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 MANUEL VINCENT.� No other country save the United States may boast of such unrivalled opportunities for the man of humble birth and dis- couraging circumstances, and in no other State of this glorious Union will be found so large a number of those who. like Manuel Vincent, once a black- smith and now one of the leading financiers of Selma, have climbed from the very lowest rung of the ladder, and in climbing have raised still higher the standard of California. Born in Flores. the most westerly of the balmy Azores, on November 4. 1863, Mr. Vincent is the son of John Vincent, school teacher, contractor, builder and farmer who died when Manuel was four years old. His mother. Mary Vincent came to America and California, and died in Mariposa County. All that the subject of our story recalls of his parents is lovable and edifying, and what a worthy son would delight in remembering. On account of the success attending the ventures of two of the oldest sons in the family, who had located in Tuttletown, Tuolumne County, Cal.. Mrs. Vincent left the Azores in the fall of 1871 with Manuel, who was then eight, two sisters and two brothers, and joined the enterprising boys. For a while Manuel attended the public school in his neighborhood, and then he set out on a kind of journeyman's tour through the county, his object being to learn the blacksmith trade. Later, and while still a poor young man, he traveled from Indian Gulch, Mariposa County, to Traver in Tulare County, to see a friend : and passing through Selma, he had his first view of the town. The first extensive ditch � the Centerville and Kingsburg Irrigation Canal � had then been built and completed : the railway had put in a siding and erected a depot : and the station was called Selma. In 1887, Mr. Vincent closed out his business in Mariposa County and struck out. He remembered Selma, and made haste to reach here, getting a job, as soon as he arrived, in a blacksmith shop, where he worked by the day. Later, in the same year, he bought an interest in the shop, succeeding W. H. Harris, as the partner of W. L. Jones, the firm having been Jones & Harris, and then becoming known as Jones & Vincent; and in May, 1889. he bought Jones out. From that day the firm was styled M. Vincent. In May, 1890, however, his shop was burned out. The old shop was on West Front Street, and was owned by another person ; but the stock was a loss to Mr. Vincent : only $600 in insurance being reclaimable. Thereupon he rented another place, and within two weeks he had a full complement of blacksmith tools. In 1895 he moved his shop to East Front Street, having bought out Warner Brothers' property there the year previous ; and soon thereafter he added a line of general farm implements, and there he continued until 1906. In the meantime Mr. Vincent had become a stockholder in the First National Bank of Selma. although it was not until 1907 that he closed out his blacksmith business and continued only as a dealer in implements, remain- ing in that line for ten years. In 1905 he helped organize the Selma Savings Bank, going in as an original director: and in 1912 he became president of that flourishing institution. He also became vice-president of the First National Bank of Selma. assuming that responsibility in 1915. In many ways, and with varied enterprises, Mr. Vincent has prospered, having been interested at one time in several retail lumber yards in Central California. Mr. Vincent opened his present attractive office at 1810 East Front Street, in October, 1917, under the firm name of M. Vincent & Son ; and there he deals with success in real estate and insurance, being ably assisted by his son, G. Paul Vincent. The latter is a graduate not only of the Selma High School, but of the Chicago Veterinary College, finishing his studies with the Class of 1911. Although he then received with honors the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Science, he has never practiced his profession. Mr. Vincent, now widely recognized as a business man of sound prin- ciples, is also a director in the First National Bank of Kingsburg and a director in the First National Bank of Sanger. Always a public-spirited citizen, he has twice served as trustee of the City of Selma. He has also been chairman of the board, and he was second fire-chief of the city. In the town where he has thus enjoyed so much prosperity, Mr. Vincent was married to Miss Laura Paul, a native of Kansas, who came to Selma when she was a young woman. Six children have blessed this union. G. Paul, his father's partner, married Miss Elleanor Bellamy ; and they have two children, Paula and Phyllis. Nellie is the wife of K. L. Self, a rancher near Selma. They have one child, a boy, named Kenneth Vincent Self. Mil- dred married P. D. Register, of San Pedro, Los Angeles County, where he went into training for the United States heavy artillery. While in this service his motorcycle accidentally collided with an electric car at Long Beach and he met instantaneous death on the 28th day of September 1918. Since then, on the eighth day of December, 1918, a baby girl, named Beverly Duane Register, was born ; the child and widowed mother are living at the home of Mr. Vincent, in Selma. Winnifred is in the Selma High School, as is also Walter ; and Corinne is in the grammar school. Mr. Vincent and family attend the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Vincent is a member of the board of trustees of the church, and he served on its build- ing committee, and became one of the largest donors to the fund by which the magnificent new brick edifice was erected at Selma, in 1917. His practi- cal Christianity has led him to espouse the principles of the Prohibition party, and he takes especial pride in the fact that Selma was the first town in Fresno County to declare for the abolition of the iniquitous traffic in alcohol. Very naturally, Mr. Vincent is a fraternity man, and one enjoying an enviable popularity. He is a member of the Blue Lodge of Masons at Selma, and has been through all the chairs. He is a Royal Arch Mason at Selma, a Knight Templar at Fresno and the Islam Temple at San Francisco. He also is active in the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the World* and is a Forester. Mr. and Mrs. Vincent are members of the Eastern Star at Selma.