San
Joaquin County
Biographies
FRANK ATHEARN
A very progressive and successful
ranch owner is Frank F. Athearn, who has some 460 choice acres about one-half
mile north and one-half mile east of Clements, in which town he was born on
July 5, 1873, the son of Lucien and E. N. (Putnam) Athearn, both representatives
of well-known pioneer families. The
father, Lucien Athearn, was a native of Indiana, and came across the wide
plains to the west in very early days, while the maternal grandfather came
around the Horn. Lucien Athearn went
inland to the mines, and then settled near the present location of
Clements. He acquired about two sections
of land on the river, and in time became an extensive grain rancher. He leased out some of his river-bottom land,
and there Chinamen grew hops. His father
was Prince A. Athearn, and when the first schoolhouse in this section was
built, in part on his land, it was named in honor of him, the Athearn
School. Four children made up the family
of Mr. and Mrs. Lucien Athearn:
Clements, Frank F., and W. P. Athearn, and Walter, deceased. Lucien Athearn attained his seventy-seventh
year, and his devoted wife was seventy years of age when she died.
When Frank Athearn was seventeen
years of age he left home and began to make his own way. Since then he has traveled through Nevada and
California, working in mines and doing prospecting. In 1905 he came back to Clements and started
ranching. He has 140 acres of the old
home place and also 320 acres about three miles to the south of Clements. He raises hogs and poultry and ships eggs to
the market, having about 400 chickens, twenty-five head of sheep and twenty
lambs, 100 head of hogs, and eighty head of old and young cattle. In his agricultural enterprises Mr. Athearn
has a partner, Barre E. Gersbacker, living with
him. He takes a live interest in the
political questions of the day, and endeavors to do his duty as a citizen.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1215. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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