California Biographies

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


ELMER T. KOOKEN. Eleven miles south of Bakersfield. Kern county, in the Shafter district, 
is located the ranch of Elmer T. Kooken, consisting of ninety acres, for which he paid $50 
per acre in December, 1902. He is a native of Nebraska, his birth having occurred in Richard- 
son county, near Falls City, February 10, 1870. When only four years old he removed with his 
parents to Kansas, locating in Crawford county, eighteen miles from Fort Scott, where the father 
engaged in farming and reared his family to a practical agricultural life. In 1890 Mr. Kooken 
decided to try his fortunes on the Pacific slope. He accordingly came to California, locating in 
Los Angeles county, and took up a homestead near Neenach. This property remained his 
home until he had proved up on his claim, when he sold out and in 1899 came to Kern county. 
Upon locating here he purchased two different farms in the county, but his first year's work 
Was in the oil regions, after which he became the owner of his present property and engaged in 
general ranching. The farm is located on Union avenue on the Kern Island canal. He has met with 
success in his agricultural ventures and has acquired a competence in the new location he sought 
for his home when removing from the middle west. 

In 1892 Mr. Kooken was united in marriage with Miss Lulu Brown, a native of Hampton- 
ville, Yuba county, Cal., and they are the parents of one daughter, Irva, who was born in No- 
vember, 1899. Fraternally Mr. Kooken is identified with the Woodmen of the World, and po- 
litically casts his ballot with the Republican party, in the interests of which he has always 
been active.