Tulare County Biographies

ZEBEDEE M. HINDSMAN

Transcribed by Jeannie Miyama

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

 
When years ago out in Iowa his interest was aroused in a prospectus of a 
promising bit of land speculation then opening up in Tulare county, Zebedee M. 
Hindsman �took a chance� and bought �sight unseen� a lot in the projected town 
of Allensworth, an ambitious real estate project promoted by Colonel Allen 
Allensworth, a retired officer of the United States army, who had become the 
owner of a considerable landholding in this county.  On April 16, 1909, Mr. 
Hindsman came here to take a look at his investment.  As is everyone who forms 
an acquaintance with this section of California, he was charmed and delighted 
with the prospect and outlook and straightaway began to make arrangements to 
become a permanent resident.  Closing out his interests in Iowa he established 
himself here and has ever since been a resident of this favored county, one of 
the real pioneers of Allensworth, for he was the fifth man interested in that 
early promotion plan to become a resident of the townsite and he thus has been a 
witness to and a participant in the development of that now pleasant and 
flourishing village almost from the time of its inception.  Mrs. Hindsman was 
the third woman proprietor of the village�s general store.  For years Mr. 
Hindsman has been justice of the peace in and for that district; is a leader in 
local promotion work, a former officer of the local school board and in other 
and useful ways one of the decisive factors in the general development of the 
community and one of the best known men in that section of the valley, where he 
is a licensed real estate broker.
 
Zebedee M. Hindsman is a native of the southland, born at Palmetto in the state 
of Georgia on March 15, 1871, and is the only son born to William Riley and 
Amanda (Jones) Hindsman, both members of old families in Georgia and the former 
of whom was by trade a blacksmith.  His parents being divorced when Zebedee was 
but an infant he was reared in Georgia by his mother, receiving his early 
education in the Palmetto schools.  He was employed at farm labor in Coweta 
county and thus aided in the support of the family.  When he was eighteen years 
of age he �struck out� for himself and gradually made his way westward and 
northward, working his way up through Tennessee, Kentucky and Illinois into Iowa 
and after awhile became employed at Des Moines in the latter state, where for 
some years he made his home.
 
It was while living at Albia, Iowa, that Mr. Hindsman became attracted to the 
alluring prospectus upon which the proposed townsite of Allensworth was based 
and made an investment in that behalf, more to accommodate the desires of a 
friend than with any immediate view to entering upon personal possession of his 
new estate.  In 1909, however, he came here to look over the ground and, as 
noted above, was so charmed with the outlook that he became a resident and has 
never since had occasion to regret the choice made at that time.  In 1912 Mr. 
Hindsman secured a commission as a notary public and in that official capacity 
came in touch with many of the details of development work here.  In 1918 he was 
elected justice of the peace in and for his home district for the term of four 
years and in 1922 was reelected to that magisterial position and is thus now 
serving his second term in the justice�s office, this term to run until in 1926. 
 It was in February, 1911, that Mr. Hindsman opened his general store at 
Allensworth and he ever since has been recognized as one of the leading 
merchants of that place, proprietor of a well stocked and well appointed general 
store, prepared to cater to the needs of the local trade area in a variety of 
lines.  Besides his public duties as justice of the peace he also has rendered 
effective service as a member of the local school board and has served at one 
time and another as secretary of that body and as advisor of the same.  On June 
6, 1900, Mr. Hindsman was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Miller of Virginia, 
and he and his wife have a pleasant and hospitable home at Allensworth.
 
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 
450