History of Fresno County, Vol. 5 - Paul E. Vandor

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      GEORGE E. LANDRY.

      Popular in fraternal and business circles of Fresno and as the assistant secretary of the Fresno Sequoia Club, George E. Landry is well-known. He was born in Canada, February 15, 1867, the son of Peter and Mary (Choinier) Landry, farmer folk of Canada. He grew up on his father's farm and his education was received in the public schools of Lowell, Mass. After leaving school he went back home to help his father. Both parents are now deceased.

      In 1886, at the age of nineteen, Mr. Landry married Mary L. Dion, and they have had five children born to them: William E. is in the employ of the Staynow Furniture Company in Los Angeles; Laura is Mrs. Fred Merrill, of Camarillo, Cal.; and Eva, Leo, and Alice are at home.

      Mr. Landry spent three years in North Adams, Mass., and then moved to New Bedford, where from 1895 to 1906 he served as steward of the Wamsutta Club. During his residence in that city he became interested in the oil business. In 1908 he came to California as the representative of the New Bedford Oil Company, and for nearly four years he had charge of their business here. He next became a clerk in the Grand Central Hotel in Fresno and later was manager of the hotel for eighteen months, or until January 1, 1917, when he was appointed to the position of steward and secretary of the staff of the county hospital, by the county commissioners. He served faithfully until July 1, 1918, and then became assistant secretary of the Fresno Sequoia Club.

      Mr. Landry is a member of the Catholic Church, the Knights of Columbus, the Elks and the Commercial Club. In politics he is a Republican.

      A. T. CARLSON.

      A man who has attained, in a few years, an enviable success in the commercial and banking circles of Kingsburg, Cal., is A. T. Carlson, a native of Sweden, where he was born on September 12, 1872. He has been a resident of the United States most of his lifetime, as his parents brought him to Barnes County, N. D., in 1880, when about eight years of age. He was reared in Barnes County, and after finishing his education in the public school of his district he engaged in farming. In 1903, A. T. Carlson took a trip to California and while visiting Kingsburg. Fresno County, he became favorably impressed with its location and climatic advantages. With keen foresight he could discern the future possibilities. Returning to North Dakota, he sold his interests and moved to California, and during the fall and winter of 1904-1905 he was engaged in farming.

      Mr. Carlson soon engaged in the hardware and furniture business, in Kingsburg, with J. F. Nelson. In the spring of 1906, he purchased the interests of his partner and became sole owner of the business, which he has continued ever since, as the Kingsburg Hardware and Furniture Company. Since he took charge of the business its growth has been phenomenal. Inheriting the characteristic zeal and thrifty habits of the Swedes, and acquiring the hustle and acumen of the man of affairs in the great West, it is but natural that we find him today one of the most progressive and successful citizens of Kingsburg. The rapid growth of the business necessitated larger quarters; the first building was 36 x 50 feet which soon became too small. In 1909 the first enlargement was made, but in 1917 it became necessary to practically rebuild, and the new building is now 88 x 100 feet. The new store-room is one of the finest and best equipped in the San Joaquin Valley, in the hardware and furniture line. With its up-to-date cases and displays of fine merchandise, the store is very attractive.

      Additional evidence of Mr. Carlson's exceptional ability is found in the fact that he is first vice-president of the Kingsburg Bank, which he was instrumental in organizing, and which now has the largest deposits of any bank in Kingsburg. He is public-spirited and is ready to aid in the furtherance of the educational, religious, and commercial interests of the community.

      A. T. Carlson was united in marriage with Miss Emily Nyberg, of North Dakota, who is also a native of Sweden. Mr. and Mrs. Carlson are the parents of four children: Adolph A.; Nannie; Mildred; and Esther. Mr. Carlson and wife are leaders in the work of the Swedish Free Church at Kingsburg, which has recently built a new church edifice. Mr. Carlson was active in the incorporation of the town of Kingsburg and was elected to the first board of city trustees and served five years, serving as chairman of the board one year, a position equivalent to the office of mayor.

      RALPH F. MITCHELL.

      The successful and efficient superintendent of the California Associated Raisin Company's branch located at Del Rey, Fresno County, Ralph F. Mitchell, is a native son of the Golden State having been born in San Juan, San Benito County, on December 19, 1879. He is a son of Charles E. and Elizabeth (Hewitt) Mitchell, both natives of Vermont who migrated to California, the former in 1859 and the latter ten years later. Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Mitchell were the parents of six children, five of whom grew to maturity: William H., Robert D., Ralph F., Elizabeth W., and Helen G.

      The early life of Charles E. Mitchell was spent in the sheep-raising business, and at one time he owned as high as 15,000 head. Fraternally, he was a prominent Mason and also a member of the Chapter. He held the office of Grand Warden, and was Grand Patron in the Order of the Eastern Star.

      Ralph F. Mitchell was associated with the American Seedless Raisin Company for six years, during four of which he held the important post of superintendent, a position upon which depends the volume of business done and the dispatch with which it is executed. In December, 1918, he became superintendent of the California Associated Raisin Company's plant at Del Rey, which he is now enlarging, adding a seedless-raisin packing plant. In fact, preparations are being made to increase the facilities for handling a greatly enlarged seedless raisin product during the present year and in the future. When improvements are completed, it will compare favorably with the best of the association's plants outside of the parent plant at Fresno.

      In 1906, R. F. Mitchell was united in marriage with Louise M. Nutting, a native of Berkeley, Cal., and a daughter of W. R. Nutting. Four children have come to bless and brighten the home circle: Hewitt F., Franklin G., Esther H., and Richard R. Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell are active and influential members of the Congregational Church. Mr. Mitchell is a man of sterling worth and is held in high esteem in business and social circles. He is one of the directors of the First National Bank at Del Rey, which will occupy its new structure in 1919.

      WILLIAM D. McLEOD.

      A public-spirited leader of Kingsburg generous to a fault in all that advances the community, and therefore, extremely popular, and at the same time one of the most successful of business men, is William D. McLeod, proprietor of the Rexall Drug Store, one of the two excellent pharmacies of the town. He came to Kingsburg in 1915 and has succeeded, by rare qualities applied in a commonsense manner, in winning for himself a place among the ablest and most influential.

      Mr. McLeod's drug-store is centrally located. He compounds physicians' prescriptions with exacting care, and is well assisted, in waiting on his large and growing list of customers, by two thoroughly trained clerks familiar, like himself, with the oddities and demands of human nature. He has a soda fountain, deals in books, phonographs, toys, sporting goods, papers, magazines, cigars, proprietary medicines, and similar necessities, and is constantly enlarging his trade. His genial personality, coupled with a thorough knowledge of pharmacy, his wide experience in business, his sanitary establishment and large and well selected stock, his courteous attention to the wants of all customers— all these have resulted in his commanding a large share of the patronage of the locality.

      Mr. McLeod was born at Ottawa, Canada, and there he grew up, to serve a four years' apprenticeship in a leading pharmacy and to complete the regular pharmaceutical course at the Ontario College of Pharmacy, from which he was graduated in 1898. He is duly licensed in the various States of the Union, as well as in his native Canada. Being thus equipped, he has seen much of the North American continent, an experience of value in his professional work. He has held positions as pharmacist in leading drug-stores in New York City, Toronto, Vancouver, San Francisco, Nome (Alaska), where he was in 1905, Tonopah (Nev.), and Seattle, from which city he came to Kingsburg in

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