Elmer Thomas received his education in the public and high school at Windsor, Mo. A lad sixteen years of age when he came with his parents to California, in 1888, he engaged with his father in the fruit-growing business. He purchased forty acres southeast of Fresno, near Malaga, which he improved and afterwards sold. He bought his present place in 1916.
He chose as his life partner Miss Addie J. Barr, to whom he was united in 1894. She is the daughter of Thomas A. Barr, and is a sister of Dr. W. T. Barr of Fresno. Mr. and Mrs. Wall are the parents of three bright and interesting children: Gladys, a graduate of the Fresno high school, now sophomore in Redlands University; Thelma, attending the Selma high school; and Warden, a student in the grammar school.
Mr. Wall has always taken a lively interest in educational work and was school trustee for fifteen years at Malaga. He has also served as juryman. While he is a Democrat politically, he votes for the man best fitted for the position, regardless of party. Mr. Wall and his family are prominent members of the Baptist Church of Selma. Mr. Wall is greatly interested in all that advances his community, and he and his family are highly respected.
E. J. MONCRIEF.
Among Parlier's aggressively energetic and successful young business men is E. J. Moncrief, dealer in hay, grain, oils and greases, wood, and ice. He was born at Nevada, Mo., November 29, 1888, and is the son of C. E. Moncrief, formerly of Sanger, now living with his son at Parlier.
The father, C. E. Moncrief, was born at Madison, Ind., November 19, 1863, and lived in his native state until the age of fifteen. He then accompanied his parents, William and Cynthia (Montgomery) Moncrief, to Vernon County, Mo., where they settled upon a farm and where the son grew to manhood. He was married in 1884, became a farmer and the owner of a 160-acre farm. He brought up a family of three children, namely: Daisy, wife of Mr. Popney, residing at Parlier; E. J., and R. E., the latter residing in Fresno. He sold his Missouri farm in 1904, and came to California, settling first at Oakland. In 1908 he came to Reedley. He is the owner of a ten-acre ranch at Reedley and a twenty-acre ranch at Kingsburg. In politics he is a Republican, and he and his good wife were members of the Baptist Church. Since the death of his wife, in the fall of 1917, he has made his home with his son, E. J., at Parlier.
E. J. Moncrief was sixteen years old when his parents settled at Rodeo, Cal., in 1904, and he was in the employ of the powder company for twenty-seven months, going thence to the oil fields at Maricopa, where he worked for the Sunset Monarch Oil Company, one of the J. D. Spreckels interests, until the spring of 1912, having charge of the fishing tool department and the storehouse on the Sunset Monarch property. During this time he visited his old Missouri home twice — in 1907 and in 1908 — the latter year returning with his bride, who before her marriage was Miss Olive Hogge of Nevada, Mo., one of his schoolmates.
In June, 1912, Mr. Moncrief removed to Parlier and engaged in his present line of business on a much smaller scale. The business has grown and prospered beyond the most sanguine expectations. Aside from being the public weighmaster, Mr. Moncrief gets ice from the Central California Ice Company of Fresno and distributes it to his customers in Parlier and vicinity.
He has built a cozy bungalow on his four acres east of and adjoining Parlier, where he resides with his wife and children, Charlie and Oliver.
In his fraternal relations Mr. Moncrief is a member of the W. O. W. He is an enterprising and substantial citizen, justly entitled to the esteem and respect accorded him, and the family is highly regarded at Parlier, Sanger, Maricopa, and other places where they have lived.
OLOF HANSON.
The cultivation of a barren piece of land into thriving orchards and vineyards can rightfully be called a factor in the development of the county's resources, and Olof Hanson is numbered among the successful fruit and raisin growers of Fresno County, who have thus added to its development and have proven substantial and worthy citizens of the commonwealth. A native of Sweden, he was born at Soderham, August 20, 1859. Mr. Hanson is the son of John and Kare Hanson, both natives of that country, whose family consisted of eight children. In 1881 they and their offspring immigrated to the United States, locating, after their arrival in the new country, in Kansas. There Olof remained for nine years, working at home with his father on his farm.
Olof Hanson and two brothers made a trip to California in 1890, but Olof was the only one to stay here, and in the following spring he purchased his present home place, a ranch of eighty acres in the Wahtoke district, Fresno County. The land at that time was mostly in a state of wilderness — hog-wallow and grain fields. He now has a fertile, well cultivated fruit ranch, yielding large returns to the owner. Mr. Hanson cultivates and raises figs, prunes, peaches, and grapes, specializing in the Thompson Seedless, Muscats, and Sultana varieties. An experienced and intelligent rancher, he has met with success in his chosen vocation, and commands the respect and confidence of the community in which he has made his home for so many years. He has been a stanch advocate of cooperation among fruit growers and is a member of the California Associated Raisin Company and the California Peach Growers, Inc.
J. H. BREWER.
A self-made man, an especially good judge of livestock, and one of Selma's most successful business men, is J. H. Brewer, senior member of the Selma Meat Company. He was born in Linn County, Mo., on July 15, 1877, the son of William Jefferson Brewer, who was a large farmer and stockman there, and a native of Illinois. He fought in the Union Army and was discharged with an honorable record, which means more than ever today; and when he died, in 1913, he had rounded out sixty-eight years. Mrs. Brewer was Amanda Baber before her marriage, and she came from Missouri, her native state, where she is still living, honored by many, and in particular beloved by her four sons and three daughters, among whom the subject of this interesting sketch is the fifth in the order of birth.
J. H. Brewer's early life was spent in working on his father's stock-farm, and in attending the public schools of the neighborhood. Growing up on a Missouri farm, he continued to till the land for years, and in that state was married to Miss Alice Streets, the daughter of William and Mantia Streets, esteemed residents of the same county. He began butchering at twenty-one, and for a year and a half was in partnership, in the little town of Bucklin. In 1902, however, having heard of the greater opportunities here, he disposed of his Missouri interests and came west to California. For a couple of years he worked around in the stock business, buying, selling and feeding; and then, in partnership with his brother, A. T. Brewer of the Kingsburg Market, in 1905 they started a meat business at Sanger. For four years they managed this enterprise and then, being attracted to the Eschol district, they moved there and bought 220 acres. For another four years they ran a genuine country market. Then the two brothers came to Selma and bought the Selma Meat Company, after that owned by J. H. and A. T. Brewer; and when A. T. sold out, in 1917, Mr. A. C. Casner became the owner of a half interest. They have three delivery autos and make a specialty of their own farm and meat products.
Mr. Brewer, who certainly is a hustler and one who attends strictly to business, attends personally to the buying and the outside work, superintends the slaughtering and makes of it the cornerstone of the market's success. He owns 160 acres four and a half miles south of Selma, and 80 acres two miles farther south. Mr. Brewer is a popular member of the Woodmen of the World at Selma, and he never fails to rally to the support of his country or community.
WILLIAM J. POSSONS.
A brilliant Easterner who made a distinguished place for himself in industrial, commercial, and financial circles, thereby ruining his health by overapplication to work and duty, and who found in California's wonderful climate a temporary relief, was William J. Possons, who died in April, 1917, leaving a widow who, with the aid of her gifted son, has shown marked ability and achieved success in the management of his estate. He was born at Ballston Spa, N. Y., November 5, 1855, and reared there until he was nine years of age, when he removed