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


ERNEST T. WILSON.� A self-made man who has become an influen- 
tial leader, is Ernest T. Wilson, the longest resident in his vicinity in the 
Barstow section, who returned to his native home in 1907 only to appreciate 
more than ever his California home and all the advantages of Fresno County. 
He was born on May 3, 1878, in Ralls County, Mo., the son of J. Henry Wil- 
son, a native of that state, who is still a prosperous farmer near New London. 
He had married Margaret Farrell, another Missourian, who is also happily 
still living, the mother of seven children, six of whom are spared to her. 

The second oldest of these, Ernest T. is the only one in California, and 
his success in recent years is due in part to the good grounding he received 
in the public school of his neighborhood, and the practical training that was 
his on his father's farm. By 1895 he began to work at agriculture for him- 
self, but hearing that the extreme West afforded better opportunities, he 
moved to Wyoming in 1899. Eight months of life and work there, however, 
led him back to Missouri, but convinced that California had something to 
offer that he had not yet discovered, he came West once more, and in October, 
1900, reached Fresno County. 

He was fortunate in having here a former friend, J. F. Myers, foreman 
on the Sharon estate, and for eighteen months he worked there under him 
in the dairy. Then he engaged with Myers & Emery to farm for grain and 
for a year took charge of their ranch ; and having given entire satisfaction, 
he put in a second year in the same place. He was next in the employ of 
the Southern Pacific Railroad, pumping water at Kerman, but tiring of the 
loneliness of the place at that time, where he saw only the depot and the 
section house, for three and a half miles round about, he quit and came to 
Barstow district. 

Here Mr. Wilson bought from Ben Epstein thirty-two and a half acres 
of raw land along the San Joaquin River, and set out six acres of orchard 
and five acres of vineyard. He put in alfalfa and continued the development 
for three years ; and then he sold his place at a profit. He next bought his 
forty acres in the Barstow Colony, and soon made a fine orchard and a vine- 
yard. He had fifteen acres of alfalfa, and engaged in dairying for some years. 
Seven acres of peaches and twelve acres of vines made a picture decidedly 
pleasing to the eye. In 1918, he also bought twenty acres on Valentine and 
Church Avenues in the Madison district, which he set out as a vineyard. On 
the forty-acre tract he built a residence, made all the needed improvements 
in yard and other buildings, and after creating a valuable property he sold 
it at a big profit in the spring of 1919, and moved to his Madison ranch 
where he is improving another vineyard. 

In the Empire Colony, Mr. Wilson was married to Miss Ellen Esbjorn- 
son. a native of Fowler, Cal., and the daughter of Ole Esbjornson, a farmer 
in the Madison district, and they have had three children : Lewis Henry, 
Edwin Lloyd, and Ruth Evelyn. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson belong to the 
Fraternal Brotherhood. 

Ready at all times to aid in any good cause for the advancement of the 
community. Mr. Wilson is a Republican in national politics, and has done 
good service in raising the standard of civic ideals. He also gives hearty 
support to the California Peach Growers, Inc., and the California Associated 
Raisin Company.