Fresno County, 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


DAVID FETT. � This gentleman, whose post office is Parlier. is one of 
the early and highly respected citizens of that town, where he has made his 
residence since 1902. He has been a resident of the State since 1884. in which 
year he came to Fresno County. While he spent some time in Tulare and in 
Kern Counties, the major part of his California experience has been in Fresno, 
and for this county he has a devotion and fidelity that would do credit to any 
native son. 

His first property was purchased in Selma, where he dwelt from 1895 up 
to 1902, when he moved to Parlier. Here he purchased his present ranch 
consisting of 160 acres, all in its virgin state. In fact, there was no such place 
as Parlier, or Reedley, or Sanger. After some years, he sold forty acres, 
thinking that 120 would be quite sufficient for him ; but some time after this. 
in 1907, he met with an accident on the Santa Fe Railroad through which 
he lost one of his feet. This so discouraged him that he sold forty acres 
more. About this time Mr. Fett was contemplating a business trip to Africa, 
but this, too, was given up on account of his physical disability. 

He now operates eighty acres, all in a high state of cultivation, devoted 
to vineyard purposes. His soil is very productive, his farm buildings are 
capacious and comfortable, and his dwelling house, a model of modern con- 
veniences, is almost palatial, built as it is on the highest order of California 
architecture. 

Mr. Fett was born in Ohio in 1854, and was reared on his father's farm, 
while attending the common schools of his native state. He lived with his 
father until 1876, when he reached his twenty-second vear. Then he left 
home and migrated to Colorado, where he engaged in mining and teaming 
until 1881. In that year he turned his face toward the setting sun, and before 
long found himself in the Golden State. 

Among all the twelve children that blessed the union of his parents, Mr. 
Fett is the only one who came to California. This move meant much to him. 
however, in all its bearings, and much to others as well. In 1893 he wooed 
and won Miss Eliza Catherine Parlier. the daughter of I. N. Parlier; and 
they had three children: Mabel, now Mrs. Rigger; Roy and Raymond. Roy 
died when two and a half years old. Mrs. Fett is a native of Illinois, from 
which state her parents removed in very early days, locating at the site of 
Parlier, where her mother now resides. 

This association with the Parlier family is one of which both Mr. and 
Mrs. Fett may well be proud ; for Mr. I. N. Parlier, the pioneer after whom the 
town was properly named, was a well-known Californian in his time, and his 
name and accomplishments, which are duly recorded in the Parlier section 
of this history, will be told with appreciation and pleasure for generations 
to come.