Tulare County Biographies

James Fisher

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

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


On North Court street, Visalia, lived that venerable pioneer, James Fisher, who 
watched and aided the development of the town and of Tulare county. Having come 
to the state in 1857, he was a human landmark in local history and until his 
death a connecting link between the old order of things and the new. A son of 
Spencer and Elizabeth (Henderson) Fisher, he was born at Kaskaskia, Randolph 
county, Ill., October 13, 1823, and for many years survived the place of his 
birth, which once was the capital of Illinois. Spencer Fisher, son of an 
Illinois pioneer, was born and died in that state. His busy and useful years 
were devoted to farming. Elizabeth Henderson, who became his wife, was born near 
Little Rock, Ark., and passed away in the Prairie State. They had five children, 
of whom James was the longest survivor. "Brought up on the home farm," says a 
recent writer, "he obtained his early education in a subscription school, which 
was held in a log house chinked with mud, and having a puncheon floor and shake 
roof. On one of the slab benches, near the huge fireplace, he was taught to 
write with a quill pen, and under the instruction of his teacher made as good 
progress in the three 'R's' as his schoolmates." When he was twenty-one, he went 
to Murphysboro, Ill., where he found employment in a store, living at the old 
hotel owned by Dr. Logan, father of Gen. John A. Logan. In 1844 he took up his 
residence in Shreveport, La., and for some time managed a ferry, the property of 
a man named Douglas. Then going back to Illinois, he clerked in a store at 
Chester until 1855. He was now ready for a change of scene and of employment and 
had contracted the "California fever." He came out, with horses and wagons, by 
way of Council Bluffs, Iowa, over the old Mormon trail, arriving at Millerton, 
Cal., after half a year's weary travel. He made and fulfilled a contract to cut 
two million feet of sawlogs for Alexander Ball, then built three miles of road 
down the mountains from Ball's mill. Later he purchased ox-teams of Ball and 
hauled lumber from the mill to Millerton and to other points. In the spring of 
1857 he moved to Visalia, making that town the headquarters of his 
transportation enterprise, which he continued about eighteen months thereafter. 
His specialty was the transportation of manufactured lumber from mill to market. 
He hauled loads of three thousand feet with six yokes of oxen and received $30 a 
thousand ($90 a load) for a five days' round trip. In the fall of 1858 he went 
to Sonora, Mexico, bought a herd of branded cattle and drove them back to 
California, to a place in Antelope valley, Tulare county, where he sold them at 
a profit. 
In 1860, Mr. Fisher bought two hundred acres of land of R. L. Howison and began 
the improvement of his homestead. As he made money he made frequent investments 
in land until he became one of the extensive property owners of Tulare county. 
Three and a half miles northeast of Visalia, in sections eleven, twelve, 
fourteen and fifteen, he had thirteen hundred acres under irrigation by means of 
Elbow creek and St. John's river and its canals. This property, Oaklawn Ranch, 
is devoted to grain and alfalfa. Four miles further north is the stock farm of 
ten hundred and twenty acres. At Taurusa, two miles north of Oaklawn Ranch, is a 
ranch of eight hundred acres which is included in the holdings, and seven miles 
east of Oaklawn Ranch is another of twelve hundred acres, which he gave to his 
son, William L. Fisher. Besides his general farming, Mr. Fisher gave much 
attention to stock-raising in the days before the fence law came into operation, 
having at times twenty thousand sheep. As a stockman he was uncommonly 
successful, owning many cattle and raising fine mules and draft horses.
The lady who became the wife of Mr. Fisher was Miss Mary E. Howison, daughter of 
R. L. Howison, who came to Visalia among the pioneers. They were wedded on Mr. 
Fisher's own home farm, in 1860. Mrs. Fisher has borne her husband three 
children: Mrs. Alice Markham, who died at Visalia; Mrs. Fannie Bodden of Visalia 
; and William Lee Fisher. The Fisher farm residence, one of the most hospitable 
in Tulare county, was built in 1875. In his politics Mr. Fisher was a Democrat. 
As a citizen, his public spirit had been many times put to the test and never 
been found wanting. He died on his home ranch September 18, 1912.
 
History of Tulare and Kings Counties, California with Biographical Sketches - 
Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company, 1913, pp. 733-734