Читать книгу History of Fresno County, Vol. 4 - Paul E. Vandor - Страница 18

A hard-working, sensible woman who has borne the burden and heat of the day, often under disappointing and at times distressing circumstances, is Mrs. Malissa Claytor, widow of the late Thomas Claytor who, in 1906, built their beautiful farmhouse two miles east and one-fourth of a mile south of Selma. He was born in Ray County, Mo., in 1857, and grew up at Hardin, in the same county. On December 5, 1879, he was married in Caldwell County to Miss Malissa Myers, a native of that county, who grew up there. She is a daughter of G. W. and Lottie (Myers) Myers, who sent her to the public schools of her locality. When eighteen, she was married. For a while they farmed rented lands in Missouri, and then, in 1883, they came to California, settling four miles west of Selma, where he worked for two years on the A. A. Webber ranch. Then they bought a place three miles west of Selma, where they lived for five years. A fire, however, destroyed their house, household goods and wheat crop; and since they had no insurance, they sustained heavy loss. In 1906 they bought the present place, and here they have had two fires, but more fortunately they carried some insurance.

For fourteen years Mrs. Myers conducted a millinery shop on the ranch, her display room being in her residence, and she and her husband prospered until they owned a well-improved ranch of forty acres, all of which is now planted, sixteen and a half acres being devoted to peaches, six and a half to apricots, five acres to Thompson seedless, eight to muscats, and one acre to young Thompson vines. The balance was devoted to the house-plot, drying yards and other customary features. Then Mr. Claytor died on July 23, 1915, mourned by many. Four children were born to them, three now living. The first-born died in infancy; Ella is the wife of J. E. Hedges, and resides on their ranch near Selma, with their two children, H. Leon and Ray; Grover is a rancher who owns twenty acres two miles north of here, and who married Bessie Todd of Selma, and they have four children — Dorris, Roxy, Grover E. and Amelia; Thomas, the youngest, is an invalid at home.

Mrs. Claytor, who is a member of the Peach Growers Association and a Democrat in matters of national politics, is about to be handsomely rewarded for long, persistent work, as the 1919 crop she has raised will undoubtedly pay off the last of the mortgages on her property, and then she will have clear title to house and land worth from thirty-five to forty thousand dollars. She is consistent in her life and character, likes to see others prosper and the general welfare advance, and with her family is highly respected.