Tulare County
Biographies
BLASWICK, CHARLES F.
A Californian born and bred, Charles F. Blaswick was born October 4, 1857, in Plumas county, and he was taken by his parents to Colusa, then to Yuba county. From Yuba county he came to Tulare in 1886, and for the succeeding fourteen years he was employed continuously on the ranch of Joseph LaMarche. During that time he lived on the place, worked steadily and saved his money, and in 1900 he bought one hundred and twenty acres on which was a small house and barn, and soon thereafter had built an addition to the residence, fenced the land and put in a dairy of thirty or forty cows and was breeding horses and hogs and making a specialty of poultry. In these lines he has continued till the present time. Much of his land is used for pasture. At the present time he is putting in eighty acres of alfalfa, and has installed electric lighting for his house and premises. He obtains water for domestic purposes by means of an artesian well with a six-inch pipe and for irrigation from two large wells, one of fifty-eight footer, the other an eighty-footer the pumps in which are operated by one gasoline motor, one hundred inches of water being produced. Mr. Blaswick also raises stock on a small scale. His sons William and Frederick, rent three hundred and twenty acres of the Gibson ranch, operate a dairy on the property and have one hundred and twenty acres in alfalfa and two hundred in grain. They rent also one hundred and sixty acres of the Birch Williams ranch, all of which is devoted to grain raising.
The Dairymen’s Co-operative Creamery Company of Tulare numbers Mr. Blaswick among its stockholders. He affiliates with the Tulare lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is a regular and social member of the Tulare organization of the Woodmen of the World. His sons are identified with the Woodmen of the World, and the Fraternal Brotherhood, his daughter Wilhelmina with the last mentioned order and Mrs. Blaswick with the order of Fraternal Aid.
Mr. Blaswick married, November 27, 1884, Miss Anna Mahle, a native of Yuba county, Cal., and they have four daughters and two sons. William and Frederick are ranchers, and the latter married Winifred Kessell. Wilhelmina married Elmer Berkerhoff and resides in Tulare county. Mary Ann, Allie and Leona are members of their parents’ household.
SOURCE: History of
Tulare and Kings Counties,
California
with Biographical Sketches - Los Angeles,
Calif.,
Historic Record Company, 1913
Pp 477, 478
Transcribed by: Craig A Hahn
Men of English birth who have won success in California are numerous, and among them one whose career is properly within the scope of this work is George Wood, farmer and president of the Tulare Eucalyptus Company. Mr. Wood was born on the British isle, November 2, 1861. In 1884, when he was twenty-three years old, he came to Saskatchewan, Canada, and homesteaded land, which he improved until 1888. Then he disposed of his interests there and during the succeeding seven years farmed and raised stock in Ward county, N. Dak. Subsequently until 1909 he lived in McKenzie county, N. Dak., where he took up one hundred and sixty acres of land and started in to raise sheep and cattle. In 1906, however, he sold off his stock, and after that he devoted himself to farming until he settled in California. In 1907 he visited Tulare county, Cal., and with a partner bought one hundred and thirty-two acres of land, of which he eventually retained sixty-nine acres. Since he located here, he has made improvements on the property and has put forty acres under alfalfa and intends to handle the balance of the tract in the same way. His principal business is in growing hay, and he keeps little stock beyond what is necessary to operate his farm.
In 1889 Mr. Wood married Miss Caroline E. Jones, an English woman, and they have four children, Arthur, Maggie, Frank and George. Maggie is the wife of Roy N. Johnson, of North Dakota. Mr. Wood knows farming as well as any man in his vicinity and his farm is sufficient evidence of that fact. He has achieved his success in life by wise planning and hard work. His interest in the community with which he has cast his lot impels him to a course which marks him as a citizen of much public spirit.
SOURCE: History of
Tulare and Kings Counties,
California
with Biographical Sketches - Los Angeles,
Calif.,
Historic Record Company, 1913
Pp 477
Transcribed by: Craig A Hahn