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 WILLIAM H. KONKEL.� Born near Clarinda, Page County, Iowa, October 13, 1856, William H. Konkel is a son of William and Anna (Berry) Konkel, both born in Pennsylvania, but who later went to Ohio where they were married. Later they moved to Indiana, where Mr. Konkel ran a farm and operated a sawmill until in 1856 when they located in Clarinda and pur- chased 200 acres of government land on the Nodaway River. This farm re J ceived such improvement that it was one of the best in the vicinity and the owners had much to do with the developing of their community. In 1870, they moved to Crawford County, Kans., near Girard, where he again bought some government land and improved it, and there he died in 1876. His widow, in 1887, moved to Baca County, Colo., where she homesteaded and improved her place. She died there January 19, 1905, at the age of seventy- seven years, the mother of fourteen children who grew up and of whom eight are still living. William H. Konkel was the eighth child of the family and is the only one living in California. He was reared in Iowa where he attended the pub- lic school and when the family moved to Kansas he only had seven months school there, for he had to go to work when nineteen, but he continued to acquire an education, devoting his spare time to study and preparing for the future. When teaching, he devoted much time to study, and made it a rule never to appear before his classes without having made thorough preparation. He attended Normal school, where he profitted by his studious habits, and when he was twenty years of age he obtained a teacher's certifi- cate and taught school in Crawford County. He continued teaching for ten years, the last three years of the time as principal of schools at Mulberry, Kans. In 1888, Mr. Konkel located in Colorado where he preempted and home- steaded land in Baca County, and here he improved his farm and raised stock, and also engaged in teaching school. He taught in the Boston district for nine years, and three years in other districts. After twenty-two years of teaching, Mr. Konkel devoted all of his time and attention to farming and stock-raising and as he prospered he bought more land until he possessed six sections, which he farmed and used for grazing. His brand a double N, with quarter circle slash, stood for quality. He succeeded as a stockman, but in 1910 he sold out his Colorado holdings to locate in California, and at Fresno he bought forty acres of his present ranch, and raised alfalfa and conducted a' dairy. Later he bought forty acres adjoining, and later still another forty further west and now has 120 acres, eighty of which are in alfalfa. He has substantial buildings and a dairy herd of fifty-five Holstein cows and sells his milk to the San Joaquin Valley Milk Producers Association. He also engages in raising cattle. In the spring of 1919, Mr. Konkel leased his ranch to two of his sons and with his wife, two sons and a daughter, made a trip by Buick automobile over the mountains to Colorado, via the Santa Fe Trail, visiting his old friends and haunts; then through Kansas to Kansas City, Mo., and returned to Colo- rado. They came by the Arrowhead Trail back to California, having made the trip of over 7,000 miles without a mishap and all had a pleasant journey and visit. Upon his return, he moved into Fresno where he resides with his fam- ily at 116 West Olive Street. Mr. Konkel was married in Crawford County, Kans., October 3, 1878, to Miss Annie M. Stwalley, daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth (Rover) Stwal- ley, born in Pennsylvania and Ohio respectively, who moved to Kansas in 1876. Mrs. Konkel was born in Clay County, Ind. They have twelve children : Guy E., a minister of the First Methodist Episcopal Church in Canon City, Colo. ; Theodore Bliss, farming the home ranch in Roosevelt district, Fresno County ; Jasper C, a soldier who served overseas and four months at the front in the Third Division; Fred L., who died in Kansas; Annie, wife of Vernon Nichols of Ontario, Cal. ; Mary, who was the wife of Warren Brown, and who died in 1918 in Colorado; Daniel, a rancher of Fresno County; James Russell, who with his brother Theodore Bliss is operating the home ranch; Elizabeth, a graduate of Fresno State Normal, now teaching at Malaga; Gladys, deceased; Capitola, in Fresno High, Class of 1920; and Joe W.. also attending Fresno High. Mr. Konkel was a school trustee in the Roosevelt district for three terms. holding the office of clerk for all but one year of that time, during which there were two additional school-rooms built. He was a charter member of the A. O. U. W. in Mulberry, Kans., and still holds his membership there, and he was its first recorder. He is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church at Rolinda, is one of the board of trustees and is a class leader. He helped build the church, and is superintendent of two Sunday Schools, Sunday mornings at Rolinda, and at the Roosevelt school-house in the afternoons. He is a member of the San Joaquin Valley Milk Producers Association, and is a Republican in politics. Mr. Konkel is a man of sterling worth, and is highly esteemed by his associates.