A. G. WISHON: Prominent among the citizens of widely-felt influence in both the commercial and financial circles of Fresno, and one whose contributions to the development of the resources of the San Joaquin Valley have proven of inestimable value and are generally recognized, is Albert Graves (A. G.) Wishon, the worthy representative of a family that traces its ancestry with justifiable pride through the history of the State of North Carolina, back to the romantic days of la belle France.
He was born in Phelps County, MO., on November 6. 1858, the son of Marion Wishon, a native of East St. Louis, MO., who was a farmer and merchant at St. James, in Phelps County, and a man of unusual ability. He interested himself for years in fostering the best movements for the community, and consented to serve as the first Sheriff — and an intrepid one, too — of that county. He (Marion) married Miss Mary Coppedge of Missouri, a daughter of Lindsay L. Coppedge, a Virginian and an honored member of an old and distinguished family of that State. He came to be a pioneer settler of Pulaski County, Mo., and for sixty years resided at Coppedge Mills, a place named from the mill he established there. Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Marion Wishon. among whom the subject of this review is the eldest; and five of whom, and also the mother, are now residing in California.
After completing his education at the Missouri School of Mines, at Rolla, MO., a branch of the well-endowed University of Missouri, A. G. Wishon at the age of eighteen became dependent upon his own resources and was for a while employed in the office of the wholesale grocery firm of Moody, Michel and Company of St. Louis.
On October 5, 1881, Mr. Wishon was united in marriage with Miss Henrietta Emory, a native of Steelville, MO., and the daughter of Azro Emory of St. James, MO., members of the Emory family that has already given to the advance intellectual guard of America a leading bishop, an educator, a soldier of prominence and a naval official who distinguished himself while commanding the Bear of the Greely Relief Expedition. The ceremony was solemnized at St. James, MO., and of that happy union two children were born, Emory and Jenny.
Mr. Wishon traveled through the South for the Adler Goldman Company, cotton brokers and commission merchants of the same city, and after that he engaged in mercantile business for himself and successfully conducted stores at Sullivan and Stanton, Franklin County, and at St. James, MO. When he disposed of his stores, he became chief of "office for Captain R. M. Peck, superintendent of bridges and buildings of the Missouri Pacific Railroad at Pacific, a town in Franklin County; and on resigning from that trust in 1888, he migrated to California with so many thousands of others who were attracted here through the great land boom of the late eighties.
Arriving in the Golden State, he associated himself with the old San Joaquin Lumber Company at Tulare, at that time under the general management of T. G. Yancey, and local management of E. Lathrop, and subsequentlv he filled the position of cashier and bookkeeper for the Tulare County Bank.
Still later, he opened an office in Tulare for the promotion of various enterprises and the disposition of lands, and he became a notable factor in the promotion of pump irrigation in the San Joaquin Valley, a scientific enterprise that soon rendered highly productive vast areas of land which hitherto could not be profitably cultivated.
Mr. Wishon's first extensive project was the building of the Exeter Ditch, for which the water was brought from the Kaweah River above Lemon Cove, and along the base of the hills almost to Lindsay, Tulare County, a distance of about twenty miles. At the time when this difficult and expensive task was undertaken, there was not an orange or lemon grove in the region designed to be supplied by the canal, but through his successful completion of the work he transformed the country into one of the best citrus-fruit producing sections of the State. He financed the enterprise and after its completion sold his lands at a handsome, deserved profit; and some of the acreage then disposed of includes today some of the finest California groves.
Another important enterprise which was fostered and developed by A. G. Wishon, and which has brought to so many incalculable returns, was the organization of the Mt. Whitney Power Company, which was the pioneer in electrical pumping in California. Having secured the rights to the head-waters of the Kaweah, he then associated with him as partner William H. Hammond, brother of John Hays Hammond, the famous mining expert, and installed a power plant, and not only did he bring the project to a reality, but he himself managed the enterprise until its success was assured. This plant distributes power and light to Tulare, Visalia, Exeter, Porterville and Lindsay.
In May, 1903, Mr. Wishon became the General Manager of the San Joaquin Power Company of Fresno, and soon after Vice-President, Director and Manager of the Fresno City Railroad, and Vice-President and Manager of the Fresno Water Company. In 1904, foreseeing the increasing appeal of Nature's wonderland and the rapid advances in population, he was active in the organization of the Fresno Traction Company, with a capitalization of $5,000,000, to absorb the Fresno City Railroad and to construct a line to the Yosemite Valley, a distance of eighty miles through a most picturesque section of the State, and he has gradually become associated with many other California enterprises, a number of which he helped to found.
Fraternally, Mr. Wishon was a Mason and a charter member of Las Palmas Lodge, F. & A. M., at Fresno, and also of other branches of the order. He belonged as well to the Fresno Chamber of Commerce, where he was never found wanting when expected to put his shoulder to the wheel, and to the Sequoia, Commercial, University and Sunnyside clubs of Fresno, the California Club of Los Angeles, and various other representative organizations throughout the state.
Source: "History of Fresno County, CA" by Paul E. Van Dor, Historical Record Company, 1919
He was born in Phelps County, MO., on November 6. 1858, the son of Marion Wishon, a native of East St. Louis, MO., who was a farmer and merchant at St. James, in Phelps County, and a man of unusual ability. He interested himself for years in fostering the best movements for the community, and consented to serve as the first Sheriff — and an intrepid one, too — of that county. He (Marion) married Miss Mary Coppedge of Missouri, a daughter of Lindsay L. Coppedge, a Virginian and an honored member of an old and distinguished family of that State. He came to be a pioneer settler of Pulaski County, Mo., and for sixty years resided at Coppedge Mills, a place named from the mill he established there. Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Marion Wishon. among whom the subject of this review is the eldest; and five of whom, and also the mother, are now residing in California.
After completing his education at the Missouri School of Mines, at Rolla, MO., a branch of the well-endowed University of Missouri, A. G. Wishon at the age of eighteen became dependent upon his own resources and was for a while employed in the office of the wholesale grocery firm of Moody, Michel and Company of St. Louis.
On October 5, 1881, Mr. Wishon was united in marriage with Miss Henrietta Emory, a native of Steelville, MO., and the daughter of Azro Emory of St. James, MO., members of the Emory family that has already given to the advance intellectual guard of America a leading bishop, an educator, a soldier of prominence and a naval official who distinguished himself while commanding the Bear of the Greely Relief Expedition. The ceremony was solemnized at St. James, MO., and of that happy union two children were born, Emory and Jenny.
Mr. Wishon traveled through the South for the Adler Goldman Company, cotton brokers and commission merchants of the same city, and after that he engaged in mercantile business for himself and successfully conducted stores at Sullivan and Stanton, Franklin County, and at St. James, MO. When he disposed of his stores, he became chief of "office for Captain R. M. Peck, superintendent of bridges and buildings of the Missouri Pacific Railroad at Pacific, a town in Franklin County; and on resigning from that trust in 1888, he migrated to California with so many thousands of others who were attracted here through the great land boom of the late eighties.
Arriving in the Golden State, he associated himself with the old San Joaquin Lumber Company at Tulare, at that time under the general management of T. G. Yancey, and local management of E. Lathrop, and subsequentlv he filled the position of cashier and bookkeeper for the Tulare County Bank.
Still later, he opened an office in Tulare for the promotion of various enterprises and the disposition of lands, and he became a notable factor in the promotion of pump irrigation in the San Joaquin Valley, a scientific enterprise that soon rendered highly productive vast areas of land which hitherto could not be profitably cultivated.
Mr. Wishon's first extensive project was the building of the Exeter Ditch, for which the water was brought from the Kaweah River above Lemon Cove, and along the base of the hills almost to Lindsay, Tulare County, a distance of about twenty miles. At the time when this difficult and expensive task was undertaken, there was not an orange or lemon grove in the region designed to be supplied by the canal, but through his successful completion of the work he transformed the country into one of the best citrus-fruit producing sections of the State. He financed the enterprise and after its completion sold his lands at a handsome, deserved profit; and some of the acreage then disposed of includes today some of the finest California groves.
Another important enterprise which was fostered and developed by A. G. Wishon, and which has brought to so many incalculable returns, was the organization of the Mt. Whitney Power Company, which was the pioneer in electrical pumping in California. Having secured the rights to the head-waters of the Kaweah, he then associated with him as partner William H. Hammond, brother of John Hays Hammond, the famous mining expert, and installed a power plant, and not only did he bring the project to a reality, but he himself managed the enterprise until its success was assured. This plant distributes power and light to Tulare, Visalia, Exeter, Porterville and Lindsay.
In May, 1903, Mr. Wishon became the General Manager of the San Joaquin Power Company of Fresno, and soon after Vice-President, Director and Manager of the Fresno City Railroad, and Vice-President and Manager of the Fresno Water Company. In 1904, foreseeing the increasing appeal of Nature's wonderland and the rapid advances in population, he was active in the organization of the Fresno Traction Company, with a capitalization of $5,000,000, to absorb the Fresno City Railroad and to construct a line to the Yosemite Valley, a distance of eighty miles through a most picturesque section of the State, and he has gradually become associated with many other California enterprises, a number of which he helped to found.
Fraternally, Mr. Wishon was a Mason and a charter member of Las Palmas Lodge, F. & A. M., at Fresno, and also of other branches of the order. He belonged as well to the Fresno Chamber of Commerce, where he was never found wanting when expected to put his shoulder to the wheel, and to the Sequoia, Commercial, University and Sunnyside clubs of Fresno, the California Club of Los Angeles, and various other representative organizations throughout the state.
Source: "History of Fresno County, CA" by Paul E. Van Dor, Historical Record Company, 1919
A. G. WISHON: Prominent among the citizens of widely-felt influence in both the commercial and financial circles of Fresno, and one whose contributions to the development of the resources of the San Joaquin Valley have proven of inestimable value and are generally recognized, is Albert Graves (A. G.) Wishon, the worthy representative of a family that traces its ancestry with justifiable pride through the history of the State of North Carolina, back to the romantic days of la belle France.
He was born in Phelps County, MO., on November 6. 1858, the son of Marion Wishon, a native of East St. Louis, MO., who was a farmer and merchant at St. James, in Phelps County, and a man of unusual ability. He interested himself for years in fostering the best movements for the community, and consented to serve as the first Sheriff — and an intrepid one, too — of that county. He (Marion) married Miss Mary Coppedge of Missouri, a daughter of Lindsay L. Coppedge, a Virginian and an honored member of an old and distinguished family of that State. He came to be a pioneer settler of Pulaski County, Mo., and for sixty years resided at Coppedge Mills, a place named from the mill he established there. Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Marion Wishon. among whom the subject of this review is the eldest; and five of whom, and also the mother, are now residing in California.
After completing his education at the Missouri School of Mines, at Rolla, MO., a branch of the well-endowed University of Missouri, A. G. Wishon at the age of eighteen became dependent upon his own resources and was for a while employed in the office of the wholesale grocery firm of Moody, Michel and Company of St. Louis.
On October 5, 1881, Mr. Wishon was united in marriage with Miss Henrietta Emory, a native of Steelville, MO., and the daughter of Azro Emory of St. James, MO., members of the Emory family that has already given to the advance intellectual guard of America a leading bishop, an educator, a soldier of prominence and a naval official who distinguished himself while commanding the Bear of the Greely Relief Expedition. The ceremony was solemnized at St. James, MO., and of that happy union two children were born, Emory and Jenny.
Mr. Wishon traveled through the South for the Adler Goldman Company, cotton brokers and commission merchants of the same city, and after that he engaged in mercantile business for himself and successfully conducted stores at Sullivan and Stanton, Franklin County, and at St. James, MO. When he disposed of his stores, he became chief of "office for Captain R. M. Peck, superintendent of bridges and buildings of the Missouri Pacific Railroad at Pacific, a town in Franklin County; and on resigning from that trust in 1888, he migrated to California with so many thousands of others who were attracted here through the great land boom of the late eighties.
Arriving in the Golden State, he associated himself with the old San Joaquin Lumber Company at Tulare, at that time under the general management of T. G. Yancey, and local management of E. Lathrop, and subsequentlv he filled the position of cashier and bookkeeper for the Tulare County Bank.
Still later, he opened an office in Tulare for the promotion of various enterprises and the disposition of lands, and he became a notable factor in the promotion of pump irrigation in the San Joaquin Valley, a scientific enterprise that soon rendered highly productive vast areas of land which hitherto could not be profitably cultivated.
Mr. Wishon's first extensive project was the building of the Exeter Ditch, for which the water was brought from the Kaweah River above Lemon Cove, and along the base of the hills almost to Lindsay, Tulare County, a distance of about twenty miles. At the time when this difficult and expensive task was undertaken, there was not an orange or lemon grove in the region designed to be supplied by the canal, but through his successful completion of the work he transformed the country into one of the best citrus-fruit producing sections of the State. He financed the enterprise and after its completion sold his lands at a handsome, deserved profit; and some of the acreage then disposed of includes today some of the finest California groves.
Another important enterprise which was fostered and developed by A. G. Wishon, and which has brought to so many incalculable returns, was the organization of the Mt. Whitney Power Company, which was the pioneer in electrical pumping in California. Having secured the rights to the head-waters of the Kaweah, he then associated with him as partner William H. Hammond, brother of John Hays Hammond, the famous mining expert, and installed a power plant, and not only did he bring the project to a reality, but he himself managed the enterprise until its success was assured. This plant distributes power and light to Tulare, Visalia, Exeter, Porterville and Lindsay.
In May, 1903, Mr. Wishon became the General Manager of the San Joaquin Power Company of Fresno, and soon after Vice-President, Director and Manager of the Fresno City Railroad, and Vice-President and Manager of the Fresno Water Company. In 1904, foreseeing the increasing appeal of Nature's wonderland and the rapid advances in population, he was active in the organization of the Fresno Traction Company, with a capitalization of $5,000,000, to absorb the Fresno City Railroad and to construct a line to the Yosemite Valley, a distance of eighty miles through a most picturesque section of the State, and he has gradually become associated with many other California enterprises, a number of which he helped to found.
Fraternally, Mr. Wishon was a Mason and a charter member of Las Palmas Lodge, F. & A. M., at Fresno, and also of other branches of the order. He belonged as well to the Fresno Chamber of Commerce, where he was never found wanting when expected to put his shoulder to the wheel, and to the Sequoia, Commercial, University and Sunnyside clubs of Fresno, the California Club of Los Angeles, and various other representative organizations throughout the state.
Source: "History of Fresno County, CA" by Paul E. Van Dor, Historical Record Company, 1919
He was born in Phelps County, MO., on November 6. 1858, the son of Marion Wishon, a native of East St. Louis, MO., who was a farmer and merchant at St. James, in Phelps County, and a man of unusual ability. He interested himself for years in fostering the best movements for the community, and consented to serve as the first Sheriff — and an intrepid one, too — of that county. He (Marion) married Miss Mary Coppedge of Missouri, a daughter of Lindsay L. Coppedge, a Virginian and an honored member of an old and distinguished family of that State. He came to be a pioneer settler of Pulaski County, Mo., and for sixty years resided at Coppedge Mills, a place named from the mill he established there. Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Marion Wishon. among whom the subject of this review is the eldest; and five of whom, and also the mother, are now residing in California.
After completing his education at the Missouri School of Mines, at Rolla, MO., a branch of the well-endowed University of Missouri, A. G. Wishon at the age of eighteen became dependent upon his own resources and was for a while employed in the office of the wholesale grocery firm of Moody, Michel and Company of St. Louis.
On October 5, 1881, Mr. Wishon was united in marriage with Miss Henrietta Emory, a native of Steelville, MO., and the daughter of Azro Emory of St. James, MO., members of the Emory family that has already given to the advance intellectual guard of America a leading bishop, an educator, a soldier of prominence and a naval official who distinguished himself while commanding the Bear of the Greely Relief Expedition. The ceremony was solemnized at St. James, MO., and of that happy union two children were born, Emory and Jenny.
Mr. Wishon traveled through the South for the Adler Goldman Company, cotton brokers and commission merchants of the same city, and after that he engaged in mercantile business for himself and successfully conducted stores at Sullivan and Stanton, Franklin County, and at St. James, MO. When he disposed of his stores, he became chief of "office for Captain R. M. Peck, superintendent of bridges and buildings of the Missouri Pacific Railroad at Pacific, a town in Franklin County; and on resigning from that trust in 1888, he migrated to California with so many thousands of others who were attracted here through the great land boom of the late eighties.
Arriving in the Golden State, he associated himself with the old San Joaquin Lumber Company at Tulare, at that time under the general management of T. G. Yancey, and local management of E. Lathrop, and subsequentlv he filled the position of cashier and bookkeeper for the Tulare County Bank.
Still later, he opened an office in Tulare for the promotion of various enterprises and the disposition of lands, and he became a notable factor in the promotion of pump irrigation in the San Joaquin Valley, a scientific enterprise that soon rendered highly productive vast areas of land which hitherto could not be profitably cultivated.
Mr. Wishon's first extensive project was the building of the Exeter Ditch, for which the water was brought from the Kaweah River above Lemon Cove, and along the base of the hills almost to Lindsay, Tulare County, a distance of about twenty miles. At the time when this difficult and expensive task was undertaken, there was not an orange or lemon grove in the region designed to be supplied by the canal, but through his successful completion of the work he transformed the country into one of the best citrus-fruit producing sections of the State. He financed the enterprise and after its completion sold his lands at a handsome, deserved profit; and some of the acreage then disposed of includes today some of the finest California groves.
Another important enterprise which was fostered and developed by A. G. Wishon, and which has brought to so many incalculable returns, was the organization of the Mt. Whitney Power Company, which was the pioneer in electrical pumping in California. Having secured the rights to the head-waters of the Kaweah, he then associated with him as partner William H. Hammond, brother of John Hays Hammond, the famous mining expert, and installed a power plant, and not only did he bring the project to a reality, but he himself managed the enterprise until its success was assured. This plant distributes power and light to Tulare, Visalia, Exeter, Porterville and Lindsay.
In May, 1903, Mr. Wishon became the General Manager of the San Joaquin Power Company of Fresno, and soon after Vice-President, Director and Manager of the Fresno City Railroad, and Vice-President and Manager of the Fresno Water Company. In 1904, foreseeing the increasing appeal of Nature's wonderland and the rapid advances in population, he was active in the organization of the Fresno Traction Company, with a capitalization of $5,000,000, to absorb the Fresno City Railroad and to construct a line to the Yosemite Valley, a distance of eighty miles through a most picturesque section of the State, and he has gradually become associated with many other California enterprises, a number of which he helped to found.
Fraternally, Mr. Wishon was a Mason and a charter member of Las Palmas Lodge, F. & A. M., at Fresno, and also of other branches of the order. He belonged as well to the Fresno Chamber of Commerce, where he was never found wanting when expected to put his shoulder to the wheel, and to the Sequoia, Commercial, University and Sunnyside clubs of Fresno, the California Club of Los Angeles, and various other representative organizations throughout the state.
Source: "History of Fresno County, CA" by Paul E. Van Dor, Historical Record Company, 1919
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