Fresno County Biographies

S. B. HOLTON

Submitted by Craig A Hahn

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


S. B. HOLTON, a prominent business man of Selma, California, is a native of 
Illinois, born July 19, 1840. His father was a farmer, and the subject of our 
sketch spent his early life in the rural districts. In 1849 the family home was 
moved to Oxford, Ohio, where he received a part of his education. It was at 
Winchester, Illinois, however, where he obtained the most of his schooling,--in 
those days amounting to a very little to the average man. 
 	In 1852 the family came across the plains to California, the journey 
consuming six months� time. After farming and prospecting some, Mr. Holton went 
to Placer County, and spent two years in the mines. Not being at all satisfied 
with this sort of life, or with the profits derived from his labor, he moved in 
1856, to Yolo County. In that county his father owned a valuable farm of 480 
acres, on which our subject lived for a period of almost twenty-seven years. In 
1885 he located in Fresno County. Here he purchased a ranch of 160 acres, which 
he still owns. The property is planted to vineyard, and is nearly all in bearing 
vines. He also owns another vineyard of forty acres, adjacent to Selma.
 	This large raisin product suggested to Mr. Holton the feasibility of 
establishing a raisin-packing industry in the town, which he has done, and with 
marked success. He is extensively engaged in this work. During the past year he 
shipped twenty-five carloads of packed raisins, and the shipment for the ensuing 
year will doubtless be much larger.
 	Mr. Holton was happily married in 1869 to Miss Ellen Grafton, a native of 
Illinois. They have two children.
 
Memorial and Biographical History of the counties of Fresno, Tulare and Kern, California
Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1892 p. 545