California Biographies Source: History of Fresno County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present (1919) History By Paul E. Vandor Illustrated, Complete In Two Volumes Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1919 Notes: Missing+page1185-1186 Transcribed by Peggy Hooper This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm FRANCOIS ESPITALLIER.� In far-away Gap, a beautiful resort in the Sampsor Valley, among the Hautes-Alps, Francois Espitallier was born on January 6, 1870, the son of a farmer who thoroughly understood agricul- ture, having received the benefits of a long line of farm-tradition and who, having a progressive mind, had experimented and learned for himself. About 1893 he died, the honored father of eight children. His good wife, who was Madelina Escallier, a school companion from the same village of Gap, lived to be seventy-four and passed away in 1917. Francois, the second eldest of these children, and the only one now living, was brought up on a farm and attended the public school of his locality. Under normal circumstances, he would probably have followed in his father's footsteps and remained at home to till the rich French soil, but he had three uncles � brothers of his mother � who had migrated to California and were residing in Fresno County, and as soon as he was old enough to formulate plans, he' decided to cross the waste of waters and join them. He was only sixteen years of age when he prepared to take this momentous step. In December, 1886, he arrived in Fresno, and at once began to work for his uncle, Louis Escallier, who was in the sheep business. He remained with him for a year and a half, and then he bought a band of 2,000 ewes and con- tinued in the sheep business for thirteen years. The dry seasons hit him hard, however, and especially the year of great drought, 1894, when he had 7.000 sheep on hand, but he stuck to the business and eventually was able to sell out without suffering the disaster so common to many. In 1899, Mr. Espitallier went into the hotel business, and in order to carry out his ideas, he built the well-known hostelry at the corner of G and Mariposa streets, the Capitol Hotel, long regarded as one of California's best- appointed stopping-places. This hotel was completed in 1901, and he has managed it ever since, giving it his personal attention, and more and more bringing it into line with the best in the State. It requires something more than experience to be a good hotel-manager, and Francois is lucky in having that genial personality which makes his guests, on departing after a good rest and refreshment, wish to come again. But Mr. Espitallier did not limit himself to the hotel business, even when he found that the Capitol was destined to enjoy such popularity. In 1901 he bought forty acres in the Helm Colony and engaged in viticulture. He set out muscat and malaga grapes, making a fine vineyard, and planted five acres as a peach orchard. He spared neither pains nor expense, and he now boasts of as trim a ranch as may anywhere be found. He works hard for himself but he also works for others, and no one is more active in support of the California Associated Raisin Company. In Fresno, Mr. Espitallier was married to Miss Eugenia Baztera, a native of the Basque country in the north of Spain, who came to America, and Fresno, when she was twenty-two. Soon after, in improving his vineyard property, he built for his wife and himself the handsome residence they oc- cupy, and with his increasing success, he acquired other residence property in Fresno. As the years have gone by, fortune has smiled upon the Espital- liers and they have many friends who rejoice in their prosperity.