pike county, twelve miles from Bowling Green, January 3, 1839, son of W. W. and Ann (Turner) Blain. The father, a cooper, a mason and a brickmaker, built and conducted the Blain Hotel, at Bowling Green. In 1844 he built the Pike county court house. There he lived and kept tavern till the end of his days; his wife died at Hannibal, Mo. Of their nine children, six are living. Two came to this state. The oldest of the girls emigrated thither with her brother and married Hugh Jones, a retired pioneer of 1849, and died at Gilroy.
The second born of his father's family, William H. Blain, was brought up at Bowling Green, attending the public schools and, under his father's instruction, obtaining a knowledge of stock-raising. His first trip to the coast, in the year 1854, was made with a bunch of cattle. He was but fifteen at the time, a mere boy, but observant and receptive for one of his age, and he stood guard at night like the most seasoned plainsman in his party and shrank from no other duty that came to him. He left Missouri April 20, reaching Santa Cruz in October, after having made the trip by way of Sublett's Cut-off, thence down the Humboldt, through the Thousand Springs valley to Walker's, thence to Tuolumne county, a route on which there would be no lack of feed for the cattle. From October until December Mr. Blain stopped at a point near Santa Clara; then he went to Monterey county, now San Benito, where he managed a stock ranch a year. Going back to Santa Clara, he farmer there on shares till 1857, then engaged in hauling lumber in Tuolumne county, whence, eventually, he went to Monterey county, to raise cattle on shares in Pacheco Pass. He sold out there early in 1863, and in June drove to Visalia, Tulare county, and, making headquarters there, teamed to the mountains till the spring of 1865. The first winter of this period he spent at Wilcox canyon. From 1865 to 1869 he was in the sheep business, making money, and then he opened a butcher shop at White Pine, Nev., whence he went later to Eureka, continuing in the same business. By 1873 he had mastered the butcher trade so that he had no thought of changing his occupation, and it was as a butcher that he then went back to Visalia, where he established a market, which he conducted successfully many years, in conjunction with a cattle business so large that he at one time owned six hundred head. He acquired an improved cattle ranch of thirteen hundred and twenty acres near Monson, Tulare county; three hundred and fifty acres northeast of Visalia ; five thousand acres in the foothills of Tulare county; a hundred and sixty acres east of Visalia; and a handsome home in that city. For a time he was in the dairy business, but eventually he gave attention only to stock-raising.
In Santa Cruz, Mr. Blain married Sarah Collier. Their daughter, Mrs. Laura Zimmerman, lives at Tiburon, Cal., and their son, William, is a citizen of Bakersfield. His second marriage was to Julia Strube, a native of Texas, whom he wedded at Visalia. Mrs. Blain, who crossed the plains from her old home in 1861, has had four children : Frank L., who became his father's partner ; George William, who is dead; Gladys and Marguerite. Mr. Blain was a stockholder in the First National Bank of Visalia, and in various ways manifested his solicitude for the town and its people. He was a member of the Independent Order of Good Templars, in which he passed all chairs of the subordinate lodge, and of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. In the promotion and development of the San Joaquin Valley Cattle Growers Association he was helpfully active. His religious affiliations, as are those of his family, were with the Presbyterian church. He passed away November 1, 1908.
History of Tulare and Kings Counties, California with Biographical Sketches - Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company, 1913
pp. 546-547
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
JOHN AUGUST LEEBON
The productive ranch of John August Leebon is located three miles east of Visalia, Tulare county, Cal., on East Mineral King avenue. Mr. Leebon, who is one of the most progressive and successful ranchmen of this district, was born in Sweden, May 16, 1861. He grew to manhood there and was educated in the common school near the home of his childhood and youth. In 1881 he came to the United States and made his way west as far as Minneapolis, Minn. In order to acquire necessary English education, he went to school there a year, then was employed as a laborer on a Minnesota farm. In 1886 he came to California and found employment in an orchard at San Jose. Eighteen months later he went to Tacoma, Wash., and worked in a sawmill, where he received an accidental injury which kept him in a hospital for a long time. He came back to San Jose in 1889 and from then until 1897 was profitably engaged in the teaming business. Then he came to Tulare county and leased one hundred and eighteen acres of land, not far from Visalia, from the First National Bank of San Jose. In 1901 he was able to buy this property, the bulk of which was then planted to fruit, eighty acres in peaches, twenty in prunes, six in nectarines, the remainder devoted to grain and pasture. He now has a dairy of eighty cows and keeps an average of one hundred and sixty hogs, and one hundred acres of his land is under alfalfa.
An enterprising and public spirited citizen, Mr. Leebon commands the esteem of all who know him. He is a stockholder in the Co-operative Creamery company of Visalia and is from time to time identified, directly or indirectly, with other important local interests. Politically he is Republican, and though he is without ambition for political preferment he accepted the office of school director and was made secretary of his district board of education. He was one of the founders of the Swedish Mission church of San Jose, of which he was a constituent member. He donated the land for the Mineral King chapel and helped build it, and is a member of the board of trustees. Mr. Leebon was married in San Jose to Annie Anderson, of Swedish birth, who died at their home in Visalia, leaving two sons, Oscar William and Carl Edward Leebon.
History of Tulare and Kings Counties, California with Biographical Sketches - Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company, 1913
pp. 547-548
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler