Kings County CA Archives Biographies.....Blakeley, Frank April 22, 1869 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Kellie Crnkovich markkell95@aol.com and Kathy Sedler December 21, 2005, 1:13 pm Author: History of Tulare and Kings Counties Among the most active and enterprising citizens of Kings county and a progressive advocate of good roads, is Frank Blakeley of Lemoore, who was born in Iowa, April 22, 1869. In 1882, when he was thirteen years old. he came with his father, James M. Blakeley, to Kings county, where the elder Blakeley farmed near Grangeville, then moving on land five and a half miles southeast of Lemoore, the first acreage he purchased in the county. Frank Blakeley lived with his father until 1890, then came to Lemoore and began farming on rented land, but soon began to buy land and finally- came to own ten thousand acres in the lake bottom. His policy was to buy and sell as occasion offered and in a general way to improve his holdings, which he did by constructing levees and ditches. He began operating there in 1898 and 1899, and farmed on a large scale, having under cultivation from year to year from one thousand to twenty thousand acres. He has done more ditch and levee work than any one else in that vicinity and he was the first there to use steam machinery, such as traction engines and combined harvesters, sometimes owning and operating five outfits at a time. In 1905 he sowed twelve thousand acres to wheat but lost the entire crop because of rust. In 1906 he sowed twenty-four thousand acres to wheat, twenty thousand of which was his own property, and all the time from September 1 to February 1 was consumed in putting in the seed. Because of flood this crop with the exception of five thousand acres was lost, and since then he has conservatively farmed on a small scale. Meanwhile he has bought and sold land in the lake district and has operated extensively as a contractor, constructing ditches and leveling land. For ten years Mr. Blakeley has been a city trustee of Lemoore ; he has been trustee of Lemoore grammar school, and in 1910 was elected a member of the board of supervisors of Kings county. He is manager of the Lemoore baseball team and during the past four years has ably promoted the sport here and round about. If he has a hobby it is good roads, and since he has been a supervisor all the roads in his district have been greatly improved under his personal supervision, he having repaired twenty miles of road and built ten miles of new road. Fraternally he affiliates with the Woodmen of the World, the Modern Woodmen, the Red Men, and the Foresters. On September 22, 1891, he married Miss Clara M. Cadwell, and they have had seven children, one of whom has died. The following are the names of the surviving ones: Ambrose, Ervine, Floyd, Frank, Jr., Melvin and Albert. Additional Comments: History of Tulare and Kings Counties, California with Biographical Sketches - Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company, 1913 pp. 528-529 Transcribed by Kathy Sedler File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/kings/bios/blakeley195bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/cafiles/ File size: 3.4 Kb