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


JOHN KOVACEVICH, JR.� A prosperous and well-known citizen of 
Central California, who arrived in Fresno a poor boy, but by the hardest 
of labor, severe frugality and the highest integrity has attained to a success 
not reached by many with far greater advantages, is John Kovacevich, one 
of the best representatives of the Slavonic race. He was born on February 
5, 1883, in Dalmatia, Jugoslavia, and when a young man of only nineteen, 
he first saw Fresno, on April 6, 1902. For a while he worked for wages in 
the Barton and also the Butler vineyards ; and so well did he progress that 
in three years he decided to start for himself in business. He became a fruit 
buyer, and his very initial venture and its outcome show how well adapted 
he has been to that field of operation. He paid five dollars for some figs 
lying on the ground ; and having picked up. cleaned and properly handled 
the same, he sold the lot at a profit of $160. From that time, he succeeded as 
a buyer;, and from buying he advanced to raising fruit, making a specialty 
of raisins. When he was able, he bought forty acres in the Perrin Colony 
No. 2. The land was raw, but John Kovacevich at once set about to clear it 
and otherwise improve the same. He set out a vineyard of muscat grapes, 
with fig-trees on the border; and being pleased with the result, he bought 
another twenty acres in the same colony. This, also, was raw land ; but he 
improved it and planted figs there. Then he purchased forty acres of the 
Fruitvale estate � an old vineyard yielding muscat grapes. In time he added 
160 acres, one-half of which was in vineyard and the rest in alfalfa and raw 
land, and then he bought another 160 acres, thirty of which are in figs and 
oranges, while the rest is in raw land. Mr. Kovacevich still owns these prop- 
erties. Besides these holdings in his own title and right, Mr. Kovacevich has 
rented 1,000 acres of vineyard bearing raisin grapes (but in 1919 is operating 
his own), and so well has he contrived all his work and commercial oper- 
ations, that in 1917 he sold 1,200 tons of green and wine grapes. He also 
produced and sold 100 tons of figs and 120 tons of raisins. In the ordinary 
season, he employs regularly from ten to thirty hands; but when work and 
trade gets busy, he affords labor for from 100 to 300 hands. He has equipped 
his ranches sufficiently to operate and do a successful business, has made 
manv improvements through a sense of pride and a liking to see the most 
up-to-date appliances and machinery installed. A self-made man. he can 
look back with satisfaction to the successive steps by which he has developed 
his properties. 

Mr. Kovacevich chose for his bride Ellen Bogdanich. a daughter of the 
Jugoslavia, on the beautiful Adriatic, and this happy union has been blessed 
with four children � John. Madeline. Mary and Corrina, all proud of their 
Fresno County birth. He is the leader of the Jugoslavic race here, and has 
been the means of bringing into the county over 100 compatriots. He is 
active in the Croatian-Slavonic Association, and stands high in the esteem of 
his own people. He is influential among them, and has used his influence 
to make them loyal citizens of the United States, and appreciative of the free- 
dom of life in this country. By his influence and through his wealth, he is 
constantly active in improving the condition of his people. Nor does he work 
alone for the Jugoslavs here ; he has helped materially in collecting thousands 
of dollars, from the Slavonian-Americans on the Pacific Coast, for the free- 
dom of the Jugoslavia in his native land ; and this money has been secured 
from the more fortunate sons and daughters in America.