Memorial 5

Art - Kearney Mansion Jan 2010 cropped
Only four weeks left. Again, it’s getting short here. While the “Gold Rush” had a beginning of migrations to California, there were men coming from all areas from the eastern states, north and south, and from global locations. Other early farmers or names in the area were Hildreth, Daulton, Castro, Firebaugh, Chapman, Helm, Johnson, Faymonville, Savage, Heiskell, as well as Miller and Lux. Many were ex-miners.
When Millerton was still the Fresno County seat there was a civilian fight that had to be quelled by the US Army in the area. The state of California had the famous “California One Hundred” battalion that went to the east coast as a Union volunteers.

The war occurred before Fresno was a town. There were further folks coming after the war from both northern and southern states. There were veterans farming here before the City of Fresno was formed in 1872 on Easterby farm land.

Fresno County had the Alabama colony north of the San Joaquin River on Cottonwood Creek near present day Highway 99 and Avenue 12 in the present Madera County.[ Madera County was formed in 1893 from the northern portion of Fresno County.] Of the family names of that era are Borden, Mordecai, Dixon, Holmes, Reading, Sledge, Chapman, Friedlander. I mentioned Ryan in Fresno, and there were the three doctors, Hopkins, Maupin and Meux. The old Ryan Hotel in Fresno was built by Confederate Civil War Veteran Ryan.

Timothy J. Desmond
Tim’s Amazon author page at: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00694KQQO
Writing site at: http://timsfiction-art.com
Art site at: http://artbydesmond.com

Memorial 3

Willis Elmer and Winona Gladys Yeager Justice

Many of us have attended Veterans Day memorials and Memorial Day events at our local cemeteries. My earliest memory is of going on a sunny May Memorial Day afternoon with my grandmother. She picked white Gardenias off of her own shrubs and we went to my grandfather’s grave site. He was a World War I veteran. While I can call myself a native Californian, she was born in Alabama. They migrated to Fresno in 1928. They had rented the Egger’s ranch, south of the current Fresno Yosemite International Airport.
I thank Fresno County Historical Society for printing a memorial event invitation in their latest issue of Ash Tree Echo, Vol.48, Issue 1, March 2013. They do not have an “online” publication, but can be followed on Facebook at
http://www.facebook.com#!/FresnoGenealogy
Timothy J. Desmond
Tim’s Amazon author page at: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00694KQQO
http://timsfiction-art.com
http://artbydesmond.com