Tulare County Biographies

THOMAS A. CHATTEN

Transcribed by Jeannie Miyama

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

 
Thomas A. Chatten, a prominent and well known retired ranchman and the vice 
president of the Wutchumna Water Company, Visalia, California, is a native son 
of Tulare county and his interests always have centered here.  Mr. Chatten was 
born at Visalia in 1858 and is a son of Richard C. and Margaret (Glenn) Chatten, 
who were among the pioneers of this county.  The late Richard Chatten of 
Ontario, Canada, came to California in the spring of 1850 and after a period of 
prospecting in the northern part of the state came to Tulare county, in 1852, 
and here began to buy lands at the government rate, becoming one of the large 
landowners of the county in the days when an orderly establishment was being 
created here.  Among the ranches he thus developed was the famous Mineral King 
ranch.  Besides this he had others which also proved very successful and he thus 
became one of the most substantial property owners in this county.  He died in 
1906.
 
Reared to the life of the ranch, Thomas A. Chatten for years followed that line 
and in time became a large landowner on his own account, continuing his ranch 
operations actively until his retirement and removal to Visalia, where he now 
makes his home, he and his wife, who was Julia Eagleson, being very pleasantly 
situated there.  For the past six years or more Mr. Chatten has been managing 
the affairs of the Wutchumna Water Company, of which concern he is the vice 
president and a director, and he is making a success in that line.  In addition 
to his farm lands he has considerable valuable town property.  Mr. Chatten is a 
Knight Templar and Scottish Rite Mason and also belongs to the Ancient Arabic 
Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.  He likewise is an active member of the 
Woodmen of the World.
 
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 
401