History of Fresno County, Vol. 6 - Paul E. Vandor

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      E. R. SPEAR.

      Among the successful business men of Coalinga is E. R. Spear, of the well-known firm of Spear Brothers' Automobile Company. He is a man of ability, popular in automobile circles, and his friends predict for him a business future of even greater success. E. R. Spear was born in the Blue Grass State, August 26, 1886, at Tompkinsville, near Bowling Green, Ky., a son of L. D. and Virginia (Thompson) Spear, both natives of Kentucky, the father being the descendant of an old Virginia family, the mother of English ancestry. L. D. Spear was a farmer and stockman, and still resides in Kentucky, near Bowling Green. Mr. and Mrs. L. D. Spear were the parents of ten children, eight boys and two girls: E. R., the subject of this review; Thompson N., a partner with his brother E. R. in the automobile business, and who is serving in the United States Army; Bert, a partner with E. R. in the automobile business at Hanford; Pearl, now Mrs. Dozier, who resides at Coalinga; Benton and McKinley, both in the United States Army; and Beecham, Bennett, Susie, and Buster, with their parents in the "Old Kentucky Home."

      E. R. Spear received his early education in the public schools of Kentucky and remained at home assisting his father on the farm until he was twenty-one years of age, when he became possessed of a desire to see the great West. He first went to Indiana, then moved on to Illinois, and later went to Texas and New Mexico, seeking an advantageous location. In November, 1908, he came to Fresno County, where he and his brother Thompson secured employment on a ranch at Wheatville, where they remained until the spring of 1909, when they located at Coalinga. Both boys went to work in the oilfields. Thompson became an oil-driller, remaining six years with the K. T. &O., which is now the Southern Pacific Oil Company; E. R. Spear continued in the oil-field until December, 1914, when he returned to Coalinga, and opened an automobile and garage business under the name of Spear Brothers Auto Company, the firm consisting of E. R. and his brother T. N. The first year's gross business amounted to seventy-five thousand dollars. So successfully did they conduct their business affairs, that in October, 1916, E. R. Spear, with his brothers T. N. and Bert, opened a salesroom and garage in Hanford. They are agents for Dodge, Buick, Chandler and Velie automobiles. Since Thompson Spear left to join the colors his interests in Hanford have been looked after by his brother Bert.

      While E. R. Spear was still working in the oil-fields, he displayed his aptitude as a salesman by taking orders, at night, for made-to-order suits, representing S. H. Churchill and M. L. Obendorf, merchant tailors of Chicago, and during three years he sold 395 suits. During this time E. R. and Thompson Spear saved their money and purchased a farm of 367 acres located near Bowling Green, Ky., which place they still own and which is operated by their father.

      E. R. Spear was united in marriage with Miss Pearl E. McCannon, a native of Pennsylvania, the ceremony occurring on October 15, 1913, at Fresno, Cal. Mr. Spear is a member of the Eagles and of the American Automobile Association.

      DALE ROSE.

      An unusually enterprising and public-spirited man, broad of view and kind and liberal in his impulses, is Dale Rose, the farmer and stockman, who was the first man in this part of the county to sow Soudan grass, and who has long been one of the most successful raisers of that valuable commodity. He was born in Missouri City, Clay County, Mo., on May 8, 1872. His father, W. R. Rose, was a native of Wisconsin and moved to Missouri, where he married Isabelle Rose, a lady bearing the same name but of no relation prior to the marriage.. He was a stock-dealer and died two weeks after our subject was born.

      Mrs. Rose married a second time, this time linking her fortunes with Byron D. Ballard of Iowa. He had crossed the plains in early days with ox teams, and for a while was engaged in the sheep business in Tulare County. Then he returned to Missouri, married and brought his wife, with Dale, the only child by the first marriage, to California in 1873. They came to Kern County, and making his headquarters at Bakersfield, Mr. Ballard engaged in the sheep business in Kern and Tulare Counties. Two children were born to them. When he died in the latter county, Mrs. Ballard moved to Burroughs Valley, Fresno County, where she continued stock-raising; and later she came to Auberry Valley, where she married T. J. Patterson, a stockman of Tulare. She passed away in 1900.

      Dale was reared in California and educated at the public schools in Kern and Tulare counties, and having completed his studies when he was fifteen, he took up the stock business, rode the range and learned to rope and brand cattle. After a while he engaged in teaming to Nevada and back, and at one time in Nevada he drove a team of eighteen mules.

      Mr. Rose's next venture was mining and prospecting, and he was one of the first to work on the Laurel Diggings, near Summit, where he was so successful that he put in hydraulic power. Once more he rode the range, and for a year he was in the assay office at Fresno, where he formed a partnership with Charles Knepper, discoverer of the Copper King Mine.

      Having married in 1808 at Madera, when he chose for his bride Miss Menga Marks, a native of Mariposa County, he rented a ranch in the Auberry Valley and set himself up in the stuck business, raising cattle and hay.

      He also engaged in teaming. In 1905 he purchased his present place on the Fresno and Auberry road, twenty-three miles northeast of Fresno; and having added to it from time to time, he now has 480 acres in a body. On about 100 acres he raises wheat, making a specialty of the golden gamma, or dry land wheat; all of which he sells for seed. His range is the Jose Basin which has about 6,000 acres; and for a brand he uses the novel device of a hat and an inverted hat, joined together on a level. Mr. Rose is an active member of the California Cattlemen's Association.

      Three children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Rose. Isabelle Ruth is a graduate of Clovis High, now attending Heald's Business College; Warren M., also a graduate of the high school at Clovis, is freighting with an auto truck; and Gilbert F. is in Clovis High. Mr. Rose himself has always been a stanch advocate of better educational advantages for the majority, and for several terms he has been trustee of the Millerton school, in the oldest school district in the county. In national politics he is a Democrat.

      JOHN T. CHAMBERS.

      Few families have a more interesting pioneer history than that of the Chambers family, of which John T. is the son, born three miles from Olympia, Wash., March 16, 1862. His father, Thomas Jackson Chambers, was born in Tennessee, in the same house where his cousin, ex-President Andrew Jackson, had lived, when twenty-one years of age. Thomas J. Chambers crossed the plains in 1845, with his father, Thomas C, a brother of David J., and a large party of friends and relatives; on the first stage of their journey they reached Spanish Hollow, Mo. While there other families joined them and the large party started across the plains to the Pacific Coast, Thomas J. Chambers being Captain of the train of fifteen wagons, with two yoke of cattle to each wagon, and other loose live stock. They forded every stream between the Missouri and Columbia Rivers , and saw many herds of buffalo en route. At Fort Hall those of the company going to California turned south and the others kept on the way north, via the Lewis and Clark trail. They arrived at The Dalles, Ore., October 27, 1845, and started down the Columbia River in boats. Later, they started for Puget Sound, in the fall of 1847, journeying down the Willamette River and stopping en route at Portland, which then consisted of six houses. At last they arrived at Olympia, Wash., where they found one log cabin. They later located at Chambers Prairie, three miles east of Olympia. The old linchpin emigrant wagon used by the Chambers family crossing the plains was exhibited at the Alaska-Yukon Exposition in Seattle and is now in the Portland Museum. The Chambers family also brought the first hall-clock and dressing-table to the state of Washington.

      In 1849 Thomas J. Chambers came to California and followed mining on the American River, later returning to Washington where he also located on Chambers Prairie, engaging in farming. He served in the Indian War in Washington. In 1867 he located at Yakima where he resided until his death in 1913, at eighty-six years of age. His wife was America McAllister, born in Kentucky; she had crossed the plains with her parents in the pioneer days to Washington, where she resided until her death. Of their seven children, John T. is the youngest and was born on Chambers Prairie and educated in the public schools of Yakima, assisting his father at stock-raising.

      At

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