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FROG AMBER GRAIN...
. . .TO FRUITEOPLAIN
A HISTORY OF CERES, CALIFORNIA AND ITS 5URROUNOINGS
1776 1976
by mildred D. Lucas
"These are the gifts of Ceres that I carry,
Whj~h9 if you scatter across your land,
IMill bring a harvest free of all iueeds and thorns.~'
-Ovid
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Copyright 1976
by
mildred 0. Lucas
Ceres, California
Published under the auspices of the
Ceres Bicentennial Committee
in cooperatio IMith the
Ceres Unified School Oistrict
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
First £dition
Printed in The United 5tates of America
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Dedicated to
`YIY~TLE BA~O~ID~E HA~
ThE OLD CE~ES 5TUDY CLUB
and
ALL C~R~SEAN5
Who Have An Abiding Interest In Preserving And Imparting
A Kno~1edge Of This Communityes Origins And Peop1~s
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PREFACE
The idea ~or this book began with the Ceres Study Club,
just before it disbanded, and was the special interest of
myrtle Baidridge Ham. She died on Easter Sunday, 1975 soon
after attending thR first meeting of Ceres people organizing
the community observance of our country's bicentennial year.
The author and two other past members of the Study Club. were
asked by mayor Gary Condit and Bicentennial Committee chair-
man Robert Whitmore to carry the idea to fruition.
The initial concept of a booklet containing portraits
and biographies of a few af the earliest families has been
expanded to tell the story of a farming village, by narra-
tives, biographies, diary and newspaper excerpts, census,
court and school records. Historical data has been gathered
from reliable sources, original matter and primary documents
being used wherever available. IMe are particularly grateful
to myrtle Holm Price for granting petmission to use the old
diaries and papers of Arvilla Averill Ulch and Florence Ulch
Worrell. Caryl Fowler gave ab£e assistance from her years
of experience as a reporter, especially on matter pertaining
to modern Ceres~ Ruth Caswell Jorgensen provided stimulus and
interest; and I give additional thanks to my husband, Grant
Lucas, who has a never-failing and contagious interest in his
home town. (3ne of the bonuses of compiling the book has been
the privilege of hearing first-hand reminiscences of many old-
timers. We apologize if lack of tire and space has caused im-
portant omissions.
In this bicentennial year of our nation, we hope to renew
that pride of community and family beginnings which is a part
of pride of country. A knowledge of history and traditions of
country and community is basic to this pride. The Bicentennial
Commission recognizRd the importance of individual communities
when it decided to forego great national celebrations in favor
of local activities devised by the people. We hope this book
will contribute a small part toward rekindling the patriotic
spirit and our belief in the basic soundness of our society
and way of life. It has been said many times in different ways
that through knowledge of the past on~ gains strength for the
future.
Recently, more historians have begun to realize that local
history is one of the soundest roads towards an understanding
of national history. World history is not just of generals and
popes, kings and castles, battles and discoveries. Even more
so, the history of the United States is not just of Columbus,
Lewis and Clark, the White House, the Battle of New Orleans or
the Pottsdam Conference. It is of the little towns as well as
of the cities, of the later western entrepreneur as well as of
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the early plantation ownere more han in any otier country,
community life is a moving force and power to the progress,
change and stability of this nation. &omrnunity life is Amer-
ica. Therefore, the community life of £ei~. ~ worthy o~ re-
counting, for it fills one spot in the viable history o~ a
developing nation.
A sell-governing people decides its own destiny as it
works and votes and plays and volunteers and interacts. In
each co~munity, local leaders and talkersand followers and
workers contribute their part to larger attitudes. IMe relate
our local experience t~ th~ national experience as we argue,
develop prejudices and ~ encounter and react to
ideas outside, absorb dii~t~ting cultures and thus evolve our
own ideas and line style.
While no attempt has been made to overturn moldy stones
to see what would crawl out, or to rattle pQs~ible skeletons
in any extant closets, it has been the wish o~ those contri-
buting to these pages to t~~l a human narrative with some
color and spice rather thar to adopt an old-style leglorified
obituary" manner. ~e hope ~e have been able to convey to the
reader a sense of the worth and variety of the ~eres people
who make our small American community typical and at the same
time unique, a very reai part ot the heritage a~d future of
our developing nation.
mildred D. Lucas
ceres--may, 1975
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£ONTENT5
I. 1776-1870, B.£.: 5OUTH OF THE TUOLUmNE, B~FOR~ CERES 7
II. "£ERES" 9
III. 600 AND 6000E55 13
I',. FOUNOINE FAIYIILIE5 AND S~TTLE0 SETTLES 21
`1. ~I~VE GOT THE iAiATER~' 95
VI. THE TOWN 103
VII. THE COUNTRY AROUND 121
VI II. TOWN AND COUNTRY MEET 129
IX. A WOmAN~5 LOT 157
X. EARTH AND ALTAR 165
XI. EDUCATION: FORMAL AND INFORUIAL 185
XII. "WHERE DO YOU TRADE?" 199
XIII. ALL THE NEWS THAT FITS 209
XIV. A ROAD BY ANY OTHER NATE 211
Citizen of the Year Aiuards 118
Goddesses and Peaches 118
Dates Important in Ceres History 196
Residents and Businesses of Ceres, 185485 215
Residents and Businesses of Ceres, 1893 217
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A Rabbit drive in San Joaquin Valley.
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I I e
&/il ~ Y-A x---
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jil] ~~/¾~;; /f4I /4~ ~ J ~ ¾~
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1776 1570, B. C.
SOUTH OF THE TuOLumI~E, BEFORE CER~S
When Stanislaus County ~as rormed in 1554 from a portion
of Tuolumne County the area south of the Tuo~umne River that
later became knci~in as Ceres formed a quiet center in the midst
o~ grasslands dotted with a few oak trees.
none of the early trail-blazers who crisscrossed the area
came through. In 1?76, when the American Revolution was in
full swing, Joaquin moraga passed.by north of the Tuolumne. In
1506, just when the Lewis and Clark expedition was returning
to St. Louis, Gabriel moraga and Padre munoz came close but
still missed the site~o~ Ceres as they went by to the east. In
1844, James K. Polk was elected president on the slogan "54-40
or Fight'. and James C. Fremont9 who was crossing the future
Stanislaus County, stayed well away from the central part of
it. Jack Brotherton, Stanislaus County historian, shows on
his county historical map that El Camino Viejo, established in
the 1540's for cattle drives, was far to the west of Ceres-to-be.
The Coconoons and the Potoancies, subdivisions of the iflodoc
Indian tribe, lived in the area between the Tuolumne and merced
Rivers. They were also called by the general term "Walla-Wallas.'.
In 1851, major James 0. Savage gave the number of Tuolumne River
Indians as 2,100, and another authority stated that as early as
1852 the only Indians in Stanislaus County were 20 at Bonsell's
Ferry and about 250 at Knight's Ferry. So one could say with
reasonable certainty that there were no Indians remaining in the
area when Ceres was settled.
Daniel IAJhitmore, called the Founder of Cere~, acquired some
of his future vast acreage and moved upon it in 1867, his wagons
striking across the open ground from San Joaquin County. Roads
and houses and town were yet to be created. However, at least
thirteen years prior to the birth of Ceres, the lands west along
the south bank of the Tuolumne and along the east bank of the
San Joaquin were beginning to attract settlers. In this greater
area that is now called the Ceres sphere of influence and at the
northwest corner of the present Ceres Unified School District,
was Adamsville, the first county seat. Ada~sville was the scene
or the killing of George Worth, sheriff of Tuolumne County, un-
der the courthouse oak, by £arley Lyons. The site is on the
riverbank, on private land, about opposite Iowa Avenue north of
the river. The old courthouse itself still remained until the
late 1960's when it was torn down to make iuay for a concrete
block house.
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We have heard much of grain raising in early days but not
so much o~ sheep9 cattle and hogs. Yet sheep raising iuas well
under way by 1556, south of the Tuolumne, and hogs roamed the
river bottom lands while cattle roamed the uplands with a few
remaining wild horses.
Davis 5chool District, later to become Ceres~ first school,
was a going concern by 156Q. The desc~dants of a number of
the river land settlers Df the 185O~s have become identified
with ~eres area history and progress. And, most interesting
of all, Levi carter owned tha land, grew grain, and built ware-
houses on the site of ~er~s, prior to its founding.
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CERES
Dear little spot, still and serene,
The home of Teinperance,
Thy fields so lair ~nd green
Ne'er happened so by chance.
Thy citizens in numbers few
Oevoted are, to good;
Industrious and frugal, too,
Ho~ sweet their quietude.
They plow and plant, they sow and reap
And gather in their grain.
O'er all their ways, strict vigils keep,
They thus enrich the plain.
No plagues of rum to curse and blight
Our fair young toun;
No drunks or brawls by day or night
Its prestige to drag down.
No demon dark, pith subtle wiles
Can lure it from it~ stand
Of solid moral principles,
The best in all the land.
Oh happy people, do ye know
Of what intrinsic worth
Are all these privileges to you?
Surpassing all on earth.
Then cheri~h well these blessings grand
Nor think them commonplace,
A noble fruitage they'll command
As time rolls on apace.
--A. E. Ulch
"The Ceres Scraper", 1902
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THF SAN JOAQUIN VALLFv.
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Wheat Teams, waiting to unload.
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Early day combine harvestar in Ceres area.
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GOD AND (3000E55
"The Goddess Ceres hath #*The harvest is past,
Filled their threshin~-f1oor the sumner is ended,
In plenteous measure. .3 and we are not saved."
-heocritus -Jeremiah VIII:20
Ceres stands for health, beauty, fruitfulness, wholesome
ness. She is the natural giver of life and happiness, the great
Earth-mother. £eres, the fruitful goddess, epitomizes love of
life. That a town which from its beginnings prided itself upon
its christian piety and temperance should select as its name-
giver a Roman, pre-Christian goddess who presided ever pagan
festivals of fertility and harvest has apparently never bothered
many of its citizens.
It will come as a surprise to many that when alma J. Carter,
the school-teacher daughter of Levi Carter, chose the classical
name of Ceres in 1q71, she was naming her father3s granary and
warehouses along the new railroad, not a future temperance town.
Daniel Whitmore3s first home in Stanislaus County had been on
land nearer the river since 1567. The Services and Warners,
who had come the same year, were south of the townsite. When
Daniel built his new home in late 1870 and moved into it in
1571, he had not yet purchased the land on which it stood.
According to a story told by Jennie Whitmore Caswell, the
grand-daughter of Daniel, Levi Carter and her grandfather were
rivals. Perhaps each had a town in mind when he heard that the
path of the railroad was settled--and Carter owned the land.
Could it have been Daniel, or was it Levi perhaps, who was the
settler quoted in the Sacramento `3Union" for April 17, 1868? It
is a description quoted from the Stockton ~9Gazette" describing
the Ceres area and soijth. Perhaps Daniel and Levi each had
reasons and motives beyond the coming of the railroad in 1871
to found a totiuni
"Westport (the river town) is situated on a bluff,
a mile or so above Paradise. Behind lies the dis-
trict which has been seeded this season. The coun-
try in the rear is rapidly filling up. In evidence
of which, one of the settlers told us the following:
Last Fall, he settled out on the plain, 4 miles off,
alone; now he can count forty dwellings from the
top of his house, and at a schoolhouse nearby there
are fifty-three children taught. Great preparations
are being made to extend the area of tilled surface
. . . the country in which (they) are located is at
this season lovely beyond description. They and
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the lands adjoining tAijil be the seat of competency
and refinement at no distant ti'ne, which will be
enjoyed by a large population. I,
One must remember, of course, that the flat land enabled
one to see for miles, as far away as Turlock now is, so those
forty dwellings were scattered over an area much larger than
the immediate vicinity o~ Ceres. Westport was a river town
of short life, on the south bank of the Tuolumne about where
Carpenter Road now crosses the river.
As the plows began tjrning over the soil for the first
time, an early opportunity arose to balance Christian princi-
ples of harmony with economic necessity. The stock men with
their cattle and sheep had heretofore had no barriers. The
*`Union" article continues: "Amicable arrangements were early
made between the farmers and stock owners, by which the far-
mer agreed to herd the stock off the land seeded, until the
cessation of rains and the hardening of the ground should
permit the employment of horses to collect the cattle. .
the stock. . . driven to points remote from the cultivated
territory."
The group of people who were later to become Ceres' fledg-
ling population were isolated from one another. most traffic
was still passing to the north and the railroad was still in
its initial stages. An L. P. mc , writing for the Paci-
fic Rural Press, in his notes of travel in Stanislaus and £al-
averas counties in 1871, mentions only the settlements of
~ Ferry, Buenavista and Fourth £rossing. Oirt wagon
tracks connected some of the farms. The ferry on the Tuolumne
River's south bank, near the spot where the Central Pacific
Railroad bridge crossed, formed the main contact with the out-
~r world. This ferry was first known as the Oavis Ferry and
was probably started by the Harvey Bates Davis (see Education:
Formal and Informal) who had another ferry further up the Tuo-
lumne on the north bank, from 1850-60. The ferry nearest the
site of Ceres was begun in 18~7. In 1877 Daniel Whitmore took
it over and operated it until the first passenger bridge was
built in 18a3.
In addition to the ferries there was a place called Sand
Banks or the Sand Hill where wheat barges loaded to cross the
Tuolumne River. It was located on river bottom land, north of
present Hatch Road and east of mitchell Road on what is now the
Triplett property. According to a 1909 soil survey of the area,
dunelike ridges of wind-blown sand occurred commonly on the up-
land immediately south of the Tuolumne.
~ellinof~eres
The Whitmores, the Services and the Warners gathered about
themselves a small nucleus of temperate, church-going, like-
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minded people. In 1572, aster ~~ve~a1 buildings had been
built, ~ihitmore bought the site o~ O'~s. An indenture was
made on November 8, 1q72 between Levi Carter and Oaniel Whit-
more for a portion of land which calls between Central Avenue
on the east and Tenth 5treet on the west, and between Whitmore
Avenue on the north and 5ervi~e Road on the south. The sum
that Daniel paid Levi was $9,OOO~ carter carefully reserved to
himself a 300 X 500 foot piece along the railroad on which stood
a granary and warehouse he had built. (Book 9, Pp. 361-362, Stan-
islaus County Deeds)
As the couiti'y~ide was settled and the town began filling
up, newcomers sound a unique clause on every deed of land pur-
chased ~rorn Whitmore. It was also on all the town lot deeds
whether one that was bought or one that Whitmore gave away to
encourage people to settle in Ceres. The title to the prop-
erty was to revert to the Whitmore gamily if intoxicating bev-
erages were manufactured or sold on the land, or ~n any street
or road surrounding ite*
This was at the height c; the temperance movement, which
was also so closely associate~ with many Protestant churches
that activities were interwoven. And in the village of Ceres,
the same people were involved i~ both temperance and church
work. In the summer of 187w, ~ rumor went around town that a
.`whisky shop" was to be started on a piece of land belonging
to the railroad which had no restrictions upon it. (Carter~s
reserved piece of land?) A mass meeting was called to fight
the danger. As \1iola Averill craig IAirote about the threat:
N
. . . strange as it may seem, here where the tern-
perance principles were so strong, there were those
who favorer having one of those pitfalls in their
midst." Despite the strong and organized opposi-
tion, she goes on, Nthere was a man bold enough and
bad enough to erect a shanty and put over his door
the single word `saloon' and ~ suppose the fur-
nishings inside were th~ ~~dl bottles and glasses,
kegs of beer an~ tobacco and perhaps a few jars of
candy to entice some of th~ boys who had a sweet
tooth; ~ut his business did not prosper, and he
found himself isolated from all other members of
society, and very few cared to be seen going inside
*A5 this clause constituted a lien against the property, Whit-
more U
5 heirs were asked by some owners to remove the stipulation.
The restriction was rescinded for many veterans following World
War II so they could obtain loans. However~ the wording still
appears on many deeds.
PAGE 19 Show Image
his door to see what he did keep there. He contin
ued his unpro~itab1e business for about tLJO years,
receiving the most of his patronage from the kind
of travelers that can most always rind ten cents to
buy a drink, but seldom one with which to buy bread.
lAihen the opportunity came he gladly availed himself
of it to sell out to one Prather, a stranger. He
came and erected an hotel with a bar-room in it,
then brought his wife and daughter and established
himself there, but ~ somewhat chagrined to find
himself and family entirely ignored by all the other
people. This was more than he could stand, and he,
too, was glad to sell out and go to a more congen
ial place. Since that time the hotel has been run
on strictly temperance principles, and many a jibe
has the place received because no other drink than
pure, cold water can be obtained by the thirsty way-
farer.
mrs. Oavid K. ~oodbridge was the one who bought the hotel.
Daniel Whitmore is said to have put $5,000 cash into the project,
also. IYlrs. ~oodbridge enlarged the building and sold it to fflrs.
Nancy Conner as a temperance hotel.
The First Harvest Festivals
The harvest celebrations of Ceres have a long tradition
in the community. The first ones were held in the earliest
days when neighbors helped one another to harvest the grain
in the old manner, and then feasted and played afterwards.
This was not only a common practice of the time but was es-
pecially appropriate for an agricultural place called Ceres.
The harvest crews who came for the season (some of whom stayed
and became farmers on their own) were the first itinerant work-
ers to come to the Valley, and were always included in harvest
celebrations. An up-to-date version of this is the harvest
festival sponsored each year for farmers and their workers by
the Growers I Harvesting Committee, based in Ceres.
The feasts became more formally organized when they were
held in connection ~iith the Ceres Grange, beginning in 1873.
Then, when a Grange Hall was built in 1880, the celebrations
were held both outside and inside the hall. The town that had
fought against liquor so hard was not so opposed to dancing,
though it was sometimes disguised under the name of *`play-party
names". IA'. G. munger, an early pioneer, was the fiddler for
the dances.
Other amusements in the growing years included picnics on
the Picnic Grounds which were on John Fox's land bordering the
Tuolumne river, trips to Calaveras Big Trees, ice cream socials
and camp meetings.
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The Harvest Festival held in September-October, 1968 was
combined with the Fiftieth Anniversdry celebration o~ the in-
corporation of the town. It began1 in keeping with tradition,
with church services in all the local churches hollowed by a
pot-luck dinner and high school band concert in the park, near
the site o~ the old Grange Hall. C)ther events during the week
included the Goddess of ~eres pageant, talent show, historical
exhibits, carnival, parade, square dances and street dance.
Farm exhibits also were arranged. The gathering in the park
and the reminiscenctng later in the Community Center around
the historical exhibits formed the high point for the many old-
timers and school alumni who came. It had sparked the same
spirit that a similar reunion, the first one, of Ceres residents
and ex-residents had in 1895. Though the earlier reunion had
more speeches than the one in 1968, it also included music of
all varieties, a picnic in the Fox Grove, and much *~visiting. I'
Those working on the Fiftieth Anniversary event as chair-
men and coordinators included Robert IAhhitmore, Elton Turner,
the Reverend James Bradford, Gus Pallios, Ray Rohde, mrs. James
( myrtle) Price, mrs. Russell (Jessie) rowe, Bert Stevenson, mrs.
IAiilliam (Betty Gail) Bilson, Kenneth Achterberg, mrs. Raymond
morrow, George Schimel, Chesley Ludden, Chub Sterling, Robert
`Abix, Jake Dillon, Jim Bergamaschi, LeRoy Barbour, and mrs. and
mrs. Gene Welsh.
The Outer World Intrudes God and country
Outside politic8l events affected people in Ceres and they
often had their own way of reacting to them. The depression of
the 157O~s and later slumps, elections, wars--all made their
little ripples in the village. A few revealing excerpts from
the diaries of Allura E. Ulch tell their own stories:
`8June 2nd, 1898--I read the tall's dispatches to-night
about Com~odore Schley's Naval battle and victory at
Santiago de tuba and feel hopeful that another engage
ment will destroy the Spanish fleet under Cervera and
make the victory complete. I will now read a few
words in John~s Gospel and retire.~'
*`monday morning, July 4, 18Y8--News of the destruc-
tion of £ervera9s fleet at Santiago de tuba. It is
the Fourth of July.91
"Sept. 19, 1901--The memorial services in honor of
our late president, William mcKinley in Ceres church
this afternoon brought out a large number of people.
The exercises were all good and many lessons were
drawn from the life of our illustrious chie~."
"march 4, 1903--made out tiuo pension papers this
morning--at 25 cts. each--an easy way to get two-
bit pieces.
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PAGE 21 Show Image
5bsequent i~ars had their impct upon churches and commu
nity. A service flag for World War I hung in the Congregational
Church until the building was sold. This flag was then pre-
sented to mrs. John Gondring~ Sr. since it had two stars upon
it for her tiuo sons service. There were, of course, many more
who went to war in 1917 and the ones left behind did their bits
in the way others were all over the nation--buying bonds, con-
serving food, knitting socks, rolling bandages. A grand cele-
bration was held when the boys came home, many from the town
going to San Francisco by train to see the ships sail in the
Golden Gate. During ILorid War II mrs. Gondring gave the flag
to the American Legion in Ceres so that more stars could be
added.
The second *~great war saw an even greater proportion of
the young men in town go off to fight, and the town rallied in
many of the traditional ways mentioned above. An added element
this time, remembers irs. Earl (Evelyn) Brown, was the airplane
spotting station maintained on Service Road on the John Newkirk
ranch, in a wooden tower he constructed for the purpose. The
women, and some men, manned this station. men who stayed at
home also patrolled the streets and roads at night checking
for black-out violations, and some trained with members of the
National Guard. A distinct loss to the community at this time
was the incarceration, upon the orders of Governor Earl Warren,
of the members of the area who were of Japanese birth or an-
cestry.
Those interested in the impact of World War II upon Ceres
will find the clipping books compiled by mr. and mrs. Dorsey
Turner of interest. They are on reserve at the Florence Gon-
dring Library and may only be used there.
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PAGE 22 Show Image
¼
) ½
ABOVE:Mr. and Mrs. Daniel w;iitmore, fojnders of Ceres came to Ceres in 1867 wit~i Mr.
and Mrs. John Service (LOWER LEFT). Another early settler was George W. Averill,
PAGE 23 Show Image
¼. ¼.. ½ Wi;// , n . , ,
~`t/e /( ~ 4~ tqt t It rn an t
a-,,' e i
~
¼. ¼~½¾/4(~ ½a~(//, ~ ~ 13
½;4eJ(4y/ e~.'en(n~ ~ ~~y/~een/#
~ ~ ~
¼4?(~, ¼()a//~(~.
Wedding invitations in early 1900's. J.N Cross and Henry Caswell famlies on camping trip. Hatch~ family
show their catch. Left to right, Henry Cole, Arch~ie McNeil, Floyd Jo1inson and Harold Joiii~son. Mrs. Viola
Averill Craig.
~ ~
~
PAGE 24 Show Image
FOUNDING FAMILIES ANO SETTLED SETTLERS
"This quiet Dust ~as Gentleinen and Ladies,
A~d Lads and Girls;
LAtas laughter and ability and sighing9
And frocks and curls."
Einily Dickinson
There are four distinct periods in the settlement of the
Ceres area, dramatized by both local and national occurrences.
1854-1900-The earliest settlers, meaning the land-owners and
IF~~eusinessmen, were a mixture of the New England and middle
lAlest farmer and crartsman, for the most part, seeking new and
inexpensive land. These were combined with the more stable
gold-seekers, including some from other countries, who had de-
cided to stay when the sold fever ran its course. A few in
the early days also came seeking health. There were, too, how-
ever, though they are unchronicled by name except in the census
records, Chinese cooks with such names as Koy Ah, Sam Ching,
Ah Soh, and hired hands whose birthplaces were Hesse tassel,
Canada, Holstein, Portugal, Prussia.
It is interesting to see, from the following biographies,
how many had come first to other parts o~ California, espec-
ially San Joaquin County, and how common it was for relatives
and friends to travel tQgether and seek one another out in
traditional pioneer migrating fashion. As so often happens,
the hardships and plainer living conditions were the lot o~
the early ones, leaving the second generation to profit the
most from the fertile tracts of land. many of the earliest
settlers left no heirs of the name, though they lived out
their lives in £eres and contributed much to its development.
1900-1930--Irrigation brought in the second period. more sett-
lersErom other states plus foreign immigrants in large numbers
--Scandinavians, Po~~uguese9 Italians. IT'uch of the contract
labor was now done by Japanese. Turlock has long been known
for its citizens of Swedish background; note how many in Ceres
have forebears from Denmark. The non-irrigated grain land was
selling, in the first years of irrigation, as a U. S. Soil Sur-
vey team remarked in 1909, for $15-$25 per acre and the non-
irrigated river bottom land for $75-$1OO, but improved irrigated
land was going for $75 to $200 per acre. An excerpt from an
article written by Thomas ~aswell on a trip to California in
February, 1901 and sent to an Iowa newspaper reads, in a pro-
phetic manner (as part of a description of a trip through the
San Joaquin Valley):
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PAGE 25 Show Image
"Some of the large ranches are being broken up,
mostly by profligate I of their Ja~'. There
are a good many raising wheat on small ranches,
some of which are for sale at about half the
price of Iowa land. The boom is gone, wheat is
low, lower than normal. . . Good wheat land that
can be used to grow fruits can be bought for $20
per acre. In the colonies (Canada) they would
ask three tiffles as much for the same land. Ow-
mg to considerable rainfall, irrigation is not
availed of as much as I think it should be and
no doubt will be.'4
193O-1945--~rowth was steady after irrigation began but slow
~gto be easily assimilated by a small town until the
area began receiving its share of the Dust Bowl refugees of
the midwest and 5outhwest, aggravating the problems brought
about by the Great Depression. Housing suddenly became as
scarce and makeshift as it had been in the days of first
settlement. This group of latter-day pioneers had also,
though, largely become a part of routine Ceres life by the
outbreak of the second World War. Taking advantage of op-
portunities when they became available, they have not only
become absorbed into the community but have supplied their
share of leadership and hard-won suc ess stories. Their
names show up often in the clubs, churches and businesses.
1945- --The fourth period of growth is the present one. It
~ momentum since the middle 40's and has been
accelerated by the movement of Southern £alifornia Smog Bowl
refugees to the cleaner air of the £entral \1alley. The new
industries that have come to 5tanislaus County, especially the
ones west of ~eres, have also contributed new residents. In
addition, prosperity and the current nostalgia for a return to
the soil have begun to bring a new crop of `9week-end farmers"
from the cities. Ceres at the last special county census,
taken in 1975, had 9,544 uiithin it~ city limits and many were
beginning to realize that real plannir~g and effort will be
needed to balance progress 3nd improvement with a desirable
small-town, rural atmosphere.
Despite a normal share of small-town insularity, ~eres
has always welcomed the newcomer who really wants to become
a part of the community. (Allays excepting those first two
saloon-keepers! ) Scorn may be occasionally expressed for the
resident who uses £eres as a bedroom community and has his in-
terests elsewhere; also regretted are those who earn their
livings in £eres but refuse to become contributing citizense
A former store owner in Ceres, a Jew named Joe Berg, used to
say that he came to Ceres and was happily received after being
treated shabbily in ~ode~to. Generally, the advantages of a
small-town school system have made for natural integration from
an economic as well as a racial and religious standpoint.
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PAGE 26 Show Image
In the family histories that follow, no attempt has been
made to live complete genealogies. They vary in amount of de
tail often because of the information obtainablee It was, of
course, impossible to cover all of the earlier families, or to
write biographies of the many individual families which have
arrived in more recent times. An attempt9 ratherD has been
made to show a represeritative cross-section of the variety of
peoples who have made Ceres what it is. many members of the
later families, not mentioned in a separate history, will be
in the stories of the churches and organizations, the schools,
government and businesses, giving a picture of their contri-
butions to Ceres life.
It is the hope of the author that the reader will look
for the similarities of experience as well as the differences
and make his own portrait of each period of Ceres existence.
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PAGE 27 Show Image
ANNEAR
HEllen Annear brought a very pretty organdie
dress to be made for herself. She wants it
to wear to Commencement exercises next Friday
night." --A. E. Ulch
June 13, 1595
Pleasure Book No. 2
Though he did not b;~ome naturalized and thus could not
register to vote until April 8, 1579, John Greany Annear, born
in England in 1543, came to Ceres in 1572. With him came his
wife, Tabitha, who was also born in England.
Annear established the first blacksmith shop in Ceres and,
a little south o~ his shop, built the town wdtering trough.
This trough became a town gathering spot for the men and boys
and was a place to "retire to~ when the pink teas or elocution
meetings became too warm. One o~ Annear I5 early apprentices,
in 1850, was Charles Hinch, a seventeen yearold born in Cali-
fornia of a Prussian father.
In England, Annear had been orphaned early and worked as
a farm servant from the age of ten urtil he could be apprenticed
as a blacksmith. He came to Ceres by way of New Zealand, 5an
Francisco, and Napa. The blacksmith business prospered and, in
Oecember of 1574, Annear purchased more than 300 acres of land
from Levi Carter, south of Ceres. John and Tabitha Annear's
two children were born in Ceres--Ellen, born in may of 1850 and
Edgar H. born in 1554. Ellen Annear became mrs. Wilson and had
four children, ~ne of whom was named after her father but call
ed Jack. After mrs. Annear1s death in 1919, John G. made his
home with Ellen on Fifth Street.
Edgar Annear, later called "Captain" because of his World
IAlar I service, went to modesto High School (Ceres did not then
have one) and majored in engineerii~g at the University or Cali
fornia. He left Berkeley in his third year to ccept an ap-
pointment to We5t Point. ~Ainen he r~turned, he was elected the
county surveyor, and was the youngest at that time to hold e
lective orfice in the county. He also served as the county
highway engineer and is best known for his selection of the
design for and supervising the construction of the Tuolumne
River Bridge in 1917.. This bridge is the old *`Lion ~
on the old, old highway (Seventh Street in modesto) and it re-
placed the old drawbridge. Just this year Stanislaus County
and modesto have decided to restore Annear I5 bridge. Edgar
Annear is also given much credit for the county system of roads.
After duty in France, Edgar Annear returned to New York
for recruits and died there, one of the many victims of the
1915 influenza epidemic. He Wa: thirty~three years old. The
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PAGE 28 Show Image
next year his rife IYIargaret was appointed deputy to the county
superintendent of s~hoo1s and later was superintendent for
many years. They had one daughter, Ellen, named after her
aunt.
AVERILL HALL
"Jesse says she has paid no water rent since she
has lived in that house, yet she has paid the
rent to IYIrs. Whitmore and has sent off money to
others who we not in need as are my brothers.
0 God, hovi long well my kind-hearted9 over-corked
and sick (almost unto death) people be thus treated
in return for their helpfulness to otherst"
A. E. Ulch
June 17, 1898
Pleasure Book No. 2
The Averill family, whose name comes up so frequently in
the early days of Ceres, was of maine birth and background.
Jesse Averill came first to California, across the Isthmus of
Panama from New York to San Francisco in 1868. His brother,
George W., joined him the next year at the small community of
Atlanta, in San Joaquin county on the French ramp Road. They
did farm work until they had s~~ed enough to set up a black-
smith and iuagon shop in 1871. Atlanta at the time had only
one other business establishment and seven dwellings. By 1879,
a year before moving to Ceres, they also owned 160 acres. mean-
while, George B. Hall had preceded th~ Averills to california,
coming in 1861. He ~as also a native of maine, the son of a
stonecutter. &oming by the same route as Jesse Averill, he
had gone first to Tuolumne County where he was in lumber trade
for seven years. He, too, moved to the French Camp road.
There he met and married Susan Averill who had joined her two
brothers in California.
The Averills and Halls came to ~eres in 1880, building a
house and taking over and enlarging d blacksmith shop started
by Daniel IAAhitmore about 1874. In addition to farm black-
5mithing and horse~~i~eing, they built `Alagons, plows, and wind-
mill blades, but the bulk of their work was repair on the large
farm machi5lery such as the combined (combine) harvester which
was first developed for the San Joaquin \1alley's huge grain
fields. They also farmed on forty acres and owned lots in town.
Lewis Publishing Co.'s 1892 history of Stanislaus County states:
`I They also own and operate the town water-works,
a portion of the plant consisting of a wind-mill
and pump, a 25,000 gallon tank, and 1,400 feet of
piping."
George We Averill served as high school janitor in later years.
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PAGE 29 Show Image
The Averills were a amily of six daughters and the two
sons (George W. was called Will), when the parents died in
maine the year Jesse started ~or california. ~li of the dau-
~hters eventually joined their brothers in Ceres. Neither
George, who had been in thE Civil War, nor Jesse ever married.
Sophia Averill9 married to £harles Pace, came to Turlock in
1570 for her healthe Her only child died early as did she
and her husband. Lavina married a Warren Rollins and moved
to Kansas from maine; later she, her husband and daughter,
Linnie (fflrs. Elmer Porterfield) also same to ~eres, after igoo.
Ihe Rollins house stood ~ the south end of Fifth 5treet on
part o~ the land where H~~cock's Garage now is. mr. Rollins
had a part-time business of taking visitors to Yosemite in
a camp-wagon. The Porterfields lived for many years on the
north side of Service Road just west of the canal; later years
found them in the home just removed this year from the north-
east corner o~ Fifth and Lawrence.
Viola and Angeline also joined their brothers in ~eres.
Viola married Robert Craig, another blacksmith, and Angeline
married George Hall after her sister 5us~n, his first wise,
died in 1902.
Allura E. Averill, about whom so much has been written,
had gone prom maine to Kansas with ~ sister, Lavina Rollins.
There she taught school ~or a time and married Wesley W. Ulch,
a Pr~sbyterian ministerwho was also licensed by the methodists
to *`exhort." The Ulches had three daughters born to them, but
only one survived childhoDd. mr. Ulch also died early. After
a time of struggling for herself, the t~idow in 1580 succumbed
to her family's urging and brought her child to California. In
later years, when a few sly souls suggested that there had
never been a husband, mrs. Ulch heard of it and, a measure of
the woman, declined to refute them. She said to let them be-
lieve it if it made it more interesting for them.
The Averills were a close, loving family. When Allura
Ulch felt herself alone,a woman rnd:(i~g her way in a wild,~ild
storm, she regained her serenity through contacts with her bro-
thers and sisters. Jesse ~ve~ill loved the community's child-
ren in place of the ones he never had and started the practice
with brother Wili of the first community christmas tree. For
years, he was the one who got the tree and placed it in the
Baptist church. It was said to always be large enough to al-
most brush the ceiling. He and the children would decorate
it in the old style, with popcorn and cranberry strings and
every child in the community, whether his parents were in-
volved or not, was remembered.
Allura and IAAesley Ulch's daughter, Florence, grew up in
Ceres, graduated at San Jose Normal, became a teacher and was
twice married. She first married James E. Richards, a con-
tractor, and lived in Ukiah for 3eve~al years. When Richards
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PAGE 30 Show Image
died, she returned to Ceres and later married a widdo~uer,
Charles H. IAlorrell. A son by his first marriage, alvin
`Aicirrell, was a bus driver for the Ceres schools for many
ears; his wise Theo Worrell, taught in Ceres. Florence
called Flossie5 had no children by either marriage.
There are no descendants of the Averill famill. Their
Ceres home was moved years ago from the northeast corner of
Fourth and Lawrence to the corner of Openshaw and River Roads
where it is still, `.h~ugh parts of it have been altered. The
C. ~. Garrison family had lived in it while it was still in
Ceres, after the Averills. .ff'rs. Ulch's home was on th~ op-
posite corner of Fourth and Lawrence, where Florence's Dress
Shop now is. It now stands two blocku east at 2961 Lawrence
St.
BALDRIOG~ - Iw)EEK
~ -
ft'yrtle ~aldridge Has, in reminiscing about her parents
and grandparents. depicted them as typical adventurous pio-
neers who ~settled tempQrarily'. always looking for a better
place. They migrated. in the style of families of the 19th
century~ in a camp wagon, travelling from Arkansas and mdi-
ana to Southern £alifornia to kiah, to Bakersfield, then back
to Los Angeles ~oUc'ty.
The meeks and the Baidridges met in Southern california
and in 1586, in Ne~hall, a meek daughter married a Baidridge
son, C. F. Baldridge. ~idridge, orphaned early, was reared
by grandparents whci sent him to a borading school to learn to
be a `~~ampbellite preacheree (one must remernber that this was
a strong methodist speaking). He didn't agree and left school
to join the army a~d thus came west.
IY'rs. Ham told how her meek grandparents lost four children
in four days from diptheria while living in Hollister. mr. and
mrs. Baldridge also lived there until 1902 when they came to
Ceres, again follow~~~ theIYleek family. Ihey had finally found
the "better place~~ and spent the rest of their lives where the
new irrig~tio3 made the corn high and the fruit and melons so
delicious.
At first, in myrtle Ham's words, "I alwaysIMondered why
we came because my father had worked for a fine man (in Holli-
ster). . . and mother gave us such a bleak description of the
country that I couldn't imagine she liked it." Her mother
had gorie through the area as a girl with her parents in the
summertime, before irrigation. and "she told us we'd see miles
and miles of grain fields and in the distance an occasional
oak tree with a little house under it, that it was terribly
hot and there were lots of scorpions. But in two camp wagons
which mother's brothers brought oAiU?r from Ceres, we made the
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PAGE 31 Show Image
2~2 day trip from Hollister to Ceres. . , The trip over was a
thri11in~ experience for me as it iu~s the first time I could
remember having been more than 15 miles from flome. ii
mr. Baidridge began at once to work for C. N. IAihitmore
and continued until 1929. The family lived at first on "The
Garden", as it was called by the IAihitmores and others, an ex-
perimental fruit farm on the corner of Service Road and the
highway. The boardand-batten house where they lived is still
in the center of the acreage, now part of the Bollakis place.
The board-and-batten, siry1~ wail construction was a common
type of the day; the h3use ~as later covered with shiplap aid-
mg. mrs. Ham said that fruit labels on the boxes shipped
from the farm were printed with *`The Berry Farm." The Bald-
ridge home was the scene of one of the watermelon "feeds"
given in 1905, under the auspices of the Farmeres club, to
benefit the library fund.
All of the Baldridge children--Carrie, £lbert, myrtle1
£laude, Wayne, Charles and Lawrence~-went to Ceres schools.
Charles is still living in Ceres.
The two youngest meeks, Albert and Arthur, also attended
school in ~eres. The meek home was on Ninth Street. Two
other meek brothers1 sill and Sidney1 were best known in the
town. Will built the house at the corner of Fifth and Las-
renc~. He married a teacher who tuas a cousin of mrs. Walter
White an~ settled in Berenda. Sidney married myrtle Irene
Williams of £eres and lived here for the rest of his life.
BA RB OUR
Er Barbour1 son of Dr. James m. Barbour, a native of New
York, was born in Ohio in 1861. He married Jennie Jeanette
Whitman in 1893 in Dodge City1 Kansas and lived in Oklahoma
before coming to California in 1904. He farmed in Hynes and
Colusa before coming to Ceres in 1916w He bought twenty-five
acres on mitchell Road between Fowler and Hatch Roads, and
there his last child was br:i. ~r B~rbour lived in £eres for
the rest of his life, retiring in 1938 and dying at the age
of 93 in 1954.
Of Er Barbour's ten children, eight lived to adulthood.
They were: mabel Adella who lived in Ceres and Redlands; Ger-
trude mae who graduated from Ceres High School and attended
modesto Business College; Vesta \1iola; Ruby Pearl; Claude
James; William Homer; Walter Ervin; John Henry; and Dorothy
Etta who graduated from Ceres High, modesto Junior college
and San Jose State and lives now in San Rafael.
William Homer Barbour, the eldest son, married Helen
O'Rear in modesto in 1922. He ~ well known for his con-
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PAGE 32 Show Image
tinued expansion in the service station and oil business.
He began a servile station at IAhitmore and gy Highway in
1939. His son, LeRoy, joined him in the firm and the tiAlo
of them established the Barbour &enter at Whitmore and mit-
chell Road in 1957. Homer continued in the business there
until his death in 1966. LeRoy and his son, Dennis, are
continuing the family enterprise. LeRoy, a member o~ the
Ceres Lions Club since 1945 and of the American Legion since
1945, was IMith the Ceres Volunteer Fire Department for 20
years and served on the city Planning Commission for 13 years.
Walter Ervin Barbour, after he graduated from Ceres
High, also became involved in the petroleum industry as well
as ranching. He maintained an oil depot in LYlanteca for
many years. He is married to the former Amelia Genasci Gio-
vanetti. They make their home on the old Barbour place in
Ceres. Amelia "millie' Barbour has been busy with community
and club work since coming to Ceres and is especidlly known
for the floral arrangements she makes as a member of memor-
ial Hospital South Auxiliary.
John Henry Barbour, the youngest son of Er Barbour, has
also made his home in the Ceres area since finishing school.
A long-time member of Ceres Lions Club, he has been exten-
sively engaged in farming. HE married the dormer Ova Lea
Oevitt, believed to be the first Goddess of Ceres. They
are now retired and, though keeping up their Ceres contacts1
are living in the 5ierras near their daughter.
8AR~E5 ROBISON - KELLY
At least three families by the name of Barnes have been
well-known in Ceres. The earliest is believed to be the E. C.
Barnes family. Barnes was once manager of the Ceres Creamery
and his name appears often in records of the first few years
of this century. He had a farm on the south side of Service
Road, just west of the highway. The three-story house he
lived in with his family is still, partly, there. The top
story-and-a-half were removed, making the present one-story
dwelling. Barnes married metta Kelly, one of a family that
arrived in Ceres in 1904. Aster his death, metta K. Barnes
ran a boarding house for school teachers in the tiAlo-story
house that is still standing across from the Ceres High School.
Their children were Rex and Weston, both now deceased, and Eva.
Lucy Stone Barnes, a daughter-in-law, is referred to in some
of the early club notes following.
H. Elmo Robison came to Ceres in 1909 and married another
Kelly girl, Winifred. Robison was a Ceres merchant, operating
a grocery store with his brother-in-law, Barnes. He also at
different times had two barber shops, a men 5 store, and a
cleaning and pressing esLablishment. The last store was first
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PAGE 33 Show Image
located in the old Vincent building and later on the west
side of the second block of Fourth Street. A son Robert
has remained in ~eres i~ihere he and his wife Pat have reared
their two sons. H. Elmo Robison~s other son, LAL. E. "Ted"
Robison, became a Boy Scout executive (see Scout story).
BIAN~HI m VORI
martin Bianchi and his wife madeleine were married in
Switzerland for several "ears before he immigrated to Cali-
fornia. Going first to Sa) Francisco alone in the late part
of the nineteenth century, he established a home and sent
for his wife and three children. They first operated a
dairy drive-up store of the type popular in Stanislaus Co.
fifty years later. They left San Francisco to live in Glen
Ellen and were operatinga dairy there during the San Fran
cisco earthquake of 1906.
In August, 1905 the family moved to the Westport area.
Siro, the son, began dairying with his father. He was mar-
ned to Flora Ambrogio whose rather Attiho had come to the
Crows Landing Road in January, 1908. Flora Ambrogio Bianchi
served on the Westport election board for more than 20 years,
and is presently in her eighteenth year of working fQr St.
Jude's Parish. Siro Bianchi had a s~n Siro by an earlier
marriage and a son IYLartin by his marriage to Flora. martin
Bian~hi, son of Siro and grandson of the first martin, con-
tinues to live in the Westport area where he and his uiife
Barbara are rearing their family. martin is currently on the
Ceres Unified School Board and works for a chemical fertilizer
company. Barbara Bianchi is an executive secretary at Cali-
fornia State College, ~tanislaus, has always been involved
with her children9s school iote~ests, and is a member of the
Ceres First Baptist Church.
In 1920, the first Bianchis founded the Swiss Club. which
has been a rallying point for citi7ens of Swiss extraction.
The Swiss Club members are known for their music and yodeling
performances as well as ~ the gatherings they have in Yori 5
Grove. Two Bianchi girls, daughters of martin and madeleine,
married two Yor3s u~ho were cousins of each other. The two
couples donated the land with the eucalyptus grove which be-
came Yori's GrQve. They were Tony (son of Ed Yori) and Celeste,
and Bundy (son of Fred Yori) and his wife Palmera.
BI~S0N
Ceres' first known commercial baker was William Bilson,
a native of michigan and father of tens children. He arrived
in Ceres in 1904 and set up a bakery near the corner of Fourth
and Lawrence where the Bank of Ceres was later built.
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PAGE 34 Show Image
`Aijiliam Bilson bought a farm (now the Boyd place) on
what is now called Don Pedro Road, east of town, and there
the younger children grew up. The youngest son, Cecil, who
was two at the time he was brought to Ceres, also reared his
family of four children on the same farm. The grandfather,
at different times, also owned bakeries in ~scalon and man
teca. Cecil became a baker, too. He worked briefly for lflr.
Zenardi who had become £eres~ baker, and then started his
own bakery in modesto. His ~uttercrust Pies acquired local
fame in Stanislaus County. He sold the business and moved
to eureka in 1948.
Cecil's four children were: Ann, now of Salt Lake City;
Hattie, now of Colorado; Patricia, presently in Eureka, Cali
fornia; and William. William Bilson, grandson of the first
one in Ceres and known as `~Bill", recalls that he and his
sisters all worked after school, assoon.as they were old e-
nough, in their father's bakery. They moved to modesto dur
mg their high school years. Bill Bilson returned to his
home town in 1955 after five years in the Air Force during
the Korean conflict. He and his wife, Betty Gail, a mississ-
ippi girl, have remained here since that time, with their
children an integral part of the community. Bilson's Sport
mg Goods began in 1956 on Lawrence Street and two years later
moved to a new building which he Bilsons still own on the
corner of Fourth and North. After ten years in the latter
place, Bilson confined his operations to his Turlock store,
opened in 1964 in Richland Center there. IYlrs. Bilson has
taught dancing and related arts for eighteen years in the
Ceres and modesto area, often donating her talents as perform-
er and director to community shows. In addition to the studio
in her home, she is a partner in the Dance Factory in iflodesto.
Bill Bilson was a trustee on the Ceres Unified School Board
from 1969-73.
Another son of the first settler of the Bil~on name,
Albert Bilson, had a barber shop in the early 1900e5, located
behind what was then the drug store and is now Florence I~
Dress 5hop, on Lawrence 5treet.
BLAKER
In the latter part of the 19th century, Jesse Blaker
travelled from minnesota to California in a box car with his
son Fred and the family horse, cow, and furniture. mrs. Blaker,
son Ed, and daughter Alice travelled ahead by passenger train.
Eloda C. Blaker, the wife and mother, had a brother, George
Root, who had preceded them to the modesto area and recommended
the climate for her asthma.
A carpenter by trade Jesse Blaker lived six months in
modesto and then purchased ten acres of open land, later
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PAGE 35 Show Image
planted to alfalfa, uiest of &ere5. He built the family home
and barn and fenced the acreage in barbed wire, and then began
building homes for others, going as far away as empire. He
carpentered in those first years for $3 a day and rode to his
job on a bicycle. In the early days of their settling in
Ceres, it was possible to staod at their i&'indow and see across
open space all the way to Hatch Crossing.
Upon marriage, Fred Blaker took over the farm home and
the rest of the fauiily moved intQ the village of Ceres, and
lived in the home on th corner of Fourth and magnolia where
the daughter, mrs. Char1~s (Alice) Loran, now lives. Ed. L.
Blaker moved to modesto when. he married.
Fred Blaker9s son, Jesse Blaker, lived on the home farm
for a time. He is co-founder, with Bene Crawford, of the Tur-
lock Concrete Pipe Co. Fred's daughter was the late Edith
(mrs. August von Oohlen) `rho also lived in the family ~~me
after her marriage. `Aihen Eloda C. Blaker, a native of lAlis-
consin, died at the. age of 77 in 1929, she had lived in Ceres
for 30 years.
SOOTHE
Dyas Power Boothe, usually referred to as 0. Power, came
to Ceres in 1915 and located on land east of Ceres which he
developed to alfalfa and an orchard, on what is now called
Boothe Road. A U. C. Berkeley graduate in mining engineering,
he was a native of Illinois who was reared in IALashington state
and had pursued his mining work in Idaho and nevada.
While farming, Boothe wQrked as a civil and irrigation en-
gineer, and was the engineer in charge when the Ceres sewer
system was first constructed. He took an active part in the
social and civic life of Ceres, serving as treasurer of the
Board of Trade, president of Ceres Center Farm Bureau, and
served an appointment as trustee o~ the Ceres Union High 5chool
board. He had dehydrators in modesto and Keyes and, during
World WanI, the modesto plant prepared rations for the army.
He and his wife had 0. Power Boothe, Jr., Thomas Wheeler
Boothe, and twins margaret (Peggy) and Ferris Boothe who at-
tended Ceres schools in their early years. Peggy Boothe Iflen-
singer has become well-known in recent years as a civic lead-
er in modesto.
BROWI\I
The poultry industry ham bi~n an important part of th~
~2'rming uconomy of the Ceres area for a long time. Today's
modern entarprises featuring mostly white Leghorn hens for
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PAGE 36 Show Image
egg-laying are a ar cry from the days when the Averill bro-
thers had a small farm-yard clock made up of Light BrahmasD
Partrid9e and Buff Cochins, Plymouth Rocks, IAJhite Plymouth
Rocks ~nd Brown Leghorns.
Pioneers in modern chicken breeding were H. L. and Hilda
Brown. Brown had come to California from Nebraska in 1888
and settled in the mountains near Santa Cruz. There he met
Hilda Goertz who had been born there, daughter of a German
immigrant. They settled in Ceres, with her brother Hans
Goertz, in 1908. The Browns set up the Jubilee Hatchery on
the present Hackett Road, starting with 250 brown Leghorns.
They had coal-oil heated incubators with a capacity of 540
eggs each. All of the eggs had to be turned by hand and the
moisture and temperature were also manually controlled. It
was an all-family operation to turn the eggs, in the days be-
fore automation and even the children did a turn at sharing
the task. H. L. Brown was very skilled at the turning, as
was iflrs. Brown, and had an outstanding reputation as a hatch-
ery man.
The hatchery became well-known in central California,
where the hatched chicks were sold. In addition to his hatch-
ery, Brown worked at the Ceres branch of the modesto Lumber
Company until he expanded his poultry operation. It grew to
5,000 breeder chickens, one of the largest individually owned
breeder ranches in the state. Chickens were shown at county
and state tairs. Charles Brown, one of three sons, speaks of
how carefully his mother would groom the show stock, even down
to the claws. mr. and mrs. Brown were devoted members of the
old Congregational Church in Ceres. Hans Goertz raised pullets
commercially on his ranch on Walnut Avenue.
In 19Z5, H. L. Brown installed a 10,000-egg, electrically-
controlled and heated incubator, all the eggs being turned at
once. Earl Brown joined his father in the business and contin-
ued the expansion and modernization. He later moved to his
present location on Esmar Road where he set up a laying opera-
tion. In 1949 he built a feed mill. In the 1960's, in part-
ne~ship with Homer Vilas, he set up an egg-processing plant and
developed the Brown-Vilas mill. The mill was sold in 1974 to
the Grange Company. earl Brown has served, and currently is,
on a number of boards connected with his business. He was a
Ceres Elementary School trustee for 13 years and is presently
on the memorial Hospital Board of Directors. He and his wife
Evelyn have a son and daughter. evelyn Brown has spent many
years in Ceres service club work.
Charles Brown, a poultry nutritionist for Brown-Vilas
Feed mill, worked earlier with his brother earl in his poultry
business. He lives in Ceres with his wife Alice and son, and
both husband and wife are known for their interest in education.
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PAGE 37 Show Image
They are particularly remembered ~or their leadership
in thebond drive which eventually led to the mae Hensley
Junior High 5chool and Ceres High multi-purpu~e building.
Another son o~ H. L. and Hilda Broiun, Walter, lives on the
Brown ranch where he has worked with the poultry business
there.
CABRAL
John Limas came to ~ in He had come from
the Azores Islands with his wife and children. They settled
on the corner of Lockwood Road and IAihitmore Avenue, purchas-
mg their property from the Gross family. mrs. Gross was a
Baldwin, one of the earliest Ceres families who later went
to the Hughson area. A daughter of John and maria Limas,
Flora, married Fernando Cabral after arrival in California.
He, too, had come from the Azores. They lived first on Hatch
Road where their first two children were born. In 1929, the
Cabrals moved to the Lockwood and Whitmo~e location and lived
there the rest of their lives. A son, George, now farms it.
Their children were, besides George~ marie, Carl, Andrew, Dor-
othy, Elaine, Joseph, Betty, and John. John was killed in the
Korean war. marie married John `1ieira and lived in Ceres until
a recent move to modesto. 5he was f'rmerly an active member
of the Ceres Garden Club.
Another daughter of John and maria Limas was Lucille who
married morris Vasconcellos. Her daughter, Adeline, works at
Florence I5 Dress 5hop.
CARTER
Though there are none of his descendants living in Ceres
now, the name of Levi Carter should not be forgotten. Not only
did his eldest child, Elma, name Ceres, but the first buildings
built on the present site of Ceres were th~ granary and ware-
houses of Levi Carter. He had already put another name on the
land when Ceres was named ~he Esmai Station near his home to
the south. Before the station was on the railroad, it was a
watering spot for horse drovers and teamsters.
Levi Carter, a native of New York, was a descendant of the
colonial Carters of `1irginia. He was a lumberman in New York
and Canada and it t&ias in Canada that he married a girl of Dutch
descent, Fanna (called both Fannie and Annie) Eve Shoup. In
1854 they moved to Illinois to farm, but in may, 1~~o Levi
started for California with a wagon train. ethers in the group
were people later associated with Stanislaus County and Ceres3
Benjamin Sanders, his wife, the form8r Diantha Chapin, and his
brother and three sisters. Carter lingered less than a year
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PAGE 38 Show Image
in Nevada and California lookin9 over the land and then he
returned home via Panama to ~et his family. Levi led his
family and a small wagon train in the trek back to ~alif-
ornia in 18~2. While on the way, there was a battle with
Indians at Goose Creek and two men were killed. Upon arrival
in California, the carter family spent a brief time in El
Oorado County and Sacramento County where Levi worked as
a teamster, then bought land eight miles east o~ Stockton.
About 1B~3-~5, Carter acquired land in Stanislaus County
to which he added several times, buying land into the late
80's. He built a house and facilities for stock at the spot
he named Esmar. About 186w, he began what was a fairly com-
mon practice ~or the time with some grain farmers--he stayed
in Stanislaus County for the planting and harvesting seasons
but maintained a home in Stockton, the only sizeable settle-
ment nearby, so that his children could go to school there.
Later, after 1880, he returned to his Ceres place to live
full time and participate in community life. members of the
Carter family were present at the 1895 reunion at Ceres.
Several other people by the name of Carter lived in the
county and Ceres. Some, like Frank Carter, were related. It
is not known if there were others who were. The Chapins were
relatives. Living with the Careers in 1570 was mary Chapin,
later the second wife o~ Benjamin Sanders, above. It is in-
teresting to note that she gave her occupation as teamster.
In addition to being a farmer and land speculator, Levi Carter
was a tanner.
Elma J. Carter, the namer of Ceres and the eldest child
of Levi and Fanna, was born in Canada. She was a teacher and
did not marry until the age of 47. On January 4, 1B~9, in
Ceres, she married Edward Henry Hills of Ceres, a native of
England. Her parents had died in Ceres the previous year,
three weeks apart.
Stanton Lester Carter, the second child, born in New York,
achieved the most notice in his career. After graduation from
Stockton High School in 1871, he came down to Ceres to manage
his father's grain warehouse. Doing this in the vacation
months, he continued to study in Heald's Business College in
Stockton. After graduating in 1874, he began to study law and
was admitted to the bar in 1876. He was a member of the firm
of Carter, Smith & Keniston in Stockton and filled three terms
as Stockton city attorney. In 1894 he was appointed judge of
the superior court of Fresno. In 1903 he established the law
firm of Carter, Ricketts & Oolph, maintaining offices in Fresno
and San Francisco. He ~as also a leader in Republican circles
in Fresno County. He married there and had three children.
melborne B. Carter, the third child, born in Illinois,
came to live in Ceres but it is not known what became of him.
He received land from his father in 1885.
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PAGE 39 Show Image
Roscoe L. Carter, the first of the Carter children to be
born in California, was living in Ceres in ~tober of 1886
when he married Ella R. 5hoemake of "near modesto". She was
the daughter of IAJilliam Shoemake.
The youngest of the Carter children was Aletha Belle.
Her rather was one of the witnesses when she was married to
Frank eugene Noyes, 34, of marinette.~ IAisconsin on September
109 1880 in Ceres. She was 21. There were other Carter trans
actions in the early deed books of Stanislaus County as Levi
and his family bought arid 3Ol~ land.
~ASW~LL CROSS
While not a member o~ one of the earliest Ceres familiesD
Thomas Caswell is an example Df the entrepreneur-farmer who
was able to successfully take advantage of the opportunities
offered by climate, soil and irritation. As did so many who
migrated to California and stayed, he found that the ingred
ients of hard work and business acumen were also necessary.
Thomas Caswell was born in North Ireland, the fourth son
of a family of 13 children. His fatter was a weaver; his
mother the only daughter of a ship's carpenter. The family im-
migrated to Canada when Thomas was two. Largely self-educated,
Thomds worked as a woodsman in Ontario and later in michigan
where he met his future wife, school teacher mary Andrews. The
couple moved to Iowa where he farmed. His three sons estab-
lished a company to manufacture farm equipment there, utiliz-
mg their own inventions. Of the couple's five children, all
born in Iowa, three--Wallace, Henry and Andrew--survived to
adulthood. Andrew remained in Iowa.
In 1901, for health reasons, Thomas Caswell settled in
Ceres on 320 acres of land and immediately became interested
in the cause of irrigation. He is remembered as one of those
whose effective and persistent argument helped toward a suc-
cessful decision for the Lrrigation districts' advancement.
Wallace Ca~uie1l, Thomas' eldest son, was a graduate of the
University of michigan. He started his career as an Iowa at-
torney. He was also co-owner of the family manufacturing co-
pany. He visited Ceres, and was married in Ceres to Jennie
Whitmore, but did not make a permanent move to the area until
1933. After that tiine, he worked with his brother Henry in
developing and managing the Caswell property and that of his
wife. He was active in the Ceres Chamber of Commerce, presi-
dent of the £ali~ornia Canning Peach Association, and a work-
mg part of other civic and agriculture-related organizations.
It is said that he emulated his father's hard~working propen-
sities and that his departure aL~ dawn ~or fields was used as
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PAGE 40 Show Image
the signal for some wives and mothers of the village to get
their own men out and at it. Wa11a~e and Jennie Casi~e11 had
no children.
The second son, Henry, who attended Vista £ollege in
Iowa, joined his father in £alifornia in 1905. Before he
bought and developed a ranch west of Ceres in the IAestport
District and became more identified with modesto, he lived
in ~eres, serving on the first library board. He was active
in the methodist ~hiirch here and it was there he met his fu-
ture wife, Helen Cross, the organist. They later were Pres
byterians. Henry £aswell served as a school board member
for Fairview 5chool and was a director in the Federal Land
Bank. Helen, before her marriage, taught music and art in
ITlissouri schools and piano and voice in Ceres and Turlock.
5he was again known in later years in the £eres Study and
Garden clubs.
Two daughters of Henry and Helen £aswell established
homes in Ceres after marriage and reared their families here.
mary, an artist and teacher, married IAiilliam Bucknam who
served on the Ceres High School board and the California State
Board of education. Ruth (mrs. Homer Jorgensen) is known as
a vigorous community worker; before her marriage her occupa
tion was social work. Her husLand, Homer Jorgensen, is an
engineer and has supervised several developments in Ceres.
Another daughter, Edith (mrs. Robert IAiheeler), taught school
in Ceres for a time and is known in county music circles.
In addition to his Ceres land, Thomas Caswell purchased,
in 1915, ~4O acres on the Stanislaus River near Ripon and
deeded it to the Presbyterian Church at San Anselmo to be
used for an industrial farm for homeless boys. Due to lack
of funds for a building, the church refused the property. A
portion of it was then developed for farming but the remainder,
with its large oak grove, wild grape vines, and native plants,
was left in its original state. This last part of the proper
ty is the present Caswell State Park. It was given by the
family to the State ~f California in memory of Thomas and his
two sons who had lived in California, [Alallace and Henry, by
his daughters-in law, mrs. Wallace Caswell and mrs. Henry Cas
i~ell, and his grandchildren, Earl Caswell, mary Bucknam, Ruth
Jorgensen, and Edith Wheeler.
Earl Caswell at one time after his marriage lived in
Ceres. He and his wife, mary Dee, no~ live on the family
farm on Vivian Road, and he is known for his interest in al
mond cultivation.
Helen Cross Caswell was the daughter of John Newton Cross,
a descendant of the William Cross who came to Virginia from
England to serve in Braddock's army in the French and Indian
War. John N. Cross came to Ceres in 1908 from a background
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PAGE 41 Show Image
as a teacher in missouri. He WdS a Oraduate o~ mCGee ~o11ege
there~nd had served as superintendent of chool, newspaper
editor and farmer. His lAilfe, Blivia, had also attended mcGee
College. One daughter, Irrs. edwin H. morris, whose husband
was coowner of morris Brothers Of 5tockton and modesto, pre-
ceded them to Californiae mary, another daughter, taught in
Ceres 1909-10. A son remained in missouri to teach at the
Universities of missouri and Chicago.
John Newton Cross taught at Ransom 5chool near modesto
and was principal of th~ srhool at Keyes for several years.
He purchased a farm near Keyes and established the post
office there and served as its first postmaster. He also
built the tirst store in Keyes and served as secretary-treas
urer of the Keyes Creamery. In spite of their identification
with Keyes, mr. and mrs. J. N. Cross maintained their ties
with Ceres for the rest ot their 1iv25 through community and
church activities.
C~ULKIN5
William 0. Caulkins was born in Delaware Co,, Ohio in
1~6O where his greatgrandparents had pioneered. He married
there mary Emma Whittier whose fathe., Philander Whittier,
had crossed the Isthmus of Panama ~o California in 1857. Whit
tier remained in California for nine years then returned to
massachusetts and migrated to Ohio. The Caulkins family
farmed in Ohio and later Nebraska where they read about the
First Baptist Church of Ceres, California and decided to come
join the congregation in 19O~. They drrived on Washington's
Birthday.
The Caulkins and their six children settled on forty acres
in the Smyrna Park tracts an open barley field at the time, for
which they paid all their capital. There was no hotel avail
able so they were guests of real estate agent C. N. Whitmore,
who had sold them their land. They i"emained with the Whitmores
until a portable home could be placed on their property. Gen-
erous members of the community donated furnishings until theirs
arrived from Nebraska by train alonq pith the cattle accompan-
ied by their 15~year-old sons ~sa0 William Caulkins engaged
in dairying and later poultry and bruit raising. Both he and
his wife were ardent church wor~ers. He was a charter member
of the Central California milk Producers. One more child was
born in Ceres.
Grace, the oldest child of William and mary, married
Frank Forney, a Ceres farmer whom she met on the train to
California. He was at that time an agent for the Whitmore
land development company. Asa h~came a hiqh school teacher
after graduation f~nm th~ University ~f California. He was
princij)~l flf 5tPFkton HiLjh 5chFL'~l ~iir thirty years.
PAGE 42 Show Image
mary Faye Caulkins married Dr. N. C. Davis aster her
attendance at U. C. The couple lived in Brazil for many
years uihere Or. Davis did plant research for the Rockefeller
Foundation. When her husband died9 mary Faye returned to
Ceres and , near the rest of her family on Roedin~ Avenue,
proceeded to build a two-story home and plant extensive
grounds iuith tennis courts on which to rear her four young
sons. All four earned doctoral degrees in various fields of
science, and their mother was known for her successful plant
culture, development of new varieties and growing of exotic
tropical plants that many experts said could not be grown in
the central £alifornia area. 5he hybridized amaryllis and grew
and sold gloxinias commercially. In addition to doing most of
the gardening in her extensive yard, even into old age, she
was known to tackle such thin9s as building kitchen cabinets.
Fred Caulkins and his wife still live on Roeding Road,
though they have sold their walnut acreage. Their son Fred
still lives in the area. Their daughter, margaret, became a
nurse. Ellis £aulkins, the third son of William and mary, lives
also on Roeding Road, with his wife, on part of the original
family farm. Their two sons, Ivan and Ralph, live nearby. A
daughter, Nellie, married Stanley Keck.
Nellie, daughter of William, was a nurse until retirement;
she married a mr. Riggs. Dora, the youngest child of William,
was the one born in £eres. She has been a teacher and is marr-
ied to John melugin, a county supervisor in the 1960's. They
grow and sell their own produce at a vegetable stand on the
melugin family property on Roeding Road.
Both the elder Caulkins were strong supporters of the Pro-
hibition Party and mrs. Caulkins was known for her long years in
the W. C. T. U. She was a member of the first Stanislaus County
Superior Court jury in which women were allowed to serve.
* * *
Another Caulkinz family, unrelated, was in Ceres after
World War I. The Earl A. Caulkinses were from Iowa. mrs.
Caulkins uias a member of the Ceres methodist Church where she
sang in the choir; she died rather dramatically while driving
on the highway9 The children were Lois, who married a Nichols
and lived in Nevada; Verna, who married a Denlis of Ceres; Ev-
erett Caulkins, who moved to martinez; Wayne Caulkins, formerly
of CRres; and Kenneth Caulkins who died in 1976in Ceres. Ken-
neth was a naval cadet at St. mary's College.
CRAIG
A 5cotsman, Robert Craig was born in Renfrewshire, Scot-
land in 1859 and was proud of the fact that he was reared 29
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PAGE 43 Show Image
miles froi-n the poet of the Sccits, Bobby Burns. His ancestors
were tradesmen mostly, though his mother's ~ami1y claimed sev-
eral processional men. He learned the trade of blacksmithing
from his father from the age of 16. In 1855, he realized the
f~l~illment of his longing to core to America, spending his
first year in 5an Francisco. The next year he entered the em-
ploy of Averill and Hall, the blacksmiths of Ceres.
After a courtship of three years, he married Viola Ave-
nh. From 1896 to 1900, he served as Ceres postmaster in
addition to his blacksmithing work, and in 1905 he was able
to start a blacksmith shop of his own. He named it "5hady
Neuk", giving it the Scots spelling. Having practiced the
legendary thrift of his forebears, he had surplus capital
soon after his arrival in Ceres to invest in farm lands. He
bought 114 acres on Hatch Road, a mile from Ceres, first grow-
mg grain and later alfalfa for the dairy he maintained. He
and his wife also lived on Fifth 5treet next to the black-
smith shop. The Craigs also called their Hatch Road farm by
the name *`Shady Neuk."
In the late teens, the Craigs sold the farm off in 20-
acre tracts, part of which is now the Claude mcKnight home
and farm. Craig also owned several lots in Ceres besides his
residence and shop. In 1907 he bought 20 acres of figs when
that industry was first established n Smyrna Park by the Rev.
Dickinson, and did with it what so many speculators have done
ever since--he sold it in two ten-acre tracts three years
later.
Though the Craigs had no children, they were known for
their hospitality and interest in the children of others. He
was a trustee of the high school after it began. He said in
1920 that he felt Ceres had become his native place for it
was here in 1899 that he received his final citizenship papers
and was able to vote for the first time in 1900. Craig lived
into the 1940's, well-known in the torn, a small man who never
lost his 5cotsman's burr and gave no hint of the stereotype of
the burly village smithy. He sold his shop to Frank Parr.
CROSS
James J. Cross was known as a stalwart Republican and used
to boast that he had joined the party in 1556 at the time of
its organization. He had voted for Franklin Pierce, the IAbhig
candidate in 1848-52 and in 1~5~ had walked eight miles to
murphy's Camp to cast his vote for Fremont. He said he found
the election board there sitting around a table with the bal-
lot box in the center of it, every official with a revolver
lying by his hand on the table. Cross brought his Irish-born
wife and family to Ceres from Farmington sometime prior to
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PAGE 44 Show Image
the turn of the century. He farmed on land on Whitmore Ave
flue, three miles east of town.
Joseph mcLean Cross, one of the sons, farmed for a num-
ber of years and also interested himself in politics and law.
He graduated from College of Pacific when it was still lo-
cat ed in San Jose. An item in I, The Ceres 5craper" for April
22, 1902 says: *`fflr. Cross has been spending a week among
friends at San Jose where he went to attend the Republican
convention. The Club (the Farmer's Club) will no doubt be
glad to hear a word from him concerning his impressions re-
ceived there, especially of his trip to Alum Rock in the auto-
mobile built for eight."
Joseph m. Cross became the Stanislaus County district
attorney and had law offices across from the court house
in modesto. He married `1eda Goodwin, whose family farmed
in Empire but who had owned a large farm at one time on chit-
more Avenue. One of Joseph Cross' two daughters, Evelyn (mrs.
m. R. Harris), lives in modesto as does his widow.
George H. Cross, the other son of James J. Cross, and
Thelma Jane (Jennie), the daughter, never married. 5he was
a nurse and remained on the family farm with George. The
farm was sold later to the O1s~n family whose grandson, Tom
Parks, now farms it.
OOOLITTL~
In 1909, Ralph C. Doolittle took his $300 capital and
invested it in stock and fixtures for a confectionery store
on Lawrence 5treet between Third and fourth Sts. From this
small beginning he developed his store into a variety store--
books, stationery, office supplies, toys and novelties, as
well as confections and a soda fountain. He later also had
billiards in it.
A native of massachusetts, Doolittle was the son of a
carpenter, Augustus Albertus Doolittle, and his wife, IYIargaret
~. The family moved first to Detroit, then to Oakland, Cali-
fornia to which older children had come some six years before.
Ralph Doolittle became an expert in the tea business but the
1906 earthquake and fire caused his move to Ceres in that year.
He operated a 22-acre dairy farm with his wife and mother be-
fore starting the confectionery store. He had married Sadie
Harvey in Oakland in 1900.
Doolittle served for five years on the sanitary board of
Ceres and was an active supporter of the bond drive in the
sewer construction plans for Ceres in 1920. He was also known
for his work with the Red Cross and war loan drives. The Ooo-
littles had one child, Dorothy Frances, who graduated from
Ceres High School. The Doolittle store was a gathering place
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PAGE 45 Show Image
for young people and was used by many for courting and making
dates. Large empty bread boxes made of wood, with rope han-
dies, used to serve as benches for the girl-watchers. The
boxes were set outside to await pick-up by the baker.
For several summers preceeding tAiorld War I, a teen-aged
nephew or Doolittle came down from Oakland to work in the
store, and many in town grew to know him. He was James Har-
old Doolittle--Jimmy Doolittle, as he has always been called.
He became one of the most versatile figures in U. S. aero-
nautics, graduate o~ U. C. and m. I. T., but best known as
the leader of the raid ag~in~t Tokyo on April 18, 1942.
I*An irrigating ditch on the Dr. evans ranch broke
early Tuesday morning, with the result that the
Hughson Highway, First Street and the alley an~
lots around that part of town were flooded with
several inches of water. The flood waters also
found their way down to the corner of Second and
magnolia where it ran into the storm sewer.
II II
Ceres £ourier , August 1, 1935
Or. Evans, usually referred to a~ **old Doc Evans", was
C. ~. Evans, m. 0., an Alabaman who came to Stanislaus County
in 1559. After graduating from the University of California
in 1581, he set up practice in modesto with Or. S. m. YicLean
and had patients spread over several counties. He had land
near Ceres, on part of which, fittingly, memorial Hospital in
Ceres now stands. evans fload is named for him; the home in
the grove of trees to the north of the hospital grounds is
where his home was located. He owned, with Leslie Whitmore,
the first Ceres Creamery which was destroyed by fire in 1904.
Evans was known primarily as a surgeon. Lewis Publish-
mg's 1592 history of Stanislaus County gives hi~ the follow-
mg testimonial: teOr. Evans has performed many of the most
difficult and dangerous surqical operations, such as excision
of the hip joint and amputdtion of the limbs, during the hot-
test summer weathers with perfect success, thus practically
demonstrating the fact that the hot weather of the San Joa-
quin Valley is no barrier to perfect surgical success. II
(3A~RISON
The Garrison brothers, butchers, arrived in Ceres in
June, 1902 with their families. They succeeded A. B. Ford
and Son in the butcher shop, th. Fords having moved to mon-
terey County. Jason C. Garrison and his wife martha, while
living in Lebanon, missouri, had seen an advertisement in
the *`Pacific Baptistue of a butcher business for sale in Ceres.
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PAGE 46 Show Image
He got together with his brother, C. C. Garrison, tAiho had gone
to Auburn, £alifornia9 and they pooled their funds for the
purchase, aided by a $150 loan from C. N. Whitmore.
The sale price included a team o~ horses and a wagon, to
gether with an old-style meat cooler and all equipment to run
the shop. The cooler was a box with a tank of water on top
and burlap sacking which hung down in the water and over the
sides of the box. The burlap absorbed the water as it evapm
orated and therebv cooled the meat. Usually meat w~s but
chered in the evening and sold the next day as the cooler was
for very temporary storage only. From the beginning, the Gar-
rison brothers had a meat delivery wagon, driven by J. C.'s
son Lowell as soon as he was old enough. It served the farm
homes from Hughson to the San Joaquin River. Good T-bone
steaks sold for 1O-15~ each; soup bones and liver were usually
given away for free. The many bachelor farmers around in
those days were often working in the fields when the meat de
livery case by, so it was the custom to leave the meat order
and the money for it in the mail box. A Ford truck supplanted
the wagon when automobiles became common.
The Garrisons later built a new building which has been
used since by several other businesses, including the Ceres
Food market and Joe 8erg's ClLthing. The Garrisons themselves
branched out from just a meat business to a grocery store.
The J. £. Garrisons were, as one would expect from the
first paragraph, faithful Baptists. They built, for $1~1OO~
the house on the northwest corner of Fourth and North, later
owned by Vinnia ITlcGarvey and lived in for many years by banker
Arthur Harris and his wife. The J. C. Garrisons had six girls
and three boys, of whom Lowell, ruby, mildred, Hazel, Lulu,
mamie and Helen survived their parents. Lowell is perhaps best
remembered in Ceres. He was president of his 1914 Ceres High
School student body. After World War I, he became the chief
deputy In the Stanislaus Co. tax assessor S office for more
than ten years, and later became the assessor. Lowell and his
wife Leona acquired the home on Fifth Street where she still
lives and iuhich used to be the barn for the Gillette Hotel.
When the hotel was moved to Hughson, Dan Campin moved the barn
to its present site and remodeled it into a dwelling. Leona,
a native of Iowa, served as Ceres city clerk from 195276, re
placing William Romesha. J. C. Garrison's other children set
tled in various parts of northern California. He retired from
his business in 1940 and died in 1953.
C. C. Garrison and his wife margaret had a son, Ridgeley,
who no longer lives in Ceres, and other children. They lived
in the old Averill home on Fourth and Lawrence until it was
moved away. C. C. was known as ILumee and was of a jovial nat
ure9 He brouqht out candy and gum to fill a sackfull when
families came to pay their bills. many customers spent then
the equivalent of about a week's wages on their month's food,
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PAGE 47 Show Image
a greater proportion than is usual now. Lum and his brother,
called "Jase", mere known by the children for the free wieners
they gave away, and by all in town for the bucket of ice water
in summer, complete with communal dipper. Lum Garrison built
several homes in Cere8: the *`Lynda Sperry house" on Fifth St.,
the "Lane house `I at the corner of Fifth and Lawrence; and the
"merrill house'9 ~t the corner of Lawrence and Seventh Sts.
~ butcher named Petty and another called Hildreth had
shops across the street from the Garrisons. The building on
Joe \1incent's property, called "Bye Petty~s store", uias later
moved to Sixth 5Lreet by ~hp present water tower there and was
used for storage by the water company.
GARTIN
James Gartin organized and set up the Ceres branch of the
modesto Lumber Cofnp~ny in October, 1903. He took an interest
in ~eres politics and progress and serves on the first city
council. About 1920 he went to modesto and began his own yard
which he operated until his retirement. It iuas the Stanislaus
Lumber Yard, now owned by modesto Lumber £0. His son, Bert,
owns and still operates the Home Lumber ~o. in Turlock. Bert
grew up in £eres and has a store of accurate reminiscences of
£eres as it was before World War I. He is married to Faye Gar-
tin, for many years music supervisor for Stanislaus County
schools and well~known to Ceres teachers.
GONORI NG
Though the Gondring family did not move to Ceres until
1912, many members of it have had an impact upon the commun-
ity's progress. The first Ceres Gondring, "Judge" John IYI.
Gondring, was justice of the peace in Ceres Township and the
judge of the recorder's court of the City of Ceres.
John m. Gondring had had a distinguished career before
arriving in California in 1905 for his health. A native of
Illinois, he grew up on a farm in Indiana and became a teacher
after finishing Northern Indiana Normal School. He returned
to school for a law degree and practiced law for a number of
years in Nebraska. He was elected to the office of prosecuting
attorney for Platte County and in 1896 was selected by both
Democrats and Populi~ts as candidate for the Nebraska state sen-
ate. He was elected and received the following tribute from
his fellow senators; "Senator Gondring is . . . one of the
most arduous workers, both on the floor of the senate and in
the committee room, is recognized as an authority of weight on
matters of general discussion, an excellent debater and is un-
tiring in his labore. .
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PAGE 48 Show Image
When John and Dillie Gondring were living in the 5an Jose
areaD they heard of land for sale in ~eres and came over to
purchase the land on Fowler Road which is this year being pre
pared for a new subdivision. The walnuts which still remain
on the property were planted when the Gondrings came and the
family speak of how John Gondring carried water for them (the
irrigation ditches not yet completed), by bucket, walking from
the family home on Whitmore Avenue.
Judge Gondring and his wife had seven children of whom
six lived to adultIoL1~~ Nettie, who married C. H. Hansen, a
contractor and conbtruction business owner, was a graduate of
San Jose State Normal and the mother of three children, of
whom christian H., Jr., also in construction, still lives in
£eres. Nettie now lives in modesto. Frances £. [3ondring and
the sister with whom she is most often associated in memory,
Florence L., both graduated from San Jose 5tate, also. Frances
taught manual arts in San Jose schools at first af8d Florence,
who also attended Columbia University later, began as a home
economics teacher in Stockton High School. Frances and Flo
rence, after their retirement prom teaching, returned to £eres
to take over their portion of the family farming interests and
to involve themselves in club activities. They travelled fre-
quently and widely in the 1950's and 196()'s. The new city li-
brary is the memorial tribute t f Frances to her sister. Fran-
ces continues to maintain an active interest in city affairs
and the Women's Club.
Augustus C. and Alfred Al. Gondring, two of John, Sr.'s
sons, were both in World War I service and farmed in Ceres.
They did not marry. Al Gondring developed and expanded the
family farms and is best remembered for his interest in the
American Legion. He remained for some years in the U. S. Naval
Reserves. The new wing of the Ceres Legion Hall is the result
of a memorial gift for him from Frances, his sister.
John m. Gondring, Jr. also was ~ farmer, south of Ceres
on Gondring Road, but is best kr~own as a Ceres postmaster. His
wife, the former margaret Palmer of Texas, developed a reputa-
tion as one of the leading turkey growers in the valley in the
30's and 4O's~ She hatched and selected her own hens and im-
ported the broad-breasted `atoms" or ~~gobblers". Jack Gondring,
as he was called, became postmaster of Ceres in 1933. Their
son, Robert, worked with his mother in the turkey business
for many years. He now farms on morgan Road and has as one
of his hobbies the raising of rare types of water fowl. He
has been a champion trap shooter for years, winning trophies
in western and Pacific areas. The daughter of Jack and m8rg
aret Gondring, IYIarian (mrs. James Sanders) lives in modesto.
Her son, Timothy, now lives in the home place on Gondring Road.
Jim Sanders grew up in the Ceres area; he is retired from an
equipment rental business. A brother, Jerry Sanders, is also
known in Ceres, especially for his past interest in the Ceres
Lions Club.
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PAGE 49 Show Image
HACKETT
Daniel Hackett was born on the old Hackett hDmestead
at Hackettstown, ~ew Jersey which was named for the family.
He served in the Civil War from Ohio in between tries to
California. The second trip was made in 1q76 and he went
to Hanford where he remained the rest of his life.
John, son of Daniel, came to California five years a-
head of his father and settled first at merced, then at Han-
ford where he became in~jlved with the ~usse1 Slough-rail-
road controversy. He and his wife Lois had twelve children,
of whom the eldest was William Je Hackett. William began in
the dairy business in Kings County and in 1902 located half
a mile west of Ceres on 40 acres of raw, grain-stubble land.
He levelled and checked it and sowed it to alfalfa and began
raising pure-bred Ouroc-Jersey hogs, peaches and apricots.
Greatly interested in cooperative movements for marketing
farm products, he was a charter member of milk Producer 5
Association of Central California and was president of the
board of directors four years after its organization.
William Je Hackett was married in Hanford to Gertrude
Fellows. They had seven children: Lester who ranched near
Ceres; Claire who worked with his fa+~her on the Ceres ranch;
Fannie who married Oscar mall and lived in Ceres; Dorothy
who married George mckenzie and lived in the old Craig home
on Fifth and Whitmore; Lois who married a Smith and lived in
Ceres; Dwight and Phillip. The Hacketts were members of the
First Christian Church. Three generations of the Hacketts
were veterinarians. The present generation has continued to
be active in agricultural organizations, including high school
F. F. A. work.
HA~
mrs. Katie Ham came to Ceres in August of 1910. Her
husband, who was a miner from cornwall, England, had died
of miner I5 consumption ir 1908 after an illness of two years.
Their three children were still living at home when mrs. Ham
arrived in town--Will was 21, Allen was of high school age
and Pearl was in grade school.
mrs. Ham was also born In England and had come with her
father to the United States in the early 1860's. He, too,
was a miner and worked in the mines at Soulsbyville which
was settled by Cornish miners. After she came to Ceres,
Katie Ham ran a boarding house for teachers.
Will Ham married myrtle 8aldridge in Ceres where they
reared their family and lived for the remainder of their
lives. Ham operated the Ceres grocery Store with his brother
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PAGE 50 Show Image
in-law, Wayne Baidridge, on Fourth 5treet. Will and IYIyrtle
had three children. Their son Gordon, a former £eres High
School trustee, lives in the Ceres district still and is
knotun for his fine photography and his studio in modesto. His
older brother, Phillip, is also a photographer, having begun
as a combat photographer in World ~ar II. He has achieved
some fame through having worked with Walt Oisney Studios.
Ooreen Ham, the daughter, is married to a physician.
mrs. Katie Ham was married again in her later years here,
to a mr. middleton. Her first husband was J. H. Ham. Their
son, Allen, attended Stanford in 1917 at the same time as
Jessie Wood Crombie.
HANS Corn
The Hanscoms were Tflaine relations of the Averill family
and had preceded them to £alifornia by some years, coming in
the 49'er days. Josiah Weston and Amanda Hanscom lived in
various places while he tried his hand at first mining, then
the cattle and sheep business, and finally general farming
in San Joaquin county, at Atlanta. The family came to £eres
around 1675, ahead of the Averills.
Josiah W. Hanscom had taught a country school in addition
to farming and saw to it that all of his children had an un-
usually good education for the time. There were seven of them:
George T., Nathan C., Bion 8., Si Livingston, Ned B., Elma who
married Chas. W. Kirkwood, and Robert H. George T. Hanscom
completed his education at San Jose State Normal and taught
for 43 years from Bakersfield to the Oregon line, including
a number of years in Stanislaus County. He retired in 1916 on
a teacher9s pension and went into the poultry commission busi-
ness.
Nathan C. Hanscom also nraduated from San Jose State and
taught school, worked for newspapers in Seattle, Stockton and
other parts of Calif~~nia, finally settled at farming and the
commission business with his brothers.
The most interesting and also the most controversial of
the Hanscom family was Si. After San Jose State, he tried
his hand at teaching around the county and then went into the
newspaper business in modesto. For a time he taught in part
of the year, worked in the harvest field, and ran the news-
paper on the side. By 1892, he had been involved in twelve
lawsuits, mostly for libel, of which he had won ten, lost one
at $1 damages, and had one undecided. His newspaper was the
modesto morning Herald, Republican in its politics, and Si
Hanscom as editor minced no words when he wrote, especially
when the words were aimed at the modesto News Oemocrat. Not
only was he a Republican in a strongly Democratic town, but
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PAGE 51 Show Image
he (remember his cousin was Allura Ulch and he had grown up
in Ceres) made the paper a strong defender o~ temperance at
a time when the JYlodesto liquor question was being decided.
Some of his strong words were directed at the city and county
governments9 with some justification--his Democratic rival
got all of the city and county printing IAiork, despite the
fact that the gerald was sometimes the louiest bidder.
Things got livelier. The editor, uiho was spoken of as
being "of Ceres", had his life threatened and began going a~
bout armed. Once, it is said, he shot himself in the leg
when the self-cocking revolver went off in his overcoat
pocket. Si always named names and used most specific lang
uage. In 1889, he accused the chairman of the board of su
pervisors of being a figurehead for another politician. A
week later the son of the chairman entered his office and
shot at his head, but Hanscom threw up his hand and altered
the aim so that the bullet went into the wall. In the ~x-
citement a passerby on the street yelled "Fire" and the
firebell and whistle were sounded. Naturally, this and a
later lawsuit with a judge he had accused of ballot box fraud
made good material for his rival newspaper.
After Si Hanscom retired from the modesto newspaper turm
moil, he went on to become a prominert San Francisco business
man.
HANSON
The John H. Hanson family arrived in the Ceres area in
1903, coming from a homestead in Oregon with their friends
and relations, the Anthony morgan family. mr. Hanson, the
second of ten children, was born in Kansas in 1575, the son
of a wheelwright, Charles Hanson. Charles Hanson had immi-
grated from Oenmark and married Angeline Scott, a New Yorker.
mrs. John Hanson had been Laurine Katterine Ipsen, born in
Denmark a~d a niece of the iflorgans.
The Hanson and morgan families purchased land adjacent
to one another, west of Ceres, and were engaged in farming
and dairying. IY'r. Hanson was also a carpenter by trade. He
and morgan, for some time, had horses shipped from Oregon to
Stanislaus County and broke them to harness before selling
to farmers in the area. In 1921, morgan retired and John Han-
son exchanged farms with him, taking over morgan's larger acre-
age.
The Hanson family attended the First Christian Church in
Ceres and the mother kept up her interest in the family's Dan-
ish heritage through her membership in the Ladies of Dania
(Oania Hall) in modesto. John and Laurine Hanson had two
children, Charles Henry and Clarence IYIorgan. Clarence is best
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PAGE 52 Show Image
known as Jud9e Hanson of the modesto municipal Court where
he served for nineteen years. He has a daughter who lives
in Sonora and a son who is a druggist in Santa Barbara.
Charles Hanson, known so lone to the community o~ £eres
as ~ that his name is seldom written or printed any
other way, continued farming on the gamily acres, converting
them to almond orchards. He and his wise Zeipha still live
there in the home they moved into when married nifty years
ago, though they r~r.ently sold the farm. Their son, Or. James
Hanson, is a science professor at Stanislaus State College,
and a daughter, June (Iflrs. Gerald Schockmel), lives in Sunny
vale. The Hansons have three grandchildren.
Charley has long been a leader in the Ceres \1olunteer Fire
Department, active in the Ceres Lions Club, and has a record
of many years as trustee on both the Ceres Elementary and Ceres
High School boards, a total of seventeen years on both boards.
He also served several terms on the Stanislaus County Schools
board. Zelpha, whose parents, the George Swaggertys, came to
Ceres in 1Y12, is active in the Ceres methodist Church. She
served four terms as president of the elementary school PTA.
Both of the Hansons are active Elks Club members.
Zelpha Hanson's sister, Obrothy Swaggerty IAJilhite (mrs.
Richard Wilhite), lives in Ceres where she and her husband
have reared their familyRobert, now of Piedmont; and Delorris
(mrs. Dennis Parrott) of modesto. They havetwo grandchildren.
HARP
The spot where the Tidewater Southern Railroad crosses
Service Road west of Ceres used to be known as Harp Station.
The large home and warehouse, still referred to locally at
times as the Sisk Warehouse, are now part of the Stanislaus
Farm Supply (Stanislaus Farm Bureau). They are located on
what was once part of the Harp ranch and that portion of Ser
vice Road was once referred to as Harp Road.
T. 0. Harp, a Tennessee native, came,as so many did,
from San Joaquin County to~Stanislaus. He and his wife,
Elizabeth, had five children and came to the area west of
Ceres in the ~ By 18~4, T. 0. Harp had 2,800 acres,
his son Thomas had 320 acres and brother William had 2,OOu.
By an earlier marriage T. 0. (Thomas David) Harp had three
children.
Thomas J. Harp, the son, l8ter took over his father's
farm. He married in Stanislaus County a native of Wisconsin,
Elma mcCumber. They had two children, Lola and Joseph. Tho
mas Harp played a major role in the early development of the
Turlock Irrigation District.
49-
PAGE 53 Show Image
liATCH
The man who put his name on that has become one of the
major thoroughfares south of the Tuolumne and became wealthy
in his land speculations and farming enterprises started life
in Vermont, son of a whip maker. He ran away from home to
Boston where he earned enough money as a shoe clerk to book
passage to San Francisco via the Isthmus of Panama. Arriving
in California at the age of nineteen with one silver dollar
in his pocket, he eventually walked to the Stockton area and
then found his way to ~ gold fields.
Ephraim Hatch was able to save enough from his gold mm-
mg to buy six horses and a wagon. He used them to haul prom
visions for miners, concealing his day's receipts (in gold
dust) in a slit of the blinds on the horses I bridles. He mar-
ned Carolina matilda Horn i,', 1559, and about that time pre-
empted a section of land cornering on Crows Landing and Ser-
vice Roads. Some years later, they received title by U. S.
Government patent. Three children were born to them: Herbert
mavro (called Bert), Amos, and dora may. Amos died at the age
of 19 and is buried in the Ceres £et~etery.
John Service and ~phraim Hatch became joint owners in
half a township in madera County and it was still in both fam-
ily's names until recent times. ~phraim and his family were
well-known in early Ceres and it was ~phraim who acted as Pre-
sident of the First Annual Ceres Reunion in 1595 and gave the
welcoming address. After he moved away, John Service acted
as his agent as well as partner in farming operations.
As evidenced by a paid-up "Flat Note" in the family pos-
session~in the amount of $50,000, ~phraim together with another
$10,000 had plans to purchase Catalina Island for grazing pur-
poses, one of his most ambitious schemes. However, it is
claimed that a second inspection trip of the property in rough
seas caused him to become so sea-sick that he changed his mind.
Instead, he bought a former Spanish land grant of twenty thou-
sand acres near San Luis Obispo, known as the Santa Isabella
Ranch. In a short time h~ sold the property, doubling his
money, and not long after retired to San Jose where he lived
directly across Lhe street from the then location of University
of Pacific. At one time he owned part of the university's
grounds.
Herbert m. "Bert" Hatch continued to live in the Ceres area
and to rear his family herea Warde, Hazel, Herbert and Raymond
Ephraim Hatch. Their home stood on one-half section bordering
Richiand Avenue on the east, IAIhitmore Avenue on the south, mor-
gan on the west1 and Hatch on the north. then the Southern
Pacific Railroad (thin called the Central Pacific) cami through,
it acquired a right-of-way diagonally across this half-section.
The house they lived in was, in large part, the school used by
Cer~a betore 1587.
-50-
PAGE 54 Show Image
* -x;--
-4--
,`-- ;--¾
;
D.K. Woodbridge-T;omas
Caswell lome, on w:iitmore
at 6th Street.
½
~ +A~
~> ~ ½¼;$½ ~
~ ~ ~
~ ~
~
Clinton N. Whitmore~iome1 on
5th Street.
~,: ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~
Case home on Roeding Rd.
~
~ ~
~ ½ ~
~ ~¼ ~ ~ ~
~ ½
PAGE 55 Show Image
;; 4
+:
Daniel ~ home 2928 5th Peter Kana some on 5t~i Street, said
Street,First :~ouse in Ceres. to be the 3rd house built in Ceres.
~
/~
~,
~
~ 4 ~ ~ 4
~ ~
~ -` ~ ~
<` ~ ~
~< ~
Levi Carter-Homer Vilas Sr., original Front view Carter-Vilas home.
portion built Ca. 1865.
~ ~
~
\ ~
,; ~ ½4(¼~*~\~~ ~
4; ~~**4, *~~&`~½, ~`
*
* *
.4 ~ ~* **
~*
~ ~
Warren S. Rollins home 5th Street at Fox Grove Baptist Church picnic in
Park. 1919, Dorot;iy Doolittle, Hazel
Garrison and Marge Wuhutmore.
PAGE 56 Show Image
HAIAiKINS BRYANT
The present La Casitas ~obi1e Home Park on Fowler Road
was formerly the home and farmsite of Rees and Verna Bryant
who came to £eres in 5eptember, 1918 and settled there.
mrs. Bryant was a daughter of Richard and Anne Hawkins
and the Hawkins came the next year after the Bryants and
bought adjoining land. The Hawkins family came from Idaho,
though they had lined in Oklahoma Territory early. There
are two Hawkins sons, Albert who left Ceres early, and Arch-
ibald who commuted to his parents ranch from San Francisco
until 1972.
Rees Bryant was born in Kentucky but moved as a small
boy to Idaho where he met his future wife. The Bryants
have a son Arden who lives in San Diego and a daunhter, Anna-
belle, married to Donald Newkirk. The Newkirks live on Es-
mar Road.
HEL5L~Y
The Helsleys are an example of a minister's family that
stayed to become a real part of the community instead of hav-
mg to move away after only a few years as so many do. They
came to £eres in ITlay, 1899 when Je m. Helsley took over the
pulpit at the First Baptist Church. He saw the congregation
through the fire which destroyed the church and helped organ-
ize the rebuilding.
5tanton K. Helsley, the son, was postmaster for thirteen
years in £eres, then served as justice of Ceres Township. His
son was 5heldon Helsley, a Baptist evangelist and minister.
Carol Helsley Cochran, daughter of J. m. Helsley, lives
now in modesto but, uiith her husband Reid, is a part of Ceres
church and club life. By an earlier marriage to Harold Brooks,
Carol Cochran had t~~ree sons--Leslie, Vernon and Edward. Les-
lie Brooks is secretary of modesto Irrigation District.
HOLITI
Hans P. Holm and Elm martins Alfons were born in Denmark
and came to this country from the village of Gudhjem on the
island of Bornholm. Hans Holm had left the island earlier to
go to England to work at building. There he learned English
and then returned to Denmark to get his wife-to-be and travel
with a group to America.
As was the custom of so many affianced couples, they tra-
velled separately as it was simpler to enter the country that
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PAGE 57 Show Image
`uay. Arriving in New York, they travelled to California by
train and, for some reason, were routed through £anad~, caus-
mg some confusion with immigration authorities. It was in
December, 1907, during a money panic.
Upon arrival in Ceres, they were met at the station by
George Hall, the blacksmith, who made a practice of going
down to meet the train. He walked the couple out to Fowler
Road to show them the way to the home of the reverend Peter
Hansen. The Rev. Hansen had known them in their village
where he had been a minister and he served as a focal point
for newcomers prom Denmark. Hans Holm went to 5an Francisco
to work and save for a year while his bride-to-be worked in
IYIodesto. At the end of the year they were married and be-
gan a home in Ceres, buying land north of Hatch Road.
myrtle Holm Price says that her parents had always in-
tended to return eventually to Oenmark. Her mother esp~.cially
missed the beauty of the ocean and forests when it was con-
trasted with ~eres' dry and dusty summer. She had been a
dressmaker and had taught sewing in Oenmark in her home over-
looking the harbour. Nevertheless, the Hoims remained in
Ceres and lived the rest of their lives here. They kept up
their Oanish contacts at first1 mrs. Hoim being a charter mem-
ber of the Oanish Baptist Church which was organized in 1Y16
in modesto. Later they became members of the Ceres First Bap-
tish £hurch. They were also members of the Dania Club.
The Holm children were, in addition to myrtle (mrs. James
Price), Edith who married Clyde Atwell, Harry E. who lives in
Soquel, and Anton. Anton "Bud" Holm lives in Ceres in his
parents' last home on Roeding Avenue. His three sons are re-
membered for their participation in school sports, as was the
father. myrtle Price is known for her knowledge of Ceres history.
It is interesting that mrs. Holm, who arrived speaking
no English, learned it from her children. Every day when they
arrived home from school, she would ~sk them to teach her what
they had learned that day in reading and repeat it to her in
English and thus she learned to speak and read English.
HOS~ER - GRAHAM
Ezra Frank Hosmer and his wife margaret came to Ceres in
1912. Their son Wayne, for 3~ years, operated a service sta-
tion in Ceres. Originally he had a motorcycle shop in con-
nection with the station. The business had to be moved three
times as the highway was widened. Last located approximately
where the east end of Pine 5treet overpass meets Fifth Street,
on El Camino, it was eliminated altogether when the Freeway
was built. Hosmer also owned other property adjacent. His
wife was Petra K. West. She w~s born in Oenmark, came to the
town in 1914, and still lives here.
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PAGE 58 Show Image
Wayne and Pet ra Hosmer e Loren ki., was a Ceres
school bus driver for seventeen years and is best known to
many hundreds o~ children in that capacity. However, he has
been a carpenter and was associated with lumber and building
at the same time he drove bus. He is now a general building
contractor and owns a builders supply at Crows Landing and
Hatch Hoads. Loren Hosmer is married to Erma Streeter whose
grandparents, Sheldon and Luella Streeter, came to Ceres
from Tulare in 1910 and built a house and farmed on Turner
Road. Sheldon Streeter was the first white baby born in
Jackson, California. He was one of the many farmers who
took their teams and scrapers and worked them to build the
early canals and ditches.
Shel don Streeter I5 son Claude, irma's father, was one
of eight children. All but the eldest of them attended the
Ceres schools. Claude married mattie (3raham, daughter of a
Keyes Road farmer who came to ITlodesto in 1906 and ~o Ceres
in 1908 from Nebraska with his second wife LeITtyra. He had
twenty-tuio children by tiMo marriages.
Loren and Erm~ Hosmer have eight children who are known
in the community for their involvement in school activities.
Erma Hosmer was for three years president of Ceres Women I5
Club.
HUOELSON
James Gresham Hudelson, by two marriages, had nine child-
ren who have been a part of Stanislaus County history for over
a century. The father came first in 1550 with the Oavison
wagon train from Benton County, missouri. He engaged in haul-
mg supplies to the mines in ~l Dorado County for a time, and
an experience is recounted that he had in Ragtoi~n iuhen he first
arrived: The group he was with was in need of provisions and
he had to trade a horse, saddle and bridle for only six pounds
of flour. In the fall of 1552, he returned to missouri to get
his wife, IYlary (mcCluney) Hudelson and three children, and be-
gan farming in Stanislaus County in 1853. By a second marriage
he had six children.
James, the son of James Gresham, left California for a
time to farm in Oregon but returned to Stanislaus County to
stay in 1886. Three years later he became foreman of 3,000
acres of wheat near Ceres for C. N. ~hitmore. Later he pur-
chased land of his own nearby. He was twice married, once in
Oregon and later in California.
Another son, John Robert Hudelson, came to California a
babe in his mother's arms. His mother died soon after arrival
and he was reared by an aunt. He married, at Waterford, Eliza
`1andalia Howell whose family had come to San Joaquin County from
Arkansas and later, in 1871, to Stanislaus County. Eliza Howell,
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PAGE 59 Show Image
who had attended both the methodist ~o11ege at Vacaville and
the Normal School in San Francisco, was a teacher before her
marriage. The John R. ~udelsons farmed in grain, stock, and
later, dairy in the modesto area and also owned land in New-
man. One of their six children, Albert H., settled on land
he inherited on Keyes Road in 1905, west of Ceres.
Albert Howell Hudelson married Grace Work of Ulodesto and
they brought up their children, (3lenn and Gracealberta, on the
Keyes Road farm. Gracea1~erta, whose name is a combination of
both her parents', is be~tknown in Ceres since she returned
to live here in the early 1950's. Her husband, H~~ndon Carroll
Ray, was superintendent of Ceres elementary School until it was
merged with the high school district. Their three children
grew up in Ceres and Gracealberta was known for her leadership
in club and school activities. Since mr. Ray's death she has
remained in Ceres but become increasingly active in the new
Great Valley museum on IYlodesto Junior College's west campus.
She is also involved in ~JC alumni affairs. She recently re-
married; her husband is Robert Gordon, an. ~JC faculty member.
John R. Hudelson, who died in 1920, was active in the
early irrigation movements in the county.
ISHIDA
Kametaro and Ru Ishida, born in Japan, came to Ceres in
the middle 1920's from the Stockton area, and began farming.
After World War II, they purchased land on Service Road, west
of Ceres. Their children, Nobura, Haru and Jack all went to
Ceres Grammar School and graduated from Ceres High School.
The parents were members of the Japanese Holiness Church.
Nobura, or "Nob's as he is called, lives on the home place
and farms in partnership with his brother Jack who lives on
Beckwith Road, raising strawberries and other crops. Haru,
now mrs. Nakagawa, lives west of modesto but keeps up her in-
terest in Ceres and old ~r;h~ol friends.
JOHNSON
The Asa F. Johnson family first arrived in Cares in 1899
and, except for a three-year period in Oakdale and modesto,
members of it have lived and worked in the town since.
Ass, or "Ase" as he was always called, Johnson, a native
of Tennessee, was Ceres' first constable in the days when
there was no police force and law was dispensed by that offi-
cer rather than by deputy sheriffs. The position was estab-
lished when the Ceres Judicial district was first formed and
Daniel Campin became the first justice. The position was an
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elective one and A. J. Roberts ~as the losing candidate.
#1
Constable Ase Johnson juas considered dfl ace cop91 by the
children on his beat to the extent that many still speak
of him in adulthood.
Constable Johnson~5 son, James Floyd Johnson (Shorty),
`uas three years old tuhen brought to Ceres. He uias manager
o~ the modesto number Yard at the Cares branch for many
years and served as city clerk ~or eleven years. A World
War I veteran, he was active in the founding o~ the Ceres
American Legion Post and was \1eteranes Service 0~ficer for
Stanislaus County, assisting veterans of World War II.
He farmed for a time in the Hughson area but has allays
lived in Ceres. His first rife, the late Lula (Williams)
Johnson had parents who had met and married on the Platte
River on their way to Colorado. After spending a time in
Oregon, they eventually settled in Amador County, £alifornia.
Ase Johnson and his wife met, in the way of many young
people in the days when everyone pitched in to uiork in the
grain harvest, in merced County. They had both gone to t~ork
for the season on the large Jones Ranch there. Besides Floyd
Johnson, their children were Allen who left Ceres in 1921,
and Harold who died in service in the first World War.
KAISER
Werner and Arnold Kaiser, born near Lake Lucerne, Switz
erland, came to £eres in 1915, after three years in Butte Co.
pith two other brothers. They had had a heavy lose by fire
in the north and moved their herd of 93 Holsteins onto the
Whitmore Ranch near the corner of Whitmore and mitchell where
the Barbour Center now is.
The Kaiser brothers added buildings and other impro~e
ments to the Whitmore property and then, in 1918, settled on
a dairy farm of their own in the Westport area, Some 160 acres.
They operated under the name Kaiser Bros. and were well known
as breeders of registered Holsteins. Before 1920, they had
automatic milking machines, Po~ered by their own electric
plant. They carried on the Swiss dairying traditions of their
parents on a larger and more modern scale.
Arnold and his one son, also named Arnold, are no longer
living, but his widoui still lives in IYIodesto. Werner had two
sons: Edward A., living and still farming on the home place;
and Erwin of modesto, He also had a daughter, now Bertha
Burch of Patterson.. Edward A. Kaiser has converted the dairy
operation to almonds but still retains the old home, the Tho
mas 0. Harp house, built in the early 187O'~. The home is
illustrated in the 1581 history of Stanislaus County by Branch.
It has been altered in appearance very little. Ed Kaiser was
a CU5O trustee.
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LUCAS SHRIDER
Newel Crane Lucas, IAiith his uiife, two sons and four
daughters, came to Ceres from New ~ex1co Tetritory in 1908.
They had originally intended to settle in the Lodi area to
which his sister had come as a bride in 18?0. However, the
land further down the valley9 with its new irrigation, was
more promising in appearance to them.
`Aihile returning to Lodi from a farm-hunting trip to
Stevenson Colony in 5ept~mb~r, 1908, Lucas stopped at the
mitchell home in Smyrna Park to get a drink of water. The
lush growth of the fig trees he saw convinced him and he pur
chased an orchard and alfalfa land at once from a C. mcRoberts
and moved his family down from Lodi. Part of what was his
land, on Don Pedro Road, is now within Ceres city limits and
is covered iuith apartment houses. It had been sold earlier
to the Abernathy family. Newel Lucas also owned land wrst of
Ceres on Kinser Road.
The entire family was active in the Ceres Baptist Church.
The elder Lucas, a descendant of a Yhomas Lucas of England who
settled in IYtaryland in 1668, was the son of a Pennsylvania
born minister who was first a IYlethodist and then a Baptist
missionary in the Southern states. ~`. C. Lucas continued to
farm in Ceres until shortly before his death in 1933. In his
later years he was fond of the common small-town custom of
older men~~gathering on a bench downtown to discuss old times,
whittle, and comment on the passing scene. Those who still
remember him tell of his white moustache and Southernstyle
courtesy.
Caroline F. (Touchstone) Lucas was a pioneer woman of
strong convictions and the courage to keep them, an early ex-
ample of the faithful wife and mother who yearns for self-
identity. Widowed when her first husband was murdered by a
robber, she reared two children by that marriage plus her six
Lucas children, patented inventions for easing farm work,
worked with the IAI. C. T. U. and Red £ross, and kept the church
at the center of her life. She was in her late sixties when
she decided to begin a career in the church as a lay evangelist
which she followed for the next twenty years Luith Santa Cruz
as her headquarters. 5he died there at the age of 95, until
the last year of her life working in her extensive garden.
The daughters of the family were Cora (mrs. Howard Tay
br of Lodi), Nita (the late mrs. Roy Ford of Santa Cruz),
Leona (mrs. John Ford of Ceres), and Jettie (mrs. Claud Thom
ason of Santa Cruz). Nita was a teller in the Bank of Ceres
before her marriage. Newell A. Lucas, eldest son, farmed
briefly on land he bought adjacent to his. father's farm, but
soon moved to the Los Angeles area. He now lives in Santa Ana
where, at the age of 90, he still runs his accounting business.
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Excpt for service abroad in Aborid ~ar I, and a year
working in a michigan mactory turning out the Briscoe and
Jackson automobiles, Garland T. "Ooc~' Lucas, the younger
son, remained in Ceres where he farmed and also worked in
the Ceres packing houses as a box maker. He married Irva
Shrider, a descendant of ~. G. Hall, a Connecticut-born Argo
naut of 1849 who was a 5an Francisco business man and man
posa Co. hotel owner and Wells Fargo agent. George Shrider,
her father, first came to &eres from San Jose just prior to
the first World War and managed a peach farm west of Ceres
near the corner of 5er~ice Road and the highway. He later
owned a nursery. The Shriders lived across prom the Tn
angle Park on Third St. where Bob Simpson's Chew n' Chat
restaurant now is. Irva Lucas still lives on the farm that
is south of £eres where she and her husband began living
soon after their marriage. She has been active in local fra
ternal organizations and both the Congregational and metho
dist churches. She was honored in 1972 for her 5~ years of
continuous membership in Ceres Rebekahs.
G. T. and Irva Lucas had one child, Grant, who farms
in Ceres where he has lived all his life except for service
as a paratrooper in the second World War. He has maintained
the family interest in Ceres affairs, serving on the Ceres
Unified School board for eight years. He and his wife, mil-
dred, a former teacher in Empire and Ceres schools, have two
sons.
mcNEIL CONNER
"Christmas was a sad day for the people of our
little village. Our much beloved friend and
neighbor, mrs. Emma mcNeil, was buried on the
afternoon of that day. . . What a gloom did the
sad death cast over our little placel The plans
for celebrating Christmas were put aside. I was
called upon to make the last dress for her for
whom only one `;ear before I had made the bridal
dress . A. E. Ulch
Note Book No. 2
Nancy Conner ran first a boarding house in Ceres and
then a hotel. She was the widow of a Conner from michigan
and Wisconsin who left her with a daughter, Emily A., to
rear alone. more can be read about IYIrs. Conner in the history
of the First Christian Church.
Emily (Emma) Conner had been born in Arkansas as had
her mother. She married at the age of 28, Joseph mcNeil.
mcNeil, a native of missouri, was 37 at the time of the
marriage in September, 1888 in Ceres. Daniel IMhitmore and
John G. Annear were the witnesses at the marriage. Joseph
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PAGE 63 Show Image
McNeil cae to ~eres in the 188O~s to manage the Grange ~o.
warehouses in Ceres. In one of the warehouses was the tele-
phone business owned by the feed company, in those days the
only telephone contact that ~eres had with other towns. It
connected Ceres with Turlock, Keyes Switch and IYiodesto. After
the brief marriage with Emma Conner, mcNeil married a girl
who worked in the conner hotel, named Sara but called by the
nickname Sadie. Her maiden name is unknown, but she had come
to Ceres in 1552 from ~l Dorado ~o.
Joseph and Sadie mcNeil lived in the hotel which he now
managed for his former mother-in-law, at the same time keep-
mg up h15 work for the Grange Company. They had a son born
to them, Archibald miles mcNeil, who later became a court re-
porter in IYlodesto. Joseph only lived a brief time after that,
dying in late 1901. Sadie mcNeil continued to live in ~eres,
running the hotel and rearing her son. then she died many
years later she was caller the oldest living pioneer in Ceres.
A niece of Nancy Conner, mary (may) A. £onner, lived at
the hotel with the Conners for a time until her marriage to
Albert H. matteson in 1886 in the Ceres methodist congregation.
~OBL~Y - RAY
william mobley came to Ceres around 1920, having lived
in the Denair area and in northern California prior to that
time. He owned and operated a dairy farm on morgan Road.
His son, Phillip Lyle mobley1 Sr., had a garage business in
Ceres for a number of years, and was located at first at a
spot on the highway opposite the depot and later in the Vin-
cent building on Fourth Street. He began farming on Central
Avenue where he and his wife have lived for over fifty years.
Of the P. L. mobley, Sr.'s three children, one daughter
lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and another, Joyce King,
is a nurse at memorial Hospital. ~hillip L. mobley, Jr. is
a grape grower south of Cares. He and his wife Helene have
a son and a daughter and have always supported community ac-
tivities.
mrs. P. L. mobley, Sr. was born Clara Ray. Her father,
Angus Ray, brought his family to Ceres from Corona, California
in April, 1906 at the time of the San Francisco earthquake and
fire. mrs. mobley remembers the awesome effect of the sky as
seen in Ceres, the glow of the fire plainly visible. Her mo-
ther, a methodist, was a second cousin to the William Caulkins
family and after a visit with them, decided she liked the Ceres
climate well enough to want to live here. The Rays farmed on
land off Hatch Road facing on what is now mitchell Road, and
remained here for the remainder of their lives.
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mOFFT HALL LONG
"Byrdie Hall ~as here. She ~as trying to make
a nice dress for herself--got to a stopping
place--came to get my advice and help. She
stayed till nearly dark. Fred came aster her,
came in and had a little visit, too. II
A. E. Ulch
January 30, 1903
Pleasure Book No. 3
In. J. and Rhoda Hall came usest by ox team and around the
Horn, each in their separate ways, in the 1850's. merrit J.
Hall was a native of maine as were his parents. His mother,
Sarah F. Hall, was living in Ceres with him into the 1880's.
Rhoda A. Hall wasborn in New Hampshire. The Halls met and
married in Columbia before coming to £eres and farming wheat.
At one time they had a large acreage tuith as many as twenty
hired hands at harvest time, plus a Chinese cook. Their child-
ren were Charles A., Herbert ITI., 8yrdelia and Joseph A., all
born in Ceres.
The young ~yrdelia was sent at the age o~ eighteen to
the New England £onservatory in Boston. After her return to
Ceres she lived at home until ~er marriage to Fred W. mo~fet.
Orchardist, nurseryman and bruit expert Fred Al. mof~et
was a native of Iowa, son of IAIilliam and Sarah Ifloffet. The
eldest of nine children from two marriages of his father, he
began earning for himself at the age of twelve when he went
to work atthe mt. Arbor nursery in Shenandoah, Iowa for the
owner E. S. Welch. In his twelve years there he gained his
horticultural knowledge; he attended Western Normal School
also during part of that times
In 1903, moffet came to ~eres and established the Smyrna
Park Nurseries with Daniel 0. Campin, first Ceres justice,
using the capital he had of "$35, a pair of willing hands and
a stout heart." When the nursery was well-established, he
began to invest in real estate. By 1917, the nursery was
well-known in the county and he had become owner, with his
old empolyer belch, of the 320 acres east of Ceres that is
still known as the Superior Fruit Ranch. moffet had begun
changing the acreage from a grain ranch to orchard and vine-
yard in 1907. It employed, in the 1920's, as many as 120
men, including cooks for the crews. On the place were a large
bunkhouse, parking shed, sulphur house and dry yard. It be-
came famous throughout the county for its rock entrance pillars
and fences covered with white and red roses. The pillars re-
main but the fences and roses are gone; however, cuttings from
the roses adorn gardens all over Stanislaus County and even in-
to San Joaquin County. In 1942, the Superior Fruit Ranch was
called the largest peach orchard in the area.
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The Fred moffets lived on ten acres within the city
limits of Ceres which had been the Hall property originally.
It is now the Richland 5hopping Center. Their large home that
was there has been moved to mitchell Road where it has been
remodeled for various commercial purposes, now housing a west-
em wear shop. The IYIoffets had one daughter, margaret Ann9
who still lives in Ceres though she and her husband spent sev-
eral years of their marriage in the Bay Area. She married the
late Sidney C. Long of Ohio. O~ their two sons, 5tephen is
with Pacific Telephone in Sacramento and Sidney m. now operates
the Superior Fruit Ranch in addition to managing several other
properties in California and elsewhere. Sidney m. Long lives
on the ranch with his wife Linda and three children. He has
served both as Ceres Unified School District trustee and on
the old Ceres Elementary board. He is past president o~ the
Grocers Harvesting Committee and is active in other farm groups.
margaret moffet Long is a member of Persephone Guild and
has long carried on her father's interest in Ceres affairs. Her
husband operated a real estate business in Ceres and had been
in newspaper work. Her father was an active participant in the
Ceres Board of Trade, was a director of the Turlock Irrigation
District during the building of the first Don Pedro Dam, and
was a director in fruit canning associations. Sidney C. Long
was especially interested in attracting small industry to Ceres
and is remembered for his work on t~a planning commission.
~ULLII\1 - BOYD
Francis Stephen A. Douglas mullin, who called himself
Douglas Francis mullin, became by 1921 one of the San Joa-
quin Walley's largest landowners and grain farmers. The son
of the former treasurer and recorder of Jackson Co., Iowa,
he came west to California with his. parents but was left fath-
erless at the age of six.
By the age of nine, mullin had found his way to the Ceres
grain ranch of his brother-in-law ~lonzo P. Boyd. He worked
for Boyd for ten years, driving teams that he had to bridle
by standing on a box. At the age of 19, in fine health after
all that child labor, he used money he had managed to save and
bought out his sister and brother-in-law's stock and equipment,
leased the ranch of 1,000 acres and began raising grain for
himself. He claimed that, while still workin for Bo d, he had
driven the first combined harvester-thresher combine) ever
brought to Stanislaus County, in 1882, the machine being a
brand called Hauser, drawn by thirty-six horses. He purchased
the same harvester from Boyd.
IY'ullin married Sarah Anna Church of modesto, daughter of
Luke Church. They farmed on their Ceres ranch until 1891 when
they moved to their Hickman prnperty. He continued to farm at
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PAGE 66 Show Image
their Keyes ranch. IAAhen irrigation came in, his property was
at the head of the main canal of the T. I. D. He also had
land in madera County. mrs. mullin was a staunch member of
the Presbyterian Church in modesto. Her sister margaret
(irs. We `1. \1oice) was said to be the first girl born in
modesto; her brother George F. Church was claimed to be the
first American child born there. Another sister, Almina Je
Church, inarried James iflelvin Ross who was a male nurse for
Dr. Evans of Ceres.
Ni CKELSEN
Nickels Nickelsen was one of several settlers from Den
mark at the beginning of the century. The son of a sea cap-
tam who had touched San Francisco several times in his sail-
mg days, Nickelsen arrived in that city at the age of 15
in 1882.
After several years in Humboldt County, he came to Ceres
in 1910, and began dairying on land south of Ceres. His wife
was Adelheid IYIeyer, born in Hanover, Germany. Of their three
children, Frank and Nickels H. still live on moffet Road. N. H.
Nickelsen had a twin sister, Pauline.
OSTERB ERG
John Osterberg immigrated from Sweden to South Dakota
and later went on to Canada. After a time in Alberta, he went
on to British Columbia. He had married Carolina Pearson and
they had established a home there when her parents, the Eric
G. Pearsons, decided to come to warmer weather in California.
Two years after the Pearsons had come to Stanislaus Co.,
the Osterbergs decided to join them. mrs. Osterberg came ahead
with the children while her husband remained for a time to com-
plete some well-drilling..projects. She and the children arrived
in July, 1904 and, when the father joined the family they went
to the RiverRoad property that is still in the family. Using
machinery powered by a gasoline engine Osterbergs set up a well-
drilling business that resulted in thousands of wells all over
the county.
William and maurits, two of the sons, were partners in
the drilling enterprise and, when ~as was discovered in some
of the deeper wells drilled, brother manfred joined the group.
maurits organized the Osterberg Gas Co. which served the River
Road area at a low flat rate until taken over by P. G. and E.
C. B. Carroll, who had married Elsie Osterberg, joined the
well-drilling firm as a partner with manfred. While they were
still with the drilling part of the business, William and mau-
rits invented a one-way clutch which enabled the drilling ma-
chinery to go eight to ten times faster than before. The firm
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PAGE 67 Show Image
is now Osterberg and Stewart, John and Gordon Steart, sons o~
&arrieOsterberg Stewart now bein9 in it.
In addition to the gas company, there was the Osterberg
Water Company which served south modesto for many years. mau-
rits Osterberg began a series of big game hunts in 1964 `uhich
have included live trips to Africa, one to India, one to Aus
tralia, two to New Zealand, two to Brazil, one to British Hon-
duras and eight to Alaska. The resulting trophies were arran-
ged in a museum on his property on River Road where he has
been generous in showing them, especially to school children.
The animals have been donated to the Great Valley museum on
modesto Junior College's west campus but have not yet been moved.
Other children in the Osterberg gamily are Esther Oster-
berg Smith and Edith Osterberg, a twin of Elsie. Elsie Carroll
is known for her hobby of sculpture. The entire family have
been involved in the Tuolumne River Lodge since its establish-
ment.
PARKS
Walter S. Parks came to Ceres first in 1889, lest for a
period and then returned. His sell-made success story is
graphically told by his daughter, Jea~~ Parks mcKnighta "Born
in the hills of Hopper, Arkansas of a large family, he left
home at the age of seventeen to go west. He took off down
the road, with no money and barefooted. Working at odd jobs,
he reached Ceres in 1889. There he found employment with C.
N. Whitmore, driving mule teaws to Berenda. Ever anxious to
get ahead he leased a small hotel there." Only the eucalyp-
tus trees around the hotel remain now, but Parks long since
had decided to seek a business education at the Chestnutwood
Business College in Santa Cruz.
Walter Parks met at the college Edith morison and they
were married in 1895. They proceeded to San Francisco where,
armed with a letter from C. N. Whitmore to the famous mr. Ral-
ston, Parks secured a job ~: brakeman on the cable cars. The
eldest child, Roy, was born there. After five years they went
to San Jose to run a prune orchard belonging to mrs. Parks'
father. Because of an acquaintance with a retired Superior
Court judge named Hurlbert, he returned to the Ceres area and
purchased, with the judges a large acreage near the Empire
Bridge. This was in 1903, fourteen years aster he had arrived
penniless the first time.
The property, which had formerly belonged to Lew Hunsucker,
and before that to T. E. Tynan, was developed for grain, alfalfa
and dairy. The harvester used on the grain was the "combine",
pulled by twenty mules with the "mule skinner" sitting on a
perch that extended out over the first six mules. Very early,
the section of land was developed for fruit. Growing apricots
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PAGE 68 Show Image
nd pEches, he iuas one of the first directors of Tn Valley
6rowers. The land lay alon9 the river ~nd included both up
per and bottom land.
The Parks developed both Hughson and Ceres interests.
They lived down a half-mile lane from Hatch Road and the six
children were sometimes followed by coyotes when they sent
to pick up the mail. They attended Ceres schools but had
business reasor~s for going to Hughson. Jean mcKnight re~lls
a tigue when she and her brother 5tanley went to Hughson in a
wagon and she wa~ faced with trying to control a runaway horse.
Walter and Edith Parks had, besides Jean (mrs. Claude
mcKnight) and Stanley who farms and lives on the gamily place,
Roy who owned a garage in Hughson and is now deceased; Elmer,
a peach farmer for a time in Hughson and now retired in Hemet;
Avis, a nurse who married Gavin mc£ullagh and lives in Alalnut
Creek; and Lloyd who joined his brother Stanley on the family
acres,followed in his father~s footsteps at Tri~Valley Growers,
Bndserved for almost thirty years on the board of directors.
He is also on the IYIemorial Hospital Board of Directors and
has served on the Ceres High 5chool Board. Lloyd and wife
Betty, who also served on both the high srhool board and the
Ceres Unified board, are both known for their leadership and
interest in Ceres community affairs, especially those center-
mg about youth.
Stanley Parks married the former Evelyn Olson. Their son
Tom Parks is continuing the family farming tradition. Jean
Parks mcknight was a teacher in Ceres schools. Her brother
Lloyd echoes her assessment of their father when he says that
Walter Parks was a self-made man who truly was one whose
word was his bond. Edith Parks was for many years a friember of
the Ceres Garden Club, and knouin for her interest in her home
and garden. Both the elder Parks and his wife were active in
masonic orders.
PA5SALAQUA - CHIPPONERI
The families of Nick Chipponeri, from michigan but born
in Italy and anthony Passalaqua from Italy by way of IY)anteca
joined when they both settled west of Ceres. The Passalaquas
came here in 1924 and the Chipponeris in 1928. mrs. Passala-
~ua had been Josephine Chipponeri, sister to Nick. Through
school and business both families became a part of the commu-
nity's life. Nick's son Jim operates a hay buying and truck-
mg business in addition to farming. He and his wife Laura
have three children.
PEDRO
`(\anuel Pedro came in 1S9~ to Kings County, California
from the island of St. George, Azores. His wife-to-be
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PAGE 69 Show Image
was born on the same island and joined him in California in
1902. They came to the £eres area in 1925 aster having gone
through on a visit to relatives.
The three sons of the Pedros have remained in Ceres and
carried on the ~ami1y farming tradition, first in dairying
and now in crops. manuel lives on the original home site on
Keyes road and Arthur and Lucio live nearby. manuel and ~r
thur's children all attended Ceres High 5chool. Lucio has
not married.
QU£NLEY
John ~inclar quinley of Kentucky migrated to California
in 1852, coming from missouri in the same iMagon train with the
Turpens, Hudelsons, and Oavisons. John C. Quinley's wife was
the forcer martha matilda Turpen.
The ~uinleys settled first near Knight's Ferry on the
south bank of the Stanislaus. Their son, John LAlinson ~uinley,
was born in Waterford in 1866 and in 1893 at Ceres he married
Cora Belle mccoy, a native of Oregon. The Quinleys lived in
Ceres and had twelve children: Ormal Alvin of Fresno, Clarence
w. of Keyes, Lester Herbert, Ester Vivien, John Cinclar, Ora
Viola, George William, martha Olmeda, mildred Carlyle, Cecil
`Aloodrow, Corabee, and Rebecca.
RA~OS
The most remarkable member of the Ramos family of Ceres
is mary Thompson Ramos. 5he was born in LaGrange one hundred
years ago, on April 5, 1876. She recently celebrated at a
special "centennial(for her)-bicentennial (for her country)~'
celebration given for her by her family at the Ceres Community
Center.
5he was the second dau hter of 5amuel Jacob Thompson, an
Englishman and Sarah (Sall Hawk, an Indian girl born above
LaGrange. Samuel Thompson was born in in 18~3 and immigrated
to Canada with his parents as a boy. When he first came to
LaBrange, sometime before 1870, he worked as a miner and lived
with William Hammond, a blacksmith, John Lurch, a carpenter,
and Oennis Kehoe, a miner from Ireland. He and Sally had five
daughters and he became a ferryman, operating the one which
went across the Tuolumne just below LaGrange from 1879 to 1882.
When her father died, mary and her sisters had to be placed
with other families for a time to help the mother out. mary,
at the age of six, went to live with the Harvey Bates Davis
family (see Education chapter). When one of the Davis daughters,
margaret, married Ldward Trumbly, mary went ~~ong to help with
housework H~d chi1dr~n. Trumbly, ~ minIn[~ en(~ineer, went to
mexiro fur ten ~ t~kin(4 hi~~ family ~nd mary Thompson with
him. W~ii1~ in m(!)(i£O, mary aLtended a Catholic ronvrnt school.
PAGE 70 Show Image
When iflary Thompson returned to LaGrange she was able to
be with her mother only a short time b~~ore she died. Soon
after she married Joseph Qe Ramos who had come to California
from Flores island in the Adores. They lived above LaGran9e
until their land was covered by water when the dam was built.
They moved in 1911 to Pioneer Road and two years later to
their Washington Road ranch. There they remained, operating
a dairy. After Joseph died at the age of 72, mary Rarnos con-
tinued to stay on the ranch until she was 95. She now lives
with her daughter A~na Brown in modesto but is brought out
once a week to ~it in her old home and garden.
The Ramoses became a part of Ceres life, the children
attending Ceres schools. mary, a very quiet person, most
enjoyed her garden and her work with the Ceres Garden Club.
Victor, one of two sons, managed both the Ceres and the Keyes
sacking sheds; later had a large trucking firm in Iflodesto
(180 trucks). He is now retired. His daughter, £laine (mrs.
Stanley Spears), lives in Ceres. The other son of mary and
Joseph Ramos is Chester who now farms the home place and ad-
jacent property on Service Road with his son.
REI NHART
Walter Reinhart and William Noble brought their families
to Ceres in 1914 from the Riverside area of California. mrs.
Reinhart was a Ntible before hermarriage. Reinhart had been
a millwright and Noble had been in the real estate business
but they both began farming when they bought land adjacent
to one another on Central Avenue.
The lives of the Reinhart family have centered in the
First Christian Church for three generations. After Carl
~einhart, the youngest sons completed his service during the
second World War, he married Cathern Atwell and began farm-
mg with his father. They h&ve three daughters. An older
son of the Walter Reinharts is Oonald, a pharmacist. Paul
is the oldest son.
~ EATS
Alfred Jackson Roberts, known about town as "A. J.~' for
more than forty years, was a native of Tennessee, of Welsh
and Irish ancestry. He was full of Civil War and other yarns
and claimed to have voted against secession at the age of 12.
Following the war he spent some time in Wyoming before coming
to California in 1876. He stayed for three years at Bakers-
field before coming to Ceres to farm for C. N. Whitmore.
A. J. Roberts and his wife, the former Lottie Rice of
Bakersfield, had eight chldren, all of whom went to Ceres
schools--Lulu married John Gleason of Oakland; myrtle became
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PAGE 71 Show Image
mrse m. R. Ounn of Richmond; Frank, a Stanislaus Co. farmer;
George of L~inters; Bertha who married Walter Elliott, a book
keeper for the Service 6ara~e when it was in Ceres; Edward;
Ruth; and Hush.
Frank, mentioned as a farmer above, was also a grocery-
man in £eres. He had the nickname "Tiddley~'. Edward had an
accident with a shotgun as he was crawling through a fence
as a boy and shattered his left arm. Though the arm was use-
less for the rest of his life, he became a very expert Fresno
scraper man, clever with a team, and worked on the canals
when they were being dug.
A. J., the fathers had also been seriously injured in
1911 in a horse runaway. He built the house which is on the
corner of roberts and Roeding road. The Dunn family lived
in the house after the Roberts family. Ed Roberts acted as
night watchman and lived in the firehouse in his later years.
RD HOE
Andrew H. Rohde was born in Schieswig-Holstein when it
was a part of Denmark, the son of Arendt Hansen Rohde, a
farmer. In Jutland, Denmark he married Elizabeth Cathrina
Holm, daughter of a wagon-maker. Rohde had served an appren-
ticeship as a cooper. They had seven children and when the
sons became old enough for military duty, the 6ermans had won
their war with the Danes and taken over 5chleswig-Holstein.
The Rohde family then moved to northern Denmark and in 1891
came to America.
The children were: Christian, who settled in Westport;
Arendt H. who became a commercial artist and skilled interior
decorator in 5an Francisco and later came to 5tanislaus Co.
to farm, between Ceres and Keyes; Jens; Christina; Nels, a
cooper in 5an Francisco; Hans, who was an engineer in Alaska;
and Peter H., a commercial artist.
Jens Rohde married Sine Petersen, also from Denmark, in
1890. They had ten childrr.~, most of whom became associated
with Ceres, through schools, businesses and years of living
in the area, Th~ children are Ellen who married Homer B.
Vilas, Sr. of Ceres; Elizabeth who married Chester Davis; An-
drew who married mildred (3arrison and whose daughter Beverly
( mrs. Larry 5mith) makes her home in Ceres~ and Jessie who
married Charles Ortman, Alfred Rohde married Nettie Banford,
a Ceres school teacher especially loved by primary children
for her story-telling ability; Leroy was another son of Jens
and Sine and ~lta, a daughter, married Donald Thompson. Carla,
the youngest daughter, married Donald mc~e~.
Two other sons of Jens and sine F'etersen Rohde have, with
Alfred, above, been best known in Ceres over the years. Alfred
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PAGE 72 Show Image
had a dairy for many years south of Ceres but he and his wife
now live in town. alvin Rohde, a Ceres poultryman before
his retirement1 is considered an outs*~nding chef and worked
at that profession for many years in resorts in the Yosemite
Park area, including the Ahwahnee Hotel. ~e is known for his
careful craftsmanship and creative gardening and building skill.
Leona9 his wife, served as Ceres High School trustee in the
1950's, the second woman to serve as trustee in Ceres.
Arendt Rohde, the youngest son of Jens, was known in his
school and colle~ days as an outstanding athlete. He was
the only athlete at ;~odesto Junior College to be a team cap
tam in three major sports. Following graduation from the
University of California with a degree in agriculture, he
played Qrrofessional baseball, called "Sunday Balls', for what
is now the modesto Reds before they were in a league. He
was with his brother Alfred in the Rohde Brothers Dairy and
later owned the Golden Rule Dairy. He served as Ceres city
councilman from 1944-46, has been with the IViosquito Abatement
District since its beginnings, and served many years on the
Ceres Recreation &ommission. Doris, his wife, was known as
miss ~omstock in Ceres schools before her marriage. She re-
turned to teaching later and was known for her ability to ad-
just to varying methods of teaching. Their son Raymon was
at one time manager of the Ceres office of the Bank of Cali-
fornia and now is vice president in charge of the commercial
loan department in San Francisco.
The family was reared at a ranch on the corner of Red
wood Road and Highway 99. At one time Jens was called a
"melon king." His father, Andrew Rohde, lived his last years
with his son Arendt H. near Keyes.
SALTER
Frederick David Salter9s parents crossed the plains in
the 1860's from the middle West. He was born in Napa but was
living in the Hollister area w~en he met Annie Blacklock whom
he married. The Blacklocks, from Canada, had a most adven-
turous background to ~e1ate. The grandparents had left Cana-
da for California by immigrant train and the parents of Annie
were marnea in California, having met while John Blacklock
was shearing sheep in Solano County. When the family moved
to the coast range to raise sheep and cattle they encountered
the rough gangs of cattle rustlers which camped in the hills.
Annie~s mother had once been called upon to act as doctor to
one of the rustlers injured in a fight.
The Salters came to Ceres in September of 19Q2 ~nd bought
some of the Whitmore lend on the corner of Service and Faith
Home Road, across from th~ Service family home. He did not
wait long before planting his first orchard of apricots, free-
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PAGE 73 Show Image
stone peaches and grapes. In the early years he also `Morked
as a teamster on the ditche5 and canas. Before his orchard
grew up and before others mere plantd, Annie Salter used to
say that she could stand on the front porch when her husband
went to ~eres and watch ~or him to lav~ for home so that she
could have dinner ready on the tab1~ when he arrived. They
were two and one half miles from town. The dinner must have
gotten cold one noon in igo~, from the following item in the
"Ceres Scraper":
"Exciting times in £eres to-day. rnr. Salter9s two
horse team ran away this morning. Anxious to get
home in a hurry and running at a breakneck speed
they left their driver behind~ ~e understand no
serious damage was done."
The Salters had four children6 Gertrude, now Pries,
lives east of Hughson. Ef~ie, no~ mrsQ Rickard, lives in
Santa £ruz. myrtle married John Newkirk and moved to a
place on Service Boad east o~ h~r p~rent~0 The Newkirks
raised peaches there and also on a Hu~hson ranch. They were
a couple of many interests; he ha~ a special hobby of ama-
teur radio. Before his dedth they were able to travel wide-
ly, including one trip through the Pacific on an oil tanker.
Their children are Donald, ~ho lives in Ceres and, since
leaving farming, works with the welfare department; Jack,
who lives in northern £aliforni~; Oarbara~ a teacher, and
married to Lee Fernandes; and Lurtis, a high school agricul-
ture instructor. myrtle N~wkirk recently remarried; she is
now mrs~ Oren Davis0
Wayne Salter took over his father's farm and expanded
the acreage. He has served fo~ mdny years in peach growers
associations and bargaining groups and is presently on the
Peach Advisory Board and is chairman of the board of Cali-
fornia &anner~ and Growers. H~ serveL~ several terms on the
Ceres High School board. He is rn~r~i~d to the former Flor-
ence Western, daughter of P. 6. Western.
The Westerns came to Ceres in 1919. mrs. Western was
Velvia Lowery before her marriage ~nd9 originally from mis-
souri, had lived in Hughson bet~r~ coring to ~e~es. Her
father and her husband were partn~r~ in Lowery's shoe store
and shoe repair shop in the lower floor of the ()dd Fellows
building. Western also h~d the confectionery store after the
Doolittles; it burned in the late 1920's and the electric
pole on the Lawrence St. alley still shows signs of the fire.
The Westerns have a son Guy.
Wayne and Florence 5alter~s son Jim and their son-in-law
Pete Grubeck now are farming pert of the property. Their
daughter &laudia is mrs. Grubeck. Son Tim Salter is a law-
yer in modesto; his twin Tom is a minister. Another daughter
is mrs. Bob Lackey.
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PAGE 74 Show Image
SCEN> A~EN ~RO ~\ PR ~T ()? -- ----
()~ P~~7: ~ i\ $91
j1
,-
,~
¼
~
½
`---
TOP RIGHT: Ceres Gillette Hotel later moved to Hug:~son. MIDDLE RIGHT: Gillette
Hotel being moved to Hughson. MIDDLE LEFT: Street scene, 4th Street. BOTTOM
RIGHT: Ceres looking nortul on 4th Street. BOTTOM LEFT: Ceres Hotel.
PAGE 75 Show Image
4,
TOP LEFT: Ceres Depot, MIDDLE
LEFT: Ceres Post Office and rural
mail carriers. BOTTOM RIGHT:
East side of 4t'i Street.
,--~-,
,<, "4
`-44
,,,,,~,,
- - , ` `
PAGE 76 Show Image
SER\1I CE
*`may 17, 1898. 1 sent the San F~njs~o Bulletin
with marked item `Cigarettes not good for would
be SDldlers I
, to mrs. Service today. I also
wrote her note about. . . tracts on the Sunday
question. --A. E. Ulch
Pleasure Book No. 2
John Service, with the Whitmores and t&arners the first
settlers to be identified with the toiun of Ceres, was a prac-
tical farmer, land agent, farm manager, and store owner all
combined. A statement from a book on his life that his fam-
ily had published is interesting:
"IAIe went down with the IMarners from Auburn to
Ceres in the Fall of 1867. A little colony
of eastern people who wanted to farm had gone
into the country around Ceres and had pretty
good prospects, for the land there was good,
especially for wheat. We had to take every-
thing down with us, even lumber for our build-
ings. I had gone down with mr. earner in Dec-
ember, 1864 to see land not far from Stockton.
mr. Whitmore was at that time living about
eight miles from 5tockt~(~. ~e were not very
favorably impressed at that time with the pro-
position but this looked much better.'1
A native of New York, Service went early to YIichigan with
his parents. He and a younger brother Ed started across the
countryside in 1q59 to catch the train for John1s first step
in his trip to California. Ed turned back with the horses
while John proceeded with friends. He arrived in Napa, then
went to Auburn where he first began his contacts with the
Hatch family. While in Auburn he met and married Julia Hall
earner, the adopted daughter of the C. P. kiarners.
His first purchase of land in Ceres was the 640 acres
to the south that became known as the 5ervice place. He paid
$1.25 per acre for it. Subsequently he bought land in large
amounts between Snelling and LaGrange and had numerous other
interests in connection with Ephraim Hatch. Ill health forced
a move to Berkeley in 1~Y9 and the land was turned over to
two of his sons, Hubert E. and W. Roscoe Service.
John and Julia Service had eleven children in all but
three died young. Besides Hubert and Roscoe they were: Lewis
H. who became a jeweler in Berkeley; Ida Irene who married
Or. F. H. mcNair of Berkeley; Robert Roy who became a mission
ary to China; Lulu K. who married F. F. Goodsell, a mission-
ary in Constantinople; Lynda R. who married IAiillard E. Sperry;
and Lawrence E. Service. The Services lived to celebrate their
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PAGE 77 Show Image
golden wedding ~nniversry. John Service died in 1920 while
on a visit to Ceres. The original Service home Luas built in
the ~~ll of 1667 near the corner of the present Service and
Faith Home Roads.
we Roscoe Service married Estella Updike, daughter o~
I. ~. Updike. The Updike family iuas associated with ~eres
in early days and also Keyes. They had three children3 New-
ell T., Vivian and Evelyn. In addition to continuing the
family farming interests, Roscoe Service became president or
the Bank of Ceres in 1914. He also served as supervisor of
Stanislaus county and was a Turlock High School trustee. He
served with the 5ixth California Infantry in the spanish amer-
ican IAlar.
Hubert E. 5ervice was born on the Service Road home
place and lived there for the whole of his life. In 1915,
he moved the old home to one side and, while the family con-
tinued to live in it, built the present large home which is
at 4100 Service Road. Before he took over the family farm
with his brother, he spent four years working for others at
wages" to get the experience. He converted his share of the
family acres to fruit and melon growing in 1907. Hubert El-
win Service married Floratine Amanda lard in 1899 in ~eres.
Her family at the time was living in the home an Fifth St.
`uhich Daniel Whitmore had built ifi 1570. Hubert, too, became
a director in the Bank of Ceres and one of its largest stock-
holders. He was, most of all, however, devoted to his farm
and its care. He and Flora Service had two sons, Elwin and
Ward. Both sons graduated from the University of £alifornia
and came back to Ceres to farm with their father. Elwin mar-
ned mary Helen Turner and they live in their home on part
of the old Service land. Elwin continued his father 5 in-
terest in the Bank of £eres until it was sold. He is known
for his garden, especially his hybridization of day-lilies.
Ward Service married martha marko9 a Ceres girl and a
nurse. They had three children, Annette, Suzanne9 and Hugh,
none of whom now live in Ceres. Since his retirement, Ward
has continued his hobbies and the care of his home and gar-
den on the corner of Service and Faith Home Roads. In the
spring he specializes in a California wild-flower garden.
He is also an expert lapidarist.
Lynda Service married Willard E. Sperry, son of Charles
E. and grandson of Eli N. Sperry, cousin of the founders of
the Sperry flour mills of Stockton. Eli Sperry came to Cali-
fornia in 1558. The Charles Sperrys came to the south of
Ceres area in the 1870's. Their ranch home was one built in
the early days of the county by John Fox on the old Dr. Ashe
ranch, a 1,700 acre place later farmed by Nathaniel Tomlin-
son. Lynda ~nd Willard Sperry had four children8 Janet Ros-
alie, Willard E., Jr., Julia Clare, and John 5ervice Sperry.
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PAGE 78 Show Image
The ite John 5. 5perry iA;as best knon as Jack Sperry.
After duty as a flyer in World War II he returned to
Ceres to fly and take up a career as a crop duster. He
lost his life in a plane crash. LAillard ~. Sperry, Jr.
and his wife Dorothy still live on part of the old fam
ily acreage on Faith Home Road where he has farmed. She
works for the Ceres Unified School District.
lewis Hall Service, second son of John Service, Sr.,
had a son, salter ~. who also stayed in £eres. Walter
married Della Latimer, daughter of mr. and IYIrs. J. E.
Latimer who came to &alifornia from Tennessee. The Latim
mers settled one ~ soLthwest of Ceres. Della tuas one
of nine childrer; &1l were active in the First Baptist
Church. Della Service still lives in Ceres, though her
husband is no longer living. Their place on Don Pedro
Road has recently been subdivided. Walter and Della had
Bruce, who lives in modesto and Rosemary, a Goddess of
£eres.
Lawrence Edward Service, the youngest son of John
Service, the first settler, married Anna Larson, of Wis-
consin and merced, They had six children of whom three
lived to adulthood~ Katherine, Bernice, and L. E., Jr.
L. £. Service, Sr. was best known as "5cotty."
sI~S
David H. *~Dee" Simms and his wife Stella arrived by
train with their five sons on ~ew Year's Day in 1913,
from Lone Wolf, Oklahoma. Three months later, D. H,
Simms bought twenth acres from J~ UC Gartin on Smyrna
Park Road (Roeding Avenue), a mile east of Ceres.
The five sons were Walker L., Durwood H., Thomas E.,
William A. 9~SamuIp D. Glenn. Later IYIar~aret and J. Ed-
ward were born in Ceres. All attended Ceres schools ex-
cept margaret who died early. Sam Simms recalls the Cal-
imyrna (Smyrna) figs that wer~ everywhere in the area at
the time. Later~ in about 1~14~1915, my father planted
a few acres to deui~~rries, 9etting his plants from neigh-
bor N. C. Luc~~~ many of the people will remember pick
mg berries, startin9 as soon as it was light to see."
In trying for new outlets for the berries, 0. H, Simms
met with the maryellen Jam and Jelly people in San Fran-
cisco and persuaded the firm to use Ceres dewberries.
In addition to serving as trustee on both elementary
and high school boards, 0. H, Simms was active in the
methodist Church with his wife. mrs. Simms was one of
those instrumental in forming the first P. T. A. in the
local schools. In addition to his farming, 0. H. Simms
was a carpenter. He built the first chicken house for
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PAGE 79 Show Image
James Summers whose chicken farm became known as the Gil
Summers Ranch. Gil Summers was the son of James and the
ranch became one of the largest in the area. It was later
taken over by Olson 8rothers but is no longer in existence.
An apartment complex stands where formerly chicken houses,
feed rooms and a large home were. All that remains is a
few of the palm trees that lined the driveway, near the
corner of Roeding and Tenth Street. Sam Simms tells of how
his father, with relative tory Newberry, used to IAiade across
the Tuolumne River at the spot where the mitchell Road bridge
is now to get across to a summer building job on the other
side.
The Simms gamily has become a fixture in the life of
£eres over the yeats. Sam Sirnms says he has counted nearly
100 first cousins, most of whom attended Ceres schools. IAlal-
ker Simms was a radio mechanic and also built several houses
in Ceres vicinity. He is perhaps best known for the hand-made
telescope which he presented to Ceres Elementary Schools and
which still stands on the IAIalter White School grounds in the
observatory built for it. Walker married Polly Ellis; they
had three sons and a daughter.
Ourwood farmed for a time and for nearly twenty years
was a Stanislaus Co. deputy sheriff. He married \1erla Ste-
phenson; they had a s~n and daughter. Thomas Erwin attended
U. C., Berkeley and was teacher and superintendedt of Oenair
schools for 35 years. A son of Thomas E. and Helen Simms is
on the Stanislaus 5tate £ollege staff.
W. A. leSamil Siunrns operated the Valley sash market on
Fourth Street, £eres for twenty years. He married Thelma
5tephenson and they have a daughter, Kay. They live on Ser-
vice Road and have recently had a hobby of seeding £alifor-
nia poppies around the Freeway overpass and road edges. He
has worked in recent years with the Farm Labor Service.
0. Glenn Simms married Billie Hichman of Tracy and has
been with the postal service for years. He has a son and a
daughter. J. Edward Simms was also a mail-man, for £eres,
until his accidental death. He and his t~ife Florence had
two sons and a daughter.
In addition to his own family of boys, D. H, Simms had
two brothers and a sister in the Cer~s area. Robert L. Simms
and his wife Lilly farmed in £eres. He had marvin, a busi-
nessman in ~er~s and modesto; Owen, a poultryman at Hughson;
Opan who moved to the Bay Area; and Theo who married Elvin
Worrell and was a Ceres teacher.
Alfred P. Simms, the other brothF?r of 0. H., farmed in
£Pre~ with his wife mollie. A daughter Nora taught in £eres
before she married Cory Newberry. They live on the corner
of WhiLmore and Boothe Roadsi their son Lawrence is an edu-
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PAGE 80 Show Image
cator at an Indiana university. Alfred p~ 5imms 8 son Stanton G.
built one of the first bean threshers in the area and worked
for many years at a farm equipment store in modesto. He mar
ned Audell Small. Besides their tw~ d-'~ghters, they have a
son, Gene, who lives in Ceres with his family. Both Gene
( Stanton eugene) and his wife Wilma are workers in the coni
munity, particularly in Lions Club and American Field Service.
0. H. 5imms8 sister, \1irginia, became mrs. French of mo-
desto. He also had two other brothers who became well-known
modesto dentists. Still another brother was a dentist in Kings-
burg. 0. H. had sors in both World Wars; several other members
of the family served cis well.
TRIPL~TT
William Wright Triplett and his wife, the former dora
Haryman, came from Texas to Southern california in 1875. Later
they moved to San Jose before coming to ~eres in 1~O7. Their
son, Stanley, recalls making the trip by horse and wagon, camp-
mg out four nights on the way, meeting only one car and not
one horse-drawn vehicle on the entire trip from San Jose.
The family located on a ranch on Kaiser Road. At the
time, the area was given over piimarily to barley, beans, al-
falfa and dairies. The.beans, :emembers Stanley, were chopped
with a diamond hoe, shocked by hand and, when dry, hauled to
a central location where they were rolled out with a horse-
drawn roller on a circular sheet. It took three men to"hand-
fant8 them. The Tripletts had seven children. LeRoy, a wheat
farmer in LaGrange, died in 1973; David, a rancher and a buyer
for his brother S cannery in modesto, died in 1951; Florence
became mrs. Thomas Chapman of modesto; Gerald, now retired and
living in Ceres.
Another son, the Stanley mentioned above, married Ooris
Whitmore and became best known as the founder of Pacific Grape
Products of modesto. He developed a way to stem Thompson Seed-
less grapes by machinery and ~~ent from a total production in
1929 of 25,000 cases f canned grapes to over a million in 1941.
At the peak of the season, 2,c)O() people were employed. The can-
nery was ~5~ly recently torn down, having been inoperative for
a number of years. 5tanley and Ooris Triplett are now retired
in modesto from their home in the mountains.
Faye Triplett, son of William Triplett, has been known for
years for his research in viticulture on his Keyes Road farm.
He has had experimental test plots for over fifteen years and
done research for a major winery. He married ITlaxine maxson;
the couple have three children. Faye Triplett has patented
two varieties of grapes.
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PAGE 81 Show Image
TUPPER
Je?ome B. Tupper tAias known as a horticulturalist. Be
sides his orchard--he was one o~ the early almond groiuers--
on the corner of Faith Home and Roedin~, he ~as a developer
of dahlia varieties. His home farm i~as part of the original
Smyrna Park Tract; it is not~i owned by payne 5~lter.
Tupper also oIAined another almond orchard in the Keyes
vicinity. He was in the early Farm Bureau. Before coming to
Ceres in 1900, he had farmed the family prune orchard in Santa
clara &ounty. He first raised alfalfa and hogs after he came
to his Smyrna Park land and then plums and peaches. In 1g04,
when the first £eres Creamery was burned, Tupper was the man
ager.
Born in minnesota but going to Oregon as a child, J. B.
Tupper had spent some time in the Santa Clara area as he was
growing up. He married twice in Ceres, to sisters: first in
1916 to Estella Chute who bore her husband three children in
three years, all of whom died, and then died herself; second,
to Elberta Chute. Both wives were daughters of the Reverend
and IYIrs. E. Chute, missionaries to India where both girls were
born. The daughters were well-educated and Estella was a
teacher in Stanislaus County before her marriage.
The Tuppers were closely identified with the First Baptist
£hurch and served it in many ways. Tupper was also on the coun-
ty Central Republican Committee.
TURNER
William T. Turner came to California as a teen-ager, with
his father from Indiana. His father remained in the LaGrange
area in mining but he soon went to mariposa County for cattle
raising. He also had other ventures that included teaming,
livery stables, and a blacksmith business. He married ITlary
Camp who had come to California as a girl. William Turner
served as constable and sheriff of mariposa County for many
years and had accumulated 2,000 acres at the time of his death
in 1q92.
George David Turner, the son of William and ITIary~ was born
in mariposa County, in Hornitos, in 1871. As a young man he
teamed in the mountains, carrying supplies to and from the gold
mines. He married Nellie Shephard and be9an ranching. By 1921
he owned 5,500 acres on which he raised and shipped Hereford
and Durham beef cattle. Even earlier he had been considered
one of the largest ranchers in the area. In 1913 he sought
land in the valley so his nine children could have better edu-
cational opportunities. Ceres soon became home to the family
while the father divided his time between the mountain ranch
PAGE 82 Show Image
and the valley farm. All nine children graduated from ~eres
High 5chool, and greg up on the gamily harm. George Turner
-owned and leased at one time some aoa acres, being known for
his success at raising beans.
The George Turner family consisted of Ethel (mrs. J. w.
Baldridge of Ceres); William of Fresno; [flary (IYrs. Eluim Ser-
vice of Ceres); Clarence, now deceased; Lena Belle, now de-
deased; Grace (mrs. Roy Hill of Ceres); Herbert, now deceased;
Elton of ~eres; and Alice (mrs. Savage of San Francisco).
The youngest ~on~ Eiton, still resides on the home place
south of Ceres, jus~ off Turner Road. With his wife, the for-
mer Elsie Wilhite, he is known for his enthusiasm as a Ceres
booster. He is now retired from his farming and related bus-
mess and works with the Ceres methodist Church interests a-
long with his Wife. A beauty spot on the Turner place is the
gold rush days dry rock wall which was moved from the Horni
tos land in order to preserve a bit of history. Llton's sis-
ter, Grace Hill, lives nearby. She is a nurse for a local
physician.
Another son of William Turner, A. B~ Turner, was sheriff
of mariposa County in the 1920's, A daughter of William, Eva
Rose, a teacher, married Oav~d Terry Laird, son of San Joa-
quin and ~1ariposa County pioneE rs, who became a dairy rancher
in Stanislaus County. Their three children attended Ceres
5 chools.
`1ILAS
A landmark for Highway 99 travellers for several genera
tions has been the handsome Carter-\1ilas home, south of Ceres.
The oldest part of the house was built circa 1865w with an
addition in 1892. It was extensively restored in the 195O~s.
24 marcellus `1ilas, born in New York, started at the age of
gold fields bu~ arrived too la~ ~nd so
came on to California: arriving in 1q59. He had a sawmill and
logging operation in Shasta County which he sold upon retire-
ment and came ~ ~eres in ~ He purchased a portion of
the original Levi Carter holdings, including the home, stables,
barn, huge round brick watering trough, and the site of old
Esmar Station. With him to Ceres came his second wife Sarah,
born in Ireland, and some of the ten children he had had by
two marriages.
of all the children, only Homer B. and Herbert \1ilas re-
mained in Ceres. They continued farming, in dairy and row
crops, on the family place. Herbert did not marry but made
his home with his brother and family. Homer married Ellen
Rohde and their son, Homer 8., Jr., began farming with his
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PAGE 83 Show Image
father nd uncle followin service as a pilot-instructor in
~or1d War II. He early set up an extensive poultry operation
and began converting the family acreage to orchard and vine
yard.
As an outgrowth of his interest in the egg business,
Homer, Jr. developed, in partnership with Earl Brouio, an egg-
processing plant and feed mill. The mill was built across
the railroad from the site of the former ~smar 5tation. A
trustee on both the Ceres Union High 5chool Board and the
Ceres Unified School District Board, Homer, Jr. has also
been a vigorous community worker. He and his wife, the late
carol Taylor Vilas, had two children. Janis lives on the
home place with her daughter; Steven lives nearby with his
family and continues the family farming tradition. mrs. Ho-
mer B. Vilas, Sr. still lives in the old home. Homer, Jr.
maintains his business and farm interests in Ceres but now
makes his home in Patterson with his second wife, the former
Jane evans.
Herbert \1ilas was well known in his younger days as one
of Ceres' popular bachelors. He had a hobby of compiling local
weather records and was known for his store of memories of
Ceres and the changing countryside. He worked for the county
assessor's office for many years in the days when each farm
and home was personally visited for tax assessment purposes.
\`IN£ENT
Early settlers of Portuguese extraction, preceeding the
larger 20th century immigration from the Azores, were the
Vincents. Joseph m. Vincent and mary Prairo, a native of &on-
tra £osta so., were married in 5onora in 1901. Joseph, born
in California, was the son of AntoneVincent, a native of the
island of Flores, Azores islands who came to California in the
later days of the gold rush. Antone was a miner who later
ranched in the Tuttletown area. Joseph was the oldest sur-
viving child of seven and was working as a freighter by the age
of fourteen. Later he worked as a blacksmith in Sonora and
merced. For a time he also owned a farm in the Turlock area.
Joseph and mary `1incent came to Ceres in 1904, buying the
blacksmithing business and waterworks from the Averill Brothers
and Hall. The iuaterworks at the time consisted of a well, a
windmill, a large wooden tank and some piping. Vincent ex~
panded and developed the water business and also was a service
station owner and implement merchant. In 1919, he sold the
blacksmith business and concentrated on development of the water
business, changing it from windmill power to electric. By the
1920's there were 100 customers. The water company became a
public utility under the control of the State Railroad Commis-
sion (later the Public Utility Commission).
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Joseph and mary `1incent had tuo children, Anthony S. and
Gladys. Gladys became mrs. Ha~le and had a son Vincent. An
thony and his wife, the former Jean Alderdice, took over oper
ation of the water business in 1944 when his father died. At
the time the family sold the works to the City of Ceres, after
prolonged negotiations, there were 1,519 customers.
nary, wife of Joseph Vincent, became over the years one
of the best known figures in Ceres. Until her death she con-
tinued to live in the family home on Fourth Street and to take
her daily walks down Lawrence Street, when she was into her
90's. The house i~ the one nestled nest to Florence I5 Dress
Shop, with old orange trees in the front yard. mary Vincent
was active in the old Ceres Garden &lub, was always present
when able at ~eres community celebrations, and maintained her
sprightly interest in newcomer and long-time citizen alike.
Anthony and Jean Vincent still live in Ceres. Jean Vin-
cent has been particularly interested in recent years in es-
tablishing homes for abused children.
VIVIAN - USTICK
John Vivian, a miner, was born in England in 1821, and
came to this country in 1845. e progressed from the lead
mines of Wisconsin, where he married mary Harris, also of
england, to the sold mines of Tuolumne County, &alifornia.
After three years in the mines, he began, in 1854, to raise
cattle in Stanislaus county, west of the future site of ~eres.
By 18~0 he owned over 4,000 acres. He also raised hogs, had
a herd of 3,000 sheep and grew wheat.
These first Vivians to be in the Ceres area included ten
children: Elizabeth Jane who married Joseph P. Vincent, son
of another Joseph Vincent who came from England and was in
county politics in the late 1560's; &atherine who married Chas.
C. Haislip; Harriett Ann who married Edwy Brush; William Henry
who married Pauline Sanders; mary matilda who married Horace
Parker; Emmaline, married to miller mcPherson; Laura, married
to George Davis, sh~~iff of Stanislaus Co. at one time; Stephen
who married Rosa IMallis, daughter of William K. Wallis, another
early settler from England; Lily who married Price White; and
Rosanna, married to Walter Hosmer, member of another early fam-
ily.
John Vivian died in 1880, his wife in 1916. With the
Vincents, moyles and Wallises they were with the Westport
methodist Church (then called the Adamsville m. E. Church)
from its organization. Son Stephen continued in farming,
though he reduced the family acreage by dividing it up into
individual farms for others. Stephen was born in 1865 on the
old ranch and first attended school in the old Adamsville Dis-
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trict where his father had been clerk from 1891575. St2phen
purchased 560 acres of his oiun prom Thomas Harp in addition to
caring for his father's land. He1like his father, was identi
fied with stock raisins as well as rain (barley) growing. He
married, in 1869, Rosa (or Rosalind ~allis and they had six
children: Rosetta m. (mrs. We Turner), Serena, John H., Kate
(mrs. John Scott), martha (mrs. Earl 8rannan), and Stephen E.
Stephen, the father, was for 20 years trustee of the Jones
school district which9 combined with Jennings and Laird, iuas
later to form the new Westport 5chool District (as distinguished
from the school district in early days on the river, called
Westport). He served as deputy assessor of Stanislaus County
for two terms.
After Stephen \1ivian, Jr.'s death, his daughter martha and
her husband continued to live in the family's Crows Landing Rd.
home. Upon IYartha's death, her daughter Vivian and her husband
James Roddy remodeled the home and are its current occupants
with her father Earl Brannan.
Grandson of John Vivian, Stephen E. \1ivian and his wife,
the former Dorothy Ustick, settled in Ceres where they have
lived and been an integral part of the community for 38 years.
Stephen worked 29 years for the Turlock Irrigation District.
mrs. Vivian is best known as a teacher in the Ceres schools,
having taught there for 25 years before retiring in 1971. They
have two children: Stephen, the tenth Vivian generation to
carry that first name, lives at Fair Oaks and works as a Ra-
dar Air Controller; Gertrude (mrs. Richard Hogue) teaches at
Grace Davis High School in modesto.
Harriet Anne (mrs. Edwy Brush), daughter of John, the
first settler, was known as Aunt Annie and lived next to her
brother 5tephen on Crows Landing Rd. Her children are Walter,
Stanley, James, and iYlinnie (IYIrs. Tom Davies). Her descendants
of the name of Brush have attended Ceres schools in recent
years.
The Usticks first came to Stanislaus County when they pur
chased a ranch of 240 acres west of Ceres on Grayson Road to
supplement their large cattle ranch at Ahwahnee, madera County.
The ranch here was to be used as a place to fatten the cattle
when they were brought down from the mountains before being
taken to San Francisco to sell. ellis Ustick and his father-
in-law bought the place in 1900, the father-in-law being Well-
jam Hiram Crooks.
When the cattle did not do well in the heat and wind of
the valley, the cattle mere left in a Chowchilla `1alley ranch
and hay from the Ceres place was baled in 500 pound bales and
hauled to them there. Later the hay was shipped by rail from
Ceres. In addition to managing both mountain and valley ranches,
Ellis Ustick had a butcher shop in modesto and one in Westley.
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An interesting anecdote is told in the family that is connected
with the famous 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Ustick ~as busy
loading meat on his wagon when he felt the earth move. At first
he thought it was the bull ramming the fence but then noticed
the telephone poles waving. The Usticks immediately shipped
meat to 5an Francisco for relief purposes only to learn later
that the meat had not been given to the people but sold.
In 1910, when he bought his first car, Ustick also had
a real estate office. In 1917, Ellis and Gertrude crooks
Ustick sold the ranch and he opened a tractor agency. After
it grew to include ~wc trdctor agencies, he was bought out
by Stanislaus Implement Company. In 1925 he returned to
farming when he bought the Wallis ranch on £arpenter Road on
the San Joaquin River; he remained there for the rest of his
life. Ellis and 6ertrude had five children. Besides Dorothy
Vivian, they are Roy who ran the Crows Landing Rde ranch un
til retirement to Turlock; Helen, a registered nurse; Lauren
who married Winnifre~ Grant of Fairview District; nd Ruth,
also a registered nurse who married George Weight of Pacific
trove.
WAGENER
John Andrew Wagener, count superintendent of school, the
principal of &eres Grammar School, and "father" of Ceres High
School, was the second of three sons of a Pennsylvania carpen
ter. He graduated from millersville (Pa.) State Normal School
and began teaching at the age of 17. He had eight years of
teaching and an unprofitable experience as an Idaho gold miner
behind him when he came to San Joaquin £0., California in 1889.
John Wagener began teaching in Atlanta (the same commun-
ity where several early Ceres residents had been earlier) and
later taught for awhile at Jackson School near Salida. In
1691, he married the Southern Pacific station agent of Ripon,
mary Elizabeth Yeiser. Four years later he was elected the
Stanislaus County Superintendent of 5chools and served in that
capacity for eight years.
He made ~ trip to Oaxaca, mexico about 1903 in connection
with lands owned by the Playa Vicente Land and Cattle ~o. in
which he and friends owned stock. Wagener was so taken with
the architecture there that he planned and built, with his own
hands, his version of it when he returned. The resulting home
is still on the corner of Fourth and magnolia Streets and has
been a conversation piece over the years. Referred to as
*`the castle" because of what appears to be a turret and cren
elations, it is seen on closer inspection to be a mexican-
Aztec montage of stucco and tile.
Wagener 5 next ambitious venture, following the mexican
trip, was a lecture tour ot the eastern states, with A. W.
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Ayres1 advrtising California, and illustrated ~1th still ~nd
motion pictures. Then he took over, briefly, a newspaper dis-
tributorship in modesto. In 1905, he decided to renew his
~ch~~l career and became principal of Ceres Grammar School.
Until his retirement from that position in 192~~ he played a
prominent part in the school and community life of Ceres. For
the four years before his death at age ~4, he had an insurance
agency and real estate sales office in Ceres and also held the
position of town clerk.
Willis Wagener, son of John, followed the time-honored
work~study pattern of so many early students. He graduated
from eighth grade in Ceres in 1907. While waiting for his
father and others to get the local high school started, he was
for a year and a half (at age is) the local Southern Pacific
station clerk at $40 a month and no days off. He then worked
in the Ceres post office at $50 a month and then entered Ceres
High, now a year old. He learned well enough at the two teach-
er school to enter Stanford. As he worked summers in sawmills
and canneries, he might have been slowed down, but instead was
able to graduate in three years receiving his degree in absentia
while serving in the first World War. He followed this with
an outstanding career in plant pathology with the U. S. Forest
Service, taking advanced degrees at U. C. Berkeley and Yale.
Winifred Lyle Wagener, daughter of John, was a clerk in
the Bank of £eres, beginning in 1913.
In an account of his mother~s family given in 1965, Willis
Wagener says that she was the daughter of Daniel Yeiser who
came west with Fremontes Fourth expedition. He joined the ill-
fated group when it stopped in Santa Fe, New mexico to recover
from its winter crossing of the Rocky mountains. Yeiser even-
tually settled above Snelling with sheep raising and mining in-
terests. A son of Daniel, Henry Yei.ser, shared various adven-
tures and ventures all over the west with his father and bro-
thers and eventually settled in the Hughson area and operated
a dairy until the lg4Oes.
ulary Elizabeth Yeiser Wagener, a part of Ceres along with
her family, tolerated her husbandes many speculative interests
as she had her father's wanderings and had some adventures of
her own to relate. Orphaned at 14 upon the death of her mother
and the departure of father and brothers for the Southwest, she
learned telegraphy and worked up and down the San Joaquin Valley
for the Southern Pacific. ~ornpeting with men for what was con-
sidered a man's job, she had to brave gunshots and intimidation
while living alone in the depots. She did this work until she
married at the age of 2~.
WARNER - ~OLLIN5
James Warner, born in England, came to the United States
when a boy, settling first in Wisconsin. He came to ~alifor-
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nia in 1852 by way of the Isthmus of Panama and mined for
awhile before settling above Waterford. There he raised
stock and grain on a large scale, operating 15,000 acres
in partnership with his brother Joseph, under the name of
earner Brothers Ranch. James was a supervisor of Stani-
slaus County in the 185O~s.
James and his wife were the parents of nine children:
Edith, Joseph ~. of Oakland; Je E. Warner and Guy Warner,
merchants in Oregon; myron who lived at Planada in 1920
but tuho was Ceres postmaster in 1910; Roy who lived with
his brother James re on the family ranch; Elmo; and Irma
who died in 1919 in Oakland. The parents moved to Oak-
land, James dying there in 1910 and his wife preceding him
in death in 1892.
Edith Nellie Collins, eldest child of James and his
wife, was born near Waterford. 5he was married in 1892
to Leland £. rollins and moved with him from Oakl~~~d to
Ceres in 1904. The rollins and Warner Hall which was con-
structed on Fourth 5treet on the site formerly occupied by
the Gillette hotel was their building. Collins was in
the grocery business and also partners in the Collins &
Green Feed Co. of Ceres. Collins & Green was in a building
facing the highway across Fourth St. from Collins and IMar-
ner Hall. mrs. rollins was in'olved in all of the Ceres
women~ groups and was still driving her car at the age of
92. She died in 196w at the age of 94.
Elmo Warner, formerly a deputy U. 5. IYlarshal under
Elliott at San Francisco now lives in the Collins home on
Roeding Avenue and continues to operate the pomegranate juice
factory that the Collinses began. His daughter and son-in-
law are mr. and mrs. Lyle Green of modesto. The home is of
adobe in the early California style. The hand-hewn beams
that were part of the house originally, burned when the Col-
lins family were still living in it. When the house was
rebuilt they used timbers from the old Keyes Ory Yard to
get replacement beams of comparable age and hand-work.
Leland and Edith Collins had two children who died be-
fore their parents.
THE DANIEL WHIT[fiOR~ FAMILY
Numerous references are made to the Whitmore family mem-
bers throughout other chapters that will fill out the story
which follows of the Daniel Whitmore line.
Oaniel Whitmore, born in massachusetts, came to Califor-
nia at the age of forty, from michigan by UJagon train in 1854.
He was the son of Oaniel and martha (Keith) Whitmore. Before
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cot"ing to &alifornia he adventured at sea ~or six years and
had also lived in New York and Ohio.
Oaniel married Lucy Jane Lee, a native of New York. The
eldest of their three children, Clinton, iuas nine years old
when the trip to California was made. Leonard H. and Eugene
E. Aihitmore were both to die at an early age. Leonard had
been born in michigan as had Clinton; he died in £eres in his
early 2O~s. Eugene, born in California, died before 1570 in
San Joaquin County.
The ~hitmores settled in the 5tockton area for several
years before coming to Stanisl~us County. Three years after
arrival south of the Tuolumne, the 1870 census listed Oaniel
as owning 50,000 dollars worth of real property and as having
$16,000 in cash. Though Daniel evidently came down in the
fall of 18~7 or earlier, the Great Register of Voters for 1q69
shows he did not get around to registering to vote until Oct-
ober of 18~8, transferring his last registration of 1866 from
San Joaquin County. Both of his sons, Clinton and Leonard,
registered to vote for the first time in Stanislaus County,
also in 1868.
When Daniel built what was to be the first house in the
town of Ceres in 1870, he launched his activity for the rest
of his life-~nurturing and encouraging ;` town to grow where
there had been none before. He succeeded early in getting a
post office established. The family still has in its P055-
ession the desk he used as the post office; mail had to be
picked up in modesto by Daniel or one of his sons until the
railroad came.
Whitmore is described as a kindly man, good-natured but
firm. From the writings about him by those who knew him, he
was well-liked. His grandchildren described him as thrifty
and resourceful. A carpenter who built many houses and barns
himself, Daniel was said to collect rusty nails to get color
for paint. His wife, Lucy, was a leader in the temperance
cause which has caused so much comment about Ceres. She went
as a delegate to a woman I5 suffrage convention in Washington,
D. C. and was instrumental in getting the Davis School brought
to Ceres.
much of the land that Whitmore owned was leased out to
tenants. Land was also leased in Berenda, near Fresno and
fourteen sections were owned near Sweetwater, Texas. Late in
life he entered a mining venture, owning two mines in Sonora
state in mexico.
Clinton Norris Whitmore, the only surviving child of the
Ceres founder, married lYlaria Witherell of Ontario, Canada. He
continued the development of the town and the land around the
town. According to Allura Ulch he was a life-long prohibition
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PAGE 90 Show Image
dvocBte nd tried his best to carry out the original plan of
his father to make &eres a prohibition town. £linton Whit-
more served as treasurer of the Turlock Irrigation District
for sixteen years. He promoted subdivisions both in Ceres
and Denair and began the development of Smyrna Park by send-
mg handbills to church groups in the midi~est. The land at
first sold for as little as $35 an acre.
"June 19th, 1903. We attended the reception at
the lovely new home of the Whitmores and it was
one 3f the pleasantest social events of my rather
long life." --i. E. Ulch, Pleasure Book ~o. 3
Clinton Whitmore built the two-story, square-built house
on the center of a full block. It has 15 rooms besides the
pantry and accessory rooms. In addition there is a complete
basement and finished attic. many other social affairs have
been held through the years in the old home since the house-
warming described above. Clinton's widow remained in the
house until her death in the late 1930's. At that time his
daughter Jennie and her husband Wallace Caswell mare it their
home. Since Jennie died in 19~6, her nephew Robert E. Whit-
more has lived in it with his family.
Clinton and maria Whitmore had eight children. Elmer
and Eugene died early. J. Leslie married Carrie White and
was in the automobile and grocery business in Stockton. A
daughter, Jean (mrs. George ~icketts) lived in Ceres for
many years and now lives in Santa Cruz. Leslie also had two
30ns, William and James. Lawrence married Francis Price and
farmed, sold insurance and was a judge; he had two daughters,
martha and Barbara (mrs. Lee Otterson). `1aughn D. married
Anne Case, daughter of Cyrus Case who had land on Roeding Ave.
(mrs. Vaughn and Anne Whitmore had two daughters, `1ictoria
Day) of San Francisco and Lora (mrs. Ed Dunne) of Santa
Cruz. Vaughn was a Stanislaus County supervisor for 24 years,
the first elected Ceres mayor and the first president of the
Bank of Ceres. He was also a director of the California Rai-
sin Growers Association.
Guy C. married Or~ Root of Salida and had three children:
Clinton who died young; Willoughby (mrs. Cliff Anderson); and
Jane (mrs. david Gilman). Guy is a retired realtor and farmer
and lives in Laguna Beach.
Jennie Whitmore married Wallace Cas~iell in 191D and lived
in Iowa for 23 years. Returning to Ceres, she again became in-
volved in social, civic and religious concerns. She was a mu-
sician and in her youth played tennis and golf. When she died
.9
in 1966, her friends described her as a lady in the truest
and best sense999 She was a strong advocate of temperance all
her life.
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tAihen Charles N. ~hitmore, youngest son o~ Clinton, mar
ned Annette Johnston of modesto in IYlarch, 1921, £~res had its
business section mostly south of Lawrence 5t. on Fourth. The
Whitmores still had their ranch headquarters near the south
east corner of Whitmore and Ninth where the Ceres Dehydrator
stood for many years. Charles and Annette built a home on
~hitmore Avenue at 5i>'th where they have lived since except
for a brief time in 5an Jose. At the time an almond orchard
and vineyard covered the area behind their home.
Before his marriage, Charles attended the University o~
California, served in the Navy during World War I and, in 1920,
worked his way around the world on a freighter. He has occu-
pied himself since with the family business interests, inclu-
ding the telephone company organized by his father, and with
civic and school affairs. He served 15 years on the Ceres Gram
mar School board, ten years on the county board of education,
six years as a director of the state school boards association.
He served as director, vice president and treasurer of Channel
6,educational television station, when it first began.
Charles and Annette have three sons: Robert married Edna
Vaughn and is the manager of the Whitmore ranches. He has main
tamed the family interest in civic affairs. The couple has
three daughters. Gordon, married to the former Irene Veneman,
lived in Ceres until transferred by the savings ~nd loan in
stitution he iuorks for. He now lives in modesto; he and his
wife have three children. Kenneth, the third son, is a noted
Los Angeles photographer. He and his wife, formerly mary Lou
\`ogel, have two children.
THE ~ICHARO WHIT~~RE FAMILY
Richard Keith Whitmore, born in Ohio, followed his older
brother Oaniel to California in 185w. Prior to his coming,
he had served on lines of packet ships from the age of thir-
teen. Like Daniel, he began farming in San Joaquin County.
His land was located on the Calaveras River and east of Stock-
ton near Collegeville.
Richard K. IAhitmore came to Ceres in 1869. In 1874 he
purchased land from Levi Carter and proceeded to raise wheat
on 1,2~0 acres of his own plus on 2,000 acres of rented land.
He married a cousin, Hannah maria Whitmore, born in New York.
They were referred to in early writings about Ceres as the
.e musical Whitmores . frirs. Whitmore was said to have a beau-
tiful voice of rare quality and power by her granddaughter,
Harriett Williams Ward.
Lewis Publishing's 1892 history of Stanislaus County
gives R. K. Whitmore credit for laying out, in 1874, the
toiun of Ceres, no doubt referring to the street plan. He
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PAGE 92 Show Image
i&'as particularly interested in the chool when it came to
the town and, when he died in 1878 at the age o~ 57 he was
busy putting new seats in the school house. His children
were martha m., born in New York, died as a young woman;
mary H. who married roger Williams; Richard, born in New
Jersey; Henry Havelock, born in New Jersey, died as a boy;
Nellie B. who married Albige Hartman; Oliver; and Alice B.
who first married Thomas Rickard and later Albert Conner.
The youngest four were born in California.
richard K., Jr. married Annie Pagels and cared for
his mother and youngest sisters as well as his own family
after his father's death. He was fond of singing and, in
addition to performing at charitable events, is said to
have sung with the 5an Francisco opera. When first mar
ned, ~. K. and Annie lived on the fflorgan road ranch,
but for most of their married life lived on land on the
northeast corner of fflitchell and Whitmore. A veteran of
the 5panish American War, he was called into duty during
the San Francisco fire and earthquake.
This branch of the Whitmore family was fond of camp-
mg in the Sierras, begun when the doctor recommended it
for the health of daughter Aurelia. As soon as wheat har-
vest was over, they left in came wagons loaded with sup-
plies to last the summer. Iflrs~ Whitmore purchased a home
near Silver mountain in the markleville area and it stayed
in the family for 62 years. robert Whitmore purchased it
in 1975.
R. K. and Annie Whitmore had ten children: Blanche
of Groveland; Harry, who spent his boyhood and young man-
hood in Ceres and later lived in other parts of California,
married Louise Stone of Ceres by whom he had a son, Donald,
and later married margaret Keene; Gertrude, who died early,
just before her scheduled marriage; Aurelia; Ed; Nell;
Richard K., John, who died in infancy; Doris; and marjorie.
Aurelia married Carroll Fowler in 19()b after he had
come down to Ceres from a teaching job at the University
of California. The son of Captain D. Fowler of Duarte and
a graduate of U. C. he had to leave his entemology classes
because of failing eyesight. He figures in a description
on the Fourth of July in Ceres in 19O3~ From Allura Ulch's
diary:
*~Inde endence Da --On the morning of the Fourth, I
arose ear y. r. Carroll Fowler, miss Aurelia
Whitmore, mr. J. E. Richards and Flossie went
for a boatride on the river. mr, Richards and
mr. Fowler came with the carriage for Flossie
about eight o'clock. I found some small flags
for them to decorate horses and carriage and gave
them red, white, and blue ribbon streamers each,
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PAGE 93 Show Image
and off they went. Then the day's iuork
began. manriing (Heisley) had been pro-
mised a half holiday, and took it in the
afternoon. `I
The family moved to Duarte to manage the Fouler family
orange groves in 1913 but commuted to Ceres after the local
ranch converted to peaches in 1923. Fowler i~ias active in
civic affairs in Duarte and also served many years on the
school board. His son,Richard Hardiman Fowler, spent his
summers in Ceres often and returned to live here full time
in 1950. After graduating from U. C. he spent twelve years
on the staff of the State College of IAiashington in the agro-
V; nomy department and served four years in World War II with
the rank of lieutenant. He and his wife, £aryl (Davis), have
a son and a daughter. Caryl became well-known during her
years as a reporter and is involved with local church and
club work. "Hardyt1, as he is known, continues to farm his
reduced acreage (the home farm ha~ become Smyrna Park) and
operate a tax service.
Ed Whitmore, son of Richard K., was elected in 191w to
the office of county treasurer and tax collector, receiving
272 votes out of the 273 cast in the £errs precinct. He served
for 36 years in this office, having opposition in only one elec-
tion. As a young man he had run the combined harvester for
T. k. Beard, been an early mail carrier for [modesto, served
as assistant postmaster, and as assistant cashier at the Bank
of Ceres. He married \1era rest and was known as a county his-
torian. many of his papers and memorabilia are in the mcHenry
museum.
Richard K. III was usually known as lejim Budd"as he was
growing up and the name has remained. The nickname is after
a politician of the time. He left farming on his father's
ranch to serve in the World War I air force. He began a bank-
mg career in Hughson and continued it in modesto, Guroy and
Napa. He married Flo Bell Fancher, a modesto school teacher,
and now lives in &armel.
The daughter of Nell Whitmore and Alan Ladd of 5tockton
now lives in modesto. 5he is Alice (rn~s. Walter Thorman).
marjorie died early, leaving two sons by her marriage to Rich-
ard Brune. Doris Whitmore, before her marriage to 5tanley
Triplett, was a teacher in Alpine and Stanislau5 Counties.
Four of the five Triplett children were born in Ceres. They
are genevieve (mrs. Richard Race) of Aptos; 5hirley Blanco
William Triplett of ffiodesto; and Nancy (mrs. Joseph Willis)
of Ceres. A son, Stanley, died in Thermal in 1972. The
Tripletts have fifteen grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Since returning to the C8r2s-modesto area last year, the Trip-
letts have renewed old Ceres acquaintance.
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PAGE 94 Show Image
`AtOOD CRUmI
~mrs. Wood came in and paid me for Jessie's
dress and again expressed her pleasure-
5he said all the folks at the gamily re-
union on Sunday praised it. Praise is
sweet.~~ --A. £. Ulch
January 2~, 1904
Pleasure rook No. 4
George F. Wood ~ born in Kansas and came to the town
of modesto in 1885 with his parents, brothers and sister.
In 1891 he married mary Belle mcmullen of modesto. He was
the modesto postmaster from 1898 to 1902.
In 1902, in October, he opened a mercantile business
called Wood's 5tore and operated it until 192a. It faced
the main road just off Fourth 5treet. After leaving his
store he devoted his time to fruit farming on his place on
South Central Avenue. A well-known but sometimes contro-
versial figure, George Wood was always busy with civic
affairs as councilman, president of the chamber of commerce,
man-about-town.
George Wood and his daughter Jessie both sang in the
methodist choir. He saw that Jessie was well-educated. 5he
graduated from Stanford with the class of 1917 with a jour-
nalism degree. 5he married James ~. Crombie, a 5cotsman
from northern Ireland and with him operated their Crombie
Nursery in Oakland. Jessie Crombie used to say that she was
"a gardener by marriage" but she became quite knowledgable
in the roses that her husband worked with. He was a recog-
nized expert and served, with Jessie, as floral jud~w all
through California and in England.
Though well-educated and widely-travelled, the Crombies
chose the simplicity and sincerity, as they said, of small-
town Ceres to retire to. They built a new home on her parents'
farm, using doors, fl"~ring and other portions of the old store
building. many of the roses they filled their garden with are
still on th~ place. Before her death in 1962, Jessie Wood
Crombie had become involved in many clubs and service groups.
She was known for her outspoken frankness, tempered by humor.
The Wood house in town wa~ near the corner of Fourth and
North St. where the Bank of California now is. The house is
now at the corner of Tenth and Lawrence.
George Wood's brothers were Ed Wood, modesto jeweler,
and Or. C. C. Wood of Oakdale. A sister, Jessie, married
twice, once to Howard B. Kimball and once to a Hanscom. She
was a San Jose State Normal classmate of Florence Ulch.
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PAGE 95 Show Image
WOOOBRIOG£ TO~LIN5DN
The sons of Henry Woodbrid~e of IAioodbridge Corners, in
maine, same to £alifornia. The eldest, Oavid Kennedy Wood-
bridge located on land which is noi~ the middle o~ Ceres,
building his home on the corner of 5ixth and Whitmore. The
home iuas later lived in by the Thomas &astuell
no longer there. (It was built sometime beforefalm8l3lO~.but is
One of David's brothers settled near Stockton; another
returned to IYIaine to marry and told such gloi~ing stories to
his cousin Nathaniel Lenox Tomlinson, whose mother was a
~oodbridge, that Tomlinson came to see for himself in 1879.
He lived in Ceres with the Woodbridge family and worked in
their grain ~or two years before starting to farm for him-
self. He eventually became an important farmer east of
Ceres. His large home is still in the family and is a three-
story showplace on 5ervice Road.
David K. Woodbridge married ~bbie morse, also of ITlaine.
They had at least two children: may, a school-teacher born
In California in 1859 and Lottie, born in 1862 in California.
mrs. Woodbridge was a member of the First Baptist Church of
Ceres. She had a sister, mrs. ~. Wiggin, a childless widow,
who lived in Ceres. When she died in the spring of 1893,
there was a mysterious fire at night which burned her home
to the ground.
All of the Woodbridge farm is now covered by subdivision.
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PAGE 96 Show Image
$ {-\; ----
Enlargement of account in Modesto's "Daily Evening News" for Friday,
Marc:i 9, 1900 which confirms date o{first use of irrigation water in TI D.
The designation "lateral 0" is unl(nown in today's usage. P~iotography by
Ted Schuld.
PAGE 97 Show Image
First Turlock Irrigation District office, 4th Street Ceres.
-~--#-,~~ -
7 - - - ~
~ -
- A(" ~
A-------------------------------i-- A~ -
~ ~- -----7-
½ -
-A-
Arrival of first irrigation
water.
~~---------`~~------ _______
PAGE 98 Show Image
"I"1E GOT THE AAATER"
*eWhat things do mortals need, save two alone,
The fruits of Ceres and the cooling spring.
--Euripides
many a schedule has been changed and ~ew are they who will
question why when a Ceresean says, *~I can't be there; I've got
the water91t Some say humorously that newcomers from non-irri-
gated areas are prone to think that some horrible disease has
overcome the speaker, but almost anyone in town or country will
understand that it is merely the colloquialism for taking one's
turn at using the irrigation water. When the turn comes, day
or night, rain or moonshine, frost or 1050 heat, th2 irrigator
had better be ready.
The story of the development of the Turlock Irrigation
Oistrict and its sister, the modesto Irrigation Oistrict, has
been told and written in detail many times. Of particular in-
terest to £eres is how the coming of the water touched the
people and altered both town an~ countryside.
It was a Ceres farmer, Henry Stirring, a man on lateral 0
( zero), who was the first man to use the water of the Turlock
Irrigation District on march b, 7 and 5, in the year 1900.*
Other £eres farmers were still preparing their land to receive
the liquid wealth when Stirring took a full head of water for
a field ready for corn planting. The water came in just off
Hatch Road, about a mile north of £eres. This date is of his-
toric importance not only for £eres but for the nation as it
was the first time farmers had been provided water from a dis-
trict organized under a law that made land owners the owners
of the irrigation system. In 1901, three years before the
m. I. 0. received its first water, more Ceres farmers had their
land checked and levelled and 3~757 acres were irrigated.
The l&~, passed to enable community development of irri-
gation, was called the Wright Act after a Stanislaus coUnty
legislator. The district had been first organized in 18a7,
with ~eres' C. N. Whitmore as treasurer. The dam at LaGrange,
the first joint project of the T. I. 0. and m. I. 0., was com-
pleted in 1893. Chairman of the joint board during construe-
tion of the dam was Roger m. williams of £eres. The delay be-
tween organization of the districts and delivery of the first
*501 P. Elias and subsequent Stanislaus Co. historians give
the dates as march 13, 14 and 15, 1900, a week too late.
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PAGE 99 Show Image
`uater tuas du to long and bitter litigation by opponents, most
of them in the modesto district.
The first board met in a small wooden shack on the corner
of main and Front Streets in Turlock in 1887, but its first
office of its own after irrigation began was in Ceres, it is
believed. The building is the stonefronted one on Fourth St.
between El ~amino and Lawrence. It was built with funds that
were raised by IMhitmore in 1905. Following is a copy of a
letter written June 15, 1905 to Ephraim Hatch. The original
letter is now in the possession of George Orser of Ceresa
mr. E. Hatch
San Jose Oear Friend
The People of Ceres are trying to get the
office of the Turlock Irrigation Oistrict located
in Ceres. The majority of the Oirectors of the
district are in favor of having the office in
Ceres. IAie are trying to get people around £eres
to subscribe enough to erect a Brick 8uilding
20 X 36. It will cost 1200 Dollars. I have 550
subscribed toward it now.
modesto Lumber ~o. 100 Dollars
Or. Gillet (Gillette) 100
C. N. W. 100
Thos. £aswell 50
Garison Bros. (Garrison) 50
Archeambeaut & mcAlister 50
J. mcNeil 100
Now is our last chance to office in £eres.
Turlock has offered a ro(o~metinthtehe new Bank Build-
mg in Turlock but the majority of the directors
want to come to &eres. Say cannot you subscribe
one hundred dollars (to) this building.
The agreement reads like this
`Abe the undersigned agree to pay the Sums set
opposit(e) our Respective names for the purpos(e)
of Erecting a Brick building to be used by the
Turlock Irrigation Dist. as the office of its pres
ident, Secretary, Treasurer & other officers, it
being understood & agreed that said property shall
belong to said District so long as it maintains
its office & the offices of its said officers there-
in, but that said property shall revert to the sign-
ers hereof, their heirs, executors, administrators
or assigns. IAIhenever said building shall cease to
be used for said purposes, it shall be the property
of the signers.
This subscription is payable to £. N. ~hitmore
on demand when sufficient is subscribed to erect
said building.
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PAGE 100 Show Image
Witness our names with the amount
subscribed by us, this ___ day of June
1905.
Names_______________________
Please answer what
you think about being
one to help on this
and oblige
(S.gned) ~. N. Whitmore
Whether or not Ephraim Hatch subscribed to the fund is
not known but the brick building with a sandstone facade was
built and was used by the T. I. 0. The safe in it made it
ideal for banking purposes so, when Turlock got the T. I. 0.
office away from Ceres a few years later, the building be-
came Ceres' first bank. It later became Whitmore e real es-
tate office and a succession of stores; in 1976 it housed a
saw sharpening business.
U. S. 5oil Surveyors were sent into 5tanislaus County
in 1908-09 and remarked the following: 9eA rapid and marked
change in the character of the population after eight years
of water is taking place at present. . . It is a change from
a scattered population of grain growers to a dense population
of dairymen, vineyardists, orchardists, truck and melon grow-
irs. . . from a 1,000-acre farm unit to one of 20 acres." The
team of surveyors went on to comrnent in their report that even
those areas not yet under irrigation were feeling the stimulus
of the new order of things.
The T. I. 0. is much larger than the m. I. 0. though the
latter often receives more press coverage~ From the beginning
the Turlock District had more than twice the acreage of the
modesto District.
most residents in the area have ~ to speak I' irri-
gation", a language of town and country. The farmer will use
words such as check, 1~vel, acre-feet, levee, ridge, head,
gate, valve, lateral and flood, all with particular applica-
tion to irrigation, some words being used interchangeable as
nouns or verbs. The fringe area and often even the torn-
dweller will ask for his garden-head and there are few, swim-
mer or non-swimmer, who do not know where the drops and Ceres
main are.
Norman moore, beginning his 41st season with the T. I. 0.
in 197w, is Cares' only second generation ditchtender and per-
haps the only one in the District. His father, William W.
moore, had been in the Grayson area when he came in the early
days of irrigation and spent twenty-six years on the job. He
settled first in what is now called Yori~s 6rove and typified
the sturdy ditchtender i&'ho survived the rough and ready early
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PAGE 101 Show Image
times when fights over water rights, sometimes at gunpoint,
were common. The elder moore was first in charge of the
ditches known as Lower Lateral 2 and Lower Lateral 2~2. He
covered the ground traversed by the first in the mornings
and took all afternoon to do the second lateral. Travel
was in his horse and buggy and later by IYIodel T Ford. In
1921, the ITloore family moved to Fifth Street in Ceres and
the father continued his irrigation work. moore road, which
runs alongside Ceres main £anal east of £eres9 was named by
then Supervisor ~rowell for william moore ~nd an unrelated
J. A. moore who lived north of Roeding, just east of the
canal in the two-story house that is still theree
In early days, as now, the ditchtender was kept busy in
the winter when water was out of the canals with various main-
tenance chores. Willow patches were common along the banks
and had to be grubbed out with mattocks. A drag line was used
in the dirt canals every few years to clean out the "berm grass;'
so named because it grew along the edge or berm. The Himalaya
blackberry, though sometimes a thorny menace to be burned off,
was often allowed by the farmer to survive where it had es-
caped from cultivation and grew wild. Watered well by seepage,
even after most of the ditches were concreted, the berries
grew sweet and delicious.
Just as the irrigator must be ready to work at any hour,
so must the ditchtender. In season his hours are long, with
no days off, and usually the wife acts as the unpaid helper as
she mans the telephone when her husband is absent checking the
ditches. In 1934 when Norman moore became a full-time ditch-
tender and had just been married (to Betty Swain), he states
he was paid $100 a month in winter and $130 in summer, very
good wages for those depression times. His plans to retire
and those of another well-respected ditchtender with ~5 years
of service, Ted Schuld, have brouqht. regrets to many farmers.
These two men represent the conscientiousness, fairness, de-
pendability, and hard-working qualities which make a good
ditchtender.
The by-product of irrigation has been recreation from the
beginning. The first dam was a focal-point for excursions,
C'
just as the dams and their lakes are now. The "Ceres Scraper
of may 26, 1903 describes an early trip:
.*mr. Dorward and his son-in-law Parker £. pratt
took a trip to the dam yesterday. Arising at
4:15 o'clock in the morning, Brother Oorward
walked to modesto where he met mr. Pratt. Leav-
mg modesto at ~a20 with a double team, they
arrived at L~Gr~n(1~ ~t 12 o'clork, dined at the
hnt~1 c~fld then out nf mP~ry t(~ th~~ h()r~P5 our
frt~nd'.' IAP~1ked th(~ distance from L~Gran~e to
ttip dam. The scene is inspiring and although
mr. Oorward claims It to be one of the hardest
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PAGE 102 Show Image
days Luork he ever experienced, tue are sure
he felt repaid ~or all the weariness of body
which may have been his, and you who have
not seen this wonderful piece of human engi
neering should not lose an opportunity to do
so. It is a sight well worth seeing. I4
Those who must stay at home have always found the canals
a source of fun. A "drop9~ is a place on a canal where the
water level changes to accommodate the land variation. A
little dam is thus created with a waterfall and these spots
are always favored by swimmers. Until the ditches were all
concreted and before the day of the community chlorinated
swimming pool, the drops were the places of recreation in
summertime for town and country alike.
The most frequented drops were mc£urry's, where Gondring
Road begins; meadow's, where Roeding crosses Ceres main, and
Oick's Orop between Whitmore and Hatch Roads. also popular
was Shady Orop where eucalyptus trees grew at the point where
Don Pedro Road meets the canal, If one wanted to be more pri
vate or quiet, Bradbury's Drop, further along Gondring Road
on Lateral 2, shaded by poplar trees and with shallower water,
was the place.
Teenage swimmers predominated but there were also many
adults who came after work, and younger children, too. The
ditchtenders would often come to watch and join in. mccurry's
was one of the most favored swimming places because it had, in
addition to a huge eucalyptus tree, a sand beach to lie upon.
T. I. 0. crews made the beach with sand dredged from the bot
tom of the canal. Up to one hundred swimmers could be seen
there on hot summer afternoons in the 30's. Two farmer boys
were given permission by Harry Turner to cut trunks from some
of the Lombardy poplars which grew on his place nearby and
with them the boys built a diving tower, 1520 feet high at
mc£urry's Drop. A diving board was weighted down with sand
bag& until the Rohde brothers pointed out that a little dig
ging would uncover some steel bars imbedded in concrete which
they had used to secure diving boards when they were boys.
mothers with small children avoided the lively pace at mccur
ry's and used Lateral 2 where it fed into the main there.
mccurry~s Drop was named for George Rucker mc~urry who came
to ~eres from Hart Co., Georgia in 1900. He and his wife,
Leslie, lived on Gondring Road pith their three sons, George
R., Jr., Thornton, and Holbrook 8linn mccurry.
Nearly all children learned to swim in the canals. They
were then considered much safer than now because of the dirt
banks into which toes and fingers could dig to climb out if
cramp or chill occurred. Some adults now speak almost ecsta
tically of the cool sandy bottoms on the old canals of their
youth. Broken glass and tiash were not the problem then as
m9~
PAGE 103 Show Image
there were reiuer people and less to litter t&iith. One might,
however, see a dead cow floating down occasionally.
Intheir busiest days, the Ceres drops even had people
from Iflodesto. People sitting out on their porches in the
warm evenings would watch girls and boys riding in wet suits
on the running boards of the cars, hoping to stay cool as
long as possible on their way home from swimming. mc~urry's
Drop continued to be popular into the 1950's but policing
problems caused by a larger population and the drug culture
forced the T. I. 0. to cut down the eucalyptus tree, put
stronger chains on the gates and generally make the place less
appealing. Only meadow's Drop retains some semblance of its
old popularity due to the steps put in for swimmer safety and
convenience by T. I. 0. crews. Increased traffic due to ur
ban and commercial encroachment is now causing a new form of
hazard. The drops along the deep Hatch Road section of Ceres
main are now used most by the canal swimmers, some say only
by the courageous or fool-hardy. The wide banks along the
road are handy for parking but the current and depth make a
rope or some safeguard desirable.
Fred moffet of ~eres was a Turlock district director
during the important period of the construction of the first
Don Pedro Dam. Before it was completed in 1922 with its 3,276
acres of reservoir, farmers often ran out of water for crops
in July. Even in a normal year the water seldom held out un-
til August. Other directors from the Ceres area have included,
more recently, Ronald Berryhill and Homer £lark of Westport.
-100-
PAGE 104 Show Image
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TOP: Averill's- blacksmiths and wheel wrights. Later
Vincent Blacksmit~i Shop. ABOVE: Ceres "smithies."
Robert Craig on left. MIDDLE RIGHT: Averill -
Blacksmith Shop interior. BOTTOM RIGHT: Robert
Craig's blacksmith shop, Fifth and Whitmore.
PAGE 105 Show Image
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1895 ff?AP 5HOI£II~(3 SECTION OIVISIONS,
LAID OW~E~5HIP OF CERES VICINITY
*Ceres is Section 14. Un~ar*ced Sec. 28 is broken up
into **ny ownerships, too flu~?bU5 to list.
PAGE 106 Show Image
THE TON
NNOW we have been having the worst storm that I
have known in ~eres. It commenced on Sunday and
is still raining. Water is two or three feet
deep in some placEs in the streets of Ce~es. N
--Allura Ulch Diary
November 19, 185S
NA new sewer system is being constructed, ~sting
about $10,000 but this t£iill not beadequate. Citm
izens will have to use of their own private funds
to meet the seed. Ceres has a live Board of Trade
of about 75 members. The business of the torn is
large, several aiercantile houses, drug stores,
restaurants, packing houses and warehouses all do
mg well, active just now, and. there is great need
of a thoroughly modern hotel."
mUlCh Account of Ceres, 1923
Written for Tinkham's history
Ceres' struggle to retain an identity of its oiun i5 per-
haps most e~iden~ whgn the activities of the organized city
government are studied. Lt has been said that if Levi Carter
had established the depot further south at his ~smar Station
instead of Oaniel Whitwore having it built near Carter's
former granary, Ceres would have been more to itse1f~on the
plain between Turlock and iflodesto. Keyes i~Light never have
been established as a tow~and Ceres wot~ld have had less
pressure from fliodesto.
The first record of CI?Is citizens or~ani~ing into a
legal body for the community rood and advancemant was .~ 1880
when a group built the ~ran~e Hall. The names show a cross
section of village and country dwellers andinclude~.some who
later became leaders in the county and in the irrigation gv'ove-
ment:
Stockholders, 1880:
p. Lg~ rook, President R. K. Whitmore
N. C. ~anscom9 Secretary B. B. Hanscom
S. A. White, Treasurer R. C. 6ilbert
EZra Chapin H. ~. Cook
~. L. 0~n C. A. morrison
John Service 6. E. Cook
Later Stockholders: H. A. Starks
D. K. Woodbridge
~. m. Williams
W. L. Canfield
`3. ~. Hill
$i03-
PAGE 107 Show Image
The stockholders, `ALith a duly elected board, i&'ere in charge
of the hall prom 1880 to IYIarch, 1905. This building was more
than just the Grange Hall--It i&ias the first community center,
the first rolling place, the first Board of Trade (Chamber of
commerce) building and the first high school. Farmers Hall iuas
another name commonly riven to it after the Grange ceased ex-
istence but it was usually just called The Hall. Built at the
south end of the Triangle Park, it was sold~to Fred moffet of
the Superior Fruit Ranch and moved there to become part of the
ranch building complex. It was used for years as a ranch office
but. is no longer there.
Rivalry LAbith Other Towns
The first rivalry with JYlodesto, of course, was not because
of business competition or city growth but because ~eres did
not wish the more undesirable elements of the larger town to
threaten the hoped-for purity of Ceres. contrast the aims of
the founders of ~eres with the reality of modesto's Front St.
(now Ninth St.) which respectable modesto deplored as much as
did other towns around. Seen in perspective, the following
statement by a correspondent for the IYIodesto "News" of may 31,
1880 may seem amusing, but to the average Ceres citizen of the
time it was a description they could be proud of:
911 have just returned from a trip through Stanislaus
county. . . ~eres is booming. They have just dedi-
cated a large social hall which adds very much to
the appearance of the place. The best feature of
the town is, they have only one place where they
keep `tangle-leg' and the bar-keeper they say is not
getting wealthy."
Rivalry with other towns lAlas also present in the earliest
days. With Turlock, the competition seems to have been, as it
is now, almost entirely con~erned with sports. there hughson
is concerned, school sports have also entered in (Halloween
high jinks.between the rival high schools got so rough in the
late thirties and early forties that play was cancelled) but
at the turn of the century, there was gouging from adults in
both towns. IAihen the founders of Hughson bought the Gillette
Hotel from ~eres in 1908, they are said to have thought that
not only would Hughson gain a hotel but that £eres would suf-
far from its loss. A modesto news clipping of 1910 tells the
Ceres side:
"The neighboring tawn of Hughson has often shown an
envious spirit, but Ceres people have generously
treated their little squibs with eloquent silence.
The following from the Turlock Journal is considered
a good one in reply to many jibes: `He who laughs
last laughs best. About two years ago our neighbor
at Hughson (better knnwn as ~eres No. 2) in order to
start a little torn there, came over to Ceres and
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PAGE 108 Show Image
bought a hotel which Ceres did not need at that
time, as it already had one good hotel. They
moved it to Hughson, and thought they had played
a great joke on Ceres. No~ Ceres had been con-
templating the removal of this building from the
valuable lot where it stood ~or some time before
Hughson bought it, as such a shack was a kind of
eye-sore to the town. The dif?iculty of removing
it was assumed by the Hughson people, who final-
ly located it where they had fixed to have it.
And then J face in ~eres wore a broad grin
to think of th2 next number on the program, be-
cause on this very same lot Ceres has erected a
$109000 concrete building which is a credit to
any city. To further turn the joke on Hughson,
our Ceres merchants have bought the stores in
Hughson, including the meat markets, etc., and
in the future HL~hson headquarters will be in
Ceres II
Further adding to the joke, Cereseans thought, was the fact
that the wagons moving the hotel had not gone far down the
way before they broke down from the load. All remained in
the middle of the road for the greater part of a year.
The Post Office
The post office, of course, was a government body which
came to Ceres early when Daniel Whitmore applied for it. The
train made an efficient mail system possible and letters were
the primary form of communication. While Ceres was not shown
on all maps printed after 1871, and uias not indicated as a
census or voter registration address until after 1858, it was
indicated on a Post Route map of 1854 as aregular route. Dan
Whitmore was succeeded as postmaster by Robert Craig, Allura
Ulch, myron Warner, 5tanton Helsley and John Gondring, Jr.
It is enlightening to se~ that in 1929, long before ~eres
was a first class post office, there were three mails a day
departing for the nort~ and three for the south. The post
office was open on 5aturdays, and all mail arriving before
6:30 p.m. IL'~5 distributed the same day. many remember going
down to the depot as late as the 1950's to see Duryea Warn,
who is retiring this June from the ~eres post office, in act-
ion. He would hang the outgoing mail on the projecting hook
from which it was snagged by the train man. Incoming mail
was thrown out as the train sped by, it having ceased stops
in Ceres earlier. The Ceres Post Office has had many homes:
Daniel Whitmore's desk in his home on Fifty 5treet, mrs.
Ulch's shop in her home, a building on Fourth 5t. near the
present United california Bank, Lawrence 5treet between the
alley and Fourth 5t1, Fourth 5treet where the billiard hall
now is and the present site on the corner of Third and mag-
nolia. ~eres' newest post office was dedicated in 1969. John
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PAGE 109 Show Image
5hamlin is the present postmaster. In addition to Lam, one
still with the £ere~ post office who has given 1on~ and f2ith
ful servile, also, is Phillip myers, rural mail carrier.
The Town Library
The first public library in Ceres, other than the read
mg room established by the W. C. T, U,in mrs. Ulch's house,
was a travelling library of 5D books borrowed from the Calif-
fornia State Library under the sponsorship of the Farmers Club.
The volumes were exchanged every three months. Allura ~. Ulch,
as one of the members of the club, thus became the first Ceres
librarian. The club disbanded about 1903 but mrs. Ulch con-
tinued the library.
In February, 1905 a town library association was formed,
with Carroll Fowler, president; C. F. Baldridge, vice-presi-
dent; C. N. Whitmore, treasurer; and an executive committee
composed of J. m. Heisley, C. E. manley and Henry Caswell.
Books were still obtained on loan from the state library and
mrs. Ulch remained the librarian. In addition, books were re-
ceived as gifts and a few were purchased with funds raised
by *`book socials". In 1910, the Stanislaus County Library
was formed and Ceres became a part of it two years later,
the first town library to do so, At that time, the library
had 339 volumes and a circulation of 1,448 for the year. Cir-
culation by 1922 had grown to 1,330 a month. The early li-
brary was housed in the Ulch home. One of the rooms was made
into a reading root and was open each afternoon except Sunday
plus three evenings. When electricity came to Ceres an elec-
tric fan was added for summer comfort.
The library later moved to the building next to the
present United California Bank where it had a mrs. Coe for
the librarian. In the 1950's the Ceres branch of the Stani-
slaus County Library was moved to the building next to the
`1incent home on Fourth Street. Hazel Applegarth liner was
the Ceres librarian there for many years. Assisting her
were Georgia Wuhite Rooker and mildred Barrows Taylor.
Florence and Frances Gondring had long been interested
in the library and in improving the racilities for Ceres read-
ers. When Florerice Gondring died, her sister offered the City
of Ceres a 1ar~e sum for a new library, as a fitting memorial
to Florence. The city government finally decided to incor-
porate the plans for a new city hall into the library plan.
Using the Gondring gift as seed money, they secured a fed-
eral grant which resulted in the present combined Florence Gon-
dring Library-Ceres City Hall. mrs~ Linda Brilhart is the pre-
sent librarian.
Ceres Judicial District
Ceres became a township in 1910 and it included Hughson
and the area between. On January 15, 1910 the Ceres Justice
PAGE 110 Show Image
£ourt was fouded and Daniel T. Campin became the first judge.
+te was followed by Je m. Gondring, 5r., ITlyron moyle, Lawrence
Whitmore and 5tanton Heisley.
After years of meeting in various buildings about town,
including the Vernon 5eastead Building on Lat~rence Street9
&eres dedicated a handsome court house on the civic center
grounds on January 1, a969. Gordon Olsson o~ Hughson was the
judge at the time. In 1975, at the request of municipal judges
in modesto and over protests by the Ceres &ity Council and
numerous citizens, th~ Ceres Judicial District was abolished.
constables for the ~eres Judicial District, besides those
mentioned elsewhere, include Walter Reid and the last one,
Clifford Ridley. Laura Cathcart served as clerk of court for
many years.
Ceres Fire Protection
About eleven oeclock on a 5aturday night the sixteenth
of September, 1905, the new cooperative creamery at Ceres
~as totally destroyed by fire. The loss, in plant and build-
ings, was $16,000, a disastrous amount for the times. The
building was only two years old and was the second creamery
to be burned down. The creamery was doing a big business,
turning out 1,500 pounds of buiter per day and shipping cream
to San Francisco, and was considered a town asset. No doubt
the officers, S. J. Irvin of modesto, president; Dan Bald-
win* of Ceres, vice-president and J. U. Gartin of Ceres, sec-
retary, devoutly wished for some sort of fire protection.
E. C. Barnes was the manager ~t the time.
The creamery fires and others uncontrollable by the
bucket brigade led to the establishment of the Ceres Volun-
teer Fire Department in June, 1911. George F. Wood was elec-
ted the first chief, a position he held until 1921. The de-
partment was reorganized in that year and Clifford 5trait be-
came chief.
In the first day3 of the department, the alarm system
was a large triangle such as that used by western chuck-wagon
cooks. I~ hung beneath the old water tank on Fourth Street
( sometimes referred to as main Street in old records). lAihen
this piece of iron was broken, a fire bell was purchased from
the city of Turlock. It was mounted in the same spot.under
the water tank and remained there until a siren was installed.
Striking the bell on Halloween night was a favorite prank.
The bell was later displayed in Triangle Park. Considerable
consternation and some controversy was caused in some circles
in the 1960's when the old fire bell was given to Turlock for
*Baldwin started out as a ferryman on the Whitmore Ferry, ac-
quired land, prospered, and founded the family later associa-
ted with Huqhson. He w~s born in I\lew Brunswick, Canada.
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PAGE 111 Show Image
display. The answer to the public outcry was to form the con-
crete replica of the bell now in the perk.
Strait, the second chief, was replaced in 1925 by IAlill
Ham who held the place until 1935. A ne~ fire house was built
that year (1926). In 1928, a small International truck and
water pump were purchased. Equipment up to that time had
been a model T Ford-LaFrance chemical fire engine plus a
rather primitive apparatus fashioned by members of the depart-
ment. The siren which had been installed by Ceres connected
with the IYIodesto Fire Department. Those with burning houses
telephoned the modesto Fire Oepartment which then activated
the alarm at the Ceres fire house.
Jim Cunningham succeededHam. Under Cunningham, a regu-
lar department was set up for the first time under the juris-
diction of the city council and a new fire truck was purchased.
In 1939, the fire chief was permitted by the council to cement
the fire house floor and the cherished possession of all fire-
men--the club room--was built. The present room is held sac-
rosanct by the firemen--it contains trophies won at musters,
poker and billiard tables, lounge chairs, and a file cabinet.
Carl Barham was the next fire chief, followed by Kenneth
Wilson. In 1951, June Barnes (j. L. Barnes) who had been a
volunteer fireman since 1936, became chief. He remained until
19~1. Ceres city was trying to provide services to the new
people who made up the rirst spurt of growth after World War
and it was a time of growing for the fire department, also.
The job still paid little and Barnes continued his main occu-
pation of machinist, as a partner in the Barnes machine 5hop
and later with another company.
Barnes was succeeded by Chesley Ludden who, in turn, was
succeeded by the present chief, Truman 5howen. Fire chief is
now a fully paid position and the fire department has contin-
ued to modernize and expand with the groiuth of the city. It
still depends greatly upon the volunteers. A feature of the
department in recent years has been an expanded education and
safety program carried out through the schools.
Officialdom Begins
As the prosperity of irrigated agriculture grew, the
town grew--first the ground, then the town. Ceres incorpora-
ted finally as a city~~ in the spring of 1918 and city gov-
emment was off to an official start. The first mayor was
Or. 5. IA. Cartwright and he only lasted a month and nine days
--until the election results could be obtained. Incorpora-
tion had taken place on march 4, the election was not held
until April B at which time it was announced that Vaughn 0.
Whitmore had received one more vote than £artwright and on
that basis Cartwright was out and LAihitmore was in as mayor.
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PAGE 112 Show Image
The election was held in the "Artisan Hall" (Grange Hall)
in the park with H. E. Robj~on and W. S. Rollins as judges;
mrs. J. Beidleman and C. H. moore as inspectors; and Jessie
Wood and mrs. Belle Steward as clerks. The candidates and
the results were:
`1. 0. Whitmore 28 votes George Wood 1 vote
5. W. Cartwright 27 votes Bell Wood 1 vote
~. T. Haynes 27 votes viola £raig 1 vote
J. U. Gartin 27 votes Bob Robison 1
C. H. Sikes 1 vote
The top five vote-getters became the first Board o~
Trustees. J. ~. Wagener received 27 votes ~or city clerk
and E. C. Baird the same number ~or first city treasurer.
The first action aster changing mayors on April 15 was to
draw straws to see who received long or short terms. The
`meeting date became the second monday in each month, a date
which held until in the 196O~s when two meetings a month be-
came the rule.
An ordinance was adopted on may 17 providing ~or a gen-
eral city clean-up--removal of debris from lots, streets and
alleys and general trimming of trees, grass and weeds. An-
other at the same meeting made it unlawful to tie, hitch, or
fasten any horse, mule, beast of burden, team, cow, bull, ox,
goat or sheep to any tree, box post or other structures around
or near town. The automobile had truly arrived in £eres.
The treasurer and clerk were each bonded in the amount
of $2,000. Gartin, as the first treasurer, received no pay;
he had, in addition, the title of ex-officio tax collector.
The clerk received $20 per month and had his office in the
stone-fronted building on Fourth Street, then C. N. Whitmore's
real estate office.
Political muscle
An example of Ceres politics at work is seen in two occur-
rences in August and September of 1918. As you read, remem-
ber the second city ordinance mentioned above. At the August
meeting, Gartin and Sikes were appointed to investigate a com-
plaint calling for removal of a nuisance--a corral maintained
by George Wood within the city limits. At the same meeting
Cartwright resigned and George Wood was elected by the re-
maining trustees to take his place. On September 10 it was
reported that the corral iuas not a nuisance. Wood promised
to keep the corral, which stood with a barn right behind the
present Bank of California, in as good a condition as possible.
In October of the first year of incorporation, an attempt
was made to make Daniel Whitmore's original anti-liquor stip-
ulation a part of Ceres law. Ordinance 18 made it unlawful
for any person, firm, club, etc. to sell, store, deliver, keep
PAGE 113 Show Image
furnish, possess, or give away any aichoholic liquors. Homes
were exempted. Pharmacists were permitted to sell liquor ~or
"medical purposes II and ministers could buy sacramental wine.
Fine for violation was $500 or six months in jail. The sac-
ramental wine execption is amusing wheni~ne1ooks at the Ceres
churches of the time, none of which used wine in communion.
Other ordinances of the time included one requiring all
food handlers and those attending public gatherings to wear
It
masks because of the `15panish influenza ; one forbidding the
riding of bicycles on sidewalks on pain of fine or ten days
in jail; and one making it unlawful to slaughter animals on
the city streets. In early 1919, as in other places, churches
and schools and all public places were ordered closed due to
influenza. At the same time, T. F. Perrin was paid $2 per
day to act as city health officer for ten days.
A test of the liquor ordinance came soon--the city mar-
shall seized two casks of wine from an unnamed source. L. B.
Harlow was paid $1.50 drayage for hauling the casks from
Judge 6ondring's office and return (to where?).
The early Board of Trustees (presently the City &ouncil)
had to deal, as do councilmen now, with zoning complaints.
mrs. E. 0. Hambly complained about the public camping ground
but the Trustees refused to act because it was not on city
property. (At the same time ~eres was attempting to lure
travellers by telling of the shady campground available, with
plenty of water, etc.) This campground is within the city
now, having evolved from tents to huts totrailers to the
modern mobile home park just west of the railroad tracks on
Don Pedro Road. Some of the early campers stayed in Ceres.
~eres Gets A 5ewer
In 1920 the city purchased from Swift and £O~ the property
( Gustrap Lake) on 5ervice Road which became the Ceres Sewer
Farm. In 1922, the first two subdivisions under the city
charter were proposed~-Estate Acres by \1aughn, Charles and
Inaria IAlhitmore, and the Collins Subdivision by Leland C. and
Edith Collins. The first new park since the original Triangle
Park was established--the Plaza. (5ee Ceres Garden Club).
`1aughn Whitmore stayed as mayor until 1930 when J. Wayne
Baldridge was elected to the Council. Succeeding Baldridge
was Claude mcknight in 1938; he resigned the next year. 5. m.
Christiansen assumed the mayorship and served in that capa-
city until 1942 when J. A. moffet became the Ceres mayor.
S. m. "Chris" Christiansen was mayor when the town began gear-
mg for the "war effort." He had at that time and for a num-
her of years the Union Service Station. He came to Ceres in
the 1930's and later, ~jth his wife had a large egg ranch.
After Ifloffet came Henry Kline, 1946-50; earl Barham, 1950-54;
C. 0. Ludden, 1954-56; Walter White, 1955-64; and Gene Robirds,
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PAGE 114 Show Image
1966-70. Robirds resigned October 13, 1970 i~hen the city
admin~strator rorm o~government `uas adopted. ~e was immed
iately appointed by his dormer ~e11ow councilmen, F. m. Sterm
ling, Ernest Firestine, Inichael 5cates, and Robert Bo~man,
to the position of first city administrator. michael Scates
`uas appointed mayor in his place. Scates served as mayor
until march 5, 1974 when Gary £ondit was elected to the post.
Condit and Steven Wright had been elected to the Council in
1972 as the two youngest members ever to serve. IALri~ht was
only eighteen at the time. The present mayor is Ted Hum-
phries, a native o~ England, who has been on the Council
since 1970.
City clerks who have served in the office the longest
periods of time are J. Floyd (Shorty) Johnson, 1930-41; and
Leona Garrison who served from 1952 until she retired in
1976. Arthur L. Harris of the old Bank of Ceres served as
city treasurer from 19Z2 to 1Y44.
Besides Humphries and IAlright, others now on the Council
are John D. Eberle and Sal Cannella, and Robert Bowman who
is now the longest-serving councilman. He was appointed in
1969. Gayle Davis, clerk and Nan Thomas, treasurer were e-
lected in the 197w election.
Law In Ceres City
Until incorporation, Ceres relied upon the county sher-
iff and the judicial district constables for law and order.
Probably the most exciting crime of the early days was the
train robbery which occurred at Ceres when George Sontag and
Christopher Evans staged a IAells Fargo hold-up on the South-
em Pacific line. There was a shoot-out between them and
the railroad detective. Sontag and evans were two former
employees of the Southern Pacific from further down the sal-
ley and grudges played a part in the robbery.*
After incorporation, T. F. Perrin became the first city
marshal at a salary of $5 a month. His duties included help
mg to collect taxes, checking doors on buildings at night
and picking up any drunks that appeared in a ~~ryIe town. By
1920 his salary was tripled but eight months later he was
replaced by Albert Rich who was given $20 a month. In 1927
the salary was raised to $35 per month.
Jack Dillon became Ceres~ first police chief in 1934. He
had earlier served in the marshal post. After eight years as
chief he resigned to run for constable of Ceres Township. He
won the election only to die of a heart attack a few months
*For a full account of the careers of Sontag and Evans see
Garden of the Sun by Wallace Smith.
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PAGE 115 Show Image
later. Louis Gari, who had a plumbing and 9eflxjtI8 shop,
succeeded Dillon as chief. His salary was approximately
$100 per month. The council asked for monthly written re-
ports of his work but none have been found. A. R. White be-
came chief in 1943, the year the first bicycle licensing or-
dinance was enacted, giving him some additional duties.
IY'arshals and policemen worked from their own homes and
provided for their own transportaion until 1944 when the City
Council approved $50 for the use o~ a car and rented an office
for $10 a morith. The office was in the extremely narrow build-
mg between what is now Deihart's Furniture Store ~o. 1 and
the now-demolished hardware store. The little building, which
had last housed a barber shop, was used as the first city jail.
LeRoy Cunningham, present police chief, says that it was told
that prisoners could lean hard against the wall of the jail
and fall out. This first jail building was also demolished
when the Freeway came.
lAihite resigned in 1944 and 5. m. Christiansen became
chief of police, the same Christiansen who had served as mayor.
Up to this time Ceres had had a one-man police force. Two ex-
tra men were authorized but were not hired. Finally, merchants
demanded at least a night officer and J. m. mcGuffey, a one-
armed man, was hired. Rascally youngsters tried to take ad-
vantage of his infirmity on Halloween night as he chased them
around town.
`Aihen Christiansen resigned as chief, fflc6uffey took over
at $200 a month. A story is told of the day he used his revol-
ver (carried in a shoulder holster) one day to blow out the
rear tire of a car that got too close while he was directing
traffic. The occupants of the car were considerably chastened.
The youngsters who thought they could elude him were just as
quickly punished if he caught them--but by their parents when
he took them home.
Other night officers, who were snore watchmen than other-
wise, were Joe Thomas, L. W. Bacon, C. Smith, Clarence Cordey,
and Luther H.~~Turtle~' Dillon. None stayed on the job long.
Only Cordey kept a journal; one excerpt for 1945 reads: ~
bars allowing men to get drunk again. Three safely put to bed
in hotel around corner, warned to stay sober.~' ITlcGuffey again
became night watchman when Henry Triplett was hired as police
chief in 1946. Floyd W. Randall was the last night watchman.
An organized, modern police department began to material-
ize for the first time with Triplett's appointment. more funds
were made avail8ble, the department teas housed with the city
staff at 620 Fourth 5t., and Ceres had its first police car with
a siren. A jail was built in the firehouse but at least one
prisoner made his escape through the tin roof. Additional men
were hired, including Cunningham. Triplett resigned in 1951
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PAGE 116 Show Image
to be replaced by one o~ his assistants, Kenneth Fost,r. In
1956, Triplett ran for councilman and was elected. Foster
resigned six months later. Six months after that, having
served only one year, Triplett resigned from the Council.
When Foster turned in his resignation, Cunningham,
who had served with the Ceres police force and had.taken two
years out ror the Korean war, was named chief. The first
clerk-dispatcher, mary Jo Chubbuck was hired in 1957. It
was in the 5O~s that the Council, becoming conscious of am-
bitions to be a city, passed an anti-jay walking ordinance.
It had to be rescinded not too long after when the normally
law-abiding citizens indignantly ignored the la~ and did as
they had been doing. The law proved irnpD~sible to enforce.
Additional improvements have continued to be made dur-
mg the twenty years of the present chief's service. Today
there are fifteen policemen, a secretary, and four clerk-dis-
patchers. A reserve unit was organized in 1951 which has
proved a valuable source of future man-power. Cunningham,
who grew up in Ceres, reminisces about his "training" for
the chief position: "I was handed.the keys tD the car, the
keys to the police department, and the pinch (arrest) book.N
In the first years he relied heavily on the area highway
patrolman and a modesto policeman for assistance and guid-
ance. Cunningham, like Lt. Henry Trantham and others in
the Cares police,.has since used his free time to get proper
training for the job. Today there is a basic training course
lasting twelve weeks for all new patrDlmen, paid. for by city
and state funds.
The Water ~em
In 1898, in her diary, Allura Ulch speaks of the "water
rentt1 due her brothers (Averill Brothers, blacksmiths) by
some Ceres dwellers. She echoes the plaint of all in busi-
ness when she says that they work so hard a~d get s~ little
in return. The t£iater system provided by the Averills was a
primitive one but answered.tbe purpose~for town dwellers who
had no well of their own.
When Joseph m. Vincent bought the blacksmith shop and
waterworks in 1904 from Averill Brothers and Hall, he expanded
and developed it. However, the complaints, as today when the
city is the owner, still came in. A 1910 article in a ifiodesto
newspaper tells of one such time:
"early last week a meeting of citizens of Ceres
was held in the C. N. lAihitmore office to con-
sider the feasibility of forming a co-operative
stock company to own or control th~ water sys-
tem of Ceres. For the rapidly growing town,
the supply of water is wholly inadequate. The
old water works, owned by messrs. Vincent and
Lucio, do not furnish enough water for family
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PAGE 117 Show Image
use, and the irrigation of lawns and flower gar-
dens, and in case of a conflagration the town
would be wholly at the mercy of the flames. A
committee was appointed to secure estimates and
plans o~ water systems and the advisability of
procuring the Ceres water plant from the present
owners, enlarging and improving it, and making
it an up-to-date system."
Apparently nothing came of this first move to make a public
water system and the Vincent family continued as the owners,
expanding with the years, until they sold to the city, finally,
in 1969 for $300,000,000.
In the meantime, subdivisions had sometimes set up small
water systems of their own. Ceres took over the morrow Lilater
Company in 19~2 and Alfred Gondring~s mission Water System the
same year as the `1incents sold to the city. All were combined
to form the city water works, and the City of ~eres began to
receive the complaints as well as the fees.
The Silent ~
~eres has a cemetery, of necessity, as in any town. Whit-
more west of the highway was designated Cemetery Road from the
earliest times, and our earliest settlers are buried there.
Unfortunately, exactly where they are buried is not always
known for there was no care given for many years and markers
were lost or impermanent. Conditions were so deplorable that
it was said for a time that grave-diggers would test the soil
very carefully and even then would find they had broken into
an old grave. Lowell Garrison is credited with leading a drive
to renovate and properly organize the cemetery association in
1951. Over twenty years later, the results are to be seen in
the well-cared for grounds. The Harvest Festival of 1951 had
as its purpose the raising of funds for cemetery improvements
and Lelia metcalf, the Goddess of the harvest that year, tells
that her crown was of flowers and her husband christened her
"IYIiss Tombstone."
"No-man's Land"
Expansion of the city limits which had swelled somewhat
in the `30's, began to come more rapidly beginning with Dillon-
morrow Tract in 1945, along Laurel Avenue. This was followed
by the ~aswell Tract in 1946 and the morgan, Fair and Sequoia
Tracts in quick succession. Development continued throughout
the `50's, slowed down somewhat in the `60's for awhile and
then picked up again in the `70's, with some building almost
continuously. In addition to acquiring new subdivisions,
the City of Ceres has annexed some already developed outlying
areas. With growth has come a chance to improve city services
and public facilities, but lawsuits, complaints and after-
thoughts with regrets have come also.
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PAGE 118 Show Image
There are several governmental classifications used
to indicate the Ceres "sphere of irifluence"--Ceres city Lirn
its; Ceres Unified 5chool District, Ceres Fire Oistrict, and
the area served by the Ceres post office. rhey each have
differing boundaries which sometimes leads to mixed loyalties
and confusion. iAIithin the ~USO are people with modesto ad
dresses and some with Hughson or Keyes or Industrial fire
protection. `Alithin the Ceres postal area are students who
are included in Hughson School District and Turlock High
School District. The postal boundaries of modesto cause the
most confusion where they extend east of ~eres and south of
the river. Ceres police protection, of course, yields to
the county sheriff at the city limits edge.
Between Hatch Road and the Tuolumne River, east of the
Freeway, lies an unincorporated area that is within the iflod-
esto postal district, the Industrial Fire District and the
Ceres Unified School Di5trict.In 1963 `£ihen ~eres formulated
its first professionally developed long-range plan, the pres-
sure that Ceres had long felt from ifiodesto coinpetition began
to step up. For years modesto had reached through narrow cor-
ridors south of the river, into the Ceres School District,
and incorporated lucrative industries while carefully avoid-
mg the annexation of South Iflodesto residential areas.
In 1965, some residents in the generally attractively-
developed area north of Hatch and east of the Freeway, peti-
tioned for annexation by~Ceres. There ensued a fued between
the two city governments involving rival sewer plans, fed-
eral grants, parks, shopping centers, and hot-tempered resi-
dents and officials. Ceres thought it had won the main bat-
tle in the war in1967 when it got the right from the Local
Agency Formation Commission to extend services north of Hatch
Road. modesto immediately proceeded with its plans to put
its sewer into the disputed territory. Superior Court Judge
Robert Fowler refused to order modesto to halt and Ceres also
lost an appeal to the district court. Hoiuever, ~eres' sewer
reached what had been dubbed *`No-man~s Land" first and pro-
ceeded to annex a commercial development on mitchell and
Hatch Roads. They also have annexed a mobile home park on
Hatch and a commercial site on the corner of Herndon and
Hatch.
The matter is stilILnot settled completely but an an-
nouncement in early may, 1976 from Modesto suggested that the
larger town was. acknowledging finally that Ceres had received
a favorable ruling from LAFC and was seeking to salvage for
modesto the area between Herndon and the railroad. Ceres is
planning to annex the 48-acre Peachtree Addition east of
Herndon near River Road.
In all the controversy which has lasted more than ten
years a not-to-be-ignored fact is that, while Ceres does not
wish to be swallowed up by modesto, many householders along
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PAGE 119 Show Image
iver Road itself do not wish to belong to either city. En-
couraging for the future o~ planned, attracti;~e growth is the
fact that Ceres nowhas a mere complete staff of ~u11y-trained
people, led by Shernian 5tenberg, present city administrator.
Th~ Chamber
Ceres first organized e~~orts toward boosting city qual-
ities and attracting new business was through the Board o~
Trade which was the term u~ad by both county and cities at
first. The traditional harvest restivals associated with the
history of Ceres became organized and, more or less, commer-
cialized affairs to raise money for community projects. Be-
fore the Chamber-sponsored harvest festivals began around 1935,
however, there were big Fourth of July celebrations instead.
The first festivals in the thirties electeda (3oddess to reign
over the harvest. In the 1950's, when the Harvest Festivals
lapsed9 the Firemen's Carnival took over~for several years.
Harvest Festivals again came into being in the sixties, off
and on.
In the early `70's, Ceres decided to take up the Hughson
gauntlet once again when it declared itself the "Peach Capital
of the World" and instituted the Peach Festival and elected a
miss Peach instead of a Goddess. Now, it is true that Ceres
has many and beautiful acres of peaches to rival the best that
Hughson can offer, but Hugheon for a time thought itself the
peach center and had a little peach festival of its own. How-
ever, the Ceres festivals of the peach have continued, getting
larger every year and little has been heard from Hugheon be-
cause of it. The only real flaw that can be pointed to is the
fact that one of the peach-picking contest winners has had to
be deported to mexico as an illegal alien.
For the first time, under the direction of Tom Bathe, who
took over the Chamber presidency from Gary Ball in 1976, Ceres
will have a special booth and exhibit at the California State
Fair. The Chamber also holds an annual dinner at which it names
a Citizen of the Year from nominees of service clubs. In re-
cent years, businessmen, including farmers, outside the city
limits have been encouraged to join the Chamber membership.
The ~nin Commission
The initial meeting of the Ceres City Planning Commission
was held in the office of the old justice court on August 30,
1g46. Henry m. Kline as mayor and Howard Bissell, a planning
consultant ware present as were members E. L. malin, Or. N. E.
Koshell, L. G. Bennett, and George Brandon. maim was chair-
man. Absent ware Guy Aspinall, Arch Taylor and Carl Barham.
At the second meeting of the commission, the Jones and the Fair
tracts were submitted for consideration. As master plans and
land-use maps have become more readily available, the commission
has had more guidelines for decisions. They correlate their
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PAGE 120 Show Image
decisions with those of the county p1annin~ commission
to some extent and are subject to being overruled by
the city council.
The present commission is composed o~ Richard 5mith,
chairman; Tom Whit~ield; Dane Fairchild; and William mcGee.
The position left vacant when Sal Cannella became council
man has not been filled at time of writing.
city Recreation Commission
By an ordinance passed April 9, 1951w the City Recrea
tion Commission was established. The Recreation Commission
has had many devoted citizen members since it began but the
one who had been with it since it began and served until
recent times is Arendt Rohde. Present members are Joel Hi
dahl, chairman, representing the CUSO board with Ronald Rine
hart; John Eberle, representing the Council; and Doyle Cum
mings9 vice chairman, Jeannette Fields, Nick Chipponeri, Jim
Brown, Harold DeBoard, and Nan Thomas representing the citi-
zenry~at~large. Though outlying areas use the recreation
facilities, help man the teams of ball players, and provide
assistance on projects, the members-at~large are always cho-
sen from within the city limits, by established rule.
Ceres as a town has come a long way from the common de-
scription sound in old histories~~a town on the main line
of the Southern Pacific railroad, between modesto and Tur-
lock. The railroad, once so important, with station agent
Cyrus Lee a vital part of the town life, is now just a noisy
string of cars that switches in modesto or drops off a few
box-cars at old E~mar 5tation's present feed mill. No longer
are fist cars "going like sixty" exciting enough to bring
out the whole town as happened with the Barney Oldfield race
on July 4, 1914, when Archie mcNeil crawled up on the Grange
Co. warehouse as look-out and yelled `1Here they come." The
roads are all paved and the widening of Whitmore Avenue, so
long postponed due to lack of funds, is due for completion
in 1980. In spite of change and progress, the hopes for the
town do not differ too much from those held by the original
inhabitants and most would hope to echo poet Allura Ulch on
an August night in 18Y8:
"Night, crowned with stars, gently lifted her
sceptre and all in Ceres became quiet. Peace
smiles upon us and slumber embraces. The air
is quite cool. All is pleasant."
-1 ~
PAGE 121 Show Image
CITIZEN OF TH~ YEAR AWAROS
1969 Jake Dillon Sidney Long, Sr. presented plaque
1970 Gus Pallios
1971 Raymon Rohde
1972 Elton Turner
1973 Lester Fricke
1974 Ray aaltz
1975 ifliles Jensen Life memberships to Gene Robirds
and Jean Vincent
1976 Helen f!iarchy Special awards to Betty Parks9 Sarah
Cuddy and Leona Garrison
The reactivated Ceres chamber of Commerce began the awards
aster it reorganized in 1966 with Ronald Eneboe as president.
He resigned the same year; was replaced by Harold mynster.
Others serving as president were Kenneth Achterberg, 1967; Torn
Wright, 1967-65; Dr. m. Robert Adkison, 1969; John Pekerna,
1970; Jim Bergamaschi, 1971; Gerald Heisinger, 1972; ifliles
Jensen, 1973; and Steve Houx, 19?4# Gary Ball, 1975.
* * *
GODDESSES AND PEACHES
GODOESS OF CERES: 1935 Ova Lea Devitt (mrs. John Barbour)
1937 Vivian Dillon mocabee
1940 Rosemary'Service (mrs. merle goods)
1951 Lelia metcalf (mrs. Donald Sanders)
1961 Susan Reis (mrs. Anthony Pavlakis)
1968 Gari Dudley (mrs. Steven Sperry)
1971 Leah Whitman
m~ss PEACH: 1972 Carrie Visser
1973 Beverly Butler
1974 Pamela Blair
1975 Donna Vine
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PAGE 122 Show Image
,,,Y A
":;
4 ~
-¼'- A -
~
-~
4~
- ,
¼~;
44,-
- --,~-,- -
~ --- ~ -- -
~ - ~ ~
i--- ,, --
---,--~~-
---i
~, ~
~
~
TOP. George Wood Ranch northwest corner of Grayson and Central. MIDDLE LEFT: Early day Ceres
nursery. MIDDLE RIGHT: Common country scene, Ric:)ards' 20 acre rancid 1 mile south of Ceres, west of
railroad. BOTTOM LEFT: Ca. 1920 N.C. Lucas4ypical farm dry yards for Smyrna Figs. BOTTOM RIGHT:
Packing House Crew at Esmar Station packing ;)ouse.
PAGE 123 Show Image
-4,',.
~ 4;"'
TOP LEFT: E.E. Porterfield
~ ~ ~` ~ 1~ome on Service Road, west
~,, of Canal. MIDDLE LEFT:
Baling hay in early days.
`~`~ ~< ,` ,` `~ MIDDLE RIGHT: Early day
plumbing-town and country.
-`%;~
`-` ~
~< ,,`4~,
~
BOTTOM: Working on
Reed Ranch 1909-now
Nathan LaRosa Ranc;i on
Whitmore. Dragging the
ground.
PAGE 124 Show Image
THE COUNTRY AROUNO
p
. . . I can truthfully say I have never spent
such enjoyable times as I did when we went
picnicking by the banks of the river, where
the nettles grew so thickly and the wild black-
berry bushes showed a thorn most anywhere . . .8
mRaymond H. Jones
setter to Ceres Residents
First Reunion9 may, 1895
When population was sparse, trees were few, the pace was
slower and air conditioning, central heating and refrigeration
were yet to come, both country and town dweller were sharply
aware of the conditions of their environment. The wild things,
both plant and animal, inhabited the garden as well as the
field1 and weather dominated the day S work.
The pleasant side of the landscape is eloquently described
by a writer in Lewis' history of Central £alifornia9 just on
the eve of irrigation. The countryside had not yet begun to
differ from the earliest farming daysi
"The month of may has robed the great valley of the
San Joaquin in a garb of beauty. The oak forests,
which burst into leaf early in the spring, present
to the eye when viewed from an eminence a vast bil-
lowy sea of green. The wide plain seems an unbroken
expanse of waving grain, just beginning to ripen for
the harvest. . . Hundreds of thousands of acres will
be a sea of iuaving grain, the passing breeze rippl-
mg over it as the wind does over the water. Other
hundreds of thousands of acres will be covered with
a natural growth of grass. . .~` and wild flowers in
gold, purple, white, and blue in solid masses.
Harriett Williams Ward, who grew up in Ceres in the days
of first settlement, said in her reminiscences that to the
early pioneer there was no sight more glorious than the lights
and shimmer of ripened grain.
Both flood and drQught affected the amount of grain shipped
as well as the welfare of the stock growers. Following the
flood season of 1861-62 (when settlement was along the rivers
only), there came a drought in 1864. The grain crop was a fail-
ure and cattle and sheep starved by the hundred thousand. Then
came the Biblical seven years of plenty. A less disastrous
drought came in 1870-71, six years of general prosperity fol-
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PAGE 125 Show Image
bied, but in 1876-77 there was a terrible dry season. Herds
o~ sheep were abandoned and had to be slaughtered ~or their
pelts, or were sold for "a bit a head" instead of the going
price of $2 or $3. 5ometimes the sheep bodies were cooked
for the little fat they contained. It is said that this is
when many of the valley oaks disappeared as they were felled
to enable grazing. A Grayson farmer kept some rain records
for a few years and, though Ceres in its position in the \1al-
ley averages slightly more rainfall, the figures can be ap
plied to this area at the time. He is quoted by Tinkham as
having recorded 5.34 inches in 1870; 6.06 inches by June,
1872; three dry years of 1873, 1874, and 1675.
In 1576, a wet year, 5,000,000 bushels of grain were pro
duced in Stanislaus county, of which 7,057,050 lbs. were ship
ped from Ceres. 1881 and 1884 were years of much rain and
so banner crops--1664 sail Stanislaus County shipping 125,000
tons of wheat, a tenth of the total crop of the state.
nriany streams overflouued their banks during the excessive
rains of the winter of 1869-90, flooding farm lands. Though
not as bad as some earlier floods, farmers were unable to put
in grain crops for the season. Harriett Ann \1ivian Brush `re
called in 1935 the great flood of 1862, mentioned above. The
river was miles beyond its banks and the valley had the appear
ance of a vast inland 5ea. The rising waters became several
feet deep around the \`ivian home and would have carried the
building away had it not been secured by bags of earth piled
around the foundation. Boats were used to communicate with
the land to the east.
Floods on a more minor scale continued into the middle
of the 20th century along the Tuolumne, up to the time of
the New Don Pedro Oam~
Fear of fire was as great as fear of drought. many of
the grain fields of the county were destroyed by fire but
there is no record that the historic grain fire on the iAiest
5ide in 1906 had any equal in the ~eres area.
Less of a menace but definitely a nuisance and hamper
mg to householder and farmer alike were wind and windstorm.
Allura Ulch in her diaries frequently comments upon them3
"June 30, 1896. A sand storm from the west, the worst for
years, filled the buildings with dust." In one of her deter-
minedly cheerful moods she wrote as follows on 5eptember 13,
1903:
"Last Friday we had a heavy wind. The dust blew
and filled every part of my house. All the fur-
niture and e
dusty. verything exposed became delightfully
Saturday morning we worked hard in every
minute we could spare from routine work, to re-
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PAGE 126 Show Image
move the accumulation. . . went through each
of six rooms twice apiece with feather duster,
damp broom and a milwaukee dustless brush
filled with coal-oil. . e But in the after-
noon of the same day the wind blew again very
hard--and this mornings-dust, beautiful dust
(without which we could not live) again cov
ered all my possessions. To enable us to en-
Joy our dinner the whole house had to be
cleaned again.~
Eucalyptus trees i~ere planted in the Ceres area as in many
other parts of California to aid in halting wind-erosion.
Bamboo brakes were also planted as a means of soil control
in the sandier areas. Nearly all of the bamboo is gone and
only a few eucalyptus groves remain.
mrs. Ulch kept weather records from time to time and in
1856 her weather record read thus*
July Y 1020 F.
9. 10 104
" ii ~01
.. 12 105
*1 13 109 Hot all night
e* 14 114 - Hot all night
U 15 113 - Strong wind in the afternoon
U 16 110 - Strong wind in the afternoon
.. 17 109
" 18 106
" 22 96 ~ In the last four days the thermometer
has been to 96 each afternoon
" 29 Thermometer has been above ninety for the
last seven days.
U 30 The thermometer came up again above a hundred
N 31 Thermometer at 112 in some parts of Ceres; at
105 in my brother9s 5hO~e
August 1 - Sunday. No preaching today at church. No
minister yet. lYlercury 105.
.. 2 IYIonday. A little cooler. mercury about 104.
`9 3 - Hot again. 105.
N ~ mercury 1051 Angie went up to Annie IMhit-
more~s to sew for her.
`I 5 - fv'ercury 1100.
" 6 - A little cooler. I helped iron.
.1 7 mercury above 100. . . Supper for 45.
,, 5 - Sunday. IMeather comfortable. No preaching.
.9 9 - Weather warmer.
N ~ Hot again. Wash day for the family.
.. 11 - mercury 107
*e 12 - mercury 103
" 13 - tooler
~ 15 - Weather moderately warm, quite comfortable
at night.
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PAGE 127 Show Image
It would seem ~ro~ the above that old timers were right when
they said that there were hotter days before irrigation. Again
in 1887 irs. Ulch comments on the weather. On may 27, the
thermometer stood at 105 and the next day was 110 in the shade.
On may 29, she wrote: *5unday. IAieather a triple less hot. I
will not say cooler, for there is nothing cool about 1t~It
is hot, less hot. Thermometer 105 at four in the afternoon.ee
Data has been gathered at the Ceres leather 5urvey Station
near Hoeding and Faith Home roads since 1926. The Annual Re-
ports of the National IMeather Service, as prepared by the sea-
sonal agricultural meteorologists, show that the minimum tem-
perature has fallen below 320 (at that station) only once in
April in the years between 1926-1972. Still, farmers say,
there is that one chance so, after facing danger of frost and
the resultant loss of a peach, almond, or grape crop all through
march, they keep anxious vigil with frost alarms, orchard heat-
ers, wind machines, and irrigation water at the ready.
-zBill Owls and Rabbit Orives
The late Herbert \1ilas used to say, `~IAJhen we first came
to ~eres (1906) there wasn't a fence post or telephone pole
that didn't have a Billy Owl sitting on it." That was the
pioneer 5 name for a type of burrowing owl, the only small owl
that lives on the ground. Only about nine inches tall, he
lived in the around squirrel holes of the creatures he hunted.
With long legs and short tail, brown and white, he had a chat-
tering note and bobbed his head up and down in a comical fash-
ion as he looked for moving animals.
mrs. Ward also referred to the billy owls: "One thing I
was told (as a child) was that the Billy Owl ~nd snakes lived
together in the same hole. more than once I have seen a snake
slither into a hole where an owl was keeping watch and soon
the owl would dart into the hole also." These little animals
were considered a blessing by early day farmers who were trying
to control the ground squirrel problem. The owl has almost dis-
appeared as his food has disappeared with the grain fields.
With irrigation came the alfalfa fields and the gophers.
Now, the decline of alfalfa in the immediate area of £eres
has also resulted in fewer gophers, though they seem to have
survived better than their chief hunter, the gopher snake, as
many householders in town as well as farmers ujill affirm. There
are also fewer grasshoppers today because there are fewer al-
falfa fields. Another near-disappearance is that of the horned
toad. Common until the 40's around ~eres, it is now rarely
seen.
Rabbit drives were common from the early days of settle-
ment. Armed men on horseback hunted the droves of jack rabbits
to stop their depredations on the farms. As orchards replaced
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PAGE 128 Show Image
grain, the rabbits continued to be a menace as they gnawed on
young tree trunks, girdling and killing them. One of the last
rabbit drives in the Ceres area was one held in the 1950's on
the Homer \1ilas ranch in a young walnut orchard. The custom
was to announce the date of the drive to farmers in the neigh
borhood so they could gather at the spot endangered. In later
years, horses were dispensed with and foot-power was used.
The decline in rabbit population in recent years is due, as
with other wildlife, to denser population of people and their
dogs. Even the farmer is now inclined to look sentimentally
upon and protect the few jack bunnies he uncovers as he discs
for the first time in the spring.
`Abater Life
Frog hunting along the dirtbanked ditches and canals,
and in theswampy areas was a favorite sport of most boys in
the first forty years of the canals. Ditch life also included
myriads of small turtles, six to eight inches in diameter, fun
to catch and play with. These began disappearing in the `3O~s
as the canals were concreted.
The ~~Ditch Grass" at water level on the dirt-banked canals
was burned off every winter by the Turlock Irrigation District
crews but in the summer young swimmers crawled out on it to
reach the water. Once there, besides swimming, they found such
delights besides the turtles as polliwogs by the thousands and
a smooth sandy bottom to explore. The Tuolumne Hiver, because
of its depth and snags, was declared off-limits by many par-
ents. 5til~, many children who grew up along the river Road
used it, as residents do today, as their playground, tying
ropes to the large trees overhanging the water and swinging
out over for a glorious drop. ~nd it had a wildlife atmos-
phere of its own with wild grape vines, large turtles (in the
earliest times), foxes and beaver.
An early picture of river life is given by Harriett Ann
Vivian Brush who was born in 1856 near the river. She was
speaking in 1935 when she told of the wilderness paradise of
wild blackberry and grape vines and roses. The river was over-
run with grizzly bear when the family first came and people
were ocassionally mauled. She tQld of a secondary use for the
grape vines3 Often an entire bolt of calico was purchased on
the yearly buying journey to Stockton for supplies. All of
the girls in the family reluctantly wore dresses of the same
*eg~~~5Iu~ Other families did the same and one year, when they
heard that hoop skirts were fashionable, the Perry IY)ills dau~h
ters on the Tuolumne River split the wild grape vines and made
hoops of them.
One can still very occasionally see a red-winged black-
bird in this part of the county but they are not common any-
more as they were when the swampy areas on the south edge of
Keyes and aleng Redwood Road still existed. These and other
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PAGE 129 Show Image
areas scattered about Ceres were the result of a high Aiater
table created by irrigation, and the irrigation drainage
ditchesfilled pith tules. Gustrap Lake1 for instance, wa8
formed in a low place aster the water table got high from the
irrigation. It was a popular piece in the early part of the
century to hunt ducks. A nostalgic reference to it in a re-
cently published book of reminiscences of Ceres drew chuckles
from old-timers. The author had only lived in Ceres a few
years and was apparently unaware that Gilstrap Lake became
the Ceres 5ewer Fare.
eirds and Beasts
The hogs of the pioneers resembled the urazor backs" of
the 5outh and were raised in the same way--never fed but al-
lowed to roam free and find their own food along the river bot-
toms. They were really wild hogs and were known to ettack with
their long tusks. modesto had to pass a *`hog laws in 1855 to
stop their roaming through the streets.
lAlild horses, caught and sold by the hundreds at one time,
had dwindled to little more than 2,100 in the county by 1875
including those that h~d been caught andtamed. By the time
of the 1850 census, it was estimated that all the horses in the
county were less than 600. As great teams of horses were used
in the huge grain fields, between 1880 and 1900, more were
brought in. With the coming of the tractors, horses again be-
came rare. A decade ago, only an occasional team of work
horses was seen, usually doing French-plowing in vineyards or
on display at the county fair in Turlock. With the upsurge
of hobby or week-end farmers and cowboys (mostly cowgirls, some
say), the horse population is again on the increase. The south-
west area of Ceres, with the corralled area or South central,
is a gathering place for horse-lovers on week-ends.
The little california quail with its bobbing crest and the
beautiful non-native pheasant are also disappearing to the ex-
tent that many farmers are now strivino to protect theni. These
and other formerly plentiful forms of wild-life are gone or
very scarce, not because of pesticides, but because of loss of
habitat. The changing nature of the countryside, intensive
cultivation, encroachment of large population into rural and
suburban areas, with the burgeoning numbers of dogs, cats and
hunting rifles--all have contributed to the change and decline
of animal and bird types.
In exchange for what were formerly plentiful and (some be-
lieve) more desirable, we have received magpies--before only on
the West Side and along the San Joaquin--and the new and hated
pest, the starling. I~Iagpies began appearing in Ceres in the
late 1950's, starlings within the last decade. There is one
interesting return of an old-timer, though. A dairy farmer west
of Ceres who has large fields of alfalfa still, reports that
in the winter of 1975-76 he had several coyotes come down from
the fOothjlls.
PAGE 130 Show Image
CERES BOY SCOUTS 1923. LEFT to RIGHT.,
~ ~ ~
bottom row: 1. ? 2. ? 3. Arlo Roberts 4. Dale Anderson
CHAMPIONS OF ~4/ 5 Dale Roberts 6. Weston Barnes 7. C:iarles Baidridge 8.
Bill Wilson 9. Walter Brown 10. Ted Smith 11. ? 12.
S TA~IShAUS COUNTY. ----Obercamper 2nd row: 1. ----McCarthy 2. ? 3. Power
Anderson 5. ? 6. ? 7. Ferris Hartman 8.
~ 1q94. ~ Robert Robison 9. Chester Besecker 10. Harold Francis
The CERES BAsE BALL CLUB w~s organize(I 11. Lester Herndon 12. ? 13. ? 3rd row: 1. ? 2. ? 3. ? 4.
in February, p894, entirely from residents of ? 5. ? 6. Wesley Rhodes 7. Keith Lininger 8. Archie
Ceres, and was composed of the following well- Taylor 9. Alvin Rhodes 10. Obercamper 11. ? Top:
known gentlemen: Ylessrs. M. Miles, ~. A. ~ ? 2. Perry Brown 3. W.E. "Ted" Robison 4. Leland
Ireland, IA. Service, B. Service, F. Beecl)er, M.
Cook, A. D. Cook [Mr. A. D. (7ook was injured Robison 5. ? 6. Porter Roberts, Note miscellany of
in a practice game, consequently coed not play uniforms. Picture taken in l.O.O.F. Hall.
in inatch games], F. flosmer, R. Service, H.
Dearing an(I N. Cook. Mr. R. B. Curry was
Manager, and Mr. N. Coos, besides filling the
capacity of Pitcher for the team , was also
Captain of the nine.
Immediately after the organization of the
team challenges were extended to each and
every club in the county for the championsl)ip,
and were accepted by Modesto, Newman and
Waterford ball clubs. Moiitpellier refused to
enter the contest for the championship The
above clubs were defeated in the following ordei:
~Vaterford 2 games, Newman 2 games, and
Modesto 3 games. Ceres Club winning the
entire seven games without suffering defeat,
thereby becoming champions of Stanislaus
county for the season of I 894.
PAGE 131 Show Image
¾- (
¾]
6
I
--~
--~ - -
The Ladies Improvement Club became the Ceres Womens' Club.
PAGE 132 Show Image
TON AND COUNTRY mET
"Our lodge is like a star,
A little tiny star, but brights
Its rays can reach arar
And make some darksome corners light.'*
--A. E. Ulch
Cares August 10, 1855
The community breakfasts, barbecues, pot-lucks, youth
parades, displays, money-raising events, and concerts of Ceres
today all had their precedents in the 1570's and 1880's. And,
as today, the idea, the stimulus, and the workers all came
prom a club~or organization,.town and country alike contri-
buting leadership.
Working together to achieve a community purpose was a
natural outcome o~ corking together to help each other in
the harvest and in times o~ trouble. Because some of the same
people are often involved in many different endeavors and in
several di~~erent organizations in a small town, the spirit
of cooperation is more dramatically apparent. Economic dif-
ferences are often less of a divisive factor IAahen all hands
must pitch in. Only in a small touin, such as Ceres, does one
find, even yet, a well-to-do woman's househelper on the same
social standing as her employer, in clubwork and thus in the
community.
CERES GRANGE - 1873; 1933
The first Ceres Grange IMas organized in the Westport
school house (the original one in the river community of West-
port) on August 30, 1573 with eighteen charter members. It is
the oldest organization in Ceres though not continuous through
the years.
The Granges had their inception in the many Farmers' Clubs
prevalent in the 1860's and 187O~s. The early name for the
Grange was Patrons of Husbandry. It was begun as a national
"secret" organization for farmers, their wives and daughters,
and had as its aim laws that would protect the farmer from the
middle men and the railroad corporations'. in the 5an Joaquin
Valley, the Southern Pacific was referred to as "the common
enemy. 91 The Ceres group participated in lobbying for the
"Squirrel Law", passed to help control the ground squirrel.
Each county had its own Grange (~`grange" is the word for
farm and farmhouse in Old French) and the Ceres Grange was one
of seven local granges in 1873. Initiated as the first officers
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PAGE 133 Show Image
were: Worthy master, W. B. Harp; Worthy Overseer, F. C. st.
Clair; IALorthy Lecturers, Je m. Henderson and H. 8. 5anders;
Assistant Steward, E. Hatch; Worthy P., L. ITI. Berry;Worthy
Treasurer, F. F. Harwick; Worthy (3atekeeper, C. W. Rush; Wor
thy Secretary, W. B. Kittrell. Lady Officers: Ceres, mrs.
Harwick; Pomona, mrs. Henderson; Flora, mrs. may Kittrell;
Ladies' Assistant Steward, mrs. 5. A. Ellenwood, mrs. E.Hatch
and mrs. G. W.Rush.
The group continued to meet for their 9, mutual benefit,
instruction and pleasure at Westport for three months. On
1~ovember 29, 1873, the Granqe met at Ceres for the first time
at the store building (the only one). 8y the close of the
year, the membership had increased to 45. Nearly all of Ceres,
Westport and vicinity became members and by 1859 there had
been 142~people initiated.
In the first year W. 8. Hays, John 5ervice, and John m.
Henderson there elected from the ~eres Grange to the county
council. In 1876 the name of the county group was changed to
Pomona Grange and charter members from the Ceres group were
H. ki. and mrs. L. J. 8rouse, Ephraim Hatch, John Service and
mrs. Julia 5ervice. In 1850 Ceres built its Grange Hall on
the south end of Triangle Park, the opposite end from the
school.
By 1881 the county group and all local granges except for
Ceres were defunct. Branch in his 1581 history refers to the
Ceres Grange as the *`brilliant exception" with its "superior
vitality". The present Grange Feed Co. derives its name from
the early county organization (in which Theodore Turner was
active) and was originally started as a Granger business for
mutual member benefit. However, it soon passed into private
hands.
The Grange became the focal point for the traditional
harvest feasts of Ceres and also sponsored many of the parties
held for all ages in the community. It even purchased an or
gan to use at musical evenings. The Ceres Grange continued
for eight years as the only Grange in the county but finally
disbanded in 1889, and ceased existence for nearly fortyfour
years. Some farmers then joined an organization with similar
aims called The Farmers Alliance.
The Ceres Grange was revived in April of 1933 and is
again functioning as a member of the Stanislaus Pomona Grange,
also reorganized. m. B. 5tearns was the organizer of the 33
charter members. mrs. J. G. (Clara) Cowan, one of the charter
members, is still a part of the group. First officers of the
newly reorganized group were: master, Wellie Ross; Overseer,
J. C. middleton; Lecturer, Eugene middleton; Steward, S. 0.
Jaspar; Assistant Steward, Drew E. Scamahorn; Assistant Lady
Steward, mrs. Scamahorn; Chaplain, mrs. J. C. middleton;
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PAGE 134 Show Image
Treasurer, Robert Pink; Secretary, Nettie Jaspar; (3atekeeper,
Carl Nigg; Ceres, JYirs. Pink; Pomona9 mrse £. E. Fountain;
Fiora1 mrs. myrtle Rohrbacher; and Executive Committee, Je H.
merritt, ernest J. tuedge and ~. J. Allen.
In its harvest suppers and other activities, the Grange
still retains the flavor of an early, closeknit farming cogn
munity. A dinner is held every year in April to commemmorate
the birthday of the new Grange. Its primary activity is to
plan and work upon the Ceres Grange display of locally pro-
duced farm products each year at the Stanislaus &ounty Fair.
It has won many ribbons over the years. members also enter
individual products such as canned fruits and vegetables.
meetings were held in the first years in the old Congrega~
tional Parish House but are now held in the Keyes Grange
Hall.
Officers in 1976 ares master, Robert Rensted; Overseer,
James Daniels; Lecturer, Nettie Rohde; Steward, Phillip myers;
Assistant Steward, Alfred Rohde; Ladies~ Assistant 5teward,
Alberta Barrier; Treasurer, Evelyn Rensted; Secretary, Joylin
Rensted; Chaplain, Betty myers; Gatekeeper, Elwin myers; Ceres,
Polly Simms; Pomona, Kathy Daniels; Flora, Fanny Arnett; Ex-
ecutive Committee, Helen Crawford, Parker Crawford, and \1ir-
ginia Peterson.
THE CERES LITERARY SOCIETY - 1576
Twice monthly during the winter months, 1576-78, a group
seeking entertainment met in Ceres and called itself The Ceres
Literary Society. As their avowed purpose was also to be in-
structive, debates were held in addition to readings, vocal
and instrumental music, and recitations. meetings were held
in the "old schoolhouse. I and all ages were welcome. Sixty
live attended the first meeting. Debates were held on such
topics as "The Education of Girls and Boys: whether best to
separate the sexes or teach them together~~, "The Tobacco Ques-
tion3 its uses and abuses, and whether it is any good or not",
"The Equality o~ IAioman and man, from the beginning of the
world to the present time", and "Capital Punishment: whether
it is right or not".
John G. Annear, Cares' first blacksmith, reveals himself
as quite an amusing fellow as he tells of some of the debates,
at the 1895 Ceres Reunion:
"As a cheap amusement, I may say that there has
been nothing else gotten up in Ceres that cost
less, the only expense being for coal oil. An
assessment of five cents a member would be suf-
ficient to last all winter. The meetings were
all well attended from first to last. . .Very
amusing incidents would sometimes occur at these
meetings, and it is not always best to be too con-
fidential with your neighbor in the next seat."
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Wheri the Literry Society gave over its debating meetings
to the Good Templars, Annear said, ~We predicted the failure
of theLodge, first, on account of its not admitting children
or those persons that indulged in a drink occasionally, as the
Literary Society gathered them all in and really kept them for
II
one evening, at least, from their evil `Mays. .
THE CERL5 5EWING 50£I£TY 1880
The original purpose of the Sewing Society was to raise
money, through members sewing, to start a church fund. It
organized on may 19, 1880 with mrs. Daniel kihitmoreas presi
dent; mrs. George Hall, vice-president; may Woodbridge, sec
retary; mrs. Wiggin, treasurer; mmes. Woodbridge, Conner and
Chapin, directresses. Dues mere 2S~ apiece and they met in
members' homes. Twentyfive, with sometimes three sewing ma-
chines busy at once in addition to the hand-sewing, made
shirts to sell to farm workers (who were usual]y bachelors).
They also made other clothes, mended, and made quilts and corn-
forters. Their hand-quilted quilts were in demand in other
parts of the county.
The group of enterprising women soon expanded their ef
forts to social activities which they turned into benefits.
The ice cream socials, with ice cream from hand-cranked wood-
en freezers, were the greatest money-makers, and the most
popular in Ceres I hot summers. The younger women also or-
ganized pink teas, bon bon socials, oyster suppers, chicken
pie and New England boiled dinners. Eggs and chickens for
the dinners were furnished by George Tully who also ~`fetched'9
the ice for the ice cream in his wagon.
One of the most talked-of Seeing Club stunts to raise
funds was the one involving the barrel of flour. mrs. L. J.
Whitmore told of it this way in 1895:
"At one time a barrel of flour `was given, if two
of our young ladies would wheel it through Ceres
and then sell it at auction. misses Viola Averill
and may Woodbridge volunteered to do it and a day
`Alas set, which was ushered in with one of our wind
storms, and we all know what that is. Nothing
daunted, the girls were on hand at the appointed
time, with their wheelbarrows tastefully decorated,
and each took her 100-lb. and started, with the
irrepressible boys following and shouting at the
top. of their voices. But they bravely.kept on a-
round town to mr. Averill's shop, where a crowd
had collected, and sold and resold the flour,, net-
ting the society about seven dollars a sack.t1
An 11elocutionist11 was sponsored, yesteryear I~ equivalent
of an out-of-town speaker, and netted $50 for the fund in
three evenings, one each at Ceres, Westport and Turlock.
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PAGE 136 Show Image
By the end of the first year the ladies had earned $450
and had invested it for interest. The town school teacher,
wh~ was also the preacher, proposed they begin the church
lund with their money when it reached $600. Though the church
that the money built was Baptist in denomination, the Seuing
Society was a club that involved most of the community. The
women in 1854 leased on shares 800 acres from Daniel Whitmore,
he to get onerourth o~ the crop. They called it "sewing
with a larger machine" (a combined thresher) and for the next
~ew years could have been called the Sowin Society, though
they of course did not do all the wor themselves. They made
$2,100 profit the first year and eventually paid off virtual-
ly the entire church debt.
T~~P£RANCE 0~GA~IZATI0NS: ~ER~S LODGE, I. 0. G. T. - 1878
The International Order of Good Templars was organized
in Ceres in 1878 when the citizens rallied to try to keep the
first saloon out of town. ffle~bers of this group had to make
a life-time pledge of abstinence from all intoxicating bev-
erages. When some of the people at the organizing meeting
objected at not being allowed to drink sweet wine and cider
any more, they were talked down by those who were already
Good Templars in the modesto Lodge.
Thirty-nine charter members were signed up from a school
house full of people, in November. Officers were P. W. Cook,
J. H. Cross, mrs. S. A. Kittrell, G. L. Oean, H. E. Cook, ella
Estes, ~. H. Chapin, mrs. A. C. Gilbert, ~. C. Gilbert, nary
Fellows, Hattie Woodbridge, Louise Harp, Annie Frazier, 0. K.
Woodbridge and George E. Cook. Herbert Hatch was one of the
charter members.
IYIeetings were held several nights in succession until a
large proportion of the community were initiated into the
fellowship "to save the fallen". The Good Templars were an
international movement which claimed that at every hour at
some point on the earth their opening song was being sung.
The local group sponsored lecturersand helped support an or-
phans' home in Vallejo. They also had entertainments and book
reviews, taking the place of the Literary Club as mentioned
above. By the summer of 1889, though, interest had lagged,
perhaps because there was no longer the challenge of the sal-
loon or perhaps because the nightlymeetings were too much
to sustain. In October of that year the Good Templars of
Ceres broke up. In February of 1893 they tried to revive the
group but it only lasted six months, In all, they had invol-
ved 302 Ceres people in their cause.
T~IYiP~~ANCE ORGANIzATIONS~ CERES BANO OF HOPE - 1882
The eand of Hope wau a juvenile organization, a aubsidiary
of the Good Tumplars, who wished to enlist children at a t~ndar
a~e to fight *`the giant evils of alcohol, tobacco and profanity't,
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PAGE 137 Show Image
as Allura Ulch1 longtime leader of the group, put it. It
was first gathered together January 23, 1882 with irs. A. C.
Knowles as first superintendent. She shared the second term
of office with lYliss hattie tAoodbridge. Besides Mrs. Ulch,
several other women worked with the children: mrs.~P. IAi.
Cook, mrs. C. R. IvicOonald, Nellie Witherell9 mrs. C. N. IAihit
more, mrs. L. ~. lAIorth. Two men, IAJillett IAJare and Robert
Craig, were induced to take charge for one term.
The children participated in oratorical contests, were
given Christmas parties, cake and corn balls were sold to
earn funds for the Temperance Temple at the Chicago IAiorld~s
Fair, and used clothing was gathered for the Templar orphans'
home in Vallejo. meetings were held at first in th~ communi
ty hall on Saturdays but were changed to Sunday mornings at
the Baptist Church. The group continued for some time after
its parent organization had ceased existence. A total of 290
children took the "triple pledge".
TEWIPERANCE ORGANIZATIONS: w. C. T. U. 1885
Perhaps one more reason for the decline bf the Good Tem-
plars was the coming of a new organization that combined the
work of temperance with what was later to be considered "wo-
man s club work99. The IMomen's Christian Temperance Union of
Ceres was begun on June 16, 1885 when a ifliss Henrietta jyloore,
a national organizer for the group, came to town and delivered
a lecture. mrs. J. H. Jones was the first president.
In addition to study of the temperance objectives, the
early local group had programs on hygiene and cooking. They
set up. in Allura Ulch's home, a reading room which was the
forerunner of Ceres' first public library. (men were espec-
ially encouraged to use i~) They established the first free
kindergarten in town and sponsored a Fourth of July celebra-
tion basedupon temperance principles. They continued the
*`pink teas" of the Sewing Society, pink tea being the collo-
quialism of the time for what were considered rather frivo-
bus, non-alcoholic social gatherings for women.
IM. C. T. U. women in the nineteenth century would not go
out in public unless wearing their badge of white ribbon, sym-
bol of pure living. They were sometimes referred to as White
Ribboners. mrs. Ulch epitomized the zeal of early women in
the movement, as did the women of the Whitmore, Cook, Wood
and Averill families. Interest in the group declined over
the years but in 1941 it still had twenty members who met reg-
ularly once a month. It continued until the 19~O's when such
stalwart, long-time members as Jennie Whitmore Caswell and
Grace Caulkins Forney died. The original minute books, kept
by mrs. Ulch and filled with commentary on Ceres people, were
given into the safekeeping of mrs. Forney. LAihen she died,
the books were apparently destroyed when a set of old papers
were burned.
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PAGE 138 Show Image
Other fanilies who contributed members to the local W. C.
T. U. in the early part of this century include Fulton, moon,
Persing, Busch, Lucas, Richards, £liff, Ward, Hall, Robison,
Kennedy, Case, Wagener, Petty, IYloore, and Garrison. Local per-
sons still involved in the cause attend the modesto unit of
the organization.
THE KNIGHTS OF HONOR 1582
This group pith the noble name was a fraternal life in-
surance order and the Ceres Lodge #2819 lasted only two years.
Each member held a life insurance policy of $2,000 which was
non-detachable upon the member8s death and was immediately
paid to his beneficiaries. Only one in the Ceres lodge ever
was paid: Jacob H. Leonard, who died of pneumonia in the
home of Station Agent Cyrus Lee, was buried in the Ceres Cem-
etery and given a headstone with the monogram of the Order
of Knights of Honor. His sister in michigan received the
$2,000.
Charter members of the short-lived group were B. B. Han-
scorn, IAI. A. Howard, R. K. IMhitmore, m. j. Hall, R. B. Curry,
James Hennesay, W. C. elliott, John ITI. Griffin, B. T. Herold,
J. ~. Ormsby, H. 0. C. Barnhart, w. J. Richards, and F. m.
Baker. The group was organized in August, 1582 and ceased
existence in 1884.
THE BASE BALL CLUBS 1884
----
As early as 1584 Ceres was engaged in friendly rivalry
with Turlock on the baseball diamond, and Ceres team spirit
was boasted of--"The farther they were behind the harder they
played." Townspeople turned out to watch the scratch games
as well as the more formally scheduled events. Both boys
and men were accused of neglecting their chores--the cows to
milk, the chickens to feed--so they could watch.
After many years of summer play, the Ceres Base Ball
Club was organized as a unit in February, 1894 to play for
the championship of Stanislaus County. Ceres residents m.
miles, S. A. I.rel~nd, L. H. Service, B. Service, F. Beecher,
m. Cook, A. 0. Cook, F. Hosmer, R. Service, H. Deering and
N. Cook made up the team, with N. Cook serving as captain.
R. B. Curry was manager. Ceres issued challenges to other
clubs in the county. montpelier refused the challenge but
Waterford (two games), Newman (two games), and modesto (three
games) were all soundly defeated, Ceres winning every game.
Other games within the community of Ceres included the
one played in 1593 between married and single men. The mar-
ned men were accused of having used their sisters and daugh
ters to recruit the best single players into their ranks by
marriage, but the single men still won, both that year and
the next. N. Cook, S, E. Dearing and S. A. Ireland were said
to be ~falling victims to the sweet smiles and bewitching ways
of the fair admirers.
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THE FAR~ER5 CLUB 1901
A group of lively young people, £ogether with a few who
were approaching middle-age, revived the old Farmer's Club at
the turn of the century. The original Farmer's Club, one of
many up and down the Valley, had serious objectives as `Mell
as social activities, and was the one which became the local
Grange group. Except for one most important accomplishment,
the new Farmers £lub in £e~es seems to have stressed the so
cial, organizing outings to the river, giving parties in the
community hall, and generally providing a way for young men
to meet young women. That one accomplishment was the start
of the Ceres Public Library.
A grand Fourth of July celebration was held in 1904, just
before the group disbanded. Notices were sent throughout the
county, fireworks, picnic and dance were planned along with a
lihorribles!3 parade and patriotic songs and orations. A Farmers
Club medal costing $10 was given. Age and marriage depleted
the membership until it met no more. A memorial remaining is
the ~`The Ceres 5craper on a few yellowed old sheets.
A~A£HNE CLUB 5E~PER FI0E~I5 CLUB Early 1900Vs
Another sewing club of ~eres, the Semper Fidelis club, had
its beginning in the early 1900~s when a group of young women
started meeting socially with sewing as the pasttime. The *`soc-
ialIu part of the meeting was emphasized. While the earlier
Sewing club prided itself on foregoing gossip and socializing
in favor of work for a cause, this group always served refresh-
ments and met for the fun of it.
originally the club was named Arachne, after the Lydian
girl who was turned into a spider by Athena for presuming to
compete with her in weaving. Perhaps the girls who organized
it `were trying to follow the classical name tradition begun by
the town name. At any rate, the members were soon referred to
as *ethe Arachnids" or "Spiders81 and, after some rather acri-
monious discussion, the name was changed to 5emper Fidelis
(always faithful). Whether there was any intentional copying
of the marine motto, the marines at that time being at the
height of their activity and popularity, is not known. In the
early days of the club, each member was presented with a sil-
ver teaspoon engraved tuith the name *`Arachne" when she was
married.
The Semper Fidelis' was still plying its needles in the
1940's, meeting every first Wednesday in homes of the members,
but it is now long gone. Early members included Jennie Whit-
more £aswell, Byrdelia Hall mo~fet, Florence Ulch Richards,
Ellen Annear Wilson, mrs. F. 5. Ward, 8lanche Whitmore, mrs.
C. A. ~cAlister, Aurelia Whitmore Fowler, mrs. Roscoe 5ervice,
mrs. Louise Stone Barnes, mrs. Lulu Gleason, Florence marr,
Harriett Williams Ward and Gertrude Whitmore. The spoons are
now collector's items.
PAGE 140 Show Image
PARENT TEACHER A5SO£IATIONS PARENT CLUBS Early 1900's
The local unit of the National Congress of Parents and
Teachers i~as first organized in the first decade of the pre-
sent century, soon after the n~tiona1 group was formed from
the National Congress of mothers. Ceres has always claimed
that it had the first club organized in 5tanislaus County.
mrs. Howard Faulkner, who lived south of Ceres, was one
of the first presidents and mrs. J. m. Gondring, mrs. metta
Barnes and mrs. T. E. Wilson were among the first active mem-
bers. The first group served the one elementary school in
the town.
After a lapse of several years, the local association
was reorganized in 1924. By 1931, when the new school1 the
Whitmore school, was built, the Ceres P. T. A. was a thriving
organization. Later a P. T. A. unit was organized at Ceres
High School; mrs. Charles Hanson was one of the parents who
started it.
The only school in Ceres still retaining its P. T. A.
charter is Caswell elementary, the others all having parent
clubs with no ties to a larger organization. While the Par-
ent and Teacher Associations involve themselves in the larder
objectives and legislative activities of the state and nation-
al bodies, the parent clubs concentrate all their efforts on
particular school needs, raising funds through carnivals, bar-
becues and other dinners.
The Don Pedro School had a parent club from its begin-
ning almost, as did Carroll Fowler School. Whitmore School
changed to a parent club when its P. T. A. became largely in-
active in the late 1950's. mrs. Lee looker was instrumental
in organizing it and served as its first president.
The parent clubs have also sometimes been referred to as
"Oad3s Clubs'1. A separate parent group over the years in the
high school has been the booster club called the quarterback
Club at first, and now Ceres Boosters.
BOY SCOUTS OF A~E~ICA - 1911-12
The Scouting movement got underway in Ceres about 1911-12,
three years after the first launching of the world-wide club.
The troop leader was a mr. Slocum whose boys put on a demon-
stration of Scouting skills in the old Collins and Warner Hall.
Soon after the Scoutmaster moved away ~nd the troop disbanded.
In 1917 a troop was organized and had as one of its activities
a camping trip by horse-drawn wagon to Yosemite. This group,
too, was active only a short time.
In the fall of 1919, Lloyd Persing organized a Ceres
troop that became Troop 9. Joining as assistant Scoutmaster
that year, in October, was W. E. elTed#e Hobison. In 1920, the
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PAGE 141 Show Image
troop received its charter. Assisting Persing in obtaining
it `uere E. E. murray, a contractor; Je C. Garrison, butcher;
and the Rev0 George E. Atkinson. The area Scout Office lists
the following twelve boys as members of the first troop: Frank
Hogue, Keith Linegar, Donald Persing, Alvin Rhodes, Wesley
Rhodes, Leland Robison, Wilbert Wiehofen, Bryce Atkinson, Rod-
`iey Richards, Edward Scovel, John myers and Robert Robison.
Scoutmaster Persing was a returned soldier who was work-
mg at the time as a T. I. 0. surveyor and water measurer.
When he left Scouting to prepare for the ministry, his assist-
ant, Ted Robison, took over to all intents and purposes. How-
ever, since he was not yet ZI, Arthur Harris was the registered
Scoutmaster. About this time, the Stanislaus £ounty council
had been organized and its Executive, mr. IAJhite, conducted the
first camp near Strawberry. Ceres had seven Scouts in attend-
ance at this, in 1921. In 1g22, Robison became the registered
Scoutmaster and took 17 Scouts to £ouncil camp. The £eres
£hamber of £ommerce was the sponsor of the Troop. The next
year 27 Scouts were able to go to camp.
When Robison left in 192w to start a life-long career as
a Scout Executive, Ceres had a membership of 54 in its Troop 9.
The boys met in the new Oddfellows Hall and paid for it by do-
mg the janitor work. They soon were permitted to use the
white brick grammar school with no charge. Robison was later
in charge of areas in Southern California and Arizona, as well
as in the 5an Jose area. He had been in charge of the Scout
Camp earlier. Now retired, he lives in Corvallis, Oregon.
Other early Scoutmasters included mr. Rhodes and the Rev.
Alan Goozee. Also involved were Carl Robinson and Leonard
Bartlett, later of the modesto Junior College faculty. Sam
5imms was a member of Arthur Harris' troop in 1921. One of
Ceres' early Eagle Scouts, Perry Brown, became a Yosemite Park
ranger and later opened the Big BendNational Park in Texas
before marrying the daughter of the governor of Texas.
~eres ~an boast having the oldest troop in continuous line
in the Chief Tenaya District which includes modesto, Riverbank,
Patterson, and Hughson areas, as well as Ceres. It is old Troop
No. 9. Ray Baltz, Caswell School principal, became its Scout-
mast~r in 1939 and has been with it since. The troop held a
special celebration, its Bicentennial activity, in may, 1976,
inviting all past £agle Scouts to be honored, and all past
Scouts still in the area. Baltz was also a Community Leader
for4-H for ten years.
more recent £eres Scout leaders are Ronald Berryhill who
began Troop 16. matt Parker took over Troop 1~ for many years
but it and Troop 236 are now out of existence. Jim Cooper
gave fourteen years to Scout leadership. Inez Gschwend has
been a leader in the Cub Scout program for thirteen years and
margaret Hidahl has been in the work for nearly twenty years.
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PAGE 142 Show Image
Joel Hidahi has also riven 5cout leadership for many years.
The only Cub Scout troop still in Cer~s is No. 131.
* * *
After many attempts, it proved impossible to get in
formation about the Girl 5~outs in Ceres. ~e are sorry for
the omission.
CERES CENTER FARE BUREAU ca. 1919
First active prior to 1920, about the time when the Farm
Bureau was first organized nationally, the Ceres Center `~died
OUtt9 and area farmers east of town attended the Hughson Center
while those west of town went to Westport. 0. Power Boothe,
Sr. was the president of the Ceres Center in 1920.
While Ceres Center was still active it joined in 1925 the
nationwide celebration on the Fourth of July proposed by the
American Farm Bureau Federation. The results have been called
ever since es The Great Farm Bureau Picnic". It was the 150th
anniversary of the first battles of the Revolution when farmers
fired the "shot heard `round the world." The American Legion,
the 4-H and many other groups cooperated with Farm Bureau peo
ple to make a grand Fourth. In Tulare Co., California one of
the attendance records was set with 13,000 people at the par-
ade and picnic. Ceres had its celebration, too, and it had a
large group for the size of the town. The crowd has been es-
timated at between 2,000 and 3,000. The trains began dislodg-
mg their crowds early and the women of town and country cook-
ed themselves into fame. Townspeople and farmers alike don-
ated products and funds.
The various Centers were absorbed into the Stanislaus Co.
Farm Bureau until this year when regional groups were again
organized. Ceres is included in the Southern Region which
has michael Berryhill of Ceres and Earl Caswell, formerly of
Ceres, on its board.
most present-day full-time farmers choose to affiliate
professionally with the Farm Bureau rather than with the Grange.
CERES LOOG~, I. 0. U. F. 1921
The Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Ceres Lodge No.450
was instituted October 29, 1921, by Grand master A. 0. Ketter-
lin. The first elective and appointive officers were: Past
grand, George Shrider; noble grand, F. ~. Cook; vice grand,
W. 0. Kinser; secretary, H. ~. Hobison; treasurer, G. H. John-
son; warden, Charles Hoagland; conductor, T. A. Crawford; right
scene support, mr. Smith; left scene support, Earl Rhodes;
chaplain, J. A. Wagener; right support noble grand, James
mcCarthy; left support noble grand, Roy mcKenzie; right support
vice grand, Claude Griffith; left support vice grand, mr. Olson;
inside guardina, C1if~ Landreth; outside guardian, George Dick-
son. -139-
PAGE 143 Show Image
The Odd Fellows Buildjn~ was constructed on the corner
of Fourth and Lawrence Streets more than fifty years ago. The
lowerfloor has always been leased by various business firms.
The hall upstairs is also rented out to groups, one of them
at the present time being the modesto Odd Felbius. A joint
project this year by the Odd Fellows and Rebekahs is the new
ly installed electric lift-chair on the stairway. One of the
original members, cliff Landreth, is still active in the Ceres
group.
~ERE5 R£B~KAH5 1922
Ceres ~ebekah Lodge, No. 256, sister to the I. 0. 0. F.,
was instituted on October 14, 1922. First officers were: Past
noble grand, F. E. Cook; noble grand, caroline Fennimore; vice
grand, Harriette E. roberts; recording secretary, mary IYlurdock;
financial secretary, Alice J. Blaker; treasurer, Lizzie may
Shrider; warden, maria C. Kinser; conductor, Viola mcmillan;
inside guardian, Hilda Brown; outside guardian, Winifred K.
Robison; right supporter to the noble grand, Lottie conrad;
left supporter to the noble grand, Nena Rhodes; right supporter
of vice grand, Clara B. Haltz; left supporter to vice grand,
melba IAli~n; chaplain, Carrie I. Elliot.
The Rebekahs cooperate with their fellow Odd Fellows on
projects, one of which is the Heart Breakfast held for the
public each February. Funds realized go to the Heart Fund.
Irva Shrider Lucas is the only one initiated with the first
class in 1922 who has maintained continuous membership. Alice
Blaker Loran was a member of the first class and is presently
a member but dropped for a few years.
Present officers include: Noble grand, Bessie Trammel;
junior past noble grand, Viola Weimer; vice grand, maudie
moore. Antoinette 8anford Rohde, the present secretary, has
held that office since 1949. Her stepmother, Caroline Fenni
more Banford, was the first noble grand of the Ceres lodge.
CE~E5 MASONS 1922
The first meeting of Smyrna Lodge, No. 532, F. & A. m.,
was held in Ceres under dispensation on June 27, 1922. The first
officers were: IAJorshipful master, I. H. Evans; senior warden,
Benton Welty; junior warden, T. E. Wilson; secretary, Donald ~.
Calkins; and treasurer, J. m. Campbell.
Ceres Iflasons were in charge of the cornerstone laying cere-
mony for mae Hensley Junior High School. The masonic Hall is
on the corner of Third and North Streets, remodeled from the
former First Church of Christ building. The present officers
are: master, Walter R. Padgett; senior warden, Ernest Cisco;
junior warden, George Beal; treasurer, Kenneth Rein; secretary,
Glenn Shull; chaplain, Bill Atchison.
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PAGE 144 Show Image
EA5TERN STAR 1923
Smyrna Chapter, No. 416, Order of the Eastern Star, was
instituted in Ceres on Au9ust ia, 1923, under the supervision
o~ the worthy grand patron, E. E. ITloan, and the worthy grand
matron, Stella m. Linscott. Past grand matron ~ffie Easton
acted as grand chaplain; mrs. Grace Gray Hejibron assisted
in the work.
The first officers o~ this chapter were: Alorthy matron,
mary E. Levitt; worthy patron, Isaac H. Evans; associate
matron, Sarah K. Fackrell; secretary, June murray; treas-
urer, Perry Lapham; conductress, Harriett Roberts; associate
conductress, Jessie Rich; chaplain, minnie Smith; marshal,
Nora Taylor; Adah, Lizzie may Shrider; Ruth, Pearl Spencer;
Esther, mabel Lapham; martha, Eva Liddle; Electra, Elizabeth
Keeney; warder, Ella Ferre; sentinel, Asa Levitt.
Some of the early past patrons are Frank Lander, Donald
Calkins, Jacob Bowman, Arthur Stone, Ernest malin, Adolph
Schneider, Arthur Friedman, Jack Hazard, 5. IT'. Christiansen.
A few of the early past matrons are Harriett Roberts Howard,
Sylvia malin, Eunice Sorensen, Helen Calkins, Edith Schnei-
der, Nell Bulfinch, Lucile Bowman, Dora Sovern, Leona Louiery,
Ethel Oooley and Geneva Klinke.
Eunice Sorensen is a fifty-year member of the chapter.
The present officers are: Worthy matron, marjorie Smith;
worthy patron, Bill Atchison; associate matron, IALanda ~ppler;
associate patron, Fred Kanant; secretary Esther Goesch;treas
urer, Ruth Christiansen; conductress, Laverne Kanant; asso-
ciate conductress, Wynema Templeton; chaplain, Imogene Bel-
cher; marshal, Betty Payne.
JOB'S DAUGHTERS DE~OLAY 1947
The masonic organization for young women, ages 11-21, is
called Job's Daughters and was organized September 20, 1947
in Ceres. Bernice Presson is the present guardian and Ar~il
Presson is associate guardian. Line officers are: Honor queen,
`nary Gerue; senior princess, Denise Summers; junior princess,
Robin Bogard9. guide, Karri Templeton; and marshal, LeAnn Smith.
Demolay, the subsidiary organization for young men,
sponsored by the masons, had a chapter in Ceres for a number
of years but it ceased existence at the end of 1974.
CERES STUDY CLUB - 1924
The Ceres Study Club was organized on may 20, 1924 with
three premises: no sewing, no children (at meetings), and
no notes ror reports by each member each year. These stipula-
tions t&iere followed scrupulously down through the years with
the additional one of no refreshments except at the December
meeting. The object was to benefit from and encourage serious
study by members. membership was limited and by invitation.
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The first corps of oficers las: President, mrs. George
Atkinson; vice president, mrs. Ernest malini secretary, mrs.
Je R. Crornbie; and treasurer, inrs. Arthur Harris. Other char-
ter members were mrs. Donald £alkins, mrs. T. E. Wilson, mrs.
5. K. Heisley, mrs. R. 5. Hiatt1 mrs. E.L. maim, mrs. Frank
Lander, mrs. Gilbert Roberts, mrs. mable Lapham and mrs. L. 0.
Spencer.
A number of well-educated and erudite members belonged to
the group over the years of the club's existence. With few
exceptions, all of the women were avid readers who were always
seeking to impr.~ve their minds. A theme was chosen for each
year's study and ranged from £alifornia history to American
folklore to foreign travel in exotic places. The last two
years of its existence the reports were built around £eres' past
using an old proverb, "He that would know what shall be must
consider what hath been", as theme. Several memorial volumes
of American history were presented to the ~eres library in
the name of deceased members.
The Ceres Study Club last met in may, 1968 at its annual
luncheon. The last officers were: President, mrs. Harvey Buus;
vice-president, mrs. Donald LaTourette; secretary, Caryl Fow-
ler (mrs. R. H.); and treasurer, mrs. Earl Graham.
CERES GARDEN CLUB - 1925
"Professor" Frederick Knorr started the Ceres Garden club
as he did in communities all over the county, and he was often
at meetings even into the early 1960's. This modesto Junior
College teacher planted the campus with the help of his stu-
dents and was a strong believer in encouraging children to
help in community beautification. Six women met with him in
September, 1925 in the home of mrs. A. L. Cooper, in "Smyrna
Park" on mitchell Road, to formally organize. They had been
meeting to hear him speak on an informal basis for a year pre-
viously. mrs. T. E. Wilson was the first president.
The club attracted a group of enthusiastic and serious
women gardeners (though men were not excluded) of both town and
country. They studied grafting, budding, and soils and always
adjourned to the garden of the hostess to admire and study af-
ter the meetings. In the early years they mettwice a month
and made pilgrimages to Sonora and £olumbia to bring back wild
plants (legally) for their gardens. They held progressive
garden tours, outdoor luncheons in members' gardens, and made
up composite bouquets for the ill from their gardens.
The first local flower show was held march 11, 1926 in
the Congregational church Parish House, rental fee $2.5o.
Early in the first year of the club a living community Christ-
mas tree was suggested and finally planted in 1930 on the
Plaza, which was the park at the entrance to Ceres on the main
highway, east of the depot. It was a Cedrus deodora and was
used as the focal point for community gatherings until the
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highuiay tuas widened. The club also planted a cherry tree for
Was hi
ngton's Birthday on the Whitmore School grounds; donated
money for shrubs to landscape the first high school qymnasium
and the IAIhitmore School grounds; and held the first Garden and
Yard contest, with prizes of shrubs.
In 1933 mrs. T. E. Wilson started club members in a plan
to scatter California wild flower seeds along the highway, an
idea which is carried out today by some Ceres people. During
the depression years the women gave what they could to the
needy, though the dues for a year I5 membership were only 5O~
throughout the life of the club and few money-raising evFnts
were held.
Community betterment was a continuing aim of the Garden
£lub. In 1Y31 they protested the water rate charges of the
`1incent Water Co. and planned to take the matter up with the
Railroad commission which set rates at that time. They also
seriously considered putting in a pump and/or windmill in
the Triangle Park for water for development of the park. At
another time they tangled with city government when they pro-
tested the cutting down of eucalyptus trees on Ceres streets.
The few that were saved are those which now border the new
city hall. They also sponsored clean-up campaigns and es-
pecially deplored the trash in alleys and streets. A plant
exchange was a regular feature each year and new varieties
were eagerly sought.
Long-time members of the club include Ir~gart Barnes
and her mother, the late Emma Ourand, Betty Nisson, Florence
Woodworth, margaret Barham9 The club finally disbanded in
1968. Final officers were iflrs. Barnes, president and trea-
surer and Thelma Butcher, secretary.
CERE5 WOIYIEN1S CLUB - 1926
Six years after the ~omen1s 5uffrage Amendment was
passed, the ~eres Women's Club was organized. about sixty
women met in the Parish House of the Congregational Church
on may 11, 1926 and elected the following officers: Presi-
dent, mrs. Arthur L. Harris; vice-president, mrs. L. C.
Collins; secretary, mrs. J. C. Bradbury; treasurer, mrs.
Guy Aspinall. A constitution was drafted and presented by
mrs. A. E. Ulch, mrs. A. L. Cooper, mrs. George F. Wood,
mrs. L. ~. musselman, Sr., and mrs. Bradbury. In the con-
stitution it says, "The object of this club shall be to im-
prove our locality, and to promote sociability amongst the
members. II
Through the years of the club's existence, trees have
bees planted, unsightly buildings have been removed, rose
bushes, flowering shrubs and vines have been purchased and
donated to the town, hazardous street corners have been nor-
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rected; houses have been numbered, and a drinking fountain
erected and presented to the city.
The drinking fountain ~as placed on the southwest cor
ner of fourth and Lawrence, in front of the Odd Fellows Build-
mg in 1927. The original impetus for the fountain was to
provide sanitary drinking facilities for school children go-
mg to and from school. The children had acquired the habit
of stopping at the Garrison Brothers ITlarket and drinking from
the common dipper and water bucket. A threat to remove the
fountain, within the last decade, was successfully thwarted
by old-timers who felt it was an object worth preserving.
`Alith improved water pressure, one can again drink from it.
The late mrs. Leland C. Collins, a charter member and past
president of the club recalled in her later years how she and
another member loaded a trailer with plants and toured the
town, ringing a bell, and selling the plants to raise money
for the fountain. The rooks that form the base of the foun-
tam were collected by members from all over the state.
The welfare work of the Women I Club has included raising
money to send to the former Ahwahnee Sanitarium, to provide
school lunches, and to clothe and feed needy families. They
also in the past participated in sending delegates to Boys'
State and Girls' State. They have sponsored a junior girls'
auxiliary called Gamma Omega Chi, and a book section aimed at
young business women. They began the Junior Women's Club in
Ceres, and have continued to be closely involved in town af-
fairs. most recently they were sponsors of the first Ceres
mayor's Prayer Breakfast.
The women in the club have long been interested in the
local library and hoped for years to establish a fund to build
a new structure. The dream became reality when a long-time
member, Frances Gondring, made a large gift of money to the
City of Ceres in memory of her sister, another member of many
years standang. The result was the present Florence Gondring
Library. Frances Gondring received a standing ovation and a
special award at the district convention of the Federated Wom-
en I Clubs in April of this year. The local group has always
been a member of the General Federation of Women I5 Clubs.
Another well-remembered member of the club was the late
mrs. James (Harriett) Bradbury. A charter member of the Ceres
club, she was probably the most involved in club work outside
the local group; for over forty years she held many officese
She won the office of president of the state Federation and
was a familiar sight as she drove along the streets in her
rather ancient automobile. She lived with her husband and
daughter Jane (mrs. Theodore Hanke of modesto now) on their
farm on Gondring Road. The picture of Carmel mission which
hung for years in the Whitmore School was given in her honor.
The motto of the club, taken from an old first-grade
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reader by early member irs. George IMood, is:
I or the cause that needs assistance,
For the prong that needs resistance,
For the future in the distance,
And the qood that we can do.
Prior to formal organization as a federated club, th~ group
met as the Improvement Club. Present officers are: Fresident,
salle Wallulis; vice-president, edith 5ilva; secretary, £ora
Wortham; treasurer, marguerite (3raham; elected auditors, Flo-
rence Woodworth and Alice Loran; program chairman, Oorothy
&athcart.
C~R£5 JUNIOR WOmEN'S CLUB - 1958
Organized in 1958 and sponsored by the Ceres women's Club,
the Junior IAomen's Club was designed to appeal to younger women
bett&ieen the ages of 18 and 35. It was hoped that, upon attain-
mg the age of 35, members would graduate into the sponsoring
organization.
mrs. James (Jessie) Crombie acted as the catalyst and
first coordinator for the group, succeeded by mrs. earl (mar-
guerite) Graham. mrs. Robert (Lu) Caulton, a former Junior,
served as coordinator for one year. The last coordinator
from the older group was mrs. Wayne (irma) Hosmer. The Jun-
iors disbanded this year, 1976.
First officers were: President, mrs. William (Bill) Bil-
son; vice-president, mrs. Richard (June) Limprecht; recording
secretary, mrs. Clare (maryellen) Berryhill; corresponding
secretary, mrs. Clarence Williams, Jr.; and treasurer, mrs.
Gene (Gladys) Robirds. One of the most remembered projects
of the group is the Safety Campaign put into operation on
Labor Day week-end in the 1960's. The young Women set up a
stand at the Ceres entrance of Highway 99 (before the Freeway
`Alas built) and served free coffee to motorists tired from a
week-end's driving. The effort won an award on the state level.
Kay DeBoard served as last president, Sherryl Biondo-
lillo as vice president, Virginia Bathe as secretary and Car-
men Ingols as treasurer. The daughters of several of the
charter members later joined the club, including Coni Lim-
precht Goudeau and 5herryl Robirds Biondolillo.
FRIENDLY INDLAN5 - 1930's
For a short time in the early 1Y30's, a club for young
boys was started in Ceres, called the Friendly Indians. It
was under the auspices of the Young men's Christian Associa-
tion of modesto. Leader was Donald Reinhart.
AMERICAN LEGION p933
Ceres American Legion, Post 491, was organized in 1933
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by veterans o~ World War I. The first commander was J. ~.
Ba1drid~e, assisted by first vice commander, J. I. I\1ewkirk;
adjutant, P. L. mobley, Sr.; finance officer, J. F. Johnson;
historian, Walker Simms; chaplain, Frank Hoiuard; sergeant
at-arms, W. A. Wilson; executive committee members, salter
White, W. ~. Ham, and Harold murray.
The old ~ongregationa1 Parish House became the first
Ceres Legion Hall. The Legionnaires began meeting tiuice a
month and had a monthly elcovered dish" dinner for families
once monthly in addition. Other early members who were ac-
tive included Alfred Gondring, Ben Fuller, Dorsey Turner,
Charles Baidridge, Rolla mcKnight, A. G. Peterson, C. C.
Berryhill, Je 0. Bowman, and L. L. mathiesen. Clifford 6.
Landreth still actively participates in Legion business.
The present hall, which was built in 1950's, is now'
valued at over $1OO~OOO and is debt free, according to the
present adjutant. The ~ondring Addition was dedicated in
1975 and was built with the gift of Frances Bondring, member
of the Auxiliary, in memory of her brother, dedicated Legion
member Alfred Gondring. members supplied the labor when the
main building was constructed.
8esides special dinners at Thanksgiving and throughout the
year for members, the Lesion helps sponsor the American Field
5ervice program, furnishes the hall for the Well Baby Clinic,
holds oratorical contests and presents scholarships. Present
officers include the commander, Gerald Harris; 1st vice comman-
der, william talker; 2nd vice commander, John marks, Jr.; ad-
jutant, Hans P. 5chmidt; finance officer, Richard 5mith; ser-
geant-at-arms, Emile Bernier; and chaplain, Paul marino.
A~E~ICAN LEGION AUXILIARY - 1935
The Ceres unit of the American Legion Auxiliary was or-
ganized two years after the Ceres Post 491, for the purpose of
aiding the American Legion in carrying out its program of
peacetime service to American. All of its activities are de-
signed to promote the work of the Legion.
The first president of the local unit was mrs. J. W.
Ethel) Baldridge. Her fellow officers included mrs. Clifford
Zala) Landreth and mrs. J. F. (Lula) Johnson. From the begin-
ning the women of the Auxiliary involved themselves in pro-
grams related to Americanism, child welfare, community ser-
vice, and education. Stressed is the observance of patriotic
holidays, and essay contests have been sponsored. An important
activity still carried out is the sending of a local girl to
California Girl 5tate. The group has also worked with disabled
veterans in hospitals, and sponsored the traditional Poppy Day.
Officers for 1976 are: Ersie Lane, president; Ethel morrow,
1st vice-president; maudalene Elsen, 2nd vice-president; Pearl
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Cole, seretarytreaurer; Florence oodworth, sergeant-at
arms; mary Chandler, chaplain; 5ata Wooten, mar~ha11; Fran-
~es Gondring, historian; Betty myers, parliamentarian; Carol
Cochran, musician; Betty Nissnn, Lucy Baidridge and Luella
Wisnom, executive committee.
Those eligible to join are iuives and family members of
any person iuho has served in the armed forces of the United
5tates.
TOWNSEND CLUB - 1934
The Townsend Plan was one of ~ number which arose with
the depression of the 1930's and the growing number of aged
in the United 5tates. It was th~ beet known of several pan-
aceas promoted by those who favored old-ag~ benefits and was
the invention of Dr. Francis ~ T~;~n~end.
Or. Townsend~ whose plan tuas the subject of a Congressional
investigation in 1936, travelled all over the country giving
political and emotional appeals and establishing local "clubs':
For the depression times, the $100 to $200 per month proposed
as a right of every person over age 60 seemed to many critics
an impossible, laughable impracticality. One of the condi-
tions was that the person spend each month all that he re-
ceived thus creating a turnover of monPy which would in turn
"breed'~ new money0 5ome critics said that few adherents
"quit work to work for the day they would not have to i&iork",
in the meantime collecting the available welfare benefits of
the time.
Despite the criticism, however, it had many sincere ad-
herents, including some hard-working, respectable business-
men. The Ceres Townsend Club was organized by W. A. tUright,
a state officer, on september 13, 1934, in the Ceres Grange
Hall (Congregational Parish House). Officers elected were
`Akellie Ross, president; C. C. Garrisons vice-president; J.
E. Lander, secretary; mrs. IAiellie Ross, treasurer.
No more meetings were held until in June, 1935 when they
reorganized, electing C. L. JYliner as president; ~* L. Craw-
ford, vice-president; and J. ~, Baldridge, ~ecretary-treas-
urer. mr. Crawford was the first delegate from the Ceres
club to go to a national convention, held in Chicago in 1935.
In 1941, the Ceres Townsend Club was still going strong pith
120 members and met twice a month ~nd had an auxiliary. It
is now defunct.
4-H CLU85 - 1938
A Clothing Club tuas first organized in Ceres in 1938 as
the first 4-H Club in the district. It was one of 47 active
in the county at the time, After several years, the group
apparently lapsed.
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mrs. Neal Gardenhire (Gerry) reorganized a 4-H club in
~eres in 1952 `uhen she started ten or twelve girls on a sew-
mg project. Later marian Patch, mrs. Reinhart (Dorothy) Bel-
sel9 and mrs. ITledrick (Ruth) Perra became Community Leaders
and a cooking group was added.
Ray Baltz worked with 4-H as a leader for ten years. He
was hollowed by Fern Williams, Sandy Hackett, Janet Brennan,
J~Ann Jonson, Dick Towner, and Bill Holmrs, Phillip myers
and his family have also been active in 4-H work. The Dzier
martins have been connected with 4-H in Ceres for eighteen
years. In addition to the community Leaders named there hive
been numerous Project Leaders.
At present there are twenty-three leaders and fifteen
projects underway. 4-H'ers exhibit at the Stanislaus County
and California State Fairs and at the County 4-H Fair (Ex-
hibit Day) in IYIay. Ceres families involved with 4-H help
others in the county as they work each year to prepare Camp
Sylvester at Pinecrest for the annual 4-H Camp. Bill Holmes
and Bob Lackey have also been busy with 4-H.
mrs. Beisel, the local 4-H group and others have contri-
buted funds to purchase an exhibit case for 4-H things. It
will be placed in the Florence Gondring Library and is a mem-
orial to Alice Eels who worked with county 4-H and to Lynn
mower, a former 4-H'er and granddaughter of irs. Beisel.
4-H'ers under the direction of Sylvia ~anderford have
been responsible for several community beautification projects
for the Bicentennial celebrations, including painting refuse
cans and planting flowers.
PERSEPHONE GUILD - 19~8
This group of thirty-three women, who call themselves the
Daughters of Ceres, was first organized in the summer of 1938.
The name of the guild derives from Persephone, the Greek spel-
ling of the roman Goddess ~ daughter Proserpina.
The group was originally connected with the Ceres methodist
Church and was the outgrowth of an idea of two sisters, marga-
ret Gruenig murdock and mary Gruenig Crawford, for a service
club for younger women. Though now having members with varied
church affiliations, the Guild still includes in its budget a
donation ta the methodists.
The first president was mrs. Jack (Eleanor mcKnight) Haines.
Present at the first meeting with her were mesdames Bruce mi-
ner, Lloyd Parks, C. W. Austin, Lowell Roehr, Lewi5 Woodworth,
Crawford and murdock, and misses Ann Haines and Evalyn Harding.
mrs. Haines' fellow officers were mesdames Boyce Ashford, Carl
miner, Kenneth Wilson and Arendt Rohde, as well as mrs. Roehr.
The name was chosen by mrs. Woodworth.
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membership is by invitation and limited to thirtytwo
because meetings are held in the homes of members. The Guild
has been active since its beginning in special community pro-
jects, fund drives, school welfare ~nd other charitable en-
deavors, and with the American Field Servile proQram. They
annually award a scholarship at Ceres High School in honor
of a charter member, Lenabelle Turner. Their charitable en-
terprises are funded by monies they raise themselves in lunch-
eons, rummage and food sales, and other public affairs.
Of the charter members, mesdames Ben Cuddy, Claude L.
mcKnightg Lloyd Parks, Arendt Rohde and elton Turner are
still active members. Several daughters of charter members
are now part of the club. Ufficers for the 1975-76 season
are: mrs. John (Jeanne) Krepela, president; mrs. Grant (mildred)
Lucas, vice-president; mrs. richard (June) Limprecht, secre-
t(Laur~; mrs. Jim (marilyn) Luton, treasurer; and mrs. robert
Caulton, historian.
A reunion of all past members, local and those who had
moved away, was held in mancini Park in 1q74.
CERE5 LIONS CLUB - 1947
What has been called Cerese most active service club was
begun in 1947 by a small group of Ceres men. The late arch
Taylor was the first president. The first meetings, which
have always been dinner meetings on the second and fourth Wed-
nesdays, were held in what was then the Ceres Legion Hall, in
the basement. Two members wives, irs. Roswell Wix and mrs.
Ervin Shorman, prepared the meals. ~t one time the club was
down to only three or four men at meetings in its early months,
but a Lions Zone chairman, Claude LAiheeler of Hughson, is cre-
dited with stimulating growth and enthusiasm.
membership is made up of a cross section of town and coun-
try men with a variety of professions and occupations. New
members are always beinq souoht. The club now has 62 working
members plus two members-at-large, of whom eleven are past
presidents. Arthur mcRae, past president, is presently the
deputy district governor for Lions Oistrict 4A-1.
In addition to participating in national and international
Lions causes such as assistance for those with seeing problems,
the local group has spearheaded many major community improve
ments. They have contributed large sums of money, leadership,
and labor to construct recreational facilities in Ceres and in
outlying areas such as the monterey Park Tract. Ceres Lions
have often supplemented the funds of other service clubs~ pro-
jects, including the Legion baseball team, community Christ-
mas baskets, and American Field 5ervice's foreign student pro-
gram. Two former active members and past presidents, Earl
Brown and Homer \1ilas, led the drive for the present community-
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school pool and supervised its building. For the past ti~o
years, the Lions &lub members have conducted a £hristmas shop-
ping expedition with needy £eres youngsters, with cooperating
local merchants giving discounts. Funds for charitable pur-
poses have been raised through public events such as tree lots
and chicken barbecues. £eres Lions also sponsor a student ex-
change program of their own with Lions Clubs of Japan.
Officers for 1975-76 are Wayne Johnson, president; George
Jones, 1st vice-president; R. K. Lowe, 2nd vice-president;
George Pallios, 3rd vice-president; Gerald Heisinger, immed-
iate past president; Robert Caulton, secretary; Gene 5imms,
treasurer; Robert Trotter, tail twister; Jim Oelhart, lion
tamer; Reid Cochran and Clifford Colyer, chaplains; and Rich-
ard mcKay, Don Haglund, Richard Nancett, and Bill ~ackley,
di rectors.
Arendt Rohde, who has 29 years of perfect attendance in
the Ceres Lions Club, is the only charter member still active.
He was the second president of the group. Since leaving the
Legion Hall the club has met on River Road in the Tuolumne
River Lodge Clubhouse.
TUOLU~NE RIVER LODGE - 1947
What has been referred to as the "Ceres Country Club 31
in reality, a group of families joined together for recre~-
tional activities emphasizing the family. It began in 1947
when a group of people living along River Road pooled funds
to purchase property bordering on the Tuolumne River. Orig-
inally, only "River Road peOpleee were to be admitted, Ceres
itself being excluded.
Property was purchased from Della Graham Sanders. Work
began on a swimming pool to be fed and heated by a water-gas
well on the property. The Osterberg family were instrumental,
through their ownership of the gas wells and knowledge, in
spearheading the pool project. Both the pool and the later
clubhouse were built by the members.
eventually, people from Ceres proper and later from mo-
desto became members of the Lodge. membership is by invita-
tion and limited to 100 families. many improvements have been
made since the group first organized and much of the work is
still done by the members, A new pool was constructed in
1952. Activities in summer center around the pool and the
picnic grounds where weekly pot-lucks are held, followed by
volley ball games and other sports.
Charter members and organizing members were given life-
time memberships in a special gathering in April, 1976. ~x-
pansion of sports facilities are part of a master plan.
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Fl-PD O£K LUB, INC. 192
The name for this club comes from the first tiuo letters
of two words, Firemen and Policemen. There are no longer any
policemen in the group but the president, June L. Barnes, is
a former fireman. He is also the only one in the group, be
gun in 1961, who still is a rock and mineral enthusiast. But
the social and service aspects of the club remain. Besides
social activities such as potlucks, and trips, the six cou
ples in the group give Christmas baskets, and donate 5alva
tion Army camperships. They have also given plants to the
Smyrna Park. money for their charitable purposes is raised
through the fireworks booth they man at Richiand Center every
July.
AMERICAN FIELO 5LR\1ICE 1962
The Ceres Chapter, American Field 5ervice was organized
in 1962, part of a national organization with headquarters in
New York. Its purpose is to promote an interchange with stu
dents of other countries. A. F. S., as it is commonly called,
gets its name from a voluntary ambulance service operating in
France in world ~ar I. It was revived in the second World
LAiar on an expanded basis. Because of the international friend-
ship experienced by those involved, it was decided to reor-
ganize following the war for the purpose of a student exchange.
The first officers of the Ceres group were medrick Perra,
president; La\1onne Laskey, vice-president; Roy Stout, secre-
tary; Glenn Ritchey, finance chairman; Harold Santos, trans-
portation; Betty ParksD projects and hosts; Fleming Haas1
school coordinator.
Through the A. F. 5. program, foreign students have come
to Ceres from Norway, Greece, Austria, Argentina, Chile, Iran,
Barbados, Germany, Italy, Costa Rica, Brazil, Oenmark, Hol-
land and Afghanistan, They live as integral parts of local
families and attend Ceres High School. One of the major aims
of the program is that students will return to work in their
respective countries with a fuller understanding of the Uni-
ted States and a feeling of good will.
most of the major community organizations contribute to-
ward the program and the entire community cooperates through
clubs and businesses to make the annual money raiser, an in-
ternational dinner, a success. For the first time, in 1975,
Ceres uias able to send a local student to participate in the
related program, Americans Abroad: Geri Brazil spent the
summer in Argentina, living with a family there on the same
basis as do the foreign students here in Ceres. Christmas
qreeting advertisements, scholarships from the national of-
fice1 and donations by individuals also provide funds.
Officers for 1976-77 are Bill ~Iegee, president; Truman
Showen, vice-president; Norma Showen, recording secretary;
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Charis Laskey, treasurer; La\1onne Laskey, publicity; Fran
Welsh and Betty Parks, home selection; marlys Weekley, sac-
ulty advisor and Americans Abroad program; Helen marchy9 trans-
portation; Gene Simms, home liason; Fran Welsh, corresponding
secretary; and Ruth Strange, historian.
The student club, also called ~. F. 5., has its own or-
ganization and activities connected with the visiting students
but works closely with the adult group. Since the beginning,
IY'rs. John (8ea) marks, as the Legion representative to the
club, has made a flag o~ each visiting student's country. The
flags are displayed at the welcoming dinner and later present
ed to the host family.
THE C~R~5 ART CO~~ITTEE - 1963
In the early 1Y60's a group from the modesto Art League
helped organize the Ceres Art &ommittee which functioned for
several years, sponsoringart shows in the Ceres Community Cen-
ter. Serving on the first committee were Floy Phillips, Or.
and mrs. Louis Boswell, Hazel mcDonald, mrs. maurice Philleo
and Ruth Jorgensenwho was then on the Ceres Recreation Corn-
mission.
The City of Ceres provided the Center for the shows which
featured works in all media by Stanislaus County artists. Ceres
artists were especially encouraged to enter. The shows were
professionally presented, adhered to strict rules of judging,
and kept amateur and professional categories separate. School
entries were also part of the shows.
The Art League existed from 1963-70. Others who served
on the committee were Jacque Taylor, Karen mosser, Hazel Sandi-
son, Pat Holloway, Sue Skidgel, Iflr. and mrs. Tom Dimpeno and
mildred Lucas.
CERES KIWANIS CLUB - 1960's
The Ceres Kiwanis Club holds a breakfast meeting every
Thursday morning, meetirig in the Conference Room of memorial
Hospital South. The club was organized in the 1960's, lapsed
for a time and was reorganized into the present group. The
Ceres Lions Club, wishing to encourage a fellow service club
in the community, made a donation to the first treasury.
Kiwanians in Ceres participate in a variety of community
endeavors. They have operated the take-out stand at the high
school relays day barbecue for several years. As a special Bi-
centennial project they are constructing a picnic shelter in
the Smyrna Park. There are twenty-two members in the club at
present. Larry Fischer is president, assisted by Robert Bowman,
1st vice-president; George Bronson, 2nd vice-president; Jack
Rudd, secretary; and George Smith, treasurer.
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PAGE 156 Show Image
~E~OAIAL HOSPITAL SOUTH AUXILIARY 1970
An auxiliary has been in existence since the memorial
Hospital zuas first built in Ceres. When the second hospital
was built in modesto in 1970, the Ceres members or the Aux
iliary became the memorial Hospital South Auxiliary but re-
tamed a president and some committee chairmen in common
tuith the modesto organization. Ceres women who are present-
ly chairmen of committees are: LaV~nne Laskey, membership
and Frances Skittone,hospitality tea, both of these commit-
tees including the modesto group; and9 for Ceres alone9 Lo-
rena Bentson, gift shop; Frances Skittone and Jo Reimer,
shopping cart; information desk, Betty Humphries and Jua-
nita Heim; patient service, cathy Eberle; junior volunteer
chairman, Kay moore.
C~R~S mEMORIAL DEVELOPMENT ~OmmITTE~ - 1975
The Ceres memorial Development Committee was begun in
the interest of supporting and developing the memorial Hos-
pital in Ceres. The formerly vacant and weedy property at
the ~l ~amino entrance to the hQspital grounds has been con-
verted to a park. more than one hundred donors have made
possible the~newly planted lawns and trees and the suture
fountain and bronze plaque area0 Twenty-seven local resi-
dents and business people compose the committee, including
Earl Brown, Gus Pallios9 Ray Starn (chairman), Naomi Lowe,
maxine parr, Kay moore (chairman o~ the park committee),
George Shimel, Dr. Robert AdkisonD ~ldred mcElrath, and
Lloyd Parks.
SOROPTImISTS - 1972
The Ceres Soroptimist Club was officially organized in
September, 1972.. meetings had been held earlier by Ceres
business women Leona Qarrison, Helen Fricke and Hazel Von
Bargen, members of the modesto Soroptimist Club, ~or the
purpose of starting a group in Ceres. mrs0 Garrison and
Mrs. Von Bargen transferred their membership to tbe new
club and took office as vice-president and president, res-
pectively. Serving as the first recording secretary was
Doris Wharton, with Blanche Shirer a5 ~orrespondiog sec-
retary and marilyn Luton as treasurer.
Membership is by invitation and limited to business
women according to job classification. In its short life
as a local serviQe club,~the Soroptimists have contributed
to many causes. They have donated play equipment for S.yrna
Park and the city-run ntirs~ry school, given funds for the
development of the new Memorial hospital Park, and helped
supply needs of the mentally retarded. An annual tea has
become a looked-for community event. The group has also
had a successful food booth at the Peach Festivals, as well
as a float in the parade. In 1975 their float honored *`ms.
Peach'9 in the form of Mrs. Leroy (Melvina) Nordfelt who
PAGE 157 Show Image
developed the `tCeres" freestone peach and presented it to
the city for propagation and sale.
Despina Pallios is currently serving as president, assist-
ed by marilyn ~uton, vice-president; mary Nunes, recording
secretary; Leona Imfeld, corresponding secretary; and mildred
Vine, treasurer. maxine parr, past president and Caryl Fow-
ler went as delegates of CerFs Soroptimists to the 5outhwest
Regional Conference in Hawaii in 1975w
CER~S SENIOR CITIZENS 1972
The Senior £itizens of £eres incorporated in 1972, with
Bert magoon as first president, assisted by Alfred Rohde,
vice-president and Milma Seaman, secretary~treasurer.
As an organized group, the Ceres Seniors plan trips and
entertainments ~or themselves and guests, but also participate
in community activities. They have donated to the new park
on memorial Hospital 5o~th's grounds and are planning to par-
ticipate in the Bicentennial celebrations in Ceres. Present
officers are Edith 5ilva, 2nd vice-president; Pearl Cole,sec-
retary; \1irginia matthews9 1st vice-president; and Olive Cun-
ningham, treasurer. meetings and dinners are held in the
Ceres Community Center.
* * *
Elaine Steinhoff has been, since January, 1976, the Ceres
Senior Services Coordinator She is employed by the Senior
Opportunity Service Programs paid with federal funds, but with
the City of Ceres contributing office and supplies. Her job
is not connected to the Senior Citizens organization but is to
provide services to all citizens sixty years or older.
THE BICENTENNIAL CO~~ITTEE - 1975-75
This committee, like so many across our nation, was or-
ganized to plan community activities and observances of the
two hundred years of the United States of America. It is made
up of representatives of Ceres clubs, churches, government
and the community at large and was first organized by mayor
Gary Condit in the spring of 1975. In addition to celebra-
tions and special programs within organizations, the committee
has planned a Heritage Square in the civic center, Arbor and
Flag Day ceremonies and planting, general community beauti-
fication, appropriate old-time American activities at the an-
nual Peach Festival, business and flag displays, community din-
ners, and this history book. Chairman Robert IAihitmore has been
assisted by co-chairman \`irginia Bathe and city council coor-
dinator, Steve Houx.
-154-
ifi
PAGE 158 Show Image
TOP. Allura uIc;i, first librarian; postmistress,
seamstrass and earl-day h istorian . BELOW:
Ulc1~ :ioma-ceres post office and first library.
~
--~ ~. ,
GBefore you buy try the
~
~`>~
ELECTRIC WASHER
Fits any Laundry Tray
WASHES-WRINGS WRINSES-BLUES
`~ ~
*,
PAGE 159 Show Image
*¾ -- ---,
4-,
#------
½
,- ¼ `- +---< A'
--,`,
~ ~ *~
~
~
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4
~ -
Q LE~ ~
DEALER IN
GENERAL ME~CHANDIS~
GROCERIES and ?ROYISIONSq
~y Goo&~, C1ot~ing, ~unii~in~ ~ eats, Car, ~OotSg ~ ~
Crockery, ll~r&w~re ~otio~ Feed, Caunod Got, Toys, Pat~t
Meaicin~~ ~-w~ M~~c3, Lumber, ic., Etc.
ALL FIRST-CLASS GOO[)S AND SOLD AT LOWEST PRlCE$~
CL~RES, --- CALIFORNIA.
AGENT FOR WELLS, FARGO ~ CO'S EXPRESS.
Ladies shopping in Garrison's Meat and Grocery Market, 4th Street south of
Lawrence Street. BOTTOM: Advertisement appearing in Ceres section of
area business directory,1884.
PAGE 160 Show Image
A'WOmAN's LOT
Today the men did the family t~ashing,
that is run the rasher for Annie."
A0 E0 Ulch
July 12, 1595
Pleasure Book No0 2
Often the Victorian woinan is thought o~ only as a wife
and homemaker except for the one here and there who was bold
enough to involve herself in the suffrage marches or militant
saloon Iebustin~Ie0 Perhaps the series of excerpts that follow,
taken from the diaries of ~llura Averill Ulch, will give a
more complete picture of a respectable woman 0 thoughts and
urgings, as she IA,ent about her outwardly conforming life.
The diaries begin in maine in 15~7 when Allura was a
fourteen year-old~ the first entry quoted below was in 1868:
*~monday, August 263 my brother George told me that if I
would get my books and other things needful to go to the aca-
demy school thathe would pay my tuition fees. Ol I hope
that I can go but I donut know-~next term begins in a month.
Nobody knows how I want an educat~on0 I,
"September 22, 1868w I could not get the books and other
things to go to school so had to stay at home. . . I must
not dispare0 Perhaps I can go to school next spring. .
I love to study but don9t have much chance to improve my
self. I stay at home so much and don't see anything of the
world that when I go meet company I reel embarrassed and do
not know what to do or say0' (The spelling is Allura's own).
The young miss Averill did manage to get her education
finally, moved to Kansas with part of the family, taught at
a school there, married, was widowed, and eventually came to
Ceres. The diaries continue:
"5unday, August 22, 1885. I am afraid I shall have to accept
the office of 5uperintendent of the B~ of H. (Band of rope)
when Sister Knowlus goes away0 There seems to be no suitable
person who is willing to take the office. I shrink some from
the task. But if working for the good of others is to be my
lifework, I should look upon it as a grand work and not
shrink from going wherever duty points. 0 that I were more
capable! That I had time and talent and money that I might
use in the great work before us~ Ameni I am going to attempt
to take a course cf reading in historye I do so desire to im-
prove ~y5~~f~#l
-157-
PAGE 161 Show Image
mrs. Ulch ~as a produt of her time and upbringing and
yet an intelligent, we11-~ducatedfor-her-day woman, striving
to think ~or herse1~. Forced to earn her oi&tn livino and yet
epitomizing the ideal housewife and chur~h~orker-mother, she
came in contact `AJith most Ceres peoplee $h~ continues:
*`October, 18~8. Divorcel I used to have ~ horror of the di-
vorce court, but about a year ago my oninions became modified
and notu I believe that as in the case of mrs. ide, there are
cases when it is riqht to procurr a divorce. Yea, when it
is absolutely a duty.t~
"November 17, 1888. LE~-ID£ NUPTIAL~ Th~ marriaq~ ~f mr.
IAill Lee to rnr~. 5u~i~ Ide wa~ ~ at ~he r~~id~nce of
mrs. 0. ~hitmore on Tuesday P. fn. at one 0 clock. Rev. I. O~
Wood performing the ceremony. I had made the hTide's dress,
a beautiful garnet grosgrain ard moir~e silk n ;iihich I am
told the bride looked lovely. mrs. ~ ~ husband dis-
appeared four years ago. The couple h~d al~ay~ lived happily
together and they had one child, little mabel. After his sud-
den disappearance the discovery was made that he had been gam-
bling and lost heavily of his wife's money. What became of
him has never been known. mrs..L28 says that the great trou-
ble almost paralyzed her, that she feels numb and incapable
of feeling as she should. He is her cousin, and fairly wor-
ships her. Because he wanted her and can give her a good
home, she has married him. may their union be happy is my
wish! I can not approve the marrying of cousins.
And later that month, the art-six year-old woman
writes:
"November 27, 1888. more taffy today. IYlrs. _______ told me
that she was `always so glad to see my bright young face. It
did her good'. my bright young face and I five and thirtyt
Hal Hal After she left I rushed to the glass to see what made
her say so, and ohi horrors! my bright young facet What makes
people say such things?"
Allura Ulch chafes at not having a home of her own at
first in which she and her young daughter can be alone. She
worries that the child turns to aunts and uncles instead of
to her at times:
"September 3c], 1885. Whose fault is it? I answer no one 5
fault. The conditions now are beyond my controlt Am I satis-
fied? Ohi hearti Ohi heart!"
She strove to exemplify "all the Christian graces"in her
life, to be long~suffering and kind, y~t berated herself for
being discontented and wondered. why her prayers were never
answered. Again in 1q85:
-158 iji
PAGE 162 Show Image
"Is this your ideal life? Ahi now the chord is tOUCh9db the
key to all the discord is found. You have a uiaru lcivin9 heart
which yearns for human syuipathy and love. Oid you not have
some ideal spot where loving hearts dwell, devoted to. each
other? That spot an ideal home and the king of the ho se~~i*'hat
of him--a man just a little your superior, so that yoia ~ou1d
not help (~you would) looking up to him and r.verenci~g hiffi
i-your husband-sand howyou *o~dhave.tried to keep~u~h a
spot sacred and holy, aA~'Inpregflable bulwark ~ainstt.the
assaults of uaral evil. ` But your hopes have found: their
grave. ~e brave9.. be strong-~drive back the blin~ing3 tears.
Live ror yowr little ~jrl. ir you get happiness i~ writing
letters, io reading books, in tryi~ t~ scribble verses ror
the newspapers, if you ~an find time ror this9. dolt... It is
a diversion. It will help.you~to grow mentally, morally1
spiritually. * * ee
"irs. Ulch the Dressmaker so~eti.es worked through the
night, with less than two hours sleep9 at her se~i~g to corn-
plete a promised ~arma:1t. She was plagued ~y severe head-
aches dtw.to this.and was always being told by the doctor
to rest more. However,. in spite of her work and ether. dut-
ies, abe always tried.to be a good neighbora
"Thursday9 June 9, 1~9B--About the hour of riva Mrs. Webster
came running d~wo and called me tQ go up to her house. Little
Francis was having terrible convulsions. Poor little. fellow9
for more than an hour he was in a convulsed state and *t one
time I was almost in despair for fear we ~ouid not save him
for the .agofiized rather and mother, but at last we had the
joy to see the muscles relax and the eyes close and the little
rellow `sink into a sleep. ~od be thauked. Dr. Surryhue then
came aod gave medigini.~.~ stayed with.the family all ~ight.~
"Wednesday, Au~uzt 24, 1598. This morning I resolved that I
would abstain rrouv the use or tea, coffee, sugar, insets of
any kind, pies, cakes and all sweets, for. one month and so
try what a coftplete chase of diet will do for my health."
"September 3, 1895. I went to modesto to-day with Will. .
Went up to Or. Fuller's office and con~sulted him about my
headaches aod.rny new syste~.of diet and he disapproved, ad~
vised me to eat meat once a day, to driRk coffee and to use
sugar sparingly, to try this for a month and report. He gave
me medicine to take."
Florence Ulch, the daughter, married James E. Richards
after a courtship that lasted fo~ years. The rn~t~er was court-
ed along with the daughter and ~as included in many of the cou-
pie's outings. mr. Richards was an older man:
"September 13, 1903 (her birthday)--mr. Richards came to din-
ner. This is my menu: Fried chicken in batter, creamed Irish
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PAGE 163 Show Image
potatoes, baked sweet potatoes, cream gravy, sliced tomatoes,
pick1~s, currant and loganberry jelly, bread, butter, cheese,
chocolate and nut layer cake, canned cherries, and tea. Every
thing was nice.
ITirs. Ulch was a feminist at heart who tried to reconcile
her independent thoughts with the standards she upheld:
`~1685--Thoughts on iAioman SuffrageIt is right is my conclusion.
Every spring the tax assessor comes to my shop and says I must
pay a tax upon the little possessions of mine therein. This
is taxing me, and giving me no voice in the expenditure of
this money. I know very little about the science of govern-
ment or political economy, yet I think I have a right to say
something about the law-making as well as the ~t ~tram who
begs bread at my door. Yet I cannot sympathize with some of
the lecturers. I do not know whether we should be immediately
benefitted or not. I have been informed that in the city of
San Francisco are 12,000 woman drunkards. If this true would
their vote count for temperance and purity? Again in our W.
C. T. U. . . . in this white ribbon army linked together in
sisterly love in a chain surrounding the world, there are
200,000 noble women using their influence and battling for
God and Home and Native Land. Of course, this does not in-
dude all the noble women of our land oh! not But on the 0-
ther h~ I am told that in our fair land, a blot upon our
civilization are 300,000 dissolute women, and these do not in-
dude a low-minded, ignorant, indif~nt class who care no-
thing for the welfare of our common country. Temperance wo-
men admit these `figures to be true, yet they say that equal
suffrage will hasten prohibition. I can not understand. But
then that makes no difference about the right of woman to the
ballot. Dear illrs. Woodi What a worker she is! If all women
were like her, what a happy people we would be! I have a
great deal of faith in my sex. I think that the good wives
and mothers who think of these great questions of reform are
more zealous, more ardent, and stand with reater strength for
these principles than do the men. ~1 ~Underlining is mrs.
"July 9, 1895--In the Pacific Ensign which came to-day, 5usan
called m~ attention to the communication, "A Visit to a Woman
Undertaker" by Grace m. Kimball. The article describes the
business of Bessie Wood. I read the article to maude and we
were both glad to read such a delightful description of our
friend, Bessie. We are glad she is so enterprizin~ (sic) and
we wish her success.
In addition to being seamstress, milliner, reporter, church
and club worker, good neighbor and mother, there was always the
housework:
"monday, July 11, 1903. I did a large washing this morning.~~
-1~o-
J
PAGE 164 Show Image
.*July 13, 1898. It is Wedesday evnlng. Angle and I did an
immense ironing. The clothes look quite white and all the
starched ones are done up nicely. I am pleased with our suc-
ness .
.*September 89 1903--Handkerchiefsl ~ho invented them? A
week ago last Friday I washed 43 of those little bits or cam-
bric. Then on last Saturday I uiashed two dozen of them--To-
day I washed twenty-three in the morning--washed, boiled,
rinsed and dried them. Tonight I again washed--yes, I washed
handkerchiefs. There I~ a long string of them out on the
clothesline. God bless the man who invented handkerchiefs.
Flossie and I have the grippe. That1s why I wash."
mrs. Ulch1s favorite remedy for her headaches, a cold
or "the change" was a combination of Bromo-5eltzer, black
coffee and Hoover S Powders. Again on September 8, 1903:
"~r Richards and Flossie asked me to go and have ice-cream
with them--but. I declined. Hoover's Powders a~d ice-cream
--that would be a great combinationi `Aihile they were gone
everybody and his neighbor case to the P. 0. 1 asked mrs.
Wood and Jessie if they would not go to.the stGre and get
me twenty-five cents wurth of Hoover IS. I have been
thinking to-day of what Or. Fueler told me of ~y physical
condition last January. He said I would need all tbe helps
I could have through this crisis of my life. I ought to
have an examination that the real trouble could be ascer-
tamed. . . When my mother was having the change she~was
much worse off that I am. She had to be in bed for weeks
at a time and it was no unc~o~mon thing for her to faint a-
`ALay and lie like one dead. I am thankful that I have not
been so afflicted and that probably when I get over these
troubles I will be comparatively i£iell."
Another thirty-three years of productive life were
ahead for mrs. Ulch. She summed up a typical day in the
following:
"September 10, 1903. This morning I arose with the sun. I
tried to keep my quiet hour, then I made my coffee for Flossie
and me. Swept, dusted, then canned two or three jars of green
gages, washed dishes, wrote letters, cut, basted, and fitted
Lulu Robert's dress, had a call from mr. Helsley, got lunch.
After lunch Angie and I went to make cells. IA~e went first to
mrs. mareball's, then to mrs. Stone's, from there to mrs.
Kloekler I5 and on to Mrs. Clarence Williams I
, to Mrs. Blaker
and mrs. Root's--then home, got my milk bucket, went back
to An~in's, got the milk. Thin back to th~ officu--mr. San-
dwrw thi toachur, waa talking pith Flomoim wh~~ I ~ot back.
Ju8t thin mr. Gray came for hii mail, and paumed for a few
wordi1 Other. came, Floi.i. waa weary and faint. She had
stood so long in that little hot room, waiting upon the pso-
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PAGE 165 Show Image
pie, she was ~ir1y ill. I hurried up and 90t a nice little
supper. After that I went up and sat an hour with Grandma
Kane who has been sick several days. Poor old lady--she won't
live through many more such attacks. Then I went over to en-
quire ~or Daisy Ireland and mrs. Lewis who are ill. I was so
surprised to meet Daisy Ireland at the door as she had the
doctor this morning. From there I went and called on mrs.
IYlurray who had a new baby come to the house Sunday night. Both
mother and child are doing well--very well9 considering the
circumstances. She said she was sorry her baby is a girl,
~or boys do not have such hard times. Coming across the
street I stopped and chatted ~ Rice. Came home. It
was a quarter to eight. So I ran over to call on mrs. IAJood
--had a pleasant visit of an hour with her. mrs. Taylor cal-
led me as I was going by to talk about work."
"August 4, 19O2--~hat is worth while? As I ask myself this
question tonight sounds of merriment come through the open
doors and windows--a lot of bQys from sixteen to twenty years
are singing1 laughing and talking. To them nothing is worth
while that they cannot get a plenty of fun from. They see
very little of the serious side of life."
But the working widow had her days of rebellion against
the drudgery:
"1859--Thoughts on Work: One has said that `work is better
than what we work to get. Not so tuith mel I don't think I'm
lazy but on these hot days, work is not desirable for the
good it does us. The results of our labor and the cash re-
muneration is the incentive, and how weary the mind and frame
get and how the poor heart and eyes ache! Surely this wearing
of tissue and spending of energy is not very beneficial to
the human structure."
-162-
PAGE 166 Show Image
<--
½ ,-- --
%1½
LEFT: First Baptist c:iurch, Norti and 5ti
Streets-1882, burned in 1889. RIGHT:
Cogrigational c:iurc;i. BOTTOM: Later
Baptist C~urch incorporated in present
building.
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PAGE 167 Show Image
F I rst Met:odist Ciurch
building, 6t~i and Lawrence
Streets.
-~~- ,~ ~ ~
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`~Going to I ~I
4 ~ A
First Christian Ch~urc;1
building, 3rd and North
~, Streets.
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PAGE 168 Show Image
EARTH AND ALTAR
*`IAAhere two or three are gathered together in my
name1 there am I in the midst of them."
-I!Iatthew X'1III:20
Ceres has often been rererr~d to as a "church town" and,
though Sabbath or Sunday mornings will find many of the multi
tude sleeping late, or away in their recreational vehicles,
the churches in the community are generally thriving and con-
tributing much to the lives o~ Cereseans.
Post of the churches began as mission churches, sponsored
either by a larger body or by an indipu~dent missionary. As
in other small towns.of nineteenth century AmErica, the~first
churches in town had much in common as they held their Sunday
School picnics, sponsored revival meetings (camp meetings),
and shared a minister with other churches. `Aihat is notable,
as one reads the following church histories, is the tact that
this is still true of the more recently established church
groups. Volunteer labor is still often the rule in the build-
mg and upkeep of the buildings, laymen are still asked to
sill in ~or an over-worked or non-existent leader, and church
dinners and picnics are still common. 5upporting one another s
money-raising activities is common among all faiths.
The first ministers' small salaries were regularly sup-
plemented with the produce grown by the parishoner. Allura
Ulch writes in 1g03: "my subscription on mr. Helsley~s sal-
ary is nearly square. IAIe each give twenty-five cents a week."
Early ministers often did the janitor work as a matter of
course.
Though the members of the different denominations occa-
sionally discussed and disputed abiut their differences,
there seems to have been generally a spirit of cooperation.
`Aihile some proselytizing occurred (irs. Ulch left the Baptist
Church for the methodist in her later years), the different
groups joined together on several projects. In 1590, a series
of revival meetings in February resulted in the conversion of
thirty-two in Ceres. One of the first evangelistic meetings
held in the early part of the twentieth century was the one
in the Collins and Warner Hall in which all churches in town
participated. Tent meetings for all were fairly common in
summer months.
At last count there were 24 known churches associated with
Ceres. A number of others have come and gone. The churches
follotiing are listed in chronological order of their meeting
in un organized group in Cerus. Information available varied.
PAGE 169 Show Image
FIR5T UNITED [ETHODIST £HURCH OF £ERE5 18~9
The first church in the county, other than the little
Catholic mission at LaGrange, was the methodist Episcopal
(North) which was organized IYIarch 13, 1861 by missionary
John P. Hale in the home of J. \1. Davies in the river corn-
munity of IAestport south of the Tuolumne river. 5ervices
were held in the old Westport School (not to be confused
with the present school further south). Among the charter
members were ITI. and Elizabeth moyle, and others whose des-
cendants were later involved in Ceres life. Others of the
methodist persuasion in the Ceres area attended the LAAest-
port meetings.
A direct ministry to the methodist people of the commu-
nity began some time later, in 15~9. Ceres was on the 5tock-
ton £ircuit which covered territory from 5tockton to the ITler-
ced River and also the west side of the 5an Joaquin River.
Services were held only as often as the pastor could make
the rounds.
The Reverend E. H. sinning was appointed in 1q76 and
served until 1879. He lived in modesto and also took care of
Burneyville, Westport and Ceres churches. The first methodist
church building in ~eres was started in 1906 and completed in
1907. much of the labor was donated. A. J. Blaker, ~. A.
Gray and Henry £aswell and others helped with the construc-
tion and financing. A parsonage had been built a number of
Years earlier, before the church.
Services were first held in the riew church in January,
1907. In order to make the windows more attractive, the lad-
ies used translucent paper (in geometric designs) and covered
the plain, clear glass. myrtle ~aldridge (Ham) and Alice
Blaker (Loran) helped in the task. 5ome second-hand, red up-
holstered pews were found to add to the comfort and appearance
of the little one-room church. It had a raised platform at
the front, in the southeast corner, to hold the pulpit, organ
and choir. This same organ is still in the present building,
in the chapel.
Alice Blaker Loran was the first organist in the new
church and served for many years. The Ladies Aid 5ociety had
been organized in November, 1904, more than two years before
the group had a building of its own. In that year the ~eres
charge had been reorganized as part of a new district. Among
the charter meinbers at reorganization were Eloida Blaker, John
Taylor and ITirs. Clara Hatch.
The parsonage that the methodists had had prior to the
building of their sanctuary was listed as valued at $600 in
18~9. In 1893 it was destroyed by fire despite the bucket bri-
gade that was formed by neighbors. The parsonage was located
on what is now Fifth 5treet, south of Lawrence.
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PAGE 170 Show Image
A ood xample of cooperation between different denomina-
tions is the way the Baptists shared their building in the
early years IAiith the ITlethodists. The methodists often went
to the Baptist £hurch for worship and Sunday School, met as
their own group in the afternoon in the old Hall in the park,
and again joined with the Baptists in the evening for Chris-
tian Endeavor and worship.
A new sanctuary was added and dedicated in 1923. The
Ladies Aid 5ociety continued to hold bazaars, church *1 socials"
and dinners. They gave a traditional chicken pie supper in
November, 1926, one of many down through the years. The pre-
sent women I5 group has made a community tradition of their
annual luncheon which attracts many working in the downtown
area as well as others.
The years have seen many faithful uiorkers and only a
few can be mentioned3 In 1918-20 the L. T. mcKnights and
their two children, Claude and Alma united with the church
along with the IMilliam mobleys and two sons, Lyle and Har-
old. Sometime in the next four years Bessie Newberry and
her two sons, A. [Al. and Harold joined. L. T. mcKnight,
chairman of the Board of Trustees at the time, was active
in carrying the responsibility for the new building.
The Ceres methodists celebrated their 100th Anniver-
sary in April, 1959. The District Superintendent, Oona~d A.
Betty, preached the sermon, with three former pastors assist-
in~ in the service: the Rev. william Dalton of Redwood City;
t the Rev. Arthur Wallace, now retired in Oakland; and the Rev.
J. Freelen Johnson, retired and living in modesto. The Rev.
Johnson, though now livino outside Cere~, is still very much
a part of the town and church life. He served the Ceres pul-
pit from 1948-54 and was given Pastor Emeritus status in 1974.
He still participates in Communion services and writes a week-
ly column, *`Viei&ss and musings of a man Past 30#e, for the Ceres
Courier.
Kenneth Bregg is presently chairman of the Pastor~Parish
Relations Committee and the Administrative Board; Gerald Hei-
singer is Lay Leader; Elton Turner is Finance Chairman; Elsie
Turner is treasurer; and Sarah Cuddy serves as financial sec-
retary. Other church tasks are shared by Evelyn Rensted,
United methodist lAlomen; Wilma martin, Religious Education;
Reid Cochran, choir director; and Carol Helsley Cochran, or-
ganist. The Rev. Clifford H. Collyer will retire in June,
1976 to ~resno. The neui minister on the field will be the
Reverend Raymond mcElroy coming from Shafter, California.
A fellow church member pays the following tribute to the
late myrtle Baldridge Ham: "The passing away of myrtle Ham ~t
Easter time in 1975 left a deep impression on the members of
her church where she was considered a pillar of both church
and choir. Her philosophy of life and her acts of kindness
made her a joy to be around."
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FIR5T BAPTIST CHURCH OF CERES - 1579
The first church building in £eres ~as that of the First
Baptist £hurch and it ~as the church for many, many years in
another sense. First organized October 7, 1679 pith tiMelve
members and the Reverend £. H. Holden as pastor, it for a long
time had the same community standing that the 8rethren £hurch
in Empire had, namely, affiliation ~iith the approved church
`Alas said to be almost a prerequisite for any teacher seeking
employment in Ceres schools.
It is certainly true, as one reads accounts of early fam-
ilies, that many of those active in community life were also
active in the Baptist £hurch. The methodists who met separate-
ly also met with the Baptists, as seen on the previous page,
and as in all small communities of the time, social and cul-
tural activities centered in the church and it was natural
that all newcomers, whatever their church background, would
be assimilated into the only church in town that had a build-
mg to meet in that was a church. There were, of course, a
few who made the effort to travel the miles to Turlock or to
modesto.
The first building of the ~eres Baptists was on land do-
nated by Daniel Whitmore, a faithful Baptist. It was built
at a cost of $7,000 and was dedicated in 1882, at which time
articles of incorporation were also drawn up. The following
year Ceres was host to the Central Baptist Association which
included churches in ~an Francisco, San Jose and sacramento.
This building was destroyed by fire on a Sunday ev8ning, Nov-
ember 12, 1889, but steps were taken immediately to rebuild.
J. w. Hudelson, ~. J. Roberts and others solicited sub-
scriptions, as the insurance had been allowed to lapse. ~o-
berts was especially active in contacting donors, even non-
Baptists, and was paid for his time.. 5lightly over $1,400
was subscribed by members; over $1,200 by non-members. James
E. Richards, first husband of Florence Ulch Worrell, was the
architect and builder who superintended the construction. He
also subscribed generously to the building fund. This sec-
ond building is the one which is still standing today, con-
nected to an addition dedicated in 1950.
The new building was dedicated in the early summer of
1900 when J. m. Helsley was still the pastor. The note to
cover the building mortgage was signed by C. N. ~bhitmore, F.
m. Reed, J. 0. Averill, John K. Johnson, and 6eorge P. Hall.
Individuals and the Ladies Aid Society (see the story on ~eres
Sewing Society in another chapter) donated money for pews,
organ, water, lighting and heating. An acetylene gas plant
was installed and furnishing waz completed five years later.
The parsonage, still in use and located on the corner of Fourth
and North Streets, was built in 1907-08 on lots donated by
`Aihitmore. The house was paid for by subscription, the largest
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PAGE 172 Show Image
being made by George Tully1 one of the original tuielve mern
bers. In 191w, the membership had grown to 154 but was
soon cut to 139 by the in~1uenza epidemic and some moving
away. Allura E. Ulch was ~1erk o~ the church from January 4,
1888 to January, 1923. A mr. Jaegers estimated the number
on the roll at that time (1923) at 225; mrs. Ulch thought
it much larger.
The First Baptist Church of ~er~s, located on the corner
of North and Fifth Streets, is a part of the General Associa
tion of Regular Baptist Churches (GARBC). The present pastor
is the Rev. Richard (3. Sherman assisted by the Rev. £arl
Olson, education pastor, and Richard Ryder, music director.
Church officers which altogether form the church board are:
Deacons, David Cowles, Lawrence Freidline, Clifford Helm,
Dana mcclure, Ronald ITleFarlane, Glenn mapes, Frank Nicholas,
Ryder, Arthur Spencer, and Norman Taylor; Trustees, Leonard
Heisel, Lester Hyer, Arthur Jackson, Phillip Reynders, and
Kenneth Simmons.
S~YRNA PARK ~oNGRL(3~TIFJNAL £HURCH 1903
~ITw~ONGR~GATI~NAL CHUG
"The Pilgrim Congregational £hurch of Smyrna Park are
making arrangements for building a chapel on the right hand
side of Roeding Avenue east of the canal. They have been
holding their services in the open air, but hope to soon have
a sheltering roof over their heads," (`1The Ceres Scraper", 1903)
The families who began the £ongregational £hurch of Ceres
were from Nebraska and Iowa largely, with New England Congre
gational backgrounds, and were led by th~ Rev. Clinton Douglas.
They organized officially on may 17, 190;5 and built their
small chapel the next month. The minister had his home just
south of the chapel; it later became the site of the K. \1.
Quigley home. In July of 1903, a Sunday School and Christian
Endeavor group was organized. The name was changed to "Smyrna
Park".
In 1908, the Congregationalists decided to move closer
to the center of things and built a new church on the north
west corner of Park and Sixth Streets, It was enlarged in
1920. Soon after that a Parish House was built on the lot
west of the church for use as a social hall, The chairman
of the building committee at the time wa~ Luther H. ~illett.
A parsonage was purchased in 1903, also. It is the home at
present of mrs. Henrietta Dillon0 3028 Fifth Street. The first
little chapel in the country became the home of the Appleby
family. It has been enlarged and remodelled and is now the
home of Helene Appleby Olson and her husband milford Olson,
on mcGee Road. The women's group of the church, organized
in 1916, had an unusual name, the "Congregational Friendly."
mrs. E. C. Barnes served as its president for eighteen years.
1 ~9
PAGE 173 Show Image
In 1934, the £ongregationalists decided to merge with
the methodists and tore their church down. The Parish House
has remained as their monument, serving many groups through
the years-~youth recreational center, Legion Hall, club
house, and home for numerous fledgling church groups. Saved
from the church iuas the pulpit, seat and organ. Hand carved
from redwood railroad ties by the Rev. m. H. Williams, the
pulpit has a carved inscription from Psalm 145. It was given
to the methodist Church. IYIr. and mrs. Sam Simms now own the
organ, which was given to the church by the Taylor family.
Transferring to the methodist Church were thirty-seven
people including the Williams family, and those of the myers,
muirhead, £rawford, Calkins, Lander, Gruenig, Barrows, Ores-
sier, Hiatt, Craig, Fairbanks, Cook, Atkinson, Francis, Baer,
Brown, and Lystra families. Three are still members of the
methodists--Parker Crawford, mrs. mildred Taylor and mrs.
Hattie Williams muirhead.
FIRST CHURCH DF CHRIST (CHRISTIAN) - igoB
The First Church of Christ, generally referred to as the
Christian Church, was organized in the home of C. H. Edison
on Fourth Street in the Spring of 1908. The Rev. E. 0. Ferg
uson, pastor of the Christian Church in modesto, was the or-
gani zer.
An old edition of the Ceres Courier states "The Christ-
ian Church has bought a lot in the northern part of the vil-
lage and will erect a church edifice there soon," quoting
from a 1908 IYIodesto newspaper. Hotuever, the church history
states that iflrs. nancy Conner, one of those who first met in
the Edison home, gave her lot at the corner of Third and North
as a .1 foundation for a church.'~ She is also credited with
getting signed pledges for building funds, starting off the
list with her own hard-earned $1,QOOe Her gift matched that
of the much iAiealthier T. K. Beard of the modesto church.
Others at that first meeting were mr. and mrs. Godfrey mall
and daughters Julia and Grace, mrs. Bell Lyman and mrs. J. H.
Owen, in addition to the Reverend F. ~. Reed, first pastor,
and his wife.
The building was completed sometime in the spring of 1909.
The first board of trustees was composed of m. o. mobley, C.
H. Edison, Je C. Pearl, IA. S. Chase, an~ Godfrey mall. The
first couple to be married in the new church were Ardella Hack-
ett and Frank Long. Lester Hackett was the first Sunday School
superintendent. mrs. Conner was able to work ten more years
in the church. Known both in her church and the community for
helping those in need, she also made one final gift two years
before her death--she deeded her home on Fifth Street for the
parsonage.
John Young, the minister from 1919 to 1927, served for the
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PAGE 174 Show Image
longest period to date. D is tenure the parsonage on
Fifth 5treet ~as sold (in u19r~n1~ ahnd property nearer the
church ~as purchased. As the Rev. Young owned his own home,
the building on the new property was used for extra Sunday
School rooms for several years.
In the hard times of the thirties, economy measures
included using the old pence around the property and the
dead Acacia trees for fuel. The organ (purchased origi
nally for $s) was traded in to pay ~or repair work on the
piano, and the minister's salary dropped from $125 to $65
per month. A fund was begun in 1Y43, at the urging of Fred
Salter, long-time elder, for a new building. Construction
was begun on three lots which had been purchased at the cor-
ner of Third and magnolia Streets. members assisted pith
the building with even the women pulling nails and piling
lumber. Robert Jessup, a trustee, was especially noted for
his cork and direction on the structure. The building, the
present one, was dedicated in 1951. Jessup was head of San
Jose 8ible College for many years.
The present pastor is marvel 0. Ounbar. Associate pas-
tor is Tom Salter. Chairman of the combined church board
( elders and deacons) is Carl morrow. Carleen Reinhart Gowan
acts as the music director while her sister, Charlotte Rein-
hart Carpenter is the secretary.
GLAD TIDINGS CHURCH - 191w
Celebrating its fiftieth anniversary in a newly renovated
sanctuary on June 25, 26 and 27, 1976, the Ceres Glad Tidings
Church was originally called the Ceres Pentecostal Church. The
first meetings were held in the home of mr. and mrs. A. H. Per-
sing on East ~hitmore Avenue. The Reverend Harold Persing was
the first pastor.
Charter members were the Persings and sons Ely, Lloyd,
Harold and Donald, the elmer Persings, mr. and mrs. ~. j,
Allen and daughter Geraldine (later mrs. Pearl Brown), mrs.
Clara Kirksey, mrs. Elizabeth Kershbergen and daughters Anna
and Frances, mrs. Flora matthews, Jesse moore and Robert moore.
Grace Persing Allen is still a member of the church. Prior
to the year 1925, the group worshipped in a pool hall-confec
tionery store (Doolittle's). The present building, moved in-
to in 1925, has been expanded several times and has recently
been completely renovated. It is located at 2745 Second St.
The Glad Tidings Church was so named because students from
the Glad Tidings Bible School in 5an Francisco began it. In
1926 the Pentecostal name was dropped and the church became a
part of the Assemblies of God. The present pastor is the Rev.
H. Eugene Spears. Herbert Henry is minister of youth and music.
The present board is made up of Frank Barton, LAlalter G. Boling,
Paul Davis, Orby Cummins, Henry Herfurth, and Arthur Johnson.
Dorothy Boling is secretary.
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PAGE 175 Show Image
LAWREN£E STRET CHURCH OF £HRIST 1g37
hat is now called the Lairence Street £hurch of Christ
first met in Ceres in 1937 in the first American Legion Hall.
Charter members were mr. and mrs. we J. Boyd, mr. and mrs.
Je H. Hinton, mr. and mrs. Bud Daniels, mr. and mrs. mutt
Jackson, mr. and mrs. Granvil Tucker and mr. and mrs. John
L. Reynolds.
In its first seven years of existence the church also
met in the Ceres Community Center and the Farm Labor Camp
buildings. In 1944, they built their first building, on
Poplar Avenue. Church officers were J. I. Hickey, J. H. Hin
ton, and G. A. Haverly. Aihen the State Highway Department
began Freeway plans it bought the church and property and a
new building was constructed at the present location, 2610
Lawrence St. It was completed in 1958 and incorporated at
that time with the following officers: Billy Boyd, Howard
Hickey, Hershel Trent Young, Johnnie Reynolds, L. (3. Adams
and Carl Reynolds.
The first minister to hold meeting in 1937 was Alvie
Johnson. Also holding meetings in that year and the fol-
lowing one were Ervin Waters, Chester King and Barney Welch.
Worship services are held every 5unday morning and even-
mg. There is also Wednesday evening worship. The major part
of the teaching is done by lay church members. Church mem-
bership at the present time totals about one hundred and twen-
ty five. Pot-luck suppers are held every first monday night
and church picnics and outinqs are a tradition of the congre-
gation. The present pastor is Jack Cutter.
A long-tire member and lay preacher says, ~ endeavor
to stay very closely to Bible teachings and encourage our
members to be good citizens and active in community affairs.31
PLEASANT HOmE DUNKARD BRETHREN CHURCH - 1938
Closely resembling the simple, neat, white-painted coun-
try churches of early America is the Pleasant Home Dunkard
Brethren Church about two miles east of Ceres city limits,
on Roeding Avenue.
In 1926, several members of the Church of the Brethren
became dissatisfied with the way the church was drifting, they
felt, from the original teachings of their denomination. They
organized the Dunkard Brethren Church which was first char-
tered in maryland. There are notu churches in several states.
In 1q26 one w~s started at Waterford; in 1938 mr. and mrs.
Harvey Ruff of Ceres gave the land on Hoeding )\venue for a
new church building.
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PAGE 176 Show Image
he Qunkard Brethren believ in beig baptized by trine
( thre.~G1d) immersion. Their dress is conservative, *ith the
sisters having 1~n~ hair aRd coverin~s ~n their heads for
prayer (1 Corinthians ii). A member states, ~e try to have
the Last Supper thE same as our Lord had it pith his dis-
ciples, with feet washing, followed by the Lord's Supper (a
full meal) and then the Communion." The men a~t as elders
and ministers; there is no paid clergy. The families tra-
ditionally identify strongly pith farmi~9 as an occupation.
There are 61 adult members at this time, in addition to
many children. Sunday School is held at 9:45; preaching is
at 11 a.m. and 7330 p.m. every Sunday. Bible study is held
on two Wednesdays a month with sinning meetings on alternate
Wednesdays. They tuelcome visitors.
MITCHELL ROAO CHURCH OF ~hRI5T - ca. 1940
As near as can be determined the church that is now
known as the mitchell Road church of Christ be9an about 1940
and met in several differant locations9 including the old
American Legion Hall on Sixth and Park Sts. ~t was called
then simply ~The Church of Christ". They put up the first
building of their own across the street from their Legion
meeting place in 194?. In 1963 the church building and con-
gregation were moved to the present location on mitchell
Road and assumed a new name.
Ouring the same year that they moved onto their new
site, a cement block structure was added to the moved build-
mg, the members contributing their various building skills
and working along with a professional mason. The Ceres
church does not affiliate with any larger body but acts as
an independent unit. They hold worship twine each Sunday
and on Wednesday night. Taking communion every Sunday is
a requirement of membership. No church school is conducted.
There is congregational singing only, without musical in-
struments, and members take turns as song leaders.
The organizing minister of the Ceres church was C. R.
Worsham of Vuba City. C. B. Head acted as full-time minis-
ter for several years, but there is not at present a paid
minister. Edna Jackson ~heaton and Clarence Cisco were
among the earliest members and are still active. There is
no formal church board at present. Thomas W. Lankford acts
as church treasurer and members share in pastoral''duties as
well as in the upkeep of the building and grounds.
TH~ CATHOLIC CO~~UNITV OF ST. JUOE (Si:. Juo~'s PARISH) - 1q47
Catholics in tha Cirus arwe wuri originally, alone with
all other Catholics in Stanialaus and San Joaquin Counties,
a part of thu Parish of St. nary in Stockton, founded in 1551.
There was a small Catholic mission at Lagrange early in Stan-
isalus history.
PAGE 177 Show Image
In 1878, St. Stanislaus Parish ission iuas begun and
becawne a parish of its aim in 1551. In 1921, the Parish of
St. Anthony was established in Iiughson, with Father Charles
Phillips as pastor. It included the territory and people
who are today the Parish of St. Jude in Ceres. In 1947,
after a period between 1935 and 1947 when it z£ias again just
a mission, St. Anthony's was reactivated as a parish. At
that time the Catholics of the Ceres area requested separate
status.
In Septei~ber, 1947, the Catholic community of Ceres and
vicinity began to meet for worship in the, then, Legion Hall
at Fifth and Park St. Father Thomas Browne of St. Anthony's
served as pastor. A mission church building was constructed
in Ceres under Father James mcElligott of St. An~ho~y~~ mi-
tial leadership and completed under Father John Hayes. The
ground-breaking ceremonies had taken place on October 25,
1952, the feast day of St. Jude; first mass was celebrated
on easter Sunday, 1953. Bishop merlin Guilfoyle dedicated
the building the same year.
In its first year St. Jude's organized a Holy Name Soc-
lety for men, an Altar Society for `Momen, and a high school
club. There were an average of 255 persons attending Sunday
mass and 155 children attending doctrine classes. Father
Hugh mcKenna replaced Father hayes, and in.June, 1961 the
present pastor, Father John Coghian became p8stor of St. An-
thony's and St. Jude's.
In September, 1962 St. Jude's left mission status and be-
came a separate parish with territorial boundaries thus: sash-
ington and mt. \1ie~ roads to the east; Keyes Road-Crows Land-
ing-Fulkert Roads to the south; the San Joaquin River to the
west; and the Tuolumne river to the north. All Catholics liv-
mg within these boundaries are automatically, by their resi-
dence, members of St. Jude 5. The church grew and a new lo-
cation was decided upon on mitchell Road, to replace the one
on South Central. The new Parish Center, part of a larger
master plan, was completed in 1965. The last mass in the old
hall was celebrated on Sunday, February 25; the Eucharist was
carried to the new Center in a motorcade and a Benediction
was held followed by an open house.
St. Jude's counts more than 1,000 families within its
parish today, of whom 740 are registered. A ful slate of
parish societies and youth programs is in operation. Social
activities include an annualdi~ner and bazaar, a parish pic-
nic and barbecue, breakfasts and dinner dances. A Charity
Program has been especially active through the years. The
Center has been used by the City of Ceres, Ceres Unified
School Oistrict, and other civic groups.
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£EE5 CHUR£H OF THE NAZARENE 1949
The congregation or the Ceres Church of the nazarene first
met in August, 1949 in the Ceres community renter. One of the
organizers and part-time pastor was mr. DeBoard. The first
full-time pastor, the Rev. Kurt Koberneck, arrived in August,
1950.
The first building was done in 1951 when the rev. Gertrude
Knight was pastor. Ten years later a parsonage was built next
to the church, both buildings being on the corner of Whitmore
Avenue and Ninth 5treet. An educational unit was added in 1968.
The present pastor is the Reverend Dell m. Kelley who
came in October, 1971. In July, 1975 four acres were pur-
chased on the west side of mitchell Road, between Whitmore
and Roeding Avenues, and plans were made to relocate within
two years.
The present assistant pastor is the Rev. Richard Bethel,
Lois Wright is minister of music, and Frank Wright is direc-
tor of religious education. The Church of the Nazarene, as
a denomination, began in 1908. It is methodist in teaching
and Congregationalist in form of government. The local group
operates under a Church Board composed of trustees, steiuard-
esses, the Sunday School Superintendent, young people's pres-
ident, and missionary group president, in addition to the pas-
tor. Long-time, working members of the congregation include
Taylor and Avis cobb, Jane and Emma munday, Florence Harnish,
and Fred and Evelyn Rose.
B£TH~L TABERNACLE - 1949
The Bethel Tabernacle, 2425 E. Service Road, is affilia-
ted with the Pentecostal Ct'urch of God of America, Inc. The
group organized in 1949 with the Rev. ~. 0. madsen as first
minister. At first, meetings were held.in a tent on the
church property, but a building was soon started. The Rev.
madsen stayed with the Ceres church for twenty-seven years.
He was succeeded by the Rev. T. C. Dillard, the present mm-
ister.
The present trustees are Arvin Skaggs, dora middleton,
Steve Canfield,and Robert chambers. Public dinners, inclu-
ding those featuring enchiladas, are held in the Ceres Corn-
munity Center during the year.
UNiT~O PENTECOSTAL CHURCH OF CERES - 1950
~ ~
The founding year for the United Pentecostal Church of
Ceres is 1950. They first met in the Ceres Community Center
under the pastorship of the Reverend Alonzo wilson. Soon
after they began meeting, the present property at 3315 So.
Central was purchased. money and labor were donated by the
members to build a small chapel. In march of 1956, during
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PAGE 179 Show Image
the tenure of the Rev. Ralph mccracken, a 32 X 50 auditorium
~as built. In 19~2, the present pastor, the Rev8rend Ewin
R. 5ansom came. His wife Kathleen assisted in music and his
son with the youth. Early in his tenure two more additions
were made to the church plant, including a kitchen and social
hall facility. Again, much labor was donated by members. The
total square footage of church buildings is now in excess of
5,000. Presently the church leaders are formulating plans for
a large auditorium with adjacent foyer~nursery-restroom area,
to be completed within the year.
Fifty to sixty families, the majority of which are young
couples with children, make up the worshipping congregation.
Activities include community outreach services at the honor
Farm each monday night. The newest project is IYlobile Evan
gelism which takes young people around town and on the mo
desto Junior college campus for on-the-spot evangelism and
singing services. The youth of the church have won special
area awards within their denomination.
United Pentecostal Church of Ceres is affiliated with the
United Pentecostal £hurch International with headquarters in
missouri. The assistant pastor at present is the Rev. Denzal
Wilburn. mrs. IAlilburn, an active member since the eerly days
of the church, is presently the secretary-treasurer of the
church board. Board members are Charles Parker, ~ilburn, and
Robert Glenn. Ex-officio members are the Rev. E. W. Williams
and the Rev. Nate montez. Youth director is Leonard Sansom
and Ben ~uigley, Charles Parker and £ecil Newton are superin-
tendents of the Sunday School. There is also an active Ladies
Auxiliary.
FIRST SOUTHERN BAPTIST CHURCH OF £ERES 1954
Located now at 2813 E. Don Pedro Road, the First Southern
Baptist £hurch of Ceres met when the thirteen charter mem-
bers gathered in the Robert Davis home in September, 1954. They
officially organized, a part of the Central \1alley Southern
Baptist Association, in January, 1955, and began worshipping
in the building at Park and Fifth Sts. which has been the first
home of so many churches and organizations.
Brother Noel mills was the first pastor, mary Green ser-
ved as clerk, and ~r. Davis assumed the duties of treasurer
and superintendent. The first deacon elected was Clifford
Sneed and he is still serving in that capacity.
Ground was broken on New Yearns Day, 1965 for the present
building and services were first held there later in that year.
Improvements and additions to site and building are st4ll in
progress. Eight pastors have served the congregation, the pre-
sent one, Dr. Paul Whiteker, havinq been chosen as an interim
pastor five years ago. Assistant pastor is Ronald Cortlever.
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PAGE 180 Show Image
They are assisted by Dorothy Smith, clerk; Shands Harcrow,
Sunday School superintendent; mrs. Harcrow, treasurer; and
Candy Bridges, Training Unior Director.
CENTRAL ASS£~BLY OF GOD 1957
The Central AssEmbly of God is part of the rational
Asseinbiles of God. The local group first `net in 1957 on
the second floor of the ~eres I. 0. 0. F. building. The
first pastor was the ReverEnd George [£1. Alsup; the first
secretary-treasurer was marie Gosa; and Ross F. lAlallis,
cecil Coleman and Orby ~um~ings served as the first Board
of Trustees.
The present property on East Hatch Road was purchased
in 1955 and in 1959 the building which is the present annex
was erected. In 1964 a sanctuary was added and such of the
work upon it was done with volunteer labor.
The present pastor is the Rev. Floyd Osborne. He is
assisted by Sonny Stice, Edwin Pugh and Larry Ham~iiond as
trustees, and iflary Hammond as secretary-treasurer. £harter
members who are still active are John Oliver, Lena Oliver,
Goldie ~allis, and Iflarie Gosa.
`1ILLAGE CHAPEL (FREe WILL BAPTIST) - 1957
- -~
The twenty-seven charter members of the Free Will Baptist
Church, usually referred to as the Village chapel, began to
meet in the ~eres masonic Temple in June, 1957. The first
minister was the Rev. Joe mooneyham who remained for ten
years. First treasurer was Leon Kirk; the first church clerk
was Reba Kirk and she is still serving in that capacity. The
first deacons were Leroy Burger, Leon Kirk and J. R. Plumb.
Land was purchased at 1525 central Avenue in November,
1959 and the first services were held in the new building,
an educational unit used for all purposes at first, on Easter
Sunday, 1960. A second educational unit was added in 1965
and the new sanctuary was completed in 1973. The first two
units were built with the members own labor and contracting.
Leo Durossette, assisted by Billy Hardin, was contractor for
the sanctuary.
The Village Chapel strongly supports the missionary pro-
gram of their church. The highlight of their church year is
the Annual IYIissionary Conference which they began in 1960, at
which returning missionaries speak.
Present trustees are Charles tombs, Leon Kirk, Bill
Usery, Richard Jones, ~nd Leroy Spears. Deacons are Kirk,
Burger, Delbert Loveland, and Thurman Otter. The second
and present minister is the Reverend Adrian Condit. An
annual picnic and \1acation eible School are held.
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PAGE 181 Show Image
MITCHELL OAO ~IS5IUNARY BAPTI5T &HUR£H 1958
In march, 1953 the Unity Baptist Church purchased its
preserit location &t 2109 mitchell Road and changed its name
to the mitchell Road missionary Baptist Church. It had begun
almost two years earlier and had met in modesto at the I. 0.
0. F. building and, later, at the F. 0. E. Hall. The Rev.
Gordon Thompson of Ceres, as missionary for the North Amen-
can Baptist Association with headquarters in Little Rock,
Arkansas, opened the mission church.
Charter members were Gordon, Zona Belle and Dow Thomp
son; Gene, Dixie and Larry £lemence; Rudolph and Velma Hogg;
the ~. A. Brown gamily; elder and irs. J. H. R~aves; R. A.
Owen; mr. and mrs. R. IA. matthews; mr. and mrs. George 5tan
difer; and IYr. and ITirs. George Thomas.
Services were held in the old farm house on the mitchell
Road property until the first unit was built in 1959. The Rev.
Thompson, who is still a member of the congregation, states,
"mitchell Road Baptist Church, like many others, has had both
prosperous and lean years. Their property is debt free. They
are a determined group and reel that the future is as bright
as the promises of God."
The church supports both home and foreign missions and is
affiliated with Baptist missionary Association of America,
Baptist missionary Association of California, and IYlid-5tate
Baptist missionary Association. The present pastor is the
Rev. John White. Dow Thompson is treasurer; Sandra Thompson,
clerk; and trustees are R. H. Norton, Dow Thompson, John White
and Gordon Thompson.
HAR\1EST PRESBYTERIAN £HURCH 1960
After preliminary surveys and comity agreements with area
churches, an organizational committee first began meeting in
march, 1960 to form plans ~or a Presbyterian church in £eres.
On the committee were mrs. John G. Veneman and mr. and mrs.
Grant Lucas of First Presbyterian Church, modesto; mrs. Norman
Zipser, Richard French and Herbert L. Christiansen from Gen
eva Presbyterian, modesto; the Reverend John R. Becker of Gen
eva; and advisor Dr. Harold Wilson, Associate General Presby
ter, Synod of the Sierra.
The first services were held 5eptember 25, 1960 in the
present American Legion Hall in Ceres. Financial assistance
came from the Board of National missions, Presbyterian church,
U. S. A. and hymnals and other equipment were donated by area
Presbyterian churches. members were ~eres and Hughson people
who affiliated with the Presbyterian churches of modesto. 5up-
ply ministers from area churches took charge until the Rev.
Robert clark arrived on April 23, 1961.
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PAGE 182 Show Image
The name *~Harvest" ~as chosen by the congregation both
for its scriptural symbolism and as an appropriate connection
wjth Ceres and its agricultural heritage. It was first sug
gested by Calvin L. Heim, and two young people, Susan 8ro~n
and Douglas Heim. John 4:35 and matthew 9:3? were the texts.
A theme hymn was chosen, with the first lines: *~Come, labor
on. tAiho dares stand idle on the harvest plain, iAhile all a
round him waves the golden train?" Organizational services
were held on February 25~ 1962 with a charter roll of seven
ty adults.
In 1959, mrs. Wallace &aswell had given two acres of
land on moffet Road and the San Joaquin Presbytery purchased
an additional one and one-third acres adjoining. A building
committee, headed by Homer Jorgensen, was chosen and a chapel
education unit, part of a master plan, was moved into on march
1, 19~4. Wayne Osaki of San Francisco, a Presbyterian elder,
was the architect. The first governing board, a unicameral
one composed of six elder-trustees had on it Herndon C. Ray,
Grant Lucas, Homer Jorgensen, Will Atkinson, Wayne angel and
Irwin Wolfe. Elder Wolfe served as clerk of Session for
many years.
The present minister is the Reverend James mcKaughan,
former missionary to mexico and seminary professor. The
present elder-trustees are £aryl Fowler, clerk; June Lirnprecht,
Duryea Warn, \1irqinia Irons, Wayne Johnson, Roger 5trange, Cal-
vin Heim, marlys Weekley and Leon Froehlicb. Choir director is
Lorene Tillion. Recently a group led by the Rev. and mrs.
mcKaughan travelled to mexico to explore the possibilities of
establishing a sister-church relationship with a Presbyterian
church in Tabasco.
The first Harvest Festival was held in Uctober, 1964 and
has become a tradition since. A separate holiday from our na-
tional Thanksgiving feast day, it is patterned on the harvest
celebrations of the english and Scottish churches, in which
the fruits and colorful plants of the harvest are placed on
the altar to symbolize gratitude for the plenty of the earth.
roth serious and fun events are held in connection with the
Festival. Donations are given to CROP or some similar self-
help program.
SE\1ENTH DAY AOV£NTI5T CHURCH OF CERES 19~1
According to the diaries of Allura Ulch, there were at
least two Adventist families in Ceres in the 1890's, the Spaul-
dings and the Currys. mrs. Ulch, a devout Baptist most of her
life, discussed doctrine with them as they shared tasks in the
town. mrs. Spaulding was mother to mrs. Curry who had a son
Willie. Following is a passage from a diary:
`~Saturday, July 23, 1898--mrs. Curry~s rest day.
I called there this afternoon, but did not re-
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PAGE 183 Show Image
vember that it was their Sabbath until I was
going in the gate. Then I thought I would not
turn back. I enjoyed my call very much and was
pleased to meet Willie, whom I have not seen
before for nine years.
The £eres area Adventists first met as a group in 1961 in
the school buildings belonging to the church on £entral and
Hatch. IAihen the school auditorium burned all of the hymn
books were burned with it. In 1968 a building was completed
on land purchased adjoining the school grounds, the old Owens
place. The Hughson congregation joined with the Ceres people,
making sixty-eight charter members. Or. Donald LaTourette was
chairman of the organizing committee.
The new building was designed by a committee within the
church congregation and was constructed partially with the vo-
lunteer labor of members. A new multi-purpose building is now
being built. Ceres Adventists have a strong community service
program centered in their Welfare Service. They are one of the
five churches which support the elementary and high schools on
Hatch Road. There is a Bible IAborker, Rose Shelton, who studies
and works with people in their homes.
The first pastor was Hayward Shafer. The present one is
Pastor Frank T. munsey, assisted by Pastor \1erlyn Retzer. Pre-
sently serving on the church board are John IYIcPheeters as
chairman; Ernest Bleakley, head deacon; £harlotte £randall,
head deaconess; John Davis, head usher; Eldon OeAiitt; Robert
~ossert; elmer Ojede, Jerry Dill, Raymond Ermshar, Phillip eel-
son, Ted mcDow, Harold Larsen, william Gray, Ray Howe, and
Dale Stoops.
£ENTRAL A\1ENU£ GENERAL BAPTIST ~HUR£H - 19~5
The congregation calling itself the £entral Avenue General
Baptist church first organized in 1965 and held meetings in the
American Legion Hall on Ninth and Lawrence Sts. The first mm-
ister ~as the Rev. Billy Stewart ~nd the organizing trustees
were Robert Watts, Shirley Ellerd, Early Ellerd, Dee Johnson,
and Harold Beard. The church is a part of the Central Califor-
nia Association of General Baptist Churches of America.
The present church building was constructed in 1971 at
~44 North Central Avenue. Coming on the field in 1g73 was the
present minister, the Rev. Jack Kuhlman of Denair. He also
participated in the organization of the Ceres church. The Rev.
Kuhlman was the founding pastor and, with his wife, has direct-
ed the church's Youth Camp at Camp Sylvester in Pinecrest for
the past fourteen years. Presently on the official church board
are deacon and trustee Bob Watts and Shirley Ellerd, trustee.
The young people in the church are especially involved in
the church program at & Sylvester.
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PAGE 184 Show Image
ST. BENEDI£T'S EPISCOPAL CHURH 1973
St. Benedict's began as 5t. Timothy's Episcopal Church,
with a nucleus of Ceres area Episcopalians meeting first in
1973 ~or Communion in the American Legion Hall, Ninth and
Lawrence Streets. It is a parochial mission project of Ste
~ Episcopal Church in f~odesto.
In early 1976 property was purchased at 1941 Butcher
Avenue, off North Central and north of Hatch Road. The build-
mg on the property was converted to church use, and the name
changed so as to not duplicate a name already in use in the
diocese. The Reverend Thomas Foster, rector o~ 5t. Paul's,
oversees the project with worker priests, deacons, and lay-
men assisting in services.
CERES 5PANI~H~5~\1ENTH DAY ADVENTI5T CHURCH - 197[]e5
Pastor Pedro Geli serves the Spanish-speaking Adventists
of Ceres, modesto and Escalon. Originally meeting in the Ceres
area, the new church is now meeting at 801 South Franklin in
modesto. The Ceres name was retained because there are plans
to eventually build in the Ceres area on property donated by
Or. Donald LaTourette. It is not a mission church of the Ceres
Seventh-Day Adventist Church but is a sell-contained church of
its own. Pastor Geli participates in a 5panish-speaking tele-
vision program.
JEHO\1AH'S WITNESSES
Two congregations meet at the Hall of the Jehovah8s iAiit-
nesses at 5047 South Central Avenue in Ceres. The Ceres Con-
gregation meets separately from the modesto South Congrega-
tion. There is no paid ministry; members act as Elders and
Shepherds. Theocratic school is conducted during the week.
No other information was obtainable.
FAITH TABERNACLE INTERNATIONAL OF CERES, INC. 1975?
This newest congregation in Ceres, a Pentecostal church,
meets at 2462 Park St., Ceres, in the former Congregational
Parish House which has housed a succession of churches over
the years. Extensive renovation of building and grounds has
taken place. Paige Scoggins of Hughson is listed as leader.
No other information was obtainable.
VICTORY TABERNACLE - PENTECOSTAL CHURCH UF 600 1975?
Sunday worship is held three separate times in this church
which meets in the old theatre building in the 2900 block of
Fourth Street. worship is also held on Tuesday and Friday eve-
nines. The pastor is Billy Hurt.
No other information was obtainable.
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PAGE 185 Show Image
"5AY, DID YOU HEAR ABOUT . .
Thomas 0. Harp . . . . . e * * 5tate 5enator 189193
J* A. Wagener . . . . * . . . County Schools 5uperintendent
1895-1903
E. H. Annear . . * . * . * . * County Surveyor 1906-14
IA'. Roscoe Service . . . * . . Supervisor 1908-12
Joseph m. Cross . . . . . . .~Oistrict Attorney 1914
`1aughn IAAhitmore . . . . * * . Supervisor - 24 years
Ed Whitmore . . . * . . . . . county Treasurer - 36 years
Lo&iell Garrison . . . * . . . county Assessor
Harriett Bradbury . . * . . . President, California Federated
Women's Clubs
Lucile Warner . . . . e * * * lAlife of Frank Capra, Hollyiuood
di rector
Karylton Broadiuell . . * . * . County Assessor (current)
John melugin . * . . . e * * * Supervisor
George mccurry . . . . . e * e U. S. State Oepartment
Clifford Barrows . 9 . . . . . Executive Associate to Billy
Graham, Evangelist
dare Berryhill . . e * * * * Assemblyman, State Senator
John Thurman * . 9 . . . . 9 . Assemblyman
-182-
PAGE 186 Show Image
.. --,;
4 ½ ~ `-- &----,
- ~ `4--
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A
4
~
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~ ~ ~ 4~'
~`, ~~;\;
<~
4 ~
4'7
I
~
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TOP: First sc:~ooI in Ceres moved from Hatch and 99 Hwy. location to Ceres in 1874.
Picture tal(en September 29,1884. Mr. W.A. Hers~iiser, teac:ier. LEFT: Bert Hatc~i :iome;
incorporating first Ceres school. RIGHT: Two-story Ceres Grammar School built near site
of first school.
PAGE 187 Show Image
- ~-- L E F T : ~ `Wh ite Brick" Ceres
Grammar School. MIDDLE
LEFT: Ceres High Sdiool-1915.
MIDDLE RIGHT: Ads from
"Tee Ec:io" Ceres High School
Annual, 1911. BOTTOM: Ceres
Grammar School W~ti'~ old school
%- - - used briefly for high school in
---- -~- ~ -~ - - --- - --~--- - - - - background.
~ - -
~
~ --
-~4~
-; Shady Neuk Blacksmith Shop
4~ ~ ~ ~ -. -N~ Carriage & Wagonmakin~ -
III Farming Implements
~ - -- ~- ~ iu
~-- ROBI.GRA Repaired.. Horseshoeing
I RON PIPE AN () FITTI NO
-- - CERES, CAL! F()~NIA
--
Johli Osterberg Well=Borer
Prices Right Work (]uaranteed
Telephone Farmers 857 ~. F. I). I, Ceres, Calif.
~ - ~ --
PAGE 188 Show Image
EDUCATIC): FORMAL AND INFRIYIAL
*~!!~~~ton of a Teacher's LifeThey go on grinding
in the same old mill, the same ideas all tending
to the same object from year to year. The same
vacations, the Normal Institute, all going over
the same ground againt The same tir different pro
fessors with the same tiresome old longing to air
their learning. Phught It is no wonder a poor
girl gets desperate and marries a barber.'9
--Letter from a Friend to A. E. Ulch
Irregular Diary No. 1, 1885
In the history o~ Stanislaus county published by Lewis
Publishing ~o. in 1892, John H. Carpenter is quoted as saying
that Adamsville School District was the first one located in
Stanislaus County. At another place in the history it states
that "the first authenticated record of an organized school
held within the present limits of Stanislaus County is that
one established near the confluence of the Tuolumne and San
Joaquin Rivers, in 1853, by John W. Laird, a wellknown pio-
neer, who was a resident of this region in 1846."
However, old school records that have been preserved
show the petition to form Adamsville School District was filed
in march of 1864, five years after the school district that
was to become Ceres8 first school was organized. At any rate,
the boundaries of the Adamsville School District encompassed
part of what is now the Cares Unified School District, accord
in~ to the description given. (It also included much that
is now in other districts to the south and west of Ceres.)
The Adamsville School District petitioners included names
some of which were later associated with Ceres3 John vivian,
~. K. Green, J. H. munoz, Stephen \1ivian, matthew moyle,
H. D. Bryant, John IAi. Laird, F. H. Ayer, L. Lyman, E. D. Gid-
dings, W. H. Stewart, and william ~al lace.
Davis School District, which liter became Ceres School
District, was organized on January 27, 1859 by Harvey Bates
Davis. Davis, a native of Indiana, was a man of large family
who had great need for a school--the 1870 census shows that
he and his Alabama-born wife Eliza had nine sons and five
daughters living at hoine. It is believed that there suas at
least one other older son. This is the same H. B. Davis who
was a large land owner and ferryman. He established the ferry
which later became the ~hitmore Ferry and earlier had another
one further up the Tuolumne river.
-185-
PAGE 189 Show Image
Davis School was located at what carne to be called hatch
Crossing where hatch Road crosses gg Highway, on what is gen
erally referred to as m. m. Williams' far~ IAhilliains did not
enter the school picture, however, until 1571 when he was ap
pointed a trustee of the district.
`Aharrants to pay the teacher of the Davis School were
issued in 1859, the first vear school was held. An 1560 tea-
cher's report shows twEnty-eight pupil! from six families en-
rolled. The surnames were Hinkson, Pinkson (possibly a mis-
spelling), Davis, Peacock, Bonds and IAhier. The teacher kept
a careful record of all parents and other visitors who came
to the classroom. The first trustees were James C. Peacock Ii
and J. F. Hinkson.
Children in the area, for the most part, attended the
Davis School. A few were sent away to school and some far-
mers hired a teacher for a few months and conducted a sort
of private school for a few neighbors in their own homes.
Ceres really began entering the Davis School history in 1570
when mrs. Aurelia Chapin, a widow from massachusetts with two
children, began teaching. She is traditionally referred to
as ~erese first school teacher, and was related to the Carter
family.
In an account delivered before the Cares Reunion of 1595,
mrs. Chapin states that the school was located on mr. Davis'
farm. In 1570 a new one-room, ungraded school was built there
to replace the original structure. It was of a size to accom-
modate fifty pupils, according to the standards of the day,
but the first class IYIrs. Chapin taught was smaller. In the
tactful manner of all good teachers speaking publicly to par-
ents, she said: "The school was small but interesting~ twenty-
five bright, enthusiastic pupils, eager to learn and thoroughly
good."
The School House Is IYIoved to Ceres
In 1571, W. H. Davis, m. m. williams and James P. LAbains-
cott were appointed for one-year terms on the Davis school
board. The following year an election was held and IYl. m. Wil-
hams, Daniel Whitmore and John Service were elected to one,
three and two-year terms, respectively. Daniel Whitmore served
only the one term. In 1874 the Ceres trustees and the citizens
stepped up a campaign to get the school building moved to the
village of Ceres. They were successful, possibly because not
only were more of the students coming from Ceres but IAihitmore
offered land on which to place the school. By the 5chool year
beginning September, 1575 the gift of land was made official
by a deed from Daniel lAihitmore to the Trustees of the Davis
School District for one dollar in gold coin. mrs. Chapin con-
tinued as teacher to the growing classes until 1579. ~phraim
Hatch became a trustee in 1574 and Richard Whitmore in 1575.
John Service served a second time, completing the last year
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PAGE 190 Show Image
of IAiilliams. Other early trustees included cyrus E. Lee,
~illiam 8. Harp, J. G. Annear and H. ~. Starks.
The Register of School IAar~ants, 1874-1894 shows the fol-
lowing, regarding Davis School:
July 10, 1874 - warrant drawn in favor of James
Gurney for expressage on library books--75~.
( James Burney had the Burneyville Ferry on
the Stanislaus River.)
July 20, 1874 - mrs. A. Chapin - $25.85 for teaching.
August, 1874 - mrs. Chapin reimbursed for school
supplies--$5.75.
march 13, 187w- Thomas Keegan given 23.62 for labor
on Davis School.
march 15, 1876- mark Williams given $5.25 for teach-
mg in Davis School.
march 15, 1876- A. &hapin - $70 for teachinq.
march 27, 1876- Cyrus Lee - $4.25 for supplies.
April 8, 1876 - A. Chapin - $70 for teaching.
April 27, 1876- A. Chapin $70 for teaching.
1887 - J. G. Annear was paid $33.64 and H. A. Starks
$13.80 for collecting ~`illegal taxes", probably
back taxes, Davis School District.
1887 - W. A. Hershiser - $42.50 for teaching
march, 1887 - 0. K. Woodbridge was paid $3 for fur-
nishing wood for the school.
Teachers mere paid erratically. School was usually "kept"
in the spring and summer months only, sometimes extending into
October. Note that trustees (Annear and Starks) had to col-
lect the taxes, personally. school funds were also used to
pay a local person to take a school census. For instance, R.
K. Whitmore was paid $6 for taking the census in 1876.
Other early teachers besides Hershiser mentioned above
after mrs. ~hapin were a mr. Gage who i&'as both teacher and
preacher in the community in 1881 and Si L. Hanscom who taught
briefly in the old one-room school. Teachers other than mrs.
£hapin rarely stayed for more than one or two terms in the
early days of the Davis School District, the young tuomen usu-
ally getting married and the men using it only as a part-time
job.
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PAGE 191 Show Image
Crowded Classrooms
Ip 1584, in the fall, a partition in the school house
( still one room only) was removed--probably a cloakroom par
tition. But still there was not enough room for all the Pu-
pils so, two years later Ceres had its first school tax elec-
tion for a new school. In 1857 a two-story, two-room school
was erected near the site of the one-room school which was
probably at this time moved to the Hatch farm.
Raymond E. Hatch, grandson of early settler Ephraim Hatch,
stated in a letter to myrtle Ham in 1967, "Our oi~n home (the
Herbert Hatch family's) was one of the few if not the only
home on the road which later became known as the Hatch Road.
The main portion of the building in which we lived was the
school house moved to this location from the Ceres District and
in which our father and Aunt Cora attended class. 18 The build-
mg which had been moved from the Davis farm to the Ceres park
was moved back north again. The Bert Hatch home was located
just east of the present Lucky market, down a long drive off
Hatch Road.
The site in Ceres for both of its first schools was at the
northeast section of the present Triangle Park near the corner
of North and Third. For the first time, when the two-story
school was completed, the classes were ~ and two teachers,
a mr. Chase and miss emma AAallace were hired. mrs. L. m. i~orth
was principal of the school in 1891 and an untiring community
worker. In 1590, the average monthly wages paid male teachers
in 5tanislaus County was $81.50; female teachers only averaged
$65.
In the first (in Ceres proper) one-room school, before it
was replaced by the two-story school, the first district lib-
rary was catalogued and all community meetings were held,
including Grange and church as it was the only public build-
mg in town until 1579. It is interesting to note that the
County Superintendent of Schools, IYlajor James Burney, was the
one to organize the first Ceres Sunday School. In 1857, the
same year the new school was built, the first free kindergarten
in Ceres was held, in the summer months. It was also held for
at least two summers following, the W. C. T. U. the sponsor.
Separation of church and state did not seem to be bothering
anyone as long as the children had some instruction.
The Stars and 5tripes were first raised over a Ceres school
building on IYIay 30, 1590. The school, led by Principal John
Herrick and teacher emma lAlallace, sang the Star Spangled 8anner,
with visitors joining in.
Oavis District Becomes Ceres District
The district continued to be called the Davis School Dis-
trict until 1897 when it was officially changed to Ceres School
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PAGE 192 Show Image
District. Hoiever, the person taking the county school board
minutes did not immediately change, for the School Board mm
utes Book, 15951899 continued to use the name Davis ~or an
other year. In 1898, the first promotions approved by the
County Board o~ Education aster the name Ceres ~as adopted
`uere:
Seventh grade Guy IAhitmore, `1aughan ~hitmore
Sixth grade Linda Service, myrtle lard, Hazel
Hill, \1irgil Updyke
Fifth grade Lily Baldwin, George Cookson,
Edith Curry
The school population continued to grotu as the town de
veloped and September 3, 1898 there was a special school tax
election, the tax being carried by a vote of 15 to 6. Another
room was added to the side of the building and the two long
rooms in the main building were divided. In 1909, land across
the street was acquired for a new building and a new school
ground. A city planning map for 1947 shouis the extent of the
grounds. In 1947 the space was the City Park, but in 1909
and until 1931, it was the school yard: it extended across
Third street which at that time ended at North St., and took
in half the block bounded now by Third, North, Fourth and mag-
nolia.
The IAhite Brick School
In 1905, in July,another special tax (for $500) had been
raised by an election, the money to be used to make another ad-
dition to the school and to pay the salary of an extra teacher.
Facilities were still insufficient and the 1909 school, men-
tioned above, was built. It was large and beautiful--for a
short time. It was constructed of white, sand-stone type
bricks of such a crumbly texture that it was not long before
school children and others discovered the delights of initial
carving with any hard stick that was handy. Weather also took
its toll.
A ________
~ School At Last
John Wagener, principal of what had become known as Ceres
Grammar School District, and a former county superintendent of
schools, is credited with persisting until he established a
high school in Ceres. He succeeded in 1908 when an election
was held to form the Ceres High School District. First classes
were held in the Grange Hall located at the south end of the
Triangle Park in the portion now cut off for El Camino Street.
The high schoolers had only one teacher, John E. Williams,
who taught all subjects including algebra, Latin and geometry.
The first trustees were mrs. J. m. Helsley, C. ~. Garrison
and R. S. marshall. It was almost fifty years before another
woman was elected to the board.
PAGE 193 Show Image
mrs. Lottie ~anda11 joined Williams the next year and
a second year I5 curriculum was added to the high school. In
1910 the student body moved from the over-crowded Grange Hall
to the vacated wooden two-story grammar school in the other
end of the park. By the fourth year enrollment was sixty-
four and fifteen students graduated in the first commence-
ment exercises. The ceremony was held in the upstairs por-
tion of the Collins and Warner Hall. Twenty-nine students
had started or been a part o~ the first graduating class. In
later years even those who had been able to go only one or
two years were proud of it and were included in the class
reunions. carol Heisley Cochran is one member of the first
class still involved in Ceres life.
though staff and student body were small, housing was
inadequate, and funds were scarce, the students managed to
produce from the first year of existence a professionally
printed literary magazine called *`The echo". The third issue
in 1911 has an athletics section in which a full schedule of
baseball, boys and girls basketball, and track are described.
Ceres High 5chool did not have a building of its own until
1915 when the first structure was put on the present high
school site near the corner of Central and Whitmore avenues.
It remained until torn down in 1965 to make way for another
building.
The ~nin of Togetherness
meanwhile, west of Ceres, three other school districts
had been founded: Jones, formed in 1868 and named after ei-
ther J. I. Jones or his father Humphrey, was located on Gray-
son Road between Carpenter and Ustick; Jennings on Jennings
Road between monte Vista and Taylor; and Laird on the corner
of Laird and Grayson roads. These districts shared portions
of the old Adamsville School District and all of the original
Westport School District, the latter.founded in 15~9 and named
for the old river town of West Port on the south bank of the
Tuolumne near the spot where £arpenter Road now crosses.
Jones, Jennings and Laird graduates had been coming to Ceres
High School from its earliest days. The three country schools
unified about 1948 and revived the name Westport School Disc
trict.
Country children h8d no bus to ride until 1915. They
made their iMay, sometimes by the oft-mentioned foot, but more
often on horse or muleback or by buggy. Jean Parks mcKnight
describes the first Ceres school bus as a school buggy or
wagon. When her mother and a neighbor, mrs. emory Gates,
circulated a petition the trustees consented to permit a mr.
Richards make one. Richards, who had two sons of his own
in school (Rodney and Keith), constructed at his home on the
corner of Faith Home and Whitmore a wagon-with-sides and a
top. It had roll-down II windows" of canvas and proved to be
a great success. mr. Richards was a most obliging bus driver,
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PAGE 194 Show Image
willing to stop along the way upon request, for £uild floiuers
or other lures. Boothe road was at that time ~ rather low,
swampy place and one of the excitements o~ the ride was the
fast swoop down the hill to the low spot in t~e middle. Jean
had a pet lamb that would hollow the school bus each morning
until its lees gave out. ethers who rode the bus besides
the Parks children were Glance Beck (now mrs. Paul Peikert
and still livinq on the Beck place on Gilbert Road), Tony
`1ieira and Keith richards.
After the horsedrawn school bus, motorized vehicles
were introduced but were for some years owned privately
still, not provided by the school district, A bus driver
named evans had a squarebuilt modell truck which he con-
verted to bus use and drove, z~iith coils buzzing and rattling
down the highway and country roads. It had the refinement
of glass windows and red paint. Charles C. Johnson also
made a bus from a truck but his was long and narrow. It had
benches on the sides and in the middle with the wooden seats
covered by canvas nailed over some hair padding. The unglassed
openinqs had bars made of pipe fixed across them to keep the
passengers from crawling out. It, too, had canvas curtains
on the outside like mr. Richards' bus. In the `3O~s, Johnny
Newkirk purchased a regular commercially~built bus which he
drove under private contract with the school district for
several years.
The lighter side, showing human foibles, is always pre-
sent in school life. Sometimes, though, it is years before
the foibles can be talked about. Children usually notice
more than teachers or parents think they do, but don't always
comment upon them, There was the jr.high teacher in the days
before the modern and secure elupliftel, sell-endowed, she
leaned over too far one day when she was wearing an open
necked blouse. She quickly and calmly tucked everything
back in and probably thought the onlookers would soon for-
get or had not noticed, ~ut they didn't forget; the memory
is indelibly attached to her name.
Sex education, though it was not labelled as such, is
not a new part of the curriculum in schools as some think,
many former ~eres students of the thirties and forties re-
member the special teacher called, for some reason, IYliss
Wood-Wood. Boys and girls would be gathered separately,
taking turns in the classroom, but IYIiss IMood-Wo~d would
handle the necessary facts for both sexes. Those who re-
member her also remember that she did a very thorough job.
Sometimes, as the incident in the preceding paragraph shows,
unplanned education in the same ~re,a occurred outside the
lesson plan. About 1933 a class of fourth graders from
Whitmore School were escorted by teacher and a few mothers
(private cars only for field trips in those days) to the
modesto Theatre on Tenth Street in modesto. The object of
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PAGE 195 Show Image
the excursion was a special movie thought to have worthwhile
educational values. Special arrangements had been made, of
course, with the management. rhe class arrived, took seats
and sat through the newsreel and featured short subject. Then,
just before the innocuous main feature, the coming attraction
advertisement flashed upon the screen. It showed, with ex-
plicit nudes of both sexes, shots of a movie made in a nudist
colony then much in the news. Teacher and mothers sat in
stunned silence through it all and the pupils did not dare
turn their heads toward them. The main feature proceeded
without hitch, the children were led out and driven home and
the teacher evidently operated under the theory of "Least
said, soonest mended,.' for the matter somehow was never
brought up in the class discussions next day. Some of the
survivors maintain to this day that they have never dared disc
cuss the matter with their mothers, either.
A Special Few
Some teachers and educators especially stand out over the
years and, without exception, they have always been those who
have become a part of the community's life. Each generation
has its favorites and all cannot be mentioned, but especially
well-loved and respected in the last fifty years have been
Walter and Geneva Ahite and mae Hensley, in the elementary
schools; and 8en Cuddy and W. W. "Coach" Anderson in the high
school. In the early 1920's, 5am 5imms relates he and his
father `1 were working in the berry patch when a tall Texan came
by asking for a job as principal of Ceres Elementary (then
Grammar) 5chool. After the young man left, mr. Simms asked,
`What did you think of him?' `He seemed o.k.', was the reply."
At the next meeting of the school board, after this rather
casual interview, Simms and his fellotu trustees, T. E. Wilson
and E. E. murray, voted to hire Walter IAJhite.
Walter White became principal in 1923 in the white brick
school and led the march of children and teachers to the new
and modern £linton Whitmore School built on Lawrence 5treet
in 1931. This march has been described by so many who took
part in it that newcomers tend to be bored, but it was a dra-
matic day in the life of most Ceres people when, class by
U'
class, pupils gathered up their books and walked "across town
to the rambling, red brick, tile-roofed structure. It had
twenty classrooms and a wide, hardwood-floored hallway. Per-
haps this is why so many were sentimental when earthquake
standards forced it out of regular classroom use. Only one
occurrence marred the day--vandals got into the old building
and destroyed school records before they could be moved.
Principal White became Superintendent White when Ceres
grammar School became Ceres Elementary School District in
1938. By 1947, following World War II, children were again
straining at the seams of the school building. In quick suc-
cession Oon Pedro, £aswell and the first portion of Walter
White Junior High School mere added to the district. In
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PAGE 196 Show Image
1Y55, Herndon C. ay, who had been in the Stanislaus county
Schools o~~ice, was appointed assistant superintendent and
became superintendent upon Walter White's retirement. He
oversaw more growth and the addition of more classrooms,
plus the beginning of a professional staff to oversee the
special programs being required by the state. He was with
the £eres Oistrict for ten years and was a proponent of uni-
fication of elementary and high school districts. Upon uni-
fication of ~eres Union High, Westport Elementary and Ceres
Elementary, the late Herndon Ray returned to his first love,
teaching, in a position with modesto Junior College.
Walter White and his wife, Geneva, who was a Ceres
teacher, became a part of Ceres church and community life,
as well as leaders in the school system. Stern but always
fair, a very moral man who could make the boys he spanked
love him, the late Walter White is still well remembered.
mrs. White can be described in the same terms as her hus-
band, as she continues to live in Ceres and show her inter-
est in former students.
mae Ashford Hensley was a teacher for many years and
was later the school probation officer and welfare director
before retirement. In her early days of teaching she was
known for her ability to handle the "tough boys." She had
a practical, understanding approach to families in need and
encouraged the practice of fathers working at school jobs
to give them pride in being able to thus repay the cost of
lunches given to their children. The measure of the commu-
nity's respect for her came when the new junior high school
on moffet Road was named for her. She still makes Ceres
her home.
5tudents of the late Ben Cuddy and W. W. Anderson showed
their affection and gratitude for help and encouragement re-
ceived in their high school days when they established two
scholarships in the names of the teachers. Though Ben Cuddy
did not teach for a long period in Ceres High, he stayed in
the community and served as trustee and friend. Coach Ander-
son was very much a part of the life of the boys he coached
and taught. He and his wife were also a vital part of the
town. Sarah Cuddy is known today for the many charitable
acts she engages in and for her friendship with people of
all ages.
~herness Becomes Unification
When the three school districts unified in 1965, Or. IY).
Robert Adk~son was chosen superintendent. Fleming Haas, who
had been superintendent of Ceres Union High 5chool Oistrict
for a number ot years, accepted a position as an assistant.
After a further period at the high school and the new con-
tinuation high school, he is now business manager for the
CU5D.
-1Y3-
PAGE 197 Show Image
Since the days of the early base ball clubs and the 1905
track and basketball teams, the Ceres community has supported
a strong school sports program. Statewide recognition has been
brought to £eres High School through the IYlay California Relays,
begun by Al Brenda. National recognition of some of Ceres'
school programs has come about largely through the efforts of
Dr. Adkison. The Career Education program begun four years
ago was made possible by federal funding and this last year
Ceres was chosen as a Career Education Iflodel, one of only two
school districts in California and one of forty school dis
tricts nationwide. The Ceres Teacher Education Field Center
is a jqint effort by the Ceres Unified School District and
California State College, Stanislaus. Another Career Educa
II
tion activity is the CUSO Bicentennial program, *~A inighty Few
involving more than 240 students from 26 different high schools.
The program includes a cross-country trip to the nation 5 cap-
ital in July and is under the direction of Robert IYIarjerison.
The first trustees on the Ceres Unified School District
Board were Clare Berryhill, Howard Hickey, Ed Kaiser, Grant
Lucas, Betty Parks, Dale Sinclear and Homer \1ilas. Current
trustees are martin Bianchi, michael Berryhill, Pierce Butler,
Don Haglund, Joel Hidahl, Juanita Rose and Ronald Rinehart.
The district includes five elementary schools, one junior high,
one larger high school and one continuation high school (Argus
High). In addition, several programs in special education are
conducted, including a school for the deaf established under
Walter White.
Private schools in the Ceres area are maintained by the
congregations of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Ceres,
modesto, and surrounding areas. Both an elementary school
and a high school are maintained on Hatch and Central.
Back To The Good Old ~?
While we may smile nostalgically when we hear of John G.
Annear's humorou5 account of the Spelling School epidemic that
hit Ceres in 1875, when Westportes champion was defeated by
the Ceres champion speller, Annie Pagels, how many of us would
go to a spelling bee today? Despite the modern-day complaints
against public schools in general and the problems engendered
by more tasks being mandated to the schools, how many of us
would really wish to send our children to prepare for the modern
world in the little green-shuttered, wood stove-heated one-room
Davis School?
Present school enrollment in the Ceres Unified School Dis-
trict is 4,178. There are 210 certificated and 212 classified
employees. The budget is in excess of four and one-half mil-
lion. One teacher, no matter how dedicated, would find it
hard to cope with all eight grades, with today's subject re-
quirements and more permissive parents.
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PAGE 198 Show Image
There is a continuing search for better inethods, good
teachers, sufficient funds, parent support, and student ~n
vplvement today as there was in the beginning. Things have
changed but not that much basically. The predicted *~grow-
mg pains" that came with the merging of three school 1-
dentities have largely receded. Innovative approaches to
old problems have been tried, absorbed partially or cam
pletely, or cast aside. Teachers have become more organ
ized, a few are said to be more dedicated to their union
than to their classrooms but many still seem to follow
the credo of the first Ceres school teacher and look for
the best in every child. Aurelia ~hapin, in looking back
in 1895, said:
i*The proficiency of a school depends much upon
the teacher5s persevering thoroughness in all
the details of school work, and the present
condition of ~eres school attests the ability
and success of those employed in the work. It
ranks as a grammar school and its graduates
are now found in the various colleges and sem-
inaries,in the State Normal, preparing for the
teacher's vocation, while others are taking
the sigh 5chool courses. All through our beau
tiful hills and valleys we find former pupils
occupying lucrative and responsible positions
on the farm, in the shops and offices. Others
are home-builders, most responsible of all vo
cations, as the permanence of our social struc-
ture and a large share of life's happiness de-
pends upon the worth and intelligence of these
architects. Our homes and our public schools
are the safeguards of this, our great and
prosperous Republic."
-1~5m
PAGE 199 Show Image
DATES ImPOTANI IN CERS HISTORY
159 Davis School District beg~~s
186? Daniel iAihitinore builds cabin south of Tuoluinne River
1870 First house on site of Ceres is built
1871 Central Pacific Railroad reaches Ceres; ~ln~a Je Carter
names Ceres
1872 Levi Carter sells Ceres to Daniel IAihitmore for $9,000
John G. Annear builds blacksmith shop
1873 Ceres Grange organized
1874 Ceres Depot built; Davis School moves to Ceres village
1877 First store established (Bradley & Rounds)
1580 Grange Hall, first public hall; Averills build water works
1881 Flour mill built to mill Ceres wheat; burns later in yr.
1882 First church building built by Baptists
1893 LaGrange Dam completed
1895 First Annual Reunion of Residents & Ex-Residents of Ceres
1597 Name of Davis School District changed to Ceres School
District
1900 march 6, 7, 5. Ceres farmer gets first T.I.D. water
1905 Big Ceres Creamery fires; Town Library Ass'n forms
1908 Ceres High School begins
1910 Ceres Judicial District established
1911 Volunteer Fire Department organized; Bank of Ceres
organized as first bank
191w Incorporation Qf Ceres
1921 Sewer system begins
1922 First Don Pedr~o Dam completed
1923 T. I. 0. electric lines come to Ceres
1934 Ceres Police Department begins
1942 Highway enlarged to 4 lane divided road
Ceres Grammar School grounds given to City of Ceres
1961 Downtown Iflerchants Association sponsor "Paint-Ups'
1965 Ceres Unified School District forms
1965-67 Noman's Land battle begins with modesto
1968 Ceres' Fiftieth Year Anniversary (of incorporation)
1975 Ceres Judicial District abolished
19?~ Ceres celebrates the Bicentennial of the United States
196-
PAGE 200 Show Image
¾
¼¼
7
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¼
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`7 7 7, ,~ 7 `7 ~
"```7 ~7 ~7,7 7'" `~
`7 7" ` ~ ` ~ 7 `7
` ""~`77 ` ~ `7 , 7 `
` ` ` ` ` ` ` 7
" ` ` ` ~ `7'
~ ` ~ ~ y7,
~~`` ~ ``
~` ` ` "
~ `
,~ ~ ,, , , ¾
ABOVE. Garrison Meat Market and first Turlock Irrigation
District Headquarters. BELOW: Interior of Garrison Butc;ier
S~iop.
PAGE 201 Show Image
Millinery Parlors
Downtown Ceres in early 1900's.
S tylish Hats of best materials at reasonable
prices for both the young and old
Next to Christian Church MRS. ~. MORR~LL
CERES SHOE STORE
BEST AND CHEAPEST
CERES, STANISLAUS COUNTY, CALIFORNIA `~
R. W. GOOD, Prop.
-,-,~
.~. -- ~
~ ,~,
~ - r-~~
~ ,
~
-,-~ ` - ~ `¾'
PAGE 202 Show Image
WHERE DO YOU TRADE?
"Ceres now boasts of a creamery, a meat
market, barber shop, grocery store, a
notion store and dressmaking establish-
ment, other places of businessD and last
but not least, an ice cream parlour."
I, II
-- The ~eres Scraper
may 26, 1903
The first commercial establishment in Ceres iuas the board-
mg house built by Nancy Conner and her sister fflrs. Fellows.
There was a need for such a place because of all the itinerant
harvest crews and the occasional chance traveller, in 1571.
The second place of business followed in 1872 when John
Greany Annear built his blacksmith shop and set up the water-
mg trough that was used by the town for 41 years. The first
store at which settlers could buy merchandise was set up in
1877 in a five-year old building belonging to Daniel IAihitmore.
The first merchants doing business in it were Bradley and
Rounds.* Prior to this time, most supplies were purchased in
Stockton, a long ride and two ferry-crossings away. Cross,
Starks and Service followed Bradley and Rounds in the same
building. The Cross involved was James H. Cross, a grocer
from Pennsylvania who had come to the state in 1q75.
In 1874, the depot was built in Ceres, Cyrus W. Lee,
a spiritualist, became the first station agent, and contact
with the more populated world became easier. Trips to San
Francisco were soon possible, in comfort. In 1579-80 the
Averill btothers and George Hall came to town and built a
second blacksmith shop. They were also wagon-makers and
wheelwrights, and later machinists. In addition to the town
blacksmith shops, there were aiany farmers who had small for-
ges and blacksmith shops on their farms.
The town grew, more stores were opened, businesses folded
and people continued to go to modesto to get what they could
not find in Ceres. If they could not find it in modesto, they
still went on to Stockton. much of the commercial layout of
the town in the first sixty years of existence unfolds as the
family biographies are read. A look at the Ceres directories
for 1554-55 and 1893, in the back of this book, will give a
quick picture of the places of business at those times. However,
some firms are included here in more depth for the reasons given.
*This information comes from the 1895 Ceres Reunion booklet;
later sources give Bradley and Reed.
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PAGE 203 Show Image
&eres Store - The oldest business in Ceres in continuous
operation and in private ownership is the Ceres Orug Store.
It was founded in 1907 by Or. 5. W. Cartwri~ht, local physi
cian and, briefly, the first mayor who took as his working
partner a mr. Hartsel, pharmacist. The building which housed
it was located approxinately where the Pine Street overpass
now crosses the Freeway.
`4artsel soon purchased Or. ~artwright's interest in the
business but sold it in 1918 to Loren E. mcGee. He named it
the mcGee Drug Store and moved it to a building located on
the main road just past the Fourth St. corner. It was called
the Cedruco Building, a composite name formed from the first
letters of Ceres Drug company. A local contest was held to
name it.
In 1927, Allura Ulch moved her home from the corner of
Fourth and Lawrence Streets to the corner of Sixth and Law
rence, and sold her lot to mcGee. In his new location, IYIcGee
hired a fountain clerk and stock boy, C. L. mcKnight. Two
years later, the business was sold to J. 0. Anderson and the
name became ~ Drug Store. Claude mcKnight, newly
returned from his study at the college of Pharmacy, Universi-
ty of California in 1933, purchased a partnership in the busi-
ness. Three years later he became the sole owner and the
store acquired the name Ceres Drug Store. Pharmacist mcKnight
continued to operate the fountain, a popular place in town.
In 1950, mcKnight completely remodeled his store and it
became one of the most modern in the Valley, a position it has
since maintained. Roger Aeihe Strange, grandson of Otto A.
Weihe, a pharmacist with the oldest license in California,
came to town in 1q53. Strange had graduated in 1950 from the
U. C. College of Pharmacy and entered military service. First
an employee of mcKnight, Strange became a partner two years
later. Claude mcKnight had been mayor and busy with community
interests and Roger Strange immediately became involved, with
his wife Ruth,in the church, club and community affairs of the
town.
Strange was the founder and first president of the Ceres
Downtown merchants Association which organized the Ceres Paint-
up, an activity which gained national publicity for Ceres. When
he became sole owner of the business in 1965, it was moved to
a new building, its present one, built by mcKnight. It not
only tripled the size of the floor space but was attractive
and innovative enough to be featured in national design mag-
azines. Strange and mcKnight share interests in stores in
Ripon and Hughson. Roger and Ruth Strange have especially
been identified with education in the community, Ruth serving
as a trustee on the Ceres Elementary board. The Ceres Drug
Store annually gives a scholarship to a Ceres High graduating
senior. They have made a practice of hiring local teen-agers.
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PAGE 204 Show Image
AN OF 60 HELPED BY 5I~PLE IYIIXTURE
t1A~ter taking Adlerika I feel better than
ror years. At my age (60) it is ideal-
50 different from other medicines.
(signed) W. ~. carter
Adlerika is a simple mixture of buck-
thorn bark, glycerine, etc. which re-
moves gas in ten minutesand often
brings surprising relief to the stom-
ach. Stops that full, bloated feeling.
Brings out old waste-matter you never
thought was in your system. Excellent
for chronic constipation.
L. E. IYIcGee, druggist
From an advertisement in a 1927 "Ceres
Courier. 9, A sharp contrast with today's
merchandising methods.
Advertisements in Ceres in 1913 featured such slogans as
George F. Wood's "Good Goods" and "The Perows - Artistic Pho-
tographers.'9 In that year IAA. N. Kennedy, m. D. opened his Ceres
consulting room for one hour only, 1-2 n.m. Stores in this per-
iod includedJohnson & lAlilson (T. E. Wilson and A. F. Johnson),
Grain, Fuel and Fertilizer; Collins & Warner; Smyrna Park Nur-
series (Campin & fnoffet); and Ceres Confectionery (R. C. Do-
little). Collins & Warner had a branch in Keyes of their "dry
goods and men's furnishings store).
Among the names associated for many years with Ceres busi-
ness was T. E. Wilson & 5on. The elder Wilson began in a small
frame building in 1911 near the railroad tracks, just south of
the depot. Later, in 1922, it was replaced by a stone tile and
concrete building of 10,000 square feet. ~e prided himself on
his scientific feed formulas which he evolved in his own labor-
atory. He also specialized in treated field seed.
Ceres Hardware Store
When the Gillette Hotel was moved to Hughson in 1908, Col-
lins and IAarner built a two-story building on the site which
was at first called "Collins & Warner Hall". The upper story
was used for revivals, community parties and dances. The lower
floor was divided into two parts at first and saw a succession
of stores.
Frar~ Lander came to Ceres in the first years of irriga-
tion from Atwater and purchased an 50-acre ranch on Central Ave-"
nue. The two-story home he built is still there. He did gen-
eral farming and also specialized in raising hogs for breedibg
stock. He married a ~erced girl after coming to Ceres and con-
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PAGE 205 Show Image
tinued farming until moving to modesto in 1941. Some time af
ter cpming, in 1Y18, he purchased the buildings which were
later combined into the Ceres Hardware Store. He operated the
hardware with a partner; it was called, for a time, the Ceres
Hardware Implement £o~ Lander and his wife molly were inter
ested in fraternal lodge work, and he was a trustee on the old
*`Grammar 5chool" board when Whitmore 5chool was built in 1931.
In 1925 he sold the Ceres Hardware, stockand building, to
Walter Guy Aspinall.
Aspinall and his wife Flora were living in Selma with
their young son Wendell in 1912 when a travelling hardware
merchant named Oonnelly induced them to come to modesto to
manage the Oonnelly Hardware 5tore. 8y 1925, Guy Aspinall
was looking for a business of his own. He travelled to 5an
Francisco to inquire at the wholesale houses and was told that
there was one in Ceres for sale, only four miles from him. He
purchased the store that year and the next moved his family
to Ceres. Wendell joined his father in the busin8ss after
graduation from Ceres High and mod2sto Junior College, and
continued operating the store until November of 1965 when he
liquidated the business. It had been in the gamily for 41
years. Enlarged and modernized in 193w, it was truly a far-
mer 5 and builder's hardware of the type which has almost dis-
appeared. It was also the community paint, gift and appliance
store. Wendell Aspinall advertised that it was the largest
hardware store between modesto and Turlock. It was, and equal
to several in either town but, since hardware stores were ra-
ther scarce between modesto and Turlock, people chuckled and
decided the well-known Wendell Aspinall wry humor was working.
Wendell, who is now retired and living in modesto, recalls
that in the early days they were always open on 5aturday nights
and remembers the dances which took place on the upper floors
of the building. In its heyday, entrance to the upstairs was
from the alley, up an outside staircase. The old dance hall
was condemned for further public use and closed of~ to become
an unused attic when the last dance held there caused the walls
to literally bulge out. Ceres, ever the pioneer, had an out-
door theatre that could almost have been called a drive-in the-
atre since a few of those watching stayed in their cars. Before
IYIiner's new store was built, projectors were set up on the side-
walk and their beams directed across the open space toward the
alley behind the hardware store where a screen had been set up.
mDvies were free, courtesy of the merchants and other cit-
izens. They uiere also, at one time, shown in what are now the
civic center grounds, the screen being set up against the white
brick wall left standing when the school was torn down there.
Built against the side of the hardware was a tiny building,
6-8 feet in width. From it a man operated a small snack counter
and sold popcorn during the movies; his flame was Linder. Earlier,
Jack Haltz had operated ~Jack's Squeeze Ian" there. In its life
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PAGE 206 Show Image
it housed many things including the first jailD as des
cribed in the police story. In the 1950's it ~as the
first home of Ed Litchfie1d~s Insurance ~~ency.
Flora Aspinall is remembered for her interest in
the Garden ~1ub, other Ceres groups, and the ~ongrega-
tional and methodist churches. tAlendell Aspinall's first
wife was the late Katherine Service Aspinall; she was
one of the parents. instrumental in again starting a kin
dergarted in ~eres schools.
The General 5tore
many grocery stores have had their existence in Ceres.
No attempt will be made to name them all here, or to put them
in sonsequetive order, but a mention of some of them will give
an idea' of how many a small town could support in its downtown
business area in the first fifty or so years of this century.
Beginning with the old "general store" the firms gradually
changed in nature to more specialized food, meat, or early
I'
super market'1 status. Everyone had his favorite store and
the old term "trade" instead of "buy" remained common up to
recent times. The store that was patronized might be chosen
because the owner was personable, because he had served one S
parents, because he did not press too hard for payment, or
even because he had the right political party or gave the best
treats to the children. Some merchants ran a tighter ship
than others; George Wood is said to have kept a needle on his
counter to discourage sitters.
Fourth Street, Ceres has seen grocery stores in almost
every building. The hardware store shared quarters with sev-
eral in its first first years-Peter Jepsen had one, along with
a furniture store further down Fourth 5treet which he ran with
his son Daniel (the building became a theatre and is now used
by a church). Ham and Baidridge, 5eastead, Simms, Garrison,
Barnes, Robison, Lauborough have all been associated with food
stores in Ceres. In the teensand later, Ceres grocerymen and
other merchants delivered goods into the country. But the big
thing, until refrigeration came in, was the ice delivery truck
in summer. The housewife remembered to put the card in the
window for the size of chunk wanted and the kids got the ice
chippings. By the early twenties ~eres had electricity for it
was 1923 when the T. I. 0. was granted blanket permit to enter
the city of £eres to build electric transmission lines, but
few got refrigerators right away. Rural telephone lines and
rural postal delivery had been keeping the farm in touch with
stores in town since before 1907. By the early `50's the only
home delivery vans remaining, besides the milk truck which
still make the country routes, were an ice cream truck from mo
desto and a bread delivery from Turlock. The Farmers Telephone
Line persisted into the 1~5O's also. During World War II and
after it was'the only service av8ilable-one more person could
always be added, up to sixteen on a line with various combina-
tions of rings. -203-
PAGE 207 Show Image
mineres Department Store
C. S. miner, a montana storekeeper, came to Ceres in 1925.
pith his sons Carl and Bruce, he bought the Tidd Grocery Store,
then occupying one half o~ the hardi&jare store building. Bruce
later went to LAlinton where he established his own business. The
miners remained in the old building for live years and then,
in 1930, joined with Zenardi, the baker, to build the structure
that became a gamily department store. The grocery portion was
discontinued several years later.
Some Ceres people who assisted the miners in their store
over the years were Nick Rutzakis, mrs. Clara Newberry, Ed New
berry, maurice ~Bun~~ Anderson, mrs. Ben (Sarah) Cuddy, Gus lAlil-
hite, Grace Hill, Cora Wartham, and Eileen Kenshol. Except for
Joe Berg9s men 5 store nearby, miner's Department Store was the
only place for years where one could buy clothing in Ceres.
C. S. miner, the founder, lived to celebrate his 80th birthday
in 1942.
The late Carl miner retired in 1964 and the business was
closed. The building, formerly nearly in the middle of the
block along Fourth Street, became the corner building when the
Freeway went in. It now houses part of Oelhart's Home Furnish-
ings. Carl miner was on the early Board of Trade, served as a
city councilman and in the fire
department, was president of
the Ceres Chamber of Commerce and served for fifteen years on
the Stanislaus County Planning Commission. He continued to
be interested in city government until his death.
mrs. Carl Ifliner (margaret), at one time a beautician,
worked with her husband in their business. Her grandfather
came to California in the nineteenth century and settled in
the Bay Area. In 1910, her father, I&j. A. Anderson, came to
Ceres and became the Ceres baker. He sold the bakery in 1927
to a ITIr. marchand and left Ceres. Be~sides his daughter, a
son, the Bun Anderson mentioned above, remained in Ceres. mar-
garet miner recalls early merchandising days when they used
to `tcarry" the farmers for a month or more--even up to a year
during the Oepression. Oeliveries were made, there was no self-
service and the children always got a sack of assorted candies
or other treats when the bill was paid. Carl miner was also
known for the free pickles he dispensed. Saturdays and Saturday
nights were the big shopping times, in traditional country
fashion. The farmers brought produce and baskets of eggs to
trade, barter style, well into the late thirties.
Another of C. 5. miner's sons, Esco, had a store in Keyes.
Other children included Clifford miner, also known to Ceres
people.
Birthplace for Success
Several business firms successful now in Stanislaus Co.
and elsewhere could be said to have had their beginnings in
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PAGE 208 Show Image
Ceres. mrs. Amelia Garrity came to Ceres in the early part of
this century and lived on the corner of Service road and what
is now Lucas Road. She reared there her sons by her first
marriage: Arthur, Howard, Rufus, Francis, David and salter.
David Wilson established the well-known Dave Wilson Nursery9
now located east of Ceres and south of Hughson. Walter Wil
son became a doctor. Rufus Wilson remained on the home plBce
for a nuniber of years; he also raised nursery stock.
Foster Farms could also be said to have its origins in
Ceres. Harry and mattie Foster, parents of the elder Iflax Fos
ter, lived first on Esmar Road and later on the old Tobas place
near where the Garrity-Wilson family lived. They raised tur-
keys there on their 27 acres in the 1930's.
Shopping Centers
In the mid-fifties the changing shopping patterns of modern
America began to be felt in Ceres. Some markets of the super
market type had been in downtown Ceres but, as the town had
spread, shopping centers had begun to develop on the fringes.
As part of a development supervised by Homer Jorgensen, Frank
Chong and his family came to Ceres and built the Sequoia Super
market. This became the nucleus for the Sequoia Shopping Cen-
ter on Central Avenue. Its most recent addition is a new drug
store building adjacent to the market. Buildings across the
street, ownecf by Or. Donald LaTourette house the Cottage Cakery
and mr. and mrs. Leon Froehlich~ Western Auto Store.
The Cottage Cakery carries on the tradition of a bakery
in Ceres. John Strickland, upon graduation from trade school,
came to Ceres in Uctober, 1949 and purchased the bakery from
the Zenardi family. Roy mcKenzie was the baker for the Ze-
nardis at that time. Strickland first used the original lo-
cation with the old brick ovens and later moved to the frame
building (Donald Calkins' old "Courier" building) in the sec-
ond business block on Fourth 5t. Here Strickland installed
modern, deck-type ovens. In 1963 he moved his business to its
present location in the Sequoia Center.
Western Auto occupies the space which was formerly Achter
berg's Hardware Store. Kenneth Achterberg was the owner and
had formerly worked at Ceres Hardware. The other two sections
of the Sequoia Center of stores are across the intersection of
Central and Caswell/Sequoia Streets.
In 1957, Homer Barbour, with his son LeRoy opened his
garage-service station-sporting goods store. It is now called
Barbour's Save Center and includes a grocery store. It is es-
pecially popular as a stop-off for week-end camper and sports
enthusaists. Across Whitmore Avenue is a group of stores
which includes a barber shop, beauty shop and service station.
This group of buildings was built by Harold Atwell who had
formerly had a large television, appliance, furniture store
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PAGE 209 Show Image
in downtown Ceres. Across mitchell Road from Barbour~s is a
new restaurant, opened in 1976. On the outer north limits
of the City of Ceres, at the corner of Hatch and El Camino,
is a shopping center made up of a grocery store, a department
store, and a drug store. All are owned by chain-style firms.
Across Hatch Road is a larger chain-type store which has
just been opened, offering appliances, garden equipment,
clothing and many other items.
Richiand ~ Center
A modern example of the classic American success story
is that of the Pallios family of Ceres. They demonstrate that
it is still possible, through hard work, intelligence and sac-
rifice for a first generation American family to prosper.
Steve Pallios came from Greece in 1910. His wife Athene
arrived in 1915. Pallios worked as a farmer and butcher in
Utah and moved from there to LYlodesto in June, 1935 with his
wife and family of three sons and four daughters. After three
years in modesto they moved to Ceres, to the corner of Evans
and 99 Highway. Following world War II, two of the sons, Gus
and John became partners in a family chicken ranch. Gus worked
full time on the ranch and John took a job with a bread com-
pany. In 1947 the chicken operation ceased and the two broth-
ers built a unit of nine apartments. Following this, Gus took
a job with a chain grocery store and John continued his bakery
job. In this period both brothers married girls who were also
of Greek parentage, Gust wise Despina and John8s `Mife Argery.
In July of 1951 Gus and John opened a grocery store of
their own on the corner of Richland Avenue and Evans Road. It
was a family cooperative venture from the start with Gus, Oes-
pina and Argery running the store except for week-end and eve-
ning help from John who retained his outside job. Both fami-
lies lived on John8s salary for the first four years of opera-
tion, putting all profits from the business back into expan-
sion and improvements. The store was enlarged three times in
its first eight years. Brother George joined the firm follow-
mg army duty and Fresno State College and in 1Y60 the three
brothers (George now.married to Sophie) purchased a nine acre
parcel of land on the corner of Ifloffet and Whitmore from the
late Fred moffet. Richiand market No. 2, a 15,000 square foot
store, was the first store. Five years later, John Pallios
moved his family to Turlock and assumed charge of Richland mar-
ket No. 3.
In subsequent years the Richland Shopping Center has con-
tinued to add stores and buildings, remodelling to accommodate
new concerns. The center now contains, besides a new grocery
building, an appliance store, men 9 s wear, women's clothing,
variety store, sporting goods and garden store, drug store,
fast-food place and a restaurant. The restaurant takes its
name, The Peach Tree, and theme from Ceres' history, featuring
reproductions of early Ceres pictures on the walls. many of
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PAGE 210 Show Image
the stores are run by local people. There is also a locally
owned flower shop and pizza restaurant. B & K Sporting Goods
was started by two young men, Gary Ball and Phillip Bezanson.
Bezanson is no longer a partner.
The wives and the Pallios children have all continued
the family tradition of working together and taking their
apprenticeship period in the stores. The Pallios family has
been such involved in the progress of Ceres and is known for
its generous support of club moneyvnaking projects. Athene
Pallios, the mother, makes her bome in Ceres still.
West Ceres Business
West side Ceres has had a branch of the ITlodesto Lumber £0.
since 1903. Its present manager is Ilorman 5ouza. West of the
old highway there were also once other stores, including a gro-
cery and a frozen food locker plant which were easily accissible
to patrons until the Freeway cut them off. Today west Ceres is
again a viable part of the business life of the town with 5ev-
eral industrial firms including Ingalls manufacturing, the Gene
Welsh family's Ceres Body Shop, Exxon Product Oistributors
founded by E. R. \1ine and now owned by his sons, Richard and
Donald, and the Ward-Schmid Boiler £0. Ingalls manufactures
almond sweepers from an invention of £harles Ingalls, first
made on his farm east of £eres.
Robert Wix first began his printing business on Fifth St.
behind the £eres Hardware Store. Valley Printing Service now
has a new and large plant on Pine Street west of the overpass.
He does both offset and letterpress printing. Long known for
his meticulous work, he has made a specialty of printing labels
for the local canning industry.
Back to Downtown £eres
The first bank in £eres and the only bank for many years
was the Bank of £eres, incorporated by the state of California
on IYIarch 29, 1911. Its soundness, under the guidance of Arthur
Harris, cashier became a legend in the county. In the bank
crisis of the Depression it never closed its doors and was
among the first group of banks in the nation to be accepted
for qovemment insurance of deposits. The first board of di-
rectors was Vaughn D. Whitmore, L. m. macDonald, Antony ftior-
gan, C. S. Grandi, G. R. Stoddard, myron Warner and W. P.
£larke. macDonald was the first president of the Bank of Ceres
and W. P. £larke the first cashier. Harris, who tended to ap-
prove loans on the basis of his personal impressions of a man I5
working ability as much as his collateral, was known for his
conservative approach to banking. He stayed with the bank
until his death. Another tmac", Eldred mcElrath, was the last
cashier of the Bank of £eres before it merged with United Cal-
ifornia Bank.' The Bank of California came to Ceres in the 196O'~.
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PAGE 211 Show Image
Another business that filled a need is Florence's Dress
Shop. Florence and Hudy macedo began in a small i~ay on La-
renceStreet aster lAlorid War II. Their merchandising methods
have continued to meet `AJith success now that their daughter,
Betty Nibler, has taken over the business. It i&'as moved to
the present Fourth 5treet location and has been expanded since.
It is one of the Ceres businesses that attracts a clientele
from neighboring totuns.
A succession of garages has been in downtouin Ceres since
the automobile first began. All cannot be named but there are
many still remembered--the one called Ceres Garage run by L. E.
Service and W. E. Sperry, Willard Johnson~s garage, William
*eBill#I Oeichelbohrer's, and Clell Lane's station-garage. An-
other *`~rom scratch" success story is that of Rolla Hancock
who began his present garage and car sales lot on a"shoestring"
from money earned in a variety of jobs.
mitchell Road continues to get more businesses and office
buildings, developing into a mini "mcHenry Ave., modesto" type
of string commercial development that planners twenty years a-
go had tried to avoid. It is a long way today in Ceres business
establishments from the "25w dinner as good as one can get any
plac~'9 served in Nancy Conner I5 hotel. Not many say "trade"
any more in the old sense, the hardware stores are no more,
horse plows are unavailable, the cracker barrel and the charge
account groceries have gone. Farmers who want to find a black-
smith must drive to Hughson, and modesto still gets much of the
business that Ceres needs. Still, other entrepreneurs have
come forward to try to meet the needs of the growing population
and the changing life-style, and there is still a basic core of
Ceres-oriented businessmen and customers. The home-owned busi-
ness is not a thing of the past.
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PAGE 212 Show Image
ALL THE NEW5 THAT FITS
..1 wrote ~eres Items ~or the Herald.91
A. E. Ulch
September 12, 1q98
Pleasure Book No. 2
Until 1~1O, Ceres did not have an official newspaper of
its own and relied upon those of IYIodesto and Stockton. mrs.
Jane ~hitmore acted as the town scribe, sending in social
items to the modesto newssheets, until about 1590. Then Al-
lura Ulch took over, continuing to write for modesto papers,
especially the Herald, at one time her cousin Si Hanscom9s
paper, and then for &eres. She continued in her newsgather~
mg until the week of her death in 1936.
mrs. Ulch sometimes sent items to San Francisco newspa-
pers as well as to religious quarterlies. As was the fashion
of the time, newspapers prinLed amateur poetry and mrs. Ulch
submitted her share. The poems, and sometimes her news briefs,
were signed with pseudonyms such as `9Olga'1, "Occasional919 and
`9Uno'1, or just her initials, 91A. E. U.99 mrs. Ulch9s clippings,
which she had saved over the years, constituted a history of
the town for almost forty years. As her eyesight began to
fail and she was unable in old age to compile the clippings
in scrapbooks as she wished, Harriett williams lard took over
the task. The scrapbooks were in the old ~eres Library on
Fourth Street for years and, though vandals had torn out cer-
tam items, were still reaso until the move was
made to the new library-city hall. The books reposed for a
time in the city safe but apparently did not all find their
way to the new library. It is still hoped that they will be
found. There were originally six in all, made in 1936. mr.
and mrs. Dorsey Turner made several scrapbooks of £eres news
during the war years and these are in the library.
Apparently feeling the need for a local newspaper, sev-
eral people, including mrs. Ulch, a "C. F.", and some other
young people, started a hand-written-on-foolscap newssheet.
It was issued intermittently from 1901 to 1903, ostensibly for
the benefit of (99devoted to the interests of'1) the Farmers
Club but from the contents, mainly for the amusement of the
writers and club members. It was called, cleverly, "The £eres
Scraper 9,. The name, of course, was taken from the Fresno scra-
per, a farm implement very much in use at the time as the roll-
in~ grairi lands were levelled for the smaller, irrigated farms.
The general none of the t1Scraper 19 shown in the following
item: (check the dates as you read)
February 25, 1902. `1major R. K. ~hitmore is making
extensive improvements on his place. The fence corn-
PAGE 213 Show Image
menced Ia June is now completed, and at the present
time he is planning a ne~ hitching post in front of
his residence. He hopes to have this finished by July
4th when there will be a grand celebration in honor of
the event."
A local newssheet with a brief life was the "Ceres Fig
Leaf'19 published in 1904 at Smyrna Pare, Ceres, California.
It was largely for promotional land sales in the Ceres area
but styled itself as `9devoted to the agricultural and horti
cultural interests of 5tanislaus County." It prophesied in
its April issue that the immense store houses for grain would
be transformed in a few years into fruit packing houses. Ceres
was billed as the center of the new fig industry. Also men-
tioned besides Smyrna Park were Union Colony south of Ceres
and west of Keyes, ~nd ~smar Colony. Promoter was Ceres Fig
Lands Co. (C. N. Whitmore).
The "Ceres Courier was established in 1910 by Clarence
H. Bronaugh1 an Illinoisan who came to California by way of
Colorado. He was a Ceres postmaster about 1913. mrs. Bro-
naugh was named "Poet Laureate of 5tanislaus County" during
their stay here. They later went to Southern California. The
"Courier" has been regarded with feelings alternating between
livid anger and rueful affection, myrtle Ham made the state-
ment, "The personal items we read in the modesto paper were
no small factor in determining if the paper was of real merit,"
and this could be applied even more strongly to feelings con-
cerning the local weekly. People in general seem to have felt
that a local paper should streas local events.
Insufficient personnel ~or proper proof-readin~1 plus
amateur writers, have led to some town chuckles as citizens
read about "Ceres, the Goddess of Gain ,, morning woeshi p",
and "Associated Feed Fealers," One old headline reads "Crime
Studied by Women",but turns out to be only an innocuous report
of book reviews. Another flub concerning the Ceres Study Club
was talked of for years~ "mrs. W. W. Anderson to Head Ceres
5tud Club". As mrs. Anderson was wife of the popular Ceres
High coach and quite circumspect, it was a startling headline.
many editors and publishers have come and gone since 1910.
The "Courier" has had absentee owners, owners who were city
officials, editor-advertising men, publishers promoting a cause,
and a few who were answering a pent-up urge to write or work
off a grudge. Longest tenure was held by Donald and Helen Cal-
kins. Though many of their interests and social activities were
in modesto, they lived in and became part of the town more than
most Courier owners. They purchased the business in October,
1921 from J. C. Crome. A son, Donald ~. Calkins, worked with
them for a time; another son, robert Calkins, served as editor
of the modesto Journal for four years. mrs. Ulch was reporter
for over twenty years for them. Names under the Calkins owner-
ship were usually spelled correctly (the old journalist's code)
because they knew the people they were writing about.
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PAGE 214 Show Image
A OAO BY ANY OTHER NAmE. .
*~Thursday, c]ctober 15, 1925-The £eres Garden
Club met at the home o~ mrs. Frank Lander on
the Creamery Road."
-~eres Garden &lub minute Book
"A road by any other name lAlould spell a street" as Shakes
peare might have paraphrased his words in Ceres. Almost any
old timer can cite double names, changed names, and mistaken or
misspelled names of streets and roads. many say they never
knew some roads had names until various ones just appeared on
a sign or map. And some which had names were christened dif
ferently by county officials unfamiliar with £eres nomenclature.
There are a few older residents around who still know what
is meant by a reference to Hughson Highway, Cemetery Road,
Eisen Avenue, Creamery Road, and Smyrna Park Road. The first
two names refer to ~hitmore Avenue, Eisen became Don Pedro,
Creamery Road disappeared into South &entral Avenue, and Smyrna
Park, once indicating a separate settlement outside Ceres as
well as a road, is now Roeding Avenue. The name Smyrna was
also once applied to what is now Tenth Street, after it was
taken from Roeding Road. The historic significance of the name
"Smyrna Park" was recognized when the new park bounded by Fow
ler, ~offet and Garrison was named. The official map of the
City of ~eres for the year 1927 shows still another name for
Tenth-Ischia. Perhaps someone had intentions of carrying out
the Roman theme suggested by the name ~eres, for Ischia is the
name of an island in the Bay of Naples.
The 1927 map also shows Hackett as Witherall (an early
family), and as late as 1956 lkihitmore Avenue was called Fair
view Road beyond Crow's Landing Road. So many changes were
made in street and road signs in the early 1940's that some
returning servicemen said they had to completely reorient their
thinking when going places. An interesting story is told of
the change to the Roeding name. Sometime after 1935, accord-
mg to Sam Simms, the owner of Roeding Nursery in Fresno, for
whom their Roeding Park and Zoo are named, offered to plant
black acacia trees along Smyrna Park Road providing the road
be renamed for him. Only a few of the trees remain today. As
late a~ 1956, the Smyrna Park designation remained beyond Esmar
crossing on official Board of Supervisors I maps.
Puzzlinq newcomers and census enumerators is the fact that
there is no First Street in Ceres. Numbered streets begin with
Second, Central Avenue occupying the spot just before it. Some
say this dates from early days when the main highway was First
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PAGE 215 Show Image
Street.; however, evidence in early clippings seems to point
to the fact that a First 5treet existed but was obliterated
by one of the early widenings of the highway. Oak Street is
now under the Freeway.
The business streets of early Ceres were lined with trees,
mostly locust. Reminders are still visible in the sidewalk in
front of the present Delhart's Furniture, corner of Fourth and
Lawrence. The leaves fell on the wet cement when the walks
were finally paved in the 1940's and the imprints remain, like
fossil shadows in stone. And whose dog left his pawtograph in
the pavement of Lawrence 5treet at Fourth some fifty years ago?
Look for the prints~~they've not yet been covered up--the next
time you cross Lawrence at the bank corner. Some of the old
locusts remain bordering the grounds of the Whitmore home on
Sixth St.
A lone pepper tree stands in front of the old Peter Kane
house at 3012 Fifth St., a reminder of the days when the weep
mo
branches were a common sight on the streets of ~eres. The
Kane house is said to be the third one built in £eres. Fifth
St. was the residential street of Old £eres Village. An attempt
was made by the Ceres Garden Club in the 1950's to replace the
trees that once made downtown Ceres a green and shady place.
The members chose small trees recommended for street planting
and got the cooperation of the city government in planting.
However, maintenance by city and businesses was insufficient
and they were replaced by the ubiquitous shrubs of today. The
style and marking of parking places also caused injuries to the
trees. Subdivisions and shopping centers in recent years are
planting trees. Renewing a tradition, Northview Aloha subdi-
vision and a business strip on mitchell Road have emphasized
the planting of an improved golden locust. In recent years,
great strides have been made toward planned city beautification,
largely due to the dedicated efforts of a professional parks
planner, Steven Houx,
Irregular and early unplanned growth have helped cause the
out-of-sequence numbering on some Ceres streets, slowly being
corrected to conform to a county numbering system. The county
planning body is also sometimes slow to correct its misnomers
and misnumbering. Sometimes developers or the ~ sign-makers
have caused community giggles by their mistakes. In recent mem-
ory is "Tooth Street", the section of Second Street between the
high school grounds and Caswell Avenue which had "Zth St.'. on
the corner sign for several months. Other "goofst1 include the
*~Camelia81 with one "li' (the sign is now a part of Ceres lore,
having read that way for some twenty years), eIStandford~~Stan
ford--Standiford St.'3, and for awhile, "marry St.~1 for mary St.,
originally on the subdivision maps as 91Jennie St.1~ moffet Road
for years sported signs with an extra *.t,', a common spelling
of the name but the local family for whom it was named does
not use it. Now one can find both correct and incorrect spel-
lings depending on the age of the sign. moffet Road becomes
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PAGE 216 Show Image
Ninth St. at Whitmore and then again dons the moffet name tuest
o~ the Freeway. The street called ItKayIe years ago for someone
has one older wooden sign with that spelling and a new metal
one with "K~£, this short street being the one sandwiched be-
tween Ninth and Tenth.
As is common in most areas, many roads in and around Ceres
bear the surname of early settlers. Those named for families
with descendants still living in the Ceres-modesto~Turlock area
include Blaker, eoothe, Caswell, Collins, Fowler, Garrison, Gon-
dring, Hackett, Hatch, Holloway, Holm, Kaiser, Lucas, moffet,
IYIoore, morgan, Parks, Service, Simms, Turner, Ustick, \1ivian,
Wallin, and Whitmore. Evans Road was named for V100c91 Evans,
and some remember families named Gilbert, Kinser, mcGee and
Stonum. Though there were mitchell families in Ceres in ear-
her times, mitchell Hoad is undoubtedly named for the John sit-
chell, once called the biggest land owner in the county, who
founded Turlock. When ITlitchell became a through road, combi-
ning several unconnected short roads, the mitchell name obli-
terated Barbour Hoad, named for the Ceres family, which stret-
ched from Whitmore to just beyond Fowler Road.
Residents on a short stretch of road between Service and
Whitmore Roads became indignant when they discovered it had
been labelled Foote Road because it lined up with one of that
name to the south. A farmer on the road, Dan Jepsen, began
a petition and succeeded in having the Board of Supervisors
chanqe the name to Lockwood. Lockwood was chosen because it
was the small town in monterey Co. where the late Bertha (Roth)
meyers Jepsen (then mrs. Dan Jepsen) was born. It had been
named after Belva Ann Lockwood, the eastern lawyer instrumental
in inducing Congress to give equal pay in government to women
and men. She was also the nominee of the Equal Rights party
for President in 1884 and 1888.
There is Roberts Road, as it is known to old Cereseans,
called so after A. J. Roberts. Though some maps now designate
it as an extension of Sixth St., many persist in referring to
it by its original nate, using that in their addresses. A home-
sick resident from the midwest perhaps named Prairie Flower
and the Raith Home title obviously arose from the Faith Home
for Boys (though part of Faith Home east of Ceres was once
called California). The origin of the name Redwood is the
two California redwood trees brought from Yosemite and planted
at the corner of Highway 99 and Redwood by Al and Leona Rohde
on the Jens Rohde ranch. The trees were later cut down when
the highway was widened to four lanes.
Perhaps one of the most interesting stories in local road-
naming history is that surrounding exotic-sounding Esmar Road.
Though evoking thoughts of the middle East, it was in reality
formed from the first letters of the names of Levi Carter's
children. Elma J. Carter, namer of Ceres, provided the first
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PAGE 217 Show Image
letter, followed by Stanton, melborne, Aletha and Hoscoe. The
watering station and~1ater warehouse on the Carter ranch be-
tween the railroad and main road was named Esmar Station and
was a shipping point for grain in early days and later, fruit.
Long-time residents on the road were irritated recently when
the first section of the road west of the Freeway, which has
always been named Esmar, was changed to Prairie Flower on a
highway sign.
First names of relatives of 5ubdivision developers are
prevalent within the city of Ceres. A genealogy of two or
three families could be started from street names alone.
Creative spellings such as Kasaba Court and Beachwood (drift
wood or the wood of the eeech tree?), along with Hawaiian
names, often deliberately mispronounced for amusing' effect
(IYlauna Loa becomes #Imoaninl Lowe'), have become the trend in
recent times. Will new generations reared on speed reading
and the phonetic spelling of our commercial signs find either
puzzlement or question as they wander the Ceres streets and
roads?
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PAGE 218 Show Image
RE5ION15 ANO BUSINESSES OF CR5*
188485
Amos, John, farmer, 1100 acres
Annear, J. Ge. farmer and blacksmith, 320 acres
Averill Brothers & Hall (G. w. and J. Averill and B. B. Hall),
blacksmiths and wagonmakers
Averill, (3. ~. 6'verill Brothers & Hall)
Averili, Jesse Averill Brothers & Hall)
Beecher, Ida9 miss, waiter ~eres Hotel
Boothe9 Charles L., farmer
Canfield, We L., house, sign and carriage painter
Centennial Grain Warehouse, Daniel Whitmore9 proprietor
CERES BILLI~~D HELL, R. K. lAihitmore, proprietor
Ceres Hotel, JYirs. Nancy Conner, proprietor
CERES SEAT mARKET, IAAhitmore & Kenney, proprietors
Chapin, £. H., farmer
Conner, Emma A., IYIis~
Conner, Nancy, mrs., proprietor Ceres Hotel
Cook, A. 0., farmer
Cook, P. ~., farmer, 640 acres
Crenshaw, J. A., harneasmaker
Curry, R. B., bookkeeper with Starks & Service
Elliott, A. R., farmer, 971 acres
Elliott, W. C. farmer, 160 acres
Filburn, Charles, laborer
Gilbert 5., jyirs., farmer
GRANGE CO. OF rnOO~5TO, THE, warehouse
Hall, Charles, farmer, 720 acres
Hall, G. B. (Averill Brothers & Hall)
Hall, m. J., farmer
Hanscom, S. L., farmer
Harp, T. 0., farmer, 2800 acres
Harp, Thomas, farmer, 320 acres
Harp, IAiilliam, farmer, 2000 acres
Hariuick. F. F., farmer, 2000 acres
Hill, 6. E., farmer
Howard, IAk. A., capitalist
Ingram, F. m., grain dealer
Ireland, mary., mrs.
Jones, J. S., blacksmith with J. G. Annear
Kelso, W. H., barkeeper with R. K. Whitmore
Kenney, J. E. (Whitmore & Kenney)
Knowles, A. C., woodworker with Averill Brothers & Hall
Larsen, C., farmer
Lee, Cyrus, agent C. P. R. R.9 43 acres
Lee, W. N., farmer
macumber, C., farmer, 640 acres
mcDonald, C. R. , general merchandise and agent Wells, Fargo & Co.
mcDonald, 0. I., clerk with C. R. mcDonald
mcNeil, Joseph, manager The Grange Co.'s Warehouse
moore, Henry, farmer, 320 acres
PAGE 219 Show Image
moore, Ruus, farmer, 800 acres
munger, U. (3., farmer, 240 aces
Pease, A. L., barber with ~. K. IAihitmore
Sanders, Frank, farmer, 800 acres
Service, John (Starks & Service) and farmer, 2200 acres
Simmons, L. B., laborer
Simpson, Joseph, manager The (3range ~ warehouse
Spaulding, E., blacksmith with Av~ril1 Brothers & Hall
Starks, H. A. (Starks & Service) and deputy postmaster
Stares & Service (H. A. Starks and John Service), general
merchandise
Stetson, ~. m., farmer
Stetson, mary S., mrs., farmer
Tulley, George, armer, 3500 acres (c~~rect s~eXlirq: ~)
Ulch, A. E., mrs., millinery and ~
Updike, I. W., farmer, 32(1 acres
Wallace, H., farmer, 6~O acres
Whitmore, Daniel, proprietor Centennial train Warehouse and
postmaster, ~,ooo acres
WHITIYl~RE, R~ K., proprietor (;ere~ billiard Hall, Temperance
5aloon and barber shop and bath rooms, (and ~hitmore &
Kenney), 1,544 acres
Whitney, Warren, farmer
Wiggin, Chase, mrs., 5 acres
Williams, Alice, waiter, Ceres Hotel
Williams, m. m., farmer, 320 acres
Williams, roger, farmer, 320 acres
Witherell, J, S., farmer
Wood, E., farmer, 800 acres
*1584~85 Directory of Stockton city and San Joaquin, Stani-
slaus, Calaveras, Tuolumne, and contra (:csta counties.
Note that only heads of families and business are listed.
At least two farmers on the list, Tully and Updike, are
also identified with the early ~ area, but most of
Keyes was included with modesto, for some reason, rather
than with ~eres or Turlock. J, G, Annear is also listed
in the iflodesto section (as a poultryman) as were C. N.
and Daniel Whitmore (~. N., 1510 acres; Daniel, 541w acres)
and four \1ivians with a total of 5,927 acres.
-216
PAGE 220 Show Image
E5IDENT5 AND OU5INESSES OF C~RES*
15g3
Annear, John (3., blacksmith and poultry raiser
Averill Bros. & Hall (j. 0. and G. W. Averill and S. B. Hall),
blacksmiths and tuheelwrights
Averill, (3eo. IAI. (Averill Bros. & Halls
Averill, Jesse 0. (Averill Bros & Hall and poultry raiser
Baldwin, Daniel, farmer
Baptist Church, Rev. 5. K. Dexter, pastor
Barnes, Andrew J.9 carpenter
Beecher, Fred R., farmer
Beecher, miles J., carpenter
Boyd, Alonzo P., farmer
£ain, Chas. m. , laborer (Note: Cain and £ane are both incor
£ain, Chas. T., laborer rect spellings in the directory.
Cane, Peter C., laborer The name was Kane)
Canfield, Willis L., farmer
£arter, Levi, farmer
Ceres Hotel, mrs. N. Conner, proprietor
Conner, Nancy, mrs., proprietor Ceres hotel
Cook, Arthur D., farmer
Cook, Gao. E., engineer
Cook, Pardon IAI., farmer
£ookson9 Frank T., farmer
Crow, A. N.
Curry, ~ussel1 B., postmaster and (curry & Service)
Curry & 5ervi~e (R. B. £urry and John Service) geo. merchandise
Dearing, 5. Edward, agent, 5. P. £o.
Dearing, kim. L., laborer
Dearing, Am. P., farmer
Oexter, 5. 1<., Rev., pastor Baptist Church
Donahue, Chas. E., laborer
Elliott, Arthur ~., farmer
Ellis~ Fred H., bookkeeper
Foster, Samuel ~., farmer
Grange Co. (The) of modesto, IM. E. Rose, mgr. Keyes, mail Ceres,
Joseph mcNeil, mgr. Ceres
Grattan, Henry, farmer
Hall, Chas. A., student
Hall, (3eo. B. (Averill Bros. & Hall)
Hall, IYlerritt J., farmer
Hamilton, (3eo., farmer Hamilton, Samuel J., laborer
Harter, James A., blacksmith
Harwick, salter H., farmer
Hennessey, James, farmer
Hill, Gilman E., farmer
Hosmer, F. w., harness maker
Howell, David m., farmer
Howkins, Robert T., laborer
Hudelson, Geo. J., laborer
Hudelson, James IM., farmer
217-
PAGE 221 Show Image
Hughson, Hiram, farmer
Hughson, Ora ~., farmer
Latimer, James ~., farmer
Leek, Thomas, rev., pastor m. ~. Church
mcNeil, JosephD farmer
mcNeil, Joseph, mgr. hotel and The Grange Co.
methodist Episcopal Church, Rev. Thomas Leek, pastor
munger, Umphrey 6., farmer
Nosier, John W., farmer
Orr, John A., teacher
Osterhus, Clemens ~., farmer
Painsegon, Francois, gardener
Seidel, Philip, farmer
Service, John (Curry & Service), res. Auburn
Service, Levis H., farmer
Simmons, Levi ~., laborer
Sisk, robert E., teacher
5isk, Wm. H., farmer
Skaggs, John W,, farmer
Southern Pacific Company Oepot, S. E. Oearing agent
Sperry, Chas. E., farmer
Starks, Henry A., farmer
Stuary, Geo, H.9 laborer
Tully, Geo., farmer
Turpin, Aaron W., laborer
roberts, Alfred J., farmer
Roberts, michael, farmer
Ross, ~m. E., i&iarehouseman
Ulch, A. E., mrs., millinery and fancy goods
Updike, Isaac, farmer
Updike, Samuel m., farmer
Ware, Willett, farmer
Webb, Oavid, miner
Whitmore, Clinton m., farmer
Whitmore, Daniel, farmer
Whitmore, Richard K., farmer
Whitney, ~., mrs.
Williams, Clarence m., farmer
Williams, mark m., farmer
Williams, lodger m., farmer
Woodbridge, David K., farmer
Yancey, Ebner J., farmer
*1893 Directory of Stockton City and San Joaquin, Stanislaus,
Tuolumne and Calaveras Counties, Some Ceres residents are
still being listed in the modesto section.
218
PAGE 222 Show Image
--%-
y
#"; j; ABOVE: Calkins'
"Ceres Courier"
building, Fourth
,~- ~ ~ Street. BOTTOM:
~-,
Gillette Hotel on left;
later moved to
Hugi)son.
;~ +-`- >
;~+ +~
+~ +-+ +
~ ++
++~+ -~~-+ ~- -+++- -~-+
+,~+++ ,++++,+++, ,++ ,~+++++++++++ +
~ +++++++++ ++++--+++--++++-+-+ -- +++++¼~-~++- +++ ---+-+-,+-++-`
+-+++++,- + `----+++- ++++~+_
++`+,+-+++- -- --~` +
++-, ~,+++ ~ ++~
+6+ ++ ++ + ~+
+ +-, +-++~ ,++- ++ -- ++,++-+++ + ~
++++~ ++ -- `- - ++-,+++` , -+ -+++- ~
+ +
-4+ `-~+++j ~½++¼ -`++++~
+++ - +
+++++
~+++- ++++++~- + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ ` + + + + ++
+ +++ + +
++++++++~+ ~
+ + + + + + +++ + + + + + + + + +
++ + + + + + + +
++ +++ + ;+ ++ ++++++++~+ +,+~++++++~++++~ A ++ ++ + + +
~ ~++ +++ +~(+++ ~
y~~+++++ +++++ + ++++++++ + ~ ++++++++;+
~ +++ +
++ + +++ + + ++ + + + ~ +++ + +7 + + ++++ + +
+ ++++ + + + + ++ + + + ++ + +~ ++ + +
++++++ + + + ,+ + ++ + + +- + ++ +++ + +
+ + + ++ + + + + + +
+ + + ++ ++ + ~
++ + +~+ ~++ +
PAGE 223 Show Image
V--' -$--, `-4 7
-y// /
/
4-,
A~' ~ <,,
-4
½;½
---y-~
¾
~:-- V- ~ `
ABOVE: Two Story SchooI~)ouse in Ceres- 1892, JOI)n A.
Orr1 teacher. BELOW: May Day Festival Ceres Grammer
School- 1920.
PAGE 224 Show Image
The
A. U. HAMBLIN
I Ceres Confech~onery Fxpert llorseshoeing afid Blacksniithing
For Everything Refreshing
___________________________ Sp(ci(Il (ltfefltifjfl giIe~i to
Ice Cream, Ice Cream Sodas ~ tI/( s/iiein~ (if' Ia/ut' h~,ses'
$)uarIer c,~ack, ring h'nc,
and all kinds of Summer Drinks ght
_______________________________________________________________________________ ~ ~paz)ined leg ,-eli~7)ed ,~i
Special ~aIes for ~ ½\¼½ ~< $ ~ C&~7ls CU7t'd Zn !;Olfl fill to
I ~ fzL'o ~L'eeks.
PARHES AND ENTEPTAINMENTS CERES, CALIFORNIA
R. C. DOOLITTLE, Prop. Smyrna Park Nurseries
Headquarters For Fine Stock
For Skillful Repair of Farm or Other StillattheOldStand
Machinery or Millwork, go to
REMEMBER U)S VVHL\ YoU MAKL OU}'
M. VINCENT YOUR ORDER NEXT FALl
THE BLACKSMITH CAMPIN & MOFFEl', Props.
Horses don't go lam Wh~ They're Shod hy Vincent~
p' The JOHNSON & FULLER
__j
PAGE 225 Show Image
________________ H. GOEFFERT
Suits ! Suits ! Suits ! Suits ! HARNESS AND SADDLERY
REPAIRING DONE AT LOWEST RATES
Kutfer- U ________________________
BY I BANK OF CERES I
PAYS 4 PER CENT INTEREST ON SAVING DEPOSITS
STOUT BROS. __________
START AN ACCOUNT NOW AND WATCH IT GROW
Ceres Leading Merchant Tailors OFFICERS DIRECTORS
L. M. MCDOnR1d, President L McDonald, G. H. Stoddard
Myron Water, Vice President Vaughn Whitmore,W. P. Clark
C. S. Grandi, Antony Morgan
M. P. Clark........Cashier Myron Warner
~If We handle Meyer & Co.'s line of up-so-date fabriCs
and guarantee absolute satisfadion in style and fit.
FAIR PRICES PROMPT PAYMENT
WM. STOCKS
PLUMBING ~ SHEET IRAN W~BK
~ ~ Pipes Sheet Iron Tires
R E A L E S T A I F Purr~ps Sheet Tin C~inder ~il
Bath Tubs Sheet Zinc Battenes
Sinks Shet Mica Spark Plugs
Insur~ce Money Lo~ncd T~~nks Sheet Rubber Insulated Wire
Beans and Grain Bought Troughs Sheet Asbestos Patching Cement
Float Valves Stove Pipe Gasoline
HubLer Belting Garden Hose and Hose Repairing
CEBES CAWIF
AGENT FOR THE
Fairbafiks Morse Windmills and ~as Engines
GENERAL REPAIRING BOX 102, CERES
1911 adds from Ceres High "Ec:io"
PAGE 226 Show Image
GOOD HORSES NEW RIGS
C eres Livery Stable TOP: Caswell Traction Grader invented by Henry
H. F, BEIDLEMAN, Prnp, Caswell. Used to level his farm west of Ceres.
BOTTOM: Hay-mal(ing on James W. Neel Ranch.
Commercial Men Save a Four-Mile Drive. Take
Train to Ceres. We wiH take ~ou to Modesto.
Phone 5x7 CERES, CAL.
,
4
~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~
~ ~
S ~ ~ ~ 4 ~
~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~
PAGE 227 Show Image
I State of California, County of 5tanislaus
~ruts are 0 authorize an(1 icense any Justice othe Sikpreme C t S
a0~ the Gospel of any deno tion to solemnize, withtn saici Coun~y, the Marr~a~e of ~;Per~or~e Just~e o
native of ~ 4 ( ~ ~jresident ( ~ e Peace,~or
of ½~ ~
oitnty of ~(( I ~ ~ ~ .... Stat6 of California, and (½f ~ ~
__ years, rodent of County of
:4 CC t~ State of California. Sa~~ parties bein~~ of s~ffie~ent a~e to be capable of contraet'n~
~itu~ss ~ I have haftd and affixed the l ior Court of
½; sa~cl Coanty, this 7½ day of /(¼S½~2 4¼1
½; A. D. County Clerk and ex-o~c,o Clerk of I
~ ~ ½¾ `><&erIorCo~ for onid Stao,olooo County.
__ ______By Deputy Clerk.
~attfornia, ~ 58.
I ~tatc ot COUNTY OF STANISLAUS. ~ ~ ~
1 hereby certify that 1 ts state(1 in th e to be trae, and that apon .1
the marria,,~e of said a~d
that said parties were joined in marria~e by nne, on th day of ~ A D 15 in ~ ,
~ said County and State; that ~ ~ . ~ ½~ , a resident of ~¼ ~ `~ ~
Mi;; ~ ~?¼$½?~z~~ and ffi½ a resident j
~ ~ ~ State of ~ ~ ~ ~ were present as witnesses ofthe said Cerem~ony.
~ ~ ~li ~itu~~s ~ I have hereanto set ~y hand, this ~ .
½; ;~7~2~4 ~ ¾;
~ N. B.--Tht Secretary of tht Statr Board of Iltahh irquire~ tht person ~oItrnnizin a maiiia~'r I
/~ ~ ~ ~
a n ~ sale in Ike Certificate of sach maritage the nativity of the patents of the parties
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~uuluu
mottled, whether either party was married before, if so, to nhorn, anti ~hethei the person with whom such lormet montage was contracted to living or dead.
Thio Litenot and CtrIi~cale rna~I bo liled in hr otoct of Ihr Coanty Rrcaidti of Stanislauu County, wilkin Ikirly (lays after performing tile crermoity.
CVe'iole S F 54762
Early day Marriage license.
PAGE 228 Show Image
~*
---`----
¼\ >--
4
½ ½'" *-------
-# -#-
4
4
½
¾
~
*s,0961 e~e~' enue~v eJow~!t:M (Jo~eJpA1!eG II!u~AJJea) Jo~eJpALIeG se~e~
PAGE 229 Show Image
II
ANNE)(ATION 1
UND' IGAT
.) ORDf~ANOE-~o
a ~ ~ ~ ~
- .- 6, A. f
`A'.. -
I
½
10 Ta-1;-~K'2 I
½4\.. I I If
`1' ~qit~~~p Vt L£~ ;\
0
LLL~ ILL cjLJ ILLJ LJLJ I
~ &A~£
fl:
\% _ ______
0 \
~;; AW~ _ _______
~Af~'~C£ JTQt£r
--,--~ -`--
___ Th ~
f'~. LILL
zLJiLiJ-f-'~¼i{½ Q;~;~>\\J\
j;j~;'> :;`½~ ½\ L~'~ffi ~ 27;<
VTTTTII \ -~ Q
~
__ .-~ ~
~XI~TI14G C(T~ LII~4ITS. ~
1\)EA' CITY LIMIJTS: ~~;;;\;; `~`~;\L~
OJJ~) ()J' (7'7~A'~~
September, 1948 , ~ ~4~** ~- ~,
PAGE 230 Show Image
ACKNOWLEOGmENTS
For loan of matErials, Family Papers and Notes:
Barbara Goss myrtle Price; mr. and mrs. Elton Turner
Ham Family rnr. and irs. Elwin Service
Sidney m. Lone rnr. and mrs. Stanley Triplett
George Orser mr. and mrs. Stephen \1ivian
For loan of Pictures for copying:
Leona Garrison Grant Lucas
Florence Gondrin~ Library myrtle Price
Harold E. Johnson Ted Schuld
L
Edward Kaiser Roger Strange
Irva Lucas Hobert ~hitmore
For Indexing and Proof-Reading:
£aryi Fowler, ~. H. Fouler, Ruth Jorgensen, Grant Lucas
h Ceres Post Office for National Air ITlail Week (may, 1938),
For £over Oesign:
Elaine Spears for work upon a cover stamp design of the
courtesy of Robert Gondrint~
For Printing and Photographic Work; Publishing:
Bernie Knoll, Ceres Unified School Oistrict, Career ~du-
cation Department; Or, m. Robert Adkison; John Avila
* * *
BIBLIOGRAPHY
¼; open to doubt, majority opinion or oldest authority
Note: Information was checked carefully. If a matter was
was used.
"A century of Lommitment-~From Frontier to Frontier, 1869-19~9~.~
First United methodist £Dhurch of Ceres. 1969
Annear, margaret L.: A Brief History of Stanislaus county.
modesto, 1950.
Bramhall9 John T,: The Story of Stanislaub. modesto Herald, 1914.
Branch, L. C.: History of Stanislaus County. elliott & moore,
San Francisco, 1881.
Ceres Reunion Association: Proceedings of the First Annual Re-
Union ~f residents and Ex-Residents of Ceres. Oakdale Graphic
Print, 1895.
~ochran, Davis, Ham, Hatch, Triplett, Willett: Historical Back-
ground of Ceres Union High School. Ceres, 1959
Dedication Program, First Baptist Church of £eres. march 26, 1950.
Directory of Stockton City & San Joaquin, Stanisl~us, Calaveras,
Tuolumne and contra costa Counties. San Francisco, 1884
i
PAGE 231 Show Image
Directory of Stockton City & 5an Joaquin, Stanislaus1 Tuolumne
and £alaveras Counties. San Francisco, 1893.
Elias,5o1 p*: 5tories of 5tanislaus. modesto, 1924.
Good~e11, Fred F.: John Service, Pioneer. Privately Printed,
1945.
Levis publishing: ~ Inemorial and 8iographical History of the
Counties of merced, Stanislaus, Calaveras, Tuolumne and
mariposa, California. Chicago, 1892.
muir, John3 Picturesque California, 2 vols. J. Oeiuing P~blj~hm
mg. San Francisco, 1~dP
National Irrigation congress, Bulletin No. 3: modesto and Tur-
lock Irrigation Districts, San Joaquin Valley, California.
Publicity Committee of the Fifteenth National Irrigation
Congress. august, 1907.
Ross, Norman: Stanislaus Orchard Handbook. Belt Printing. 1974.
5chrock, milo m.: 5tanislaus County. 1937.
Sixtieth Anniversary Booklet of First Church of Christ, Ceres.
1968
Smith, Wallace: Garden of the Sun. Fresno, 1939.
5orensen, Anna: History of the Turlock Irrigation District. n.d.
Stanislaus County Directory. modesto, 1910.
~tanislaus Ranchers Directory. Kelc~e C. Grisham. modesto. 1935.
Sweet, A. T. & Warner, J. F. & Holmes, L. C.: Soil Survey of
the modesto-Turlock Area, California. Washington, 1909.
Thompson, Thos. H. & West, Albert A.: History of San Joaquin
County, California. Hoiuell-North. Berkeley, 1879. 1968 Reprod.
Tinkham, George H.: History of Stanislaus County, California.
Los Angeles, 1921.
Various Authors: Stanislaus County, Its History Past, Present
& Future. modesto, 1920.
Documents and Unpublished Hecords:
Ceres Garden Club minuLe Book 1925-1932.
City of Cere~ Re~Drds
Diaries and Personal Papers of Allura Ulch and Florence Worrell
Ephraim Hatch Papers
F. W. ffloffett Album of ~on Pedro Dam Construction. 1922.
1860, 1870, 1880 United States Census of San Joaquin County,
California. National Archives. (microfilm)
1570, 1880 United 5tates Census of Shasta Co., California.
National Archives. (microfilm)
1870, 1880 United 5tates Census of Stanislaus County, Cali-
fornia. National Archives. (microfilm)
Stanislaus County Deeds; Deaths, marriages, Cemetery Records;
Tax Lists; Great Registers of \1oters 1869-90 (microfilm)
Stanislaus County School Records. mcHenry museum.
~The Ceres Scraper" 1901-1903.
ii
PAGE 232 Show Image
maps:
Brotherton1 Jack: map of 5tanislaus £ounty 1776-1976. modesto,
1975.
Official Board of Supervisors map of Stanislaus £ounty,
~a1ifornia. `1isalia, 1877.
Of~icia1 Board of 5upervisors map of Stanislaus county,
California. 1895.
Plat and Road maps of 5tanislaus County, California, 1935,
1956. F. S.~ Kelley, modesto.
Postal Route IYIap ijf 1884. Western Guide Publishers, ~orval1is,
Oregon. 1974.
Periodicals and Newspapers:
Planning Commission map of Ceres. 1947
: August 21, 1854; November 28, 1855; Feb-
IaAlta californian I
ruary 28, 1556; February 17, 1869.
"Ceres Courier"; January 20, 1921; August 1, 1935~ Thirtieth
F Fig 1904.
Anniversary Edition,October 13, 1941w July 4, 1947.
Ceres High School ~Echo", 1911, 1912.
Ceres Study £lub £lipping Book
Ceres Unified School District *`Viewpoints", 1975-76.
*emodesto morning Heralds, June 9, 1904.
*~Oakland Tribune',' may 1, 1960
.*Pacific Rural Press" march 25, 1571.
`esacrarnento tall", September 4-8, 1891; October 7, 1590;
February 9, 1592; may 22, 1589.
`Sacramento Unions', October 28, 1855; February 27, 1860;
April 17, 1865; September 29, 1871; December 12, 1871;
February 8, 1573; Illay 25, 1585; September 4-14, 1591.
"San Francisco ~xaminerve, September 16, 1913; January 26, 1912.
"San Francisco chronicle", January 30, 1904.
"Stanislaus County Nei~is", October 20, 1571.
Interviews with Descendants of early Settlers and Church and
club Leaders.
iii
PAGE 233 Show Image
INOEX OF NAPES
A£HT~RBER6 , ATIMELL,
Kenth 17, 118, 295 Cathern 67
ADAmS, ~1yde 54
L. G. 172 AU5TIN,
AOKISON, mrs. C. ~I. 148
Or. m. Robert 115, 153, 193, 194 AVERILL
AH SOH 21 Allura' (Ulch) 26
ALLEN, Angeline (Hall) 26
E. J. 171 Brothers 113, 199
ifirs. E. Je 171 Family 134
Geraldine 171 George We 25 26, 27
Grace (Persing) 171 Jesse (J. o.5 25, 26,
W. J. 131 132, 168
ALSUP, Lavina 26
George W. 177 Sophia 26
AmBROGID, Susan 25
Atiho 30 Viola 26, 132
Flora 30 AYRE5 (AYERE5),
ANDERSON , A. We 83
Je 0. 200 AYRE,
maurice (Bun) 204 F. H. 185
we A. 204 BACON,
IA'. 192, 193 L. W. 112
mrs. IA'. IA'. 210 BAER Family 170
ANNEAR , BAIRD, E. C. 109
Edgar H. 24, 182 BAKER, F. m. 135
Ellen 24 BALORIDGE, C. F. 27, 28,
John Greany 24, 59, 131, 132, 187, 106
194, 199 mrs. C. F. 27, 28
margaret 25 Carrie 28
Tabitha 24 Charles 28, 146
APPLEBY Family 169 Claude 28
ARNETT , Elbert 28
Fanny 131 Ethel (Turner) 79
ASHE, J. IA'. (Wayne) 28, 47, 110,
Or. 74 145, 147
A5HF0R~ Lawrence 28
mrs. Boyce 148 Lucy 147
ASPI NALL, myrtle 27, 28, 107
Guy 116, 202 (Ham & Baldridge) 203
mrs. Guy (Flora) 143, 202, 203 BALDWIN, Dan 107
tAlendell, 202 oily 189
ATCHISON, BALL, Gary 116, 118, 207
Bill 140, 141 BALTZ, Ray 118, 138, 148
ATKINSON, BANFORD, Antoinette 140
Bryce 138 Caroline Fennimore 140
George E. 138 BARBOUR, Amelia 29
mrs. George 142 Claude James 28
Will 179 Dennis 29
Family 170 Dorothy Etta 28
iv
PAGE 234 Show Image
BABOUR, Er 28 BIANCHI, martin.30, 194
Helen O'~ear) 28 Flora (Ambrogio) 30
Homer (William Homer) 28, 29, 205 Palmera 30
Jennie Jeanette 28 Siro 30
John Henry 28, 29 BIL5ON, Albert 31
LeRoy 17, 19, 205 Ann 31
Ova Lea (Oevitt) 29, 118 Cecil 31
Ruby Pearl 28 Hattie 31
Vesta Viola 28 Patricia 31
Walter Ervin 28, 29 William 30, 31
Barbour Family 21 mrs. LAim. (Betty Gail)
BARHAm, &arl 1O8~ lifl, 11~ 17, 31, 145
margaret 143 BIONOOLILLO, 5herryl 145
BARNES~ E. C. 29, 107, 169, 203 BIS5ELL, Hoiuard 116
Eva 29 BLACKLO~K, Annie 69
June L. 108, 151 John 69
Irmgart 143 BLAIR, Pamela 118
Lucy 5tone 29, 136 BLAKER, A. J~ 166
metta Kelly 29, 137 Eloida 161, 166, 31,32
Rex 29 Ed 31,32
Weston 29 Alice J. 31,32, 166, 140
BARNHART, H. 0. C. 135 Edith 32
BARRIER, Alberta 131 Fred 31, 32
BARROW~, £lifford 182 Jesse 31, 32
h BARTON, Frank 171 BOLl NE, Dorothy 17'1
Barro~s Family 170 BLEAKLEY, Ernest 180
BARTLETT, Leonard 138 BOGARO, Robin 141
BATHE, Tom 116 Walter (3. 171
Virginia (mrs. Tom) 145, 154 BOLLAKIS Family 28
BEAL, George 140 BiNOS children 186
BEARD, T. K. 90, 170 BOOTHE, Dyas Pouier 32
Harold 180 0. Poujer, Jr. 32, 139
BECK, Clarice (mrs. Paul Peikert) Ferris 32
191 margaret (Peggy) 32
BE~KEH, Rev. John 178 Thomas Wheeler 32
BEECHER, F. 135 Boothe Family 213
BEIDELmAN, fYirs. J. 109 BUS5ERT, Robert 180
.BEI5EL, mrs. Reinhart (Dorothy) 148 BO5WELL, Or. Louis 152
BEL~HER, Imogene 141 mrs. Louis 152
BENNETT, L. (3. 116 BOWmAN, Jacob 141
BEN5TON, Loren2 153 J. U. 146
BERG, Joe 22,43, 204 Lucile 141
BERGAiflAS~HI, Jim 118, 17 Robert 111, 152
BERNIER, EXILE 146 BOYD, Alonzo P. 62
BERRY, L. m. 130 Billy 172
BERRYHILL, C. £. 146 W. J. 172
glare 182, 194 mrs. W. J. 172
mrs. Clare (maryellen) 145 BRADBURY, Harriett (mrs.
michael 194, 139 J. £.) 143, 144, 182
L Ronald 100, 13B, 139 BRADFORD, Rev. James 17
8ETHEL, Rev. Richard 175 BRADLEY & REED 199
BEZANSUN, ~hillip 207 BRADLEY & ROUNDS 199
UlANCHI, [3aEb~Ea 30 BRANDUN, George 116
~ ~() 8'HAZIL, Geri 151
m~'1(i~1P n~ ~ B~ANNAN, Earl ~2
v
PAGE 235 Show Image
BRANNAN, marth \1ivian 52 ABRAL, Dorothy 34
`1ivlan 82 George 34
BRENDA Al 194 John 34
BRENNAN, Janet 148 Joseph 34
BRIDGES, Candy 177 marie 34
BRILHART, mrs. Linda 106 CALKINS, Donald 141, 205,
BROADWELL, Karylton 182 210
BRONAUGH, Clarence H. 210 Donald R. 140, 210
mrs. Clarence H. 210 Helen 141, 210
BRONSON9 George 152 Robert 210
BROOKS, Edward 53 Calkins Family 170
harold 53 CAmPBELL, J* m. 140
Leslie 53 CAmPIN, Daniel 43, 56,
VErnon 53 CANFIELD, IAi. L. 103
BROTHE~T0N, Jack 7 Steve 175
BROUSE, H. IAi. 130 CANNELLA, Sal 111, 117
mrs. L. J. 130 CARPENTER, Charlotte 117
BROWN, Alice 33 John H. 155
Charles 33 CARR, maxine 153, 154
Earl 33, 50, 149, 153 CARROLL, C. B. 63
Evelyn 18, 33 Elsie Osterberg 63
H. L. 33 CARTER, Aletha Belle 36,
Hilda (Guertz) 33, 140 214
Jim 117 Elma J. 13, 35, 213
Pearl 171 Fanna Eve (Shoup) 34
Perry 135 Frank 35
Susan 179 Levi 8, 13, 24, 34,
W, A. 178 79, 88, 103, 213
Walter 34 melborne B~ 35, 214
Brown Family 170 Roscoe L. 36, Z14
BROWNE, Father Thomas 174 Stanton Lester 35, 214
BRUSH1 Edwy 81, 82 CARTWRIGHT, S, W. 108,
Harriet Ann \1ivian 81, 82, 122, 125 109, 200
James 82 CASE, Anne 87
minnie 82 Cyrus 87
135
Stanley 82
Walter 82 CA~ Andrew 36
BRYANT, Rees 53 Earl 37, 139
Annabelle (Newkirk) 53 Edith 37
Arden 53 Helen Cross 37
H. 0. 185 Henry 36, 37, 106, 166
Verna 53 Jennie Whitmore 36, 37,
BULFINCH, Neil 141 87, 134, 179
BURGER, Leroy 177 mary Andrews 36
Kirk 177 mary (mrs.wm.Bucknam) 37
BURNEY, major James 187, 188 mary Dee 37
BUSCH,_____ 135 Ruth (mrs.H. Jorgensen)
BUTCHER, Thelma 143 37
BUTLER, Pierre 194 wallace 36, 37, 87
Beverly 118 CATHCART, Dorothy 145
BUUS, mrs. Harvey 142 Laura 107
CABRAL, ANDREW 34 CAULKINS, Asa 38
Betty, 34 Dora 39
Carl 34 Earl A. 39
Elaine 34 Ellis 39
Fernando 34 vi
PAGE 236 Show Image
CAULKIN5, Everett 39 £OE, Inrs. 103
Fred, 39 COGHLAN, F~Th~F-John 174
&DLE, Pearl 147, 154
Fred, Jr. 39
Grace (Forney) 38, 134 £OLEmAN, Cecil 177
Ivan 39 COLLI~5, Edith (mrs. L. C.)
Kenneth 39 85, 110, 143, 144
Lois 39 Leland C. 85, 110
mary Faye (Davis) 39 Collins Family 213
mary Emma whittier 38 C0~YER, Rev. Clifford 150,
margaret 39 167
Nellie mrs. Keck) 39 ComBs, Charles 177
Nellie Riggs) 39 CONDIT, Rev. Adrian 177
Ralp Gary, Preface, 111, 154
Verna (Denlis) 39 CONN£R, Emma 60
Wayne 39 mary A. 60
William 0. 38, 60 mrs. Nancy 16, 60, 132,
CAULTON, Lu (mrs.Rob't) 145, 149 170, 199, 208
Robert 150 CONRAD, Lottie 140
CHAmBERS, Robert 175 COOK, A. D. 135
F 185, 187 ______ H. E. 103, 133
CHANDLER, mary 147 F. ~. 139, 140
CHAPIN, mrs. Aurelia 132, 195 G. E. 103, 133
Ezra (E.H.) 103, 133 m. 135
CHASE, mr. ____ 188 N. 135
w. 5. 170 P. ~. 103, 133
CHING, Sam 21 mrs. P. W. 134
CHIPPONERI, Jim 65 Cook Family 170, 134
Laura 65 COOKSUN, George 189
Nick 65 COOPER, A. L. 142
Nick, J~. 117 mrs. A. L. 143
CHRISTIANSEN, S. ~. 110, 112, 141 Jim 138
Herbert L. 178 CORDAY, Clarence 112
Ruth 141 CORTL~VER, Ronald 176
CHU8BUCK, mary Jo 113 COWAN, mrs. J. 6. 130
CHURCH, Luke 62 COWLES, David 169
Almina J. 63 CRAIG, Robert 39, 105, 134
George F. 63 mrs. Robert 15, 40, 109
margaret 63 Craig Family 170
Sarah Anna 62 CRANDALL, Charlotte 180
CHUTE, E. 78 CRAIMFORD, E. L. 147
Elberta 78 Gene 32
Estella 78 Helen 131
CISCO, Clarence 173 mary Gruenig 148
Ernest 140 Parker 131
CLARK, Homer 100 T. H. 139
Rev. Robert 178 Crawford Family 170
CLEmENCE, Dixie 178 CROmBIE, James R. 91, 142
Gene 178 Jessie Wood 91, 145
Larry 178 CROOkS, Gertrude Ustick 83
CLIFF, ______ 135 William Hirani 82, 83
COMB, Avis 175 CR055, Evelyn (mrs. Harris),
Taylor 175 41
COCHRAN, Carol (Helsley) 53, 147 George 41
J. H. 133
Reid 53, 150, 167
vii
PAGE 237 Show Image
£ROSS, James Je 40 oImpRIO9 TIS. Torn 512
Johri Newton 37 DONNELLY, 202
Joseph mcLean 41, 182 DOOLEY, Ethel 141
mary 38 DOOLITTLE, Augustus Albertus
Olivia 38 41
Thelma Jane 41 Oorothy Frances 41
Veda Goodium 41 James Harold (Jimmy) 42
william 27 Inargaret E. 41
£ROSS, STARK5 & SE~\1ICE 199 Ralph £. 41,201
£UODY, B£N 192, 193 5adie Harvey 41
mrs. Ben (Sarah) 118 149, D0R~ARO, mr. 98
167, 204 DOUGLAS, Rev.~nton 159
CUmmINGS, Ooyle 117 DRESSIER Family 170
~ummINS, Orby 171, 177 DUDLEY, Gari (mrs. Sperry)
CUNNINGHAm9 James 108 118
Leroy 112, 113 DUNBAR, Rev. marvel 0. 171
Olive 154 OURAND, Emma 143
CURRY, Edith 189 DURU5SETTE, Leo 177
R. B. 135 EBERLE~ Cathy 153
Willie 179 John D~ 111, 117
mrs. _____ 179 EDISON, C. H. 170
CUTTER, Jack 172 EOSTON, Effie 141
DALTON, Rev. Wm. 167 EELS, Alice 148
DANIELS, Bud 172 ELIAS, Sol P. 95
mrs. Bud 172 LLLEN~OOD, mrs. S. A. 130
James 131 ELLERD, Early 180
Kathy 131 5hirley 180
DAVIES, J. `1. 166 ELLIOTT, IA. C. 135
DA\1IS, Gayle 111 Carrie le 140
Harvey Bates 14, 66, 185 ELSEN, maudalene 146
John 180 ENEBOE, Ronald 118
margaret 66 ENGEL~ Wayne 179
Paul 171 EPPLER, Wanda 141
Robert 176 ERmSHAR, Raymond 180
LAl. H. 186 ESTES1 Ella 133
Oavis Children 185 EVANS, C. W. (Doc) 42, 213
DEAN, G. L. 103, 133 Christopher 111
DEARING, S. E. 135 Isaac H. 140, 141
DEBOARD, Harold 117 C_______ 209
Kay 145 F KR L , Sarah K. 141
mr. 17D
FAIRBANKS Family 170
DEERIN~ 135 FAIRCHILD, Dane 117
DEICHELBOHRER, WILLIAM (Bill) 208 FAULKNER, mrs. Howard 137
OELHART, Jim 150 FELLUWS, mrs~ _______ 199
DEWITT, Eldon 180 mary 133
DICKSON, George 139 FENNImORE, Caroline 140
DIEDE, Elmer 180 FERGUSON, Rev. E. D. 170
DILL, Jerry 180 FERRER Ella 141
DILLARD, Rev. T. C. 175 FIELDS, Jeannette 117
DILLON, mrs. Henrietta 169 FIRESTINE, ERNEST 111
Jack 111 FISCHER, tarry 152
Jake 17, 118 FOSTER, Harry 205
`1ivian (mrs. mocabee) 118 mattie 205
DImPERIO, Tom 152 max 205
viii
PAGE 238 Show Image
FOSTA, Kenneth 113 GILLETTE. Or. 96
rev. Thomas 181 GLEASON, mrs. Lulu 136
FOUNTAIN, fflrs. C. E. 131 BLEN, Robert 176
FOIAILER, Aurelia IAihitmore 89, 136 GOE5Ch, esther 141
Carroll 59, 106 GONORING, Alfred IAI. 45, 114,
Caryl (mrs. R. H.), Preface, 146
90, 142, 154, 179 Augustus C. 45
Richard Hardiman 90 Florence L. 45, 106, 144
Robert (Judge) 115 Frances C. 45, 106, 144,
Fowler Family 213 146, 147
FOX, John 16, 74 John m., Sr. 44, 45, 10?
FRANCIS Family 170 mrs. John m., Sr. 18, 45,
FRAZIER1 Annie 133 110, 137
FREI0LIN~1 Lawrence 169 John ffl, Jr. 45, 105, 213
FR~NCH9 Richard 178 margaret (Mrs. John m.,
FR~m0NT9 James C. 7 Jr.) 45, 137
FRICK(, Helen 153 marian 45
Lester 118 Nettle (mrs. C. H. Hansen)
FRI~OmAN, Arthur 141 45
F FULLER, Dr~~ 159, 161 GORDON, Gracealberta Ray 56
FROEHLICH, Leon 179, 205 Robert 45
mrs. Leon 205 GOOZ~E, Rev. Alan 138
Ben 146 Robert 56
FULTON, ______ 135 GOSA, marie 177
GAGE, mr. 157 GOUDEAU, Coni Limprecht 145
GAROENHIRE~1YF~,rs.Neal 148 G£3WAN, Carleen Reinhart 171
GARL, Louis 112 GRAHAM, mrs. Earl 142, 143,
GARRISON, C. C. (Lum) 27, 43, 44, 145
96, 147, 189 LeMyra 55
Hazel 43 marguerite (See mrs. Earl)
Helen 43 Mattie 55
Jason C. (Jase) 42, 44, 138 GRAY, Mr. 161
Leona 43, 111, 118, 153 C. A. 16~
Lowell 43, 114, 182 WIlliam 180
Lulu 43 GREEN, B. K. 185
Mamie 43 Lyle 85
Martha 42 Mary 176
mildred 43, 68 GREGG, Kenneth 167
Ridgeley 43 GRIFFIN, John M. 135
Ruby 43 Claude 139
_____ 135 GROSS, mrs. (Baldwin) 34
Garrison Family 213 Gross Fami~4
GARRITY, i~rs. Amelia 205 GRUENIG Family 170
GATES, mrs. Emory 190 GSCH~ENO, Inez 138
GARTIN, Bert 44 GUERTZ, Hans 33
Faye 44 Hilda 33
James U. 44, 75, 107, 109 GUILFOYLE, Bishop merlin 174
GELI, Pedro 181 HAAS, Fleming 151, 193
GERUE, Mary 141 HACKETT, Ardella 170
GIODINGS, E. D. 185 Claire 46
GILBERT, R. C. 103, 133 Daniel 46
mrs. R. C. 133 Oorothy (mr8. McKenzii) 46
Gilbert Family 213 Dwight 46
Gertrude Fellows 46
ix
PAGE 239 Show Image
HACKETT, Fannie (fflrs. mall) 4~ HANSEN, Nattie Gondring 45
John 46 Rev. Peter 54
Lois (mrs. Smith) 46 HA~5~, Angeline Scott 48
Phillip 46 £harles 45
Lester 46, 170 Charles Henry 48, 49
Sandy 148 Clarence morgan 48
Alilliam Je 46 James 49
Hackett Family 213 John H. 48
HAGLUNO, Don 150, 194 June (mrs. Schockmel) 49
HAINES9 Ann 148 Laurine Katterine Ipsen
mrs. Jack (Eleanor mcKni~ht) 148 48
HALE, John P. 166 Zelpha SiMa~gerty 49, 137
HALL, Byrdelia 61 HARCa~I£I, Shands 177
Charles A. 61 mrs. 1??
E. G. 59 HARDI~~ly 177
George B. 25, 54, 168, 199 HAROI~, ~valyn 148
mrs. George 132 HALLOW, L. B. 110
Joseph 61 HARNISH, Florence 175
Herbert m. 61 HARP, alma meCumber 49
m. J. 61, 135 Joseph 49
merrit J. 61 Lola 49
Rhode A. 61 `~Duise 133
Sarah F. 61 T. C). 4Y, 57, 182
135 Thomas J. 49, 82
HA~lara B, 140
Jack 202 william B. 49, 130, 187
HARRIS, Arthur 43, 111, 138
HAm, Allen 46 mrs. Arthur 142, 143
Ooreen 47 Gerald 146
Gordon 47 HARTS~L9 200
J. H. 47 HAR~ICK, p130
Katie 46,47 mrs. 130
myrtle Baldridge, Prefaces 27 46, HATCh1 ~0
47, 166, 167, 158, 210 Caroline matilda Horn
Pearl 46 50, 130
Phillip 47 Clara 1~6
I£iilli~m H. (will) 46, 47, 108, Cora may 50, 188
146, 203
Ephraim 50, 73, 96, 97,
HAmBLY, mrs. ~. 0. 110 130, 1~6
HAmmOND, Latry 177 Hazel 50
Mary 177 Herbert mauro (Bert) 50,
William 66 133, 188
HANCOCK, Rolla 208
Raymond Ephraim 50, 188
HANK~1 mrs. Theodore 144 Warde 50
HANSCOm, Amanda 47 HAV(RLY, G. A. 172
Bion B. 47, 103, 135 ~AWKINS1 Albert 53
Elma (mrs. Kirktuood) 47 Ann 53
George T. 47 Archibald 53
Josiah Weston 47 Ri chard 53
Nathan C. 47, 103 HAYES, Father John 174
Ned B. 47 B. 130
Robert H. 47 HAVN~S, C. T. 109
Si Livingeton 47, 48, 18?, 209 HAZARD, Jack 141
HANSEN1 C. H. 45 H~A0, C. B. 173
Christian H., Jr. 45 H£ILBRON, mrs. Grace Gray
x 141
PAGE 240 Show Image
HIm. Calvin 1. 179 osmE, Ezra Frank 54
Douglas 179 Erma Streeter 55, 145
Juanita 153 F. 135
HEISEL, Leonard 169 Loren IM. 55
HEISINGER, Gerald 118, 150, 167 Petra K. Aest 54
HELm, Clifford 169 Wayne 54
HELSLEY, Carol (mrs. Cockran) 53, ~oux9 Steve 118, 154, 212
167, 190 HOWARD9 Frank 146
J. m. s3, 106, 165, 159 Harriett Roberts 141
Sheldon 53 IA'. A. 135
Stanton K. 53, 105, 107 ~0WE, Ray 180
mrs. S. K. 142 HUDELSON, Albert H. 56
mr. 161, 165 £liza Vandalia lowell 55
HENDER~I~9 J. m. 130 Glenn 56
L
mrs. J. m. 130 `3racealberta 56
HENNESAY9 JADES 135 (3race Work 56
HENflY, Herbert 171 Jades 55
HENSLEY9 mae (Ashford) 192, 193 Ja.es Bresham 55
HERFURTH, Henry 171 John Robert 55, 56
L
HERQLO9 B. I. 135 mary UcCluney 55
HERRICK, John 185 HtiMPHREY, &etty 153
HERSHISER9 We A. 187 Ted 111
HIATT, mre. A. S. 142 ~UN5UCKE~, Low 64
Hiatt Family 170 HURT, Billy 181
HICKEY9 Howard 172, 194 HY£R, Lester 169
\½
Je I. 172 IOE, Susie 158
HIDAHL, Joel 117, 139, 194 IIIFELO, Leona 154
Margaret 138
IN~ALLS9 Charles 207
HILDAETH, 44 I~0LS9 carmen 145
HILL, Grace IRELANO9 Daisy 162
6. E. 103 S. A. 135
Hazel 189 IRONS, \1irginia 179
HILLS, Edward Henry 35 IRVIN, S. J. 107
Elma J. (carter) 35 ISHIDA9 Haru (fflrs. Nakagawa)
HINCH, Charles 24 56
HINKSON9 J. F. 186 Jack 56
Hinkson Children 186 Kametaro 56
HINTON, J. H. 172 Nobura 56
HOA6LANO9 Charles 139 Au 56
HOGG, Rudolph 178 JACKSON9 Arthur 169
Velma 175 putt 172
HOGUE, Frank 135 mrs. mutt 172
HOLDEN, Rev. C. H. 168 JAEGERS, mr. 169
HOLLOWAY9 Pat 152 JASPAR, Netti~1
Holloway Family S. 0. 130
HOUYI, Anton 54 JENSEN, Iniles 118
Edith (mrs. Atwell) 54 JEPSEN, Daniel 203, 213
Elm martine Alfons 53, 54 Bertha Roth meyers 213
Harry E. 54 Peter 203
myrtle (mrs. James Price)9 Pre- JESSUP, Robert 171
face9 54 JQHNSON, Charles C. 191
Hans P. 53, 54 Arthur 171
H0L~ES, Bill 148 Dee 180
xi
PAGE 241 Show Image
JOHISON, Allen 57
KLOEKL£fl, mrs. 161
Alvie (Rev.) 172 KNIGHT, R6V. (3ertrude 175
Asa F.' 56, 57, 201 KNOLES, mrs. A.C. 134
G* H. 139 KNOAR, Prof. Frederick 142
Harold S? KNOWL~5., Sister 157
Rev. J.Fruelen 167 KOB~RN~CK, Rev. Kurt 175
uirs. Je F. (Lula) 5?, 146
KOSHELL, N. E. 116
James Floyd 57, 111 KOY AH 21
John K. 168 KR~PELA, mrs. John (Jeanne)
1SOW t7~ 149
Willard 208 KUHUUAN, mrs. Jack 180
J0~S. George 150 Rev. Jack 180
Humphrey 190 LACKEY, iob 148
J. F. 146 LAOO9 Alan 90
J. H. 134 Alice (mrs. Thorman) 90
J. I. 190 Nell IAAhitmore 89, 90
Raymond H. 121 LAI~O, John W. 185
Richard 177 LANDER, Frank 141, 142, 201
JONSON, Jb,Ann 148 mrs. Frank 201,211
JORGENSEN1 Homer 3?, 179 Je E. 14?
mrs. Homer (Ruth Caswell), Lander Family 170
Preface, 37, 152 LANORETH, Clifford 139, 140,
KAISER, Arnold 5? 146
Bertha (Burch) 5?
mrs0 Clifford (Zala) 146
Edward A. 5?, 194 LANE, Clell 208
Werner 57 ~rsie 146
KANANT, Fred 141 LANKFORO, Thomas IM. 173
Laverne 141 LAPHAm, ~bIe 141, 142
KANE, Grandma 162 Perry 141
Peter 212
LARSEN, Harold 180
KEEGAN, Thomas 187 LAS1(EY, Charles 152
KEENEY, Elizabeth 141 mrs. Charles (LaVonne) 151,
KEHOE, Dennis 66
KELLEY, Dell m. 175 152, 153
LAT~ftlER, Qella 75
KENNEDY, 135 J. E. 75
W. N. (iY~i~j-.201
KENSHOL, Eileen 204 LATOURETTE, DR. DONALD 180,
KERSHBER13EN, Anna 171 181, 205
mrs. Donald 142
mrs. Elizabeth 171 ILAUBOROU13H, 203
Frances 171 LEE, Cyrus ~. 117, 135, 187,
KETTERLIN, A. 0. 139 199
KImBALL, trace ffi. 160, sill 158
KIN(3, Chester 172 LEONARD, Jacob H. 135
KINSER, maria C. 140 LEVITT, Asa 141
IA:. 0~ 139 mary E. 141
Kinser Family 213 LEVIS, mrs. 162
KIRK, Leon 177 LIODLE, Eva ~
Reba 177
LIIYIAS, Flora 34
KIRKSEY, mrs. Clara 171 John 34
KITTRELL, may 130 maria 34
S. A. 133 Lucille (Vasconcallos) 34
IA. B. 130 LImPRECHT, mrs. Richard
KLINE, Henry 110, 116
(June) 145, 149, 179
KLINKE, Geneva 141 LINONER, _______ 202
xii
PAGE 242 Show Image
LJNE6AR, Keith 138 RcGEE Family 213
LINSCOTI, Stella m. 141 mcGUFFEY, J. m. 112
L~CKI£iOOD, Belva Ann 213 mcKAu(3hAN~ James 179
LONG, Linda ~2 mrs. James 179
margaret moffet 62 mcKAY, Richard 150
Sidney C. (Sidney,Sr.) 62, 115 mcKENzIe, Roy 139
Sidney m. 62 mcK~N~, Father Hugh 174
Steph.n 62 mcKENZIE, Roy 205
Frank 170 m.cL~AN1 5. fyi. (Dr.) 42
L0RA~,A1ic. Blaker 140, 145, 166 UcKNIGHT, Claude 40, 110,
LOVELAND, Delbert 177 200
LOWE, Naomi 153 Jean (Parks) 64, 65, 149
R. K. 150 L. I. 167
LOIAERY, Leona 141 Rolla 146
LUCAS, Caroline F. TouchstDne 55 mcmILLAN, `1Iiola 140
Cora 58 *cN~1L, Archibald m. 60, 117
Garland I. (Doc) 59 Emily 59
Grant I., Preface, 59, 178, 179 J. 97
Irva Shrider 59, 140 Joseph 59 60
Jettie 58 Uary (may) 60
Leona 58 Nancy 59,60
Newell A. 58 Sara (Sadie) 60
NewelCrane 55, 75 mcPHEETERS, John 150
Nita 58 mcRAE, Arthur 149
Thomas 58 IY?cRO~ERTS1 C. 58
Lucas Family 135, 213 mACEDO, Betty (Nibler) 208
LUDOEN, Chesley 17, 108, 110 Florence 208
LURCH, John 66 Rudy
LUTON, irs. Jim (marilyn) 149, mADSEN, Rev. C. 0. 175
153, 154 ~AG0ON, ~rt 154
LYmAN, mrs. Bell 170 UALIN, Earnest 141, 142
L. 185 E. L. 116
LYONS, Early 7 mrs. E. L. 142
LYSTRA Family 170 Sylvia 141
m~LIS.IER, mrs. C. A. 136 ~ALL~ mr. & mrs.Godrrey 170
mcCARTHY, James 139 Grace 170
mcCLURE, Dana 169 Julia 170
mcCRACKEN, Rev. Ralph 176 MANLEY, C. E. 106
mcCURRY, George Rucker 99 IVIAPES, Glenn 169
George, Jr. 99, 182 mARCHAND, 204
Holbrook Blinn 99 mARRY, HeT~n, 152
Leslie 99 mARINO, Paul 146
Thornton 99 MARJERISON, Robert 194
mcDonald, C. R. 134 mARKS, John, Jr. 146
Hazel 152 `urs. John (Bea) 152
mcDOw, Ted 180 PARR, Florence 136
*cELLIGOTT, Father James 174 MARSHALL, R. S. 189
mcELRATH, Eldred 153 "Irs. ______ 161
mcELROY, Rev. Raymond 167 mARTIN, Uzier, Family 148
mcFARLANd, Ronald 189 Wilma 107
mcGARVEY, Vinnia 43 MATTESON, Albert H. 60
mcGEE, Loren E. 200,201 J. L. 146
William 117 mATTHEIUS, Flora 171
xiii
PAGE 243 Show Image
mORAGA, Gabril 7
`nATTHEIAIS1 R. W. 178
Virqinia 154 Joaquin 7
m~EK1 m. & mrs. Albert 27, 28 rno~GAN, Anhony 48
Arthur 28 morgan Family 213
Sidney 28 mo~RI5, mrs. edwin H. 38
Lilill 28 mORRISON, C. A. 103
mORROI£l, Carl 171
mELUGIN,. John 39, 182 Ethel 171
mrs. John 39
mERRITT, J. H. 131 mr5. raymond 17
mETCALF, Lelia (mrs. Sanders) 114, 118 ~0SSER, Karen 152
~I00LET0~ Cora 175 UI0IAi£R, Lynn 148
Je C. 130 mOYLE, matthe. 185
Mrs. Je C. 130 n[vron 107
Mr. 47 m. 166
mI~E5 ,~~T35 elizabeth 166
MILLS, Brother noel 176 ftiUIRHEAO Family 170
Perry 125 MULL!~, Francis S. 62
MINER, Bruce 204 Sarah Anna Church 62
Mrs. Bruce 148 ~UNOAY, Emma 175
Carl 148, 204 Jane 175
C. L. 147 MUNGER, W. 6. 16
Clifford 204 MUNOZ, Padre 7
C. S. 204. Je H. 185
Exco 204 MUNSEY9 Pastor Frank T.
180
Hazel Applegarth MUROOCK9 Margaret 6. 148
MITCHELL, J0HN~213
MOBLEY, Clara Ray 60 Mary 140
harold 167 mURRAY1 June 141
Helene 60 Harold 146
Joyce 60 Mrs. 162
CURRY, ~ £. 138, 192
Lyle 167 MUSSELMAN, Mrs. L. E.,
M. 0. 170
Phillip Lyle 60, 146 Sr. ~43
Phillip L., Jr. 60 MYERS, Phillip 106, 131,
t£ii 111am 60, 167 148, 170
Betty 131, 147
MOFFET, Byrdelia Hall 136 El,in 131
J. A. 110
Fred IAA. 61, 62, 100, 104 John 138
Margaret Ann 62 MYNSTER9 Harold 118
Moffet Family 212, 213 flANCETT9 Richard 150
MONTEZ, Rev. Nate 176 NELSON, Phillip 180
MOON, 135 NEW~ERRY, Bessie 167
E. E~1 A. ~. 167
MOONEYHAM, Rev Joe 177 Clara 204
MOORE, litty Swain 98 Cory 76
C. K. 109 Ed 204
Henrietta 134 Harold 167
J. A. 98 Lawrence 76
Jessie 171 NEWKIRK, Barbara 70
Kay 153 Curtis 70
Maudie 140 Donald 70
Norman 97, 98 Jack 70
Robert 171 John 18, 191
William W. 97,98 Myrtle Salter (Davis) 70
xiv
PAGE 244 Show Image
N10N9 Cecil 176 PAK5, Avis (mrs. mccullagh) 6j5
NIBLR9 ietty (macedo)205 Betty 65, 118, 148, 149, 151,
NICHOLAS, Frank 169 152, 194
N~CKELSEN, Adeiheid m. 63 edith morison 64, ~5
Frank 63 Elmer 65
Nickels 63 Evelyn (Olson) 65
Nickels H. 63 Jean (irs. mcKnight) 64, 190
Pauline 63 Lloyd9 65, 153
NIGG, Carl 131 Roy 64, 65
NISSON9 ~tty 143, 147 Stanley 65
NOBLE, William 67 Tom 41, 65
NOROFELT9 ~elvina 153 Walter 64, ~5
NORTON, R. H. 175 Parks Family 213
NOYES, Aletha B. Carter 36 PARR, Frank 40
Frank Eugene 36 PASSALAQUA, Anthony 65
NUNES, mary 154 JGsephine Chipponeri 65
0LDFIE~O, B&rney 11? PATCH, Ularion 148
OLIVER, Johh 177 PAYNE, BETTY 141
Lena 177 PEACOCK, James C. 186
OLSON, Rev. Carl 169 Children 186
Helene Appleby 169 PEARL, J. C. 1.70
mileord 169 PEDRO, Arthur 66
mr. 139 Luceo 66
Olso~amily 41 manuel 65, 66
OLSSON, Gordon 107 PEKEmA, John 118
ORmSBV, J. F. 135 PEROIi5, THE 201
ORSER, 6earge 96 PERRA, Inedrick 151
OSAKI, Wayne 179 mrs. medrick (Ruth) 148
OSBORNE, Rev. Floyd 177 PERRIN, T. F. 110
O5TER~ER~, Caroline Pearson 63 PERSIN6, flir. & mrs. A. H. 171
Carrie 64 Elmer 171
Edith 64 Ely 171
Elsie 63 Oonald 138
Esther 64 Rgv. harold 171
John 63
(3race Persing (Allen) 171
manfred 63 Lloyd 137, 138
maurits 63 PETERSON, Virginia 131
William 63 A. G. 146
Osterberg Family 150 PETTY, Bye 44
OTTER, Thurman 177 135
OWEN, mrs. J. H. 170 PH~maurice 152
R. A. 178 PHILLIPS,. Foy 142
OWENS Family 180 Father Charlue 174
PACE, Charles 26 PINK, Robert 131
PADGETT, Walter R. 140 Mrs. 131
PALLIOS, Athene 206, 207 PINK5ON~~IITHren 186
Argery 206 PLUmB, J. R. 177
Despina 154, 206 PORTERFIELO, Elmer 26
George 150, 206 Linnie 26
Gus 17, 118, 153, 206 PRATKER, _______ 16
John 206 PRATT, Parker C. 98
Sophie 206 PRESSON, Arvil 141
Steve 206 Bernice 141
PARKER, Charles 176 PRICE, Mrs. James (myrtle
matt 138
~ Holm) Preface, 17
PAGE 245 Show Image
PU6H9 Ed.tn 1?? RIE, mrs. 162
~UIGLEY9 Ben 176 RICH, A1ber~TT
K. V. 169 Je5sie 141
QUINLEY, Cora Belle mccoy 66 RICHARDS, Florence Ulch 136
Clarence ~. 66 James ~. 26, 59, 159, 161,
ester Vivien 66 168
John Cinclar 66 135
John Winson 66 191
Lester Herbert 66 mr. 190
martha matilda Turpen 66 II,. J~5
Ora Viola 66
Ormal Alvin 66 R~DL~V, Clif?ord 107
RIN~~A~T, ronald 194, 11?
Cecil Woodroni 66 RITCHEY, 6lenn 151
Corabee 66 ROBERT5, A. J. 57, 67, 168,
George William 66 213
martha 0l~eda 66 *Edward 68
mildred ~arlyle 66 George 68
Rpbec~a 66 Gilburt 142
RA~LEV, Bill 150 harriette ~. 140, 141
RADiCAL w. 112 Frank 68
mrs. Brows) 67 Lottie Rice 67
elaine (mrs. spears) 67 Lulu (irs. Gleason) 67, 161
Chester 67 myrtle (mrs. Ounn) 68
Joseph 67 ~OBIROS, Gene 110, 118
mary Ibompion 66
mrs. Gene (Gladys~ 145
Victor 67 ROBISON9 Bob 109
RANDALL, Lottie 1~0 Carl 138
RAY, Angus 60 H. ~lmo 29, 109, 139, 203
Clara 60 Leland 138
Gracealberta H. 56 Rat 30
Hurndon Carroll 56, 179, 193 Robert 30, 138
REA~~5, Elder J. H. 178 ~, E. "Ted" 137, 138
mrs. J. H. 178 IAAini~red Kelly 29, 140
REED, Rev. F. m. 169, 170 R0~D1~3, 211
REIO, Walter 107 R0~HR, Lo~IF~Wwers.) 148
REIm~R, Jo 153 R0H0~, Alfred 68, 69, 131, 154
REIN, Kenneth 140
Alta (mrs. Thompson) 68
REI~HARI, Carl 67 Alvin 69, 213
Cathern Atwell 67 Andrew 68
Donald 67, 145 Andrew H. 68, 69
Walter 67 Arendt Hansen 68, 69
Phillip 67 Arendt 69, 117, 148 150
REIS, Susan (mrs. Paviakis) 118 Beverly (mrs. Smith5 68
RENSTED, EVelyn 131, 167 carla (mrs. mcGee) 68
Joylin 131 Christian 65
robert 131 Christina 68
R~TZER, Pastor Verlyn 180 Doris Comstock 69, 149
REYN0~R5, Phillip 169
elizabeth (mrs. Davis) 68
Carl 172 Elizabeth Cathrina Holin 68
John L. 172 Ellen (mrs. Vila.) 68, 79
mrs. John L. 172 Hans 68
RHODES, Alvin 138 June 68 213
Earl 139 Jessie ~mrs. Ortman) 68
Nena 140
Leona 69~ 213
Wesley 138 xvi Leroy 68
PAGE 246 Show Image
I
ROHDE1 Nels 68 SANSON, flev. Ewin R. 1?6
Nettie (Antoinette) 131, 140 leonard 1?6
Peter H. 68 SANTOS9 Harold 151
~aymon 17, 118 SAVAGE, major Jades 0. 7
Sine Petersen 68 5CAmAHO~N, Drew E. 130
~0HRBACHER, mRS. MYRTLE 131 `irs. ____ 130
R0L~INS, Linnie 26 SCAlES, Blichael 111
IAiarren 26 SCHImEL, Geor~. 17
~. S. 109 SCHmIO (WAROScHmIo) 207
ROWIESHA, William 43
ScHmIDT, hans P. 145
ROOKER, Guorgia Ikijihite 106, 137 SCHNEIDER9 Adolph 141
ROOS, ~e1lie 147 Edith 141
ROOT, 6.orge `£31 SCHULO, Ted 98
mrs. 161 SCOGGINS, Paige 181
ROSE, Evelyn 175 SCOVEL, Edward 138
Fred 175
SEAmAN, Wilma 154
Juanita 194 SEASTEAO, Vernon 107, 203
ROSS, Aluvima J. Church 63 S[R~~CE, Anna Larson 75
James melvin 63 Annette 74
IAAellie 130 6. 135
mrs. Wellie 147 Bernice 75
ROUNOS (BRADLEY & ROUNDS) 199 Bruce 75, 135
ROWE, mrs. Russell (Jessie) 17 Oella Latimer 75
RUOD, Jack 152 Ed 73
RUFF1 Harvey 172 Elwin 74
mrs. Harvey 172 ~stella Updike 74
RUSH, C. W. 130 Floratine Amanda 74
mrs. C. W. 130 Hubert E. 73, 74
RUTZAKIS, Nick 204 Hugh 74
RYDER, Richard 169 Ida Irene (mrs. mcNair) 73
ST. CLAIR, F. C. 130 John 50, 73, 74, 75, 103,
SALTER, Annie Blacklock 69, 70 130, 186
Claudia (Urs. Grubeck) 70 Julia Hall Warner 73, 130
Effie (mrs. Rickard) 70 Katherine 75
Frederick David 69, 171 Lawrence E. 73, 75, 208
Gertrude~ff~. Pries) 70 L. E., Jr. 75
Jim 70 Lewis H. 73, 75, 135
myrtle ~ Lynda R. (mrs. Sperry)
Tim 70 73, 74, 189
Tom 70 Lulu K. (mrs. Goodsell) 73
Wayne 70, 78 martha marko 74
SANOERS, Benjamin 34 mary Helen Turner 74
Della Graham 150 R. 135
Diantha Chapin 34 Robert Roy 73
H. B. 130 mrs. Ro~coe 136
mary Chapin 35 Rosemary 75, 118
mr. 161 Suzanne 74
James Walter W. 75
mrs. James 45 Ward 74
Jerry 45 Service Family 13, 14,
Lilia 114, 118 213
Timothy 45 SHAFER, Hayward 180
SANDISON, Hazel 152 SHELTON, Rose 180
SANSOm, Kathleen 176 SHERIDAN, Rev. Richard G. 169
xvii
PAGE 247 Show Image
SHORmAN, mrs. rvin 149 51Yl1T, LeAnn 141
SHImEL, George 153 Ininnie 141
SHIRER, Blanche 153 Mogery 141
SHOW~N, Norma (mrs. Iru£nan) 151 mr. 139
Truman 105, 151 Richard 117, 146
SHRIDER, George 599 139, 140 5N~ED, clifford 176
Irva 59 SONTAG, George 111
Lissie *ay 141 5OR~NSEN, Eunice 141
5HU~L, Glenn 14~ 5OUZA, Norman 207
SIKES, _____ 109 5O~ERN, Dora 141
SILVA9 Edith 145, 154 SPAULOING, mrs. _____ 179
SImmoNs, Kenneth 169 SPEAR5, Rev. H. eugene 171
simms9 Alfred P, 76, 77 Leroy 177
Audell Small 77 5P£NC~R, Pearl 141
Billie Richman 76 Arthur 169
0. Glenn 75, 76 L. 0. 142
David H. 75, 76, 192 5PER~Y, charles 74
Durwood 75, 76 Dorothy 75
Florence 76 Eli N. 74
Gene 150 Gari (mrs. Steven) 118
Helen 76 Janet Ro5alie 74
Je Ediuard 75, 76 John Service 74
Kay 76 Julia Clare 74
Lilly 76 Linda 44, 73, 74
margaret 75 millard E. 74, ?08
marvin 76 Willard E. Jr. 74,. 75
mollie 76 STANDIF£R, George 178
Nora 76 mrs. Genrge 178
Opan 76 STARKS (Cross, Starks &
Owen 76 Service) 199
Polly 76, 131 H, A. 103, 157
Robert L. 76 STARN, Ray 153
Sam 138, 170, 211 STEARNS, m. B. I#)
Stanton Eugene 77, 152 ST£INHOFF, Elaine 154
Stanton G. 77 STENBERG, SHERMAN 116
Stella 75 STERLING, F. ifi. (Chub) 17,
Thela~a Stephenson 76 110
Theo 76 STE~ENS0N, &srt 17
Thomas E. 75, 76 STEWARD, fflrs. Bull 109
Verla Stephenson 76 STEWART, Carrie Osterberg 64
`1irginia (mrs. French) 77 Rev. Billy 150
Gordon 64
Walker L. 75, 76, 146
William A. (Sam) 75, 76, 192 John 64
IAiilma 77 185
Simms Family 213 STICE, Sonny 177
SINCLEAR, Dale 194 STIRRING, Henry 92
SKAGGS, Arvin 175 STONE, Arthur, 141
SKIOGEL, Sue 152 mrs 161
SKITTONE, Frances 153 STONUm' gamily 213
SLOCUm, mr.______ 137 STOOPS, Dale 150
SmITH, C. 112 5TOUT, Roy 151
Dorothy 177 STRAIT, Clifford 107, 105
George 152
STRANGE, Roger Weihe 179, 200
Ruth (mrs. Roger) 152, 200
STREETER, Claude 55
Luella 55
xviii
PAGE 248 Show Image
STRETR, Uattie Graham 55 T~1PLEII. William 90
Sheldon 55 Lgilliam Wright 14, 77
SJRI~KLAN0. John 205 TROTTER1 Robert 150
5umm~RS, Denise 141 T~umBLEY, edward 66
611 76 margaret Oavis 66
James 76 TUCKER, Granvil 172
5URRYHU~, Or. 159 Urs. 6ranvil 172
SWAGGERTY9 Oor~F~ (Wuhite) 49 TULLY1 6£orge 132, 169
George 49 TURNER, A. B. 79
Zeipha (Hanion) 49 Alice (Ilirs. Savage) 79
TAYLOR, Arch 116, 149 Clarence 79
Jacque 152 Dorsey 146, 209
John 166
Urs1 Dorsey 209
ifiudred Barrows 106, 170 Elsie (WIhite) 79, 149,
Nora 141 1 &7
Mrs. 162 Elton 17, 79, 118, 167
Norman 169
Taylor Family 170 Et~Iid~~~ b)J?9We
TEmPLETON, Karri 141 Eva Rose irs. David
Wyn~ma 141 Terry Laird) 79
THOmAS, Guorge 178 George 0. 78, 79
Mrs. George 178 Grace (mrs. Roy Hill) 79
Jo, 112 Harry 99
Nan 111, 117 Herbert 79
THOmPSON, Dow 178 Lena Belle 79, 149
Rev. Gordon 178 Mary (Mrs. £lwin Service)
Mary ~6, 67 74, 79
Samuel Jacob 66 Mary Camp 78
Sandra 178 Nellie Shephard 78
Sarah Hauk 66 Theodore 130
Zona Belle 178 william I. 78, 79
THURmAN, John Turner Family 213
TIOD, 204 TUPPER, alberta Chute 78
TILLIO~orene 179 Esteila Chute 78
TOMLINSON, Nathaniel L. 74, 92 Jerome B. 78
TOIAiNSENO, Dr. FranciaW. 147 TYNAN, T. E. 64
TOWNER, 0ic~ 148 ULCH, Allura E. Prerace,
TRAMMEL, Bessie 140 9, 17, 24, 25, 26, 48, 59,
TRANTHAM, Henry 112 61, 73, 86, 87, 89, 91,
TR~PLETT, Cora Haryman 77 103, 105, 106, 113, 117,
David 77 122, 123, 124, 129, 134,
Doris Whitmore 77 143, 157, 158, 159, 160,
Faye 77 165, 169, 179, 185, 200,
Florence (Mrs. Thomas Chapman) 209, 210
77 Florence 26, 89, 91, 159
Genevieve (Mrs. Richard Race) 90 George 157
Gerald 77 tAbesley 26
UPOIKE, Estella (Mrs. Rosco.
Henry 112 Service) 74
LeRoy 77
Maxine Maxson 77 Evelyn 74
Nancy (Mrs. Joseph Willis) 90 I. W. 74
Shirley (Blanco) 90 Newell T. 74
Stanley 77 Virgil 189
Vivian 74
Stanley, Jr. 90 USEflY, Bill 177
xix
PAGE 249 Show Image
U5TICK, Dorothy (Ilirs. Stephen VIVIAN, Ulary ~rris 81
Vivian) 82 mary matilda (Mrs. Horace
Ellis 52, 83 Parker) 51
Gertrude Crooks 53 Pauline Sanders 81
Helen 83 rosa IAlallis 81, 82
Lauren
Rosanna (Mrs. Walter
Roy 53
Ruth (Ifirs. George Weight) 83 Hosmer) 51
Rosetta M. (Mrs. We Turner)
Winni~red Grant 83 82
Ustick Family 213 Serana 82
`1AND~RFORO, Sylvia 145
`1ASCON~ELLOS, Adeline 34 Stephen 81, 82, 185
Morris 34 5teph~n ~. 82
VENEmAN, mrs. John 6 175 Iliuliam Henry 81
Vivian Family 13
VIEIRA, Tony 191 VON BARGEN, Hazul 153
VILAS, Carol Taylor 80 IAiAGENER Je A. 109 139
Herbert 79, 80, 124 John Andrew 83, 84, 182,
Homer B., Jr. 33, 79, 80, 189
149, 194 Mary Elizabeth Yeiser
Homer, Sr. 79, 80, 125 83, 84
Jane Evans 80 willis 54
Janis 80 winirred Lyle 84
marcellus 79 135
Sarah 79
Steven 80 WA~James P, 186
WALKER, william 146
VINCENT, Anthony S. 81 L~LLACE, Rev. Arthur 167
Antone 80 Emma 158
Gladys (Mrs. Hagle) 81 IMilliam 155
Jean Alderdice 81, 118 `AbALLIN Family 213
Joseph M. 44, 80, 81, 113 ~A~IS, Goldie 177
Joseph P. 81 Rosalind 81, 82
Mary Prairo 51 Ross F. 177
VINE, Donald 207 William K. 81
Donna 118 `AbALLULIS, Walle 145
E. R. 207
Mildred (Mrs. Richard) 152 `AbARD, F. S. 136
Richard 207 Harriet Williams 88,
VISSER, Carrie 118 121, 124
VIVIAN, Catherine (Mrs. Charles Myrtle 159
Haislip) 81 135
IAiA~llett 134
Elizabeth Jane (Mrs. J. P. EARN, Duryea 105, 106, 179
Vincent) 81 i£bARNE~, C. P. 73
Emmaline (Mrs. Miller Edith 85
McPherson) 81 Elmo 85
Gertrude (Mrs. Richard Hogue) 82 Guy 85
Harriet Ann (Mrs. Ed. erush) 81, Irma 85
82 J. E. 85
John 81, 185
Jam~i 84
John H. 82 Joseph 85
Kate (Mrs. John Scott) 82 Joseph I£l. 85
Laura (Mrs. George Davis) 81 Julia Hall 73
Lily (Mrs. Price White) 51
Lucile 182
Martha (Mrs. Earl Brannan) 82 Myron 85, 105
xx
PAGE 250 Show Image
WAN. Roy 85 HITIVIORE, Daniel 7, 13, 14, 15,
Warner Fa~i1y 13, 14, 73 16, 25, 59, 73, 74, 85, 86,
WARIHAM, Cora 204 88, 103, 105, iog, 1~8, 186,
~ATER5, Ervin 172 199
`AIAITS, Bob 180 mrs. D~nie1 (Lucy Jane Lee)
Robert 180 86, 132, 158
I&IEBST£R, F~anc1s 159 Oori5 (Iftrs. Stanley Triplett)
mrs.______ 159 77, 89, 90
IAAEEKLEY, marlys 152, 179 (`onald 89
~EOGE, Ernest J. 131 Ed 89, 182
~ Otto A. 200 £dna Vaughn 88
wEIm~R, V~o1a 140 Elmer 87
IAA~CH, ~. S. 61 Eugene 87
Barney 172
IA1~L5H, Fran 152 Eugene E. 86
Flo Bell Fancher 90
Gene 17 Francis Prig 87
mrs. Gene (Betty) 17 Gertrude 89, 136
Welsh Faunily 207 Gordon 88
W~LTY, Benton 140 Guy C. 87, 189
~EST~RN, Florence (mrs. Wayne Hannah Marie 88
Salter) 70 Harry 89
Guy 70 Henry Havelock 89
P,6. 70 Irene Veneman 88
Velvia Lowery 70 J.Lesiie 42, 87
WHARTON, Ooris 153 James 87
WHEATON, Edna Jackson 173 Jane (mrs. David 6il.an)
`AiHEELER, Claude 149 87, 209
IAAHITE, A. R. 112 Jean (Ura. George Rickette)
Rev. John 178 87
mr. 138 Jennie 36, 87
5. A~¶i~~ John 89
Ilialter 110, 146, 192, 193, Kenneth 88
194 Lawrence 87, 107
mrs. Walter (Geneva) 28, Leonard H. 86
192, 193 Lora ( mrs. Ed Dunn) 87
WHITEKER, 0r9 Paul 176 Louise 5tone 89
~HITF1EL0, To~ 117 Ora Root 57
`AiHITUIAN, Leah 118
WHITmORE, Alice B. (1mrs. margaret Keene 89
Thomas Rickard) (2-mrs. maria `Mitherell 86,110, 134
marion. (mrs. Richard Brune)
Albert Conner) 89 89, 90
Anne Case 87, 123 martha 87
Annie Panels 89, 194 martha Keith 85
Annette Johnston 88 martha m. 89
Aurelia (mrs. Carroll Fowler) mary Lou Vogel 88
89
mary H. (mrs. Roger
Barbara (mrs. Lee Ottirson) Williams) 59
87 sill (mrs. Alan Ladd) 89, 90
Blanche 89, 136 Nellie 6. (Mrs. Albige
Carrie White 87 Hartman 89
Charles 88, 110 Oliver 89
Clinton N. 28, 38, 43, 55, 64, Richard K. Sr. 88, 186, 187
86, 87, 95, 96, 97, 106, Colonel Richard K. 89, 103
109, 113, 168, 210 135, 209
xxi
PAGE 251 Show Image
WHITmOR, ichard K. III (Jia WOOD. sale 10
Bud) 89, 90 C. C. Y1
Robert Pre?ace, 17, ~7, 88, ~d 91
89, 154 G~org~ F. 91, 107, 109,
Vaughn 87, 109, 110, 182, 18Y 201, 203
Vera WEst 90 ifirs. (3eor~e F. 143, 145, 161
Victoria (mrs. Day) 8? Jnssie (mrs. James Cro~bie)
Williaiu 8? 91, 109, 161
Willoughby (mrs. C1i~f Jessie (imifirs. Howard
Anderson) 8? 1~Kiiuball) (2-Hansom) 91
Whitmore Family 134, 213 mabel 158
WIEHOFEN, Wilbert 138 mary Bell illcUullen 91, 109
WIER Children 186
IAbIGBIN, mrs. E. 92, 132 irs. 160, 1~2
~ILBURN, Rev. Denzal 176 Wood p154
mrs. 176 IAi00DBRI0(3~, Abbie morse 92
WILHIT~, Delorris1 ("irs. Dennis David Kennedy 92, 103, 133,
187
Parrott) 49
Elsie (mrs. Elton Turner) 79 mr5. David K. 16
~us 204 Hattie 133, 134
mr6. Richard 49 Henry 92
Robert 49 Lottie 92
IAiILL~TT, Luther H. 169 may 92, 132
IAIOO0IA)ORTH, Florence 141, 145,
IAIILLIAmS9 Rev. ~. W. 176 14?
mrs. Clarence 161 mrs. Lewis 148
mrs. Clarence, Jr. 145 ~0OTEN9 Sara 147
Fern 148 ~0RRELL, Charles H. 27
John E. 189 Elvin 2?
Ret. m. H. 170 Florence Ulch Preface,
~. J, 186 2?, 89
myrtle Irene 76
Roger WI. Y5, 103 ~0R~HArn, C. R. 173
IAlilliam5 Vamily 170 ~URTH, george 7
WILSOi~, Rev. Alonzo 175 irs. L. m. 134, 188
WORTHAm, Cora 145
Arthur 205
David 205 iA~:~HT, Frank 175
Ellen Annear 13D Lois 175
Francis 205 Steven 111
Dr. Harold 178 Tom liB
Howard 205 ~, A. 14?
Yr13ER~ Daniel 84
Kenneth 108 Henry ~4
Rufus 205 IvIary Elizabeth (mrs. John
T. E. 201 iAia~ener) 83, 84
mrs. T. E. 137, 140, 142, 143, Y~RI, ~undy 30
~. A. 146, 148
Walter 205 Celeste Bianchi 30
Fred 30
WINIl, melba 140 Palmera Bianchi 30
~INNI~G, Rev. E. H. 166 Tony 30
`AlISNOm, Luella 147 YUUNG, Rev. John 170, 171
WITH£RELL, Nellie 134 Hershel Trent 172
WIX, Robert 17, 207 ZENAROI, _______ 204, 205
mrs. Roewell 149 mr. ________ 31
IAIOLFE, Irwin 179 ZIPSER, Norman 178
xxii
PAGE 252 Show Image
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PAGE 253 Show Image
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