California Biographies, San Joaquin Valley

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

Source:
History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin 
Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from 
its earliest settlement to the present time.
Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M.
The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905
Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176


 J. FRED KESSING. The home of J. Fred Kessing, in Piano, Tulare county, is one among the 
handsome and comfortable residences of this place. He not only built the house, but also 
furnished it according to his own ideas, filling the grounds with a variety of citrus fruits and 
plants, which make of it a garden spot even among the beautiful places of the cities of 
California. In addition to its beauty it also holds out the attraction of hospitality, for Mr. Kessing 
is widely known for this quality, with generous hands giving to others all wherewith he has 
been blessed in his efforts. He comes of one of the oldest families of California, being a native 
of Santa Rosa, where he was born June 3, 1863. His father, John F. Kessing, was born in 
Hamburg, Germany, and in an early day came to America as a pioneer. In 1849 he crossed the 
plains to California, settling as a pioneer in Sonoma county, where he served as the first 
revenue collector, and was one of the pioneer merchants of Santa Rosa. He was also one of the 
first merchants in Oroville. Subsequently he removed to San Francisco, where for many years 
he engaged in the commission business. Finally he sold out to his brother, who still carries on 
the business. Mr. Kessing had originally intended, with the many others who flocked to the 
west in that year, to mine, but gave it up as too precarious and uncertain a method of obtaining 
a livelihood. He came south to Tulare county and in 1872 laid out the town of Tulare, about that 
time becoming a warm personal friend of Mark Hopkins, of the Southern Pacific Railway 
Company. He is now retired from active labors and makes his home in Alameda, at the age of 
seventy-four years. His wife, formerly Maria G. Karenberg, of Osnabriick. Germany, is also 
living. They became the parents of two sons and three daughters, of whom J. Fred Kessing is 
the third in order of birth. 

In the schools of San Francisco J. Fred Kessing obtained a preliminary education and for a time 
thereafter attended the university. A natural mechanic, he turned to labors which gave him an 
opportunity to exercise this ability, in Tulare, in 1872, engaging in contracting and building and 
meeting with success. He has built over one hundred and sixty houses in Tulare county, as well 
as other buildings, among them the Rocky Ford schoolhouse. In 1886 he located in Piano and 
built the wagon road for the Portersville Land & Lumber Company, running from the 
reservation to the summit.' With nothing as a foundation for his fortune, Mr. Kessing has made 
the best use of the talents given him, acquiring a competence by a steady effort. In 1887 he 
purchased four lots in Piano, and to this property has added fifty acres by purchase. Nine acres 
are in alfalfa and the balance is used as a pasture for a herd of twenty-eight Jersey cows; the 
dairy is superintended by his wife. Mr. Kessing continues to follow his trade of carpenter and 
contractor, being one of the popular men in this trade in Tulare county. Among other buildings, 
he put up the bath house at Hot Springs, a credit to his ability and the mechanical talent which 
he has always manifested. 

In San Francisco Mr. Kessing married Gertrude C. McEntee, who was born in Detroit, Mich., in 
1863, the daughter of Judge T. M. McEntee. They have two children, Albert F., attending the 
State University at Berkeley, and Clarence R., a student in the high school. Fraternally Mr. 
Kessing is a member of Orange Camp No. 333, W. O. W., at Portersville. Politically he is active in 
the Republican party, and gives his support to every movement calculated to advance the 
general welfare of Tulare county and California.