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 WALLERS. � An enterprising, broad-minded and progressive 
citizen, who has long been a resident of Fresno County, and active in develop- 
ing its natural resources, and an upbuilder of the district in which he has en- 
joyed his prosperity, is John Wallers, who was born in the Rhine province, 
Germany, on February 25, 1867, the son of Mathias and Elizabeth Wallers, 
worthy farmers of that place. Six of their children grew up, and among 
them John was the second youngest. He was reared on a farm and attended 
the public schools, and spent his youth at home. 

To escape military service when he was twenty-one, he came to the 
United States in March, 1888, and soon traveled to the middle west and the 
northwest. As early as 1890 he made his way to Tacoma, and a year later 
came south and located in Fresno County, seeking a warmer climate. He 
began to work in the vineyards and orchards, and little by little familiarized 
himself with Central California ways. 

In 1898, Mr. Wallers bought his present ranch on Melvin Road, five 
miles north of Fresno, at that time forty acres of unimproved land ; and ap- 
plying himself vigorously to the task, he transformed it into as valuable an 
asset as it was highly attractive to the eye. He set out twenty acres in a 
muscat vineyard, and planted twenty acres of Calimyrna figs, being one of 
the pioneer growers of Calimyrna figs in Fresno County. He built a resi- 
dence and added the necessary outbuildings. Believing in corporation, he 
is an enthusiastic member of the California Associated Raisin Company, the 
California Fig Growers Association and the California Peach Growers, Inc. 
While at San Francisco, in 1896, Mr. Wallers was married to Mrs. 
Madeline (Long) Thonen, born in Bessarabia, Russia, who died here in 1908, 
the mother of five children: Madeline, now Mrs. Williams, who lives at 
Delano, Cal. ; Walter W., who is ranching at Clovis ; H. Theodore, who is 
with the Southern Pacific in Fresno; Emil J.; and Clarence R. The present 
Mrs. Wallers was Mrs. Katie E. ( Knaup) Pinnecker, their marriage oc- 
curring March 5, 1918. An independent in politics, Mr. Wallers belongs to the 
Hermann Sons and also to Manzanita Camp, Woodmen of the World.