FRITZ E. NORD.
A hard-working, progressive, large-hearted and public-spirited young man, who is equally successful with his brother, E. M. Nord, reviewed elsewhere in this history, and who is rapidly forging to the front, socially, financially and politically, is Fritz E. Nord, a rancher living four miles northeast of Kingsburg, on Central Avenue, in the Clay school district, where he is clerk of the school board. There he has thirty acres of land; and there his good wife, who is an excellent mother, neighbor and citizen, assists him to dispense a liberal hospitality.
He was born in Sweden on December 13, 1887, and when six months old came to California with his parents, who settled, with good judgment, in Fresno County, at West Park, and the next year came to Kingsburg. His father was John P. Nord, and he is still living, a pioneer rancher in the Kingsburg Colony, having reached his sixty-fourth year. He married Susanna Timan, and she became the mother of four children. These were E. M. Nord; I. J., who died on August 3, 1917; Fritz E., the subject of this review; and Alfred, who was born at Kingsburg and died in infancy.
Almost a native son, Fritz grew up on his father's farm and attended the Harrison district school; and when twenty-one — having meanwhile remained at home to help, as a dutiful son — he started in for himself by renting land. The next year he bought his twenty-acre place which he has converted, as if by a miracle, from a patch of weeds into a highly developed area; and still later he purchased another ten acres adjoining. On January 21, 1914, Mr. Nord was married to Miss Hannah Anderson of Kingsburg, and since that time he has been the fortunate enjoyer of a happy home life. They have three children: Ethel E., Helen V., and Chester A. E.
Mr. Nord has served as the efficient clerk of the school board; he is both a member and a stockholder for the California Raisin Growers Association, and a solicitor as well, and he succeeded in getting one hundred per cent, of the acreage assigned to him in his territory, namely. Sections 7-1623, signed up, and subscribed willingly. He is also a member and a stockholder in the California Peach Growers Association, and has encouraged all movements to improve the market for the ranchman, and to produce more stable agricultural conditions, on which so many thousands depend. This interest of Mr. Nord in commerce and industry has led him to take a live interest in politics, voting always for the best man and the principle involved; and while giving loyal support to the national administration, he is keenly alive to all affairs affecting the community.
E. M. MIKKELSEN.
Good and effectual boosters of the industrious, thrifty, progressive, successful and happy sort, such as arc always a credit to the land from .which they come, while they are a blessing to the United States, and just such pioneers as Fresno delights to welcome and to honor, are Mr. and Mrs. Mikkelsen, a contented, confident couple of superior and impressive personality. They own a twenty-acre ranch near the Ross schoolhouse, two miles south of Parlier, and all who know them respect them and wish them well.
E. M. Mikkelsen was born at Hirtshals, Denmark, near the Skagerrak Light House, on March 20, 1871, and attended the Danish common schools, while he prepared for confirmation in the Danish Lutheran Church. From fourteen to eighteen he followed fishing; and having tasted of the romance of sea-life, he came to America and settled at Merrill, Wis. He sailed from Hamburg on the steamship Prussia of the Hamburg-American line, and on March 28, 1880, landed at the old Castle Garden in New York City.
Settling in Wisconsin, he engaged in the arduous and dangerous work of a woodsman in the service of various lumber companies, and for five seasons drove timber down the Wisconsin. Then he moved to Minneapolis and there, with a partner, ran a Merry-go-Round, continuing to manage the amusement for a year and a half. He realized considerable income from his combined labors and investment, and began to plan greater things.
Between 1898 and 1900, Mr. Mikkelsen made a visit to Denmark, and coming back to America and the Pacific Coast, he settled in San Francisco and engaged in the oyster business. He became the foreman for the Morgan Oyster Company, being with them seven years. He then made a second trip to Denmark, staying a year; and after he returned in 1910, he was married, at San Francisco, to Miss Johanna Christina Fredericksen, a daughter of Denmark, who had come to Iowa when she was sixteen years old, and there became a trained nurse in the Sioux City Hospital. Later she came to San Francisco and continued her nursing; and when she married, she was finely equipped for pioneer work. Mr. Mikkelsen bought his place in 1909, and soon after his marriage made it his home. They have one child, the light and life of the household, Envoid Miller, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Mikkelsen are members of the Danish Baptist Church in Selma. They are thus disposed to aid in building up and improving Parlier in every respect. They also belong to the Danish Brotherhood. As members of the Peach Growers and Raisin Growers associations they also labor to advance Central California's great industries, and they put in many days of effectual work in the great raisin drive in the winter of 1917 and 1918. They are enthusiastic advertisers of the country and the county in which they have had their prosperity; and as loyal citizens, they vote for the best man and the highest principles.
W. H. DEWHIRST.
A young man of such ideals that his numerous customers not only get the best there is to be had but always find him courteous in his attention to their wants, is W. H. Dewhirst, the wide-awake manager of the Selma Rochdale Company store, the famous emporium for general merchandise. His father was the Reverend A. Dewhirst, a Methodist minister who died a few years ago, and a member of a well-known family reaching back several generations in Lincolnshire, England. His mother was Miranda Byrne before her marriage; and she is still living at Selma. His father belonged to the Southern Illinois Conference, and following the itinerary assigned him, he moved with his family from place to place, having at different times a church and a home at Olney, Claremont, Sumner, Flat Rock, Louisville, Belmont, Oblong and Bone Gap. In all these places, the good influence of the Reverend Dewhirst's unselfish work is still felt today; and in each of these places his excellent wife and attractive family soon found a circle of steadfast friends.
Born near Olney, in Richland County, Ill., on August 22, 1883, the subject of our sketch began his education at the public schools and continued his preparation for life in the rough school of experience. At the age of nineteen, he had so far progressed that he was teaching with a second grade certificate; and two years later, he used a first-grade certificate. Abandoning the class-room for the counter, he went into a general merchandise store at Passport, Ill., and for two years he patiently acquired the numerous details of the exacting business. Then he bought the proprietor out, and for two years conducted the store himself. Disposing of his entire interest there, he acquired a farm in exchange, and next experimented in the field of agriculture.
In March, 1910, attracted to Selma by its wonderful development, Mr. Dewhirst sold his farm and left the state in which he had spent some of the best years of his life. He at once engaged as a clerk with the Selma Rochdale Company, a mercantile house with a history of unusual interest. The old company was organized in 1900 as one of the first cooperative stores in the San Joaquin Valley. There were one hundred eighty-eight members when the company was most prosperous, and the shares were taken principally by ranchers and horticulturists of the vicinity. However, the death of the principal supporters led to its dissolution, the company paying its debts, one hundred cents on the dollar, and also paying the shareholders in full. In 1912, Mr. Dewhirst was made manager, and he continued with the old company until it sold out, on December 22, 1917, to J. M. Byrne.
On January 1, 1918, the present firm, also known as the Rochdale Company, was organized and its store opened on High Street, Selma, since which time the public have come more and more to appreciate its service. Being a very careful business man, Mr. Dewhirst not only selects with a special view as to what his patrons want, but when he has been successful in securing what usually cannot be found with his competitors, he exercises adequate care to see that it is well displayed. From first to last he applies those business ideals, to which reference has already been made, with the result that it must be an odd customer who is not eventually and generally satisfied.