Kern County
Biographies
JOHN ENAS
JOHN ENAS. - At
St. George, Azores Islands, Portugal, John Enas was
born April 29, 1852, the son of John Enas, a farmer and
builder in that country. His wife, Marianna J. Bettencurt
in maidenhood, died in 1911. John Enas Jr. attended
school until fourteen years old. In 1866 he came alone to the United States to
earn his own way unaided. Settling first in Stanislaus county,
California, he worked part of the time as sheep-shearer, and part as helper on
a threshing machine, being employed after this for a few years at different
points in the state, working for wages. In 1873 he came to Kern county and settled in Delano, where he became occupied in
sheep raising for himself and he soon became thoroughly familiar with all the
details of that enterprise. He remained in Delano until 1881, when he bought
what is now his home place, consisting of four-hundred and eighty acres of
land, located fifteen miles west of Bakersfield on the old Headquarters road. Of
this one hundred acres were then planted in alfalfa, and the remainder was
un-improved.
Mr. Enas has since that time been extensively engaged in stockraising, handling horses, mules, sheep and cattle. He
has added to his original tract until it now covers an area of over nine
thousand acres; three hundred acres are under cultivation and the remainder
devoted to pasture land. He has spent most of his time on his ranch, and it can
be said of him that he is one of the most extensive stockraisers
in the county. He also owns a section of land in the Kern River oil field, of
which one hundred and sixty acres is proven oil land. On this land are twenty
wells, of which fourteen are producing at the present time. In 1906 he accepted
the office of vice-president and director of the Portuguese -American Bank of
San Francisco, and he was also a director in the Bank of Bakersfield until it
was dissolved. He is now a director of the Security Trust Company in
Bakersfield. He is a man highly successful, but he has worked hard to gain the
position he now holds, and has justly earned his present prosperity. An expert
in stockraising, his stock is considered the best, and his business enjoys the
most flattering recognition. He is a member of the U. P. E. C. and the I. D. E.
S. societies, while politically is an Independent Republican.
Transcribed
by Sally Kaleta.
Source:
"History of Kern County with Biographical Sketches," Wallace M.
Morgan, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1914, Page 529.
© 2014 Sally Kaleta.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S KERN COUNTY
BIOGRAPHIES