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


ADOLPH KOPP. � A successful rancher, raisin and peach grower, who 
is also a public-spirited citizen, sympathetic and liberal to a fault, is Adolph 
Kopp, one of the stockholders in the First National Bank at Parlier. He was 
born at Wangen, in the Canton of Berne, Switzerland, on July 6, 1873, the 
son of Jacob and Barbara Kopp, both of whom were born, married, lived 
and died in Switzerland. His father was a shoemaker, and one of the clever- 
est in that whole locality ; but because of economic conditions the family 
grew up in stringent circumstances. Two children blessed this worthy couple, 
Adolph and Alfred, the latter living at San Jose. 

Adolph was only fifteen when his father died. As he was the older 
boy, the brunt of the responsibility of supporting the household fell upon 
him, and the spring after his father's demise, he left school. His education 
therefore was limited to about the equivalent of a present-day California 
grammar-school course. At the age of nineteen he came to America, having 
for his destination the pleasant town of Selma, reports of which had reached 
across the wide ocean. There he soon hired himself out as a farm hand. He 
had no relatives to help him, but he managed to advance and continued thus 
employed for about five years, during one of which he was busy as an expert 
horticulturist at the Agricultural Experiment Station, at that time five miles 
east of Tulare � an experience that proved very valuable. After having 
worked out for others he began renting, and for four years leased ranch land. 
Then, in 1902, he bought his present ranch of forty acres. Before that time, 
also, in partnership with A. Blattner, to whom reference has already been 
made, he had rented the Miley place of 160 acres, three miles northwest of 
Parlier. 

As soon as he was able to arrange for such an absence, Mr. Kopp made 
a trip back to Switzerland. He started from California before Christmas, 
1902, and returned in the following May. When he came back, however, he 
was accompanied by a wife. While visiting his home town, Mr. Kopp was 
married to Miss Verina Pfister, a sister of Mrs. A. Blattner, whom he had 
known before he came to America. Now Mr. and Mrs. Kopp have three 
children: Ida, who is at school: Adolph. Jr., and Harold, the baby. 

Air. Kopp is now renting twenty acres besides farming his own forty 
acres, making sixty acres that he is keeping well tilled. He is a hard worker 
who has always attended very carefully to every detail of his business. He 
employs one man steadily, and in busy seasons he uses eight more ; and he 
works four mules on his place. He has made numerous improvements in his 
property, and in 1917 started to build a commodious bungalow on his farm, 
which was completed in 1918. He has recently installed a four-inch centrif- 
ugal pump and ten-horsepower distillate engine, which he uses for irri- 
gation. His property is two miles northwest of Parlier, and there he and his 
good wife enjoy the fruits of honest toil. He has fourteen acres of peaches, 
thirteen and a half acres of muscats, two and a half acres of Thompson's 
seedless, two acres of apricots, two acres in the ditch, three and a half acres 
of alfalfa, and one acre of raw land, while the balance is devoted to yards 
and buildings. 

For many years Mr. Kopp has interested himself in California history 
and politics, and he is keenly alive to all that has to do with the develop- 
ment of the state and the advancement of his home district. He is a member 
of the California Raisin Association, and is willing to aid every civic move- 
ment, and he aims to vote for principle and for the best man regardless of 
party. Though not members of the German Lutheran Church at Selma, 
Mr. Kopp helped to organize the congregation, and the family attend that 
church, and give it their friendly support.