Kings County Biographies

Transcribed by Jeannie Miyama


This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


A. B. BELKNAP
 
A. B. Belknap has spent practically his entire life within the borders of Kings 
county, and his commendable efforts have benefited himself and the community 
alike, for he has always had deeply at heart the well being of his locality.  He 
is the scion of an excellent old pioneer family and has always stood earnestly 
for the best things in the community life.  Mr. Belknap was born in Lemoore on 
the 25th day of August, 1891, the son of J. W. and Pauline (Gonzales) Belknap, 
the former a native of Missouri and the latter born and reared in Alameda, 
California.  J. W. Belknap came to California in the early �80s and for many 
years was engaged in ranching, in which he met with fine success.  He is now 
retired from active business and is living at Lemoore, where he is the owner of 
the Belknap building.  To him and his wife were born two children:  Wesley, who 
died at the age of nineteen years; and the subject of this review.
 
A.B. Belknap was graduated from the high school at Lemoore, after which he took 
a course in Heald�s Business College.  He then entered the Bank of Lemoore, now 
the First National Bank of Lemoore, and has remained with that institution since 
1912 with the exception of two years when he was away from the bank because of 
ill health.  When, in April, 1919, the Stratford Branch of the First National 
Bank of Lemoore was opened, Mr. Belknap came from the head office as manager and 
in this capacity he has continued to the present time.
 
Mr. Belknap was married to Miss Vera Lung, a native of Nebraska, who was a 
bookkeeper and accountant prior to her marriage.  They are the parents of two 
children:  James and Marie Pauline.  Mrs. Belknap takes an active interest in 
church work and is president of the Ladies Aid Society of the Presbyterian 
church.  Mr. Belknap is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of 
the World, a charter member of the secretary of the Stratford Chamber of 
Commerce and is a deacon of the Presbyterian church.  He is a public-spirited 
and a stanch advocate of every movement which tends to the betterment of the 
community.
 
History of Tulare County and Kings County, California � Kathleen Edwards Small & 
J. Larry Smith, Vol. I, Chicago, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1926, Page 
616