San Joaquin County
Biographies
DANIEL HOUSER
DANIEL HOUSER, senior member
of the firm of Houser, Haines & Knight, manufacturers of combined
harvesters and other agricultural implements, was born in Armstrong County,
Pennsylvania, March 11, 1827, a son of Jacob and Magdalena (Schrecongost)
Houser, both natives of that State. The mother died at the age of thirty five,
and the father at fifty-one, the result of being thrown from a buggy. They had
nine children, of whom three are living, the subject of this sketch being the
oldest. Grandfather George Schrecongost, a native of Germany, was brought to Pennsylvania at the age of eight by a kidnapper, became a farmer
and lived to be ninety-eight years old; his wife, a native of that State, was
seventy-eight at her death. Grandfather John Houser, born in Lancaster,
Pennsylvania, also a farmer, died at the age of sixty-five, and his wife, by
birth Susannah Roope, lived to be eighty-four. The subject of this sketch
received a limited education in public and private schools, but learned farming
early and afterward the trade of carpenter. He worked at his trade from about
the age of twenty-one to twenty-nine, in his native county, and was there
married in 1848 to Elizabeth Swigert, born in that county about 1834, who died
in 1849, soon after the birth of their only child. In 1850 he was married to
her sister Catharine Jane. Mrs. Mary Swigert, the mother of both, was Mrs.
Collins, born in Pennsylvania, about 1806, is living in this county in 1890. In
1856 he moved to Illinois, settling at Mount Carroll, on a farm of 100 acres, which he improved and cultivated,
also working occasionally at his trade. Selling his farm in 1862 he set out for
California across the plains, taking four months, less three
days, to get to the city of Stockton.
He bought 160 acres twelve miles south of this city in Castoria Township, which he afterward increased to about 900 acres in
three farms. Renting some more land he went into wheat raising in a larger way,
and his attention was then called to the need of the farmers in this section in
the line of superior agricultural implements. Being also a carpenter he thought
he could improve on the harvesters already in use. The first machine of that
class was made about 1870, and seeing its defects he began to experiment on one
that was in use in this section in 1874. In 1875 he bought one made in Buffalo for use on the smaller Eastern farms. He endeavored
to accommodate it to his views by making some changes, but as in the previous
experiment he was dissatisfied with the result. In 1876 he made one of his own
and filed a caveat in Washington on what he regarded as a valuable improvement,
a combination of the thresher and header, which was the origin of the Houser
Combined Harvester. In 1881 he erected a building on Center street for the manufacture of his combination, and in 1883
received one patent for the original invention, and the other in 1885 for an
improvement on the first. About 1885 the Houser Combined Harvester was
consolidated with the Shippee Company, and the Houser inventions and devices
were united with those of other inventors under one management, giving a great
impetus to that line of manufacture in this city. In November, 1889, Mr. Houser
formed a partnership under the style of Houser, Haines & Knight for the manufacture
of the Haines & Houser Harvester. In the new machine certain improvements,
designed by Mr. Houser and Mr. Haines, both experts in this line, will be
introduced. The plant has entailed a large outlay in buildings and machinery
while making ample provision for enlargement to meet the expected growth of the
new business. The buildings already erected cover an area of 80 x 150 feet,
covered on the outside walls and roof with corrugated iron.
Meanwhile Mr. Houser came to reside in
this city, in 1882, and began to sell his lands in this county in 1883. In 1885
he moved his family to Los
Angeles, where he bought 400
acres of fruit land near Covina.
His second wife died the same year, leaving nine children: John O., Harvey N.,
Nathaniel H., Ervin D., Denis V., Della, Mary, Elma and Rosetta. Della is the
wife of H. L. Knight, junior partner in the new firm. By the first wife there
is one daughter, Sarah J., now Mrs. Charles T. Blanchard of this city. Mr.
Houser was again married in 1887, to Mrs. Susannah (Royer) Stoner, of Center
View, Johnson County, Missouri, a widow with six living children, three of whom--D.
P. (the book-keeper of the firm), Robert and Katie--are living in Stockton, and
three--Leroy, Vinnie and Jennie--are on the Stoner estate in Missouri. Mr. Houser again took up his residence in this city
January 1, 1889, where he was rejoined by a part of his family in February of
that year, the others remaining on their fruit-farm in Covina, Los Angeles
County.
GEORGE
W. HAINES, of the firm of Houser, Haines
& Knight, manufacturers of the “Haines-Houser Harvester” and a full line of
agricultural implements, was born in 1838 in Medina, Ohio, a son of Henry and
Rebecca (Irving) Haines. The family moved to Stephenson County, Illinois, in 1849, where the father (a cousin of the Haines
Brothers of that section, manufacturers of the “Haines Headers”) followed his
trade of carpenter until 1854, when he moved to Iowa,
where he continued to work at his trade. In 1861 he came to this county with
his family, and bought a ranch of 320 acres fourteen miles south of this city
in Castoria Township. There the mother died in 1880, aged sixty-seven; the
father is still living in 1890, aged seventy-seven. Grandfather Isaac Haines, a
native of Pennsylvania, also a carpenter, moved to Ohio,
where he died at an advanced age, and his wife, by birth a Miss Givins, was
quite old at her death. Grandfather George Irving, born in Pennsylvania, where he was married to Miss Kempfer, a native of that State, moved
to Indiana after his wife’s death. He was a carpenter as was
also four of his sons, so that Mr. G. W. Haines may almost be said to have been
born a carpenter. He was educated in his youth in the district schools of Illinois and Iowa and early learned the trade of his father, beginning
at fourteen and working with him until the age of twenty-one, and afterward for
two years as a paid journeyman. With his family he came to Stockton in 1861 and went to work at his trade at four dollars a day, and
farming some on 160 acres which he owned. In 1866 he helped to build a
harvester near French Camp, one of the earlier imperfect ones, and in 1874 went
to work with Mr. Houser, who made, after repeated experiments, the first really
successful “harvester.” Mr. Haines has been associated still more closely with
Mr. Houser since 1881, always on wages, until November, 1889, when he became a
partner in the firm of Houser, Haines & Knight. The main principles of
harvesters are now public property, but the minor improvements, in the division
of which both Mr. Hauser and Mr. Haines are acknowledged experts, are always
patentable. It is expected that the “Haines-Houser Harvester” will embody
several that will commend that machine to the farming community, who are always
deeply interested in securing the best.
Mr. Haines was married January 1, 1890, to
Miss Laura Brooks of this city.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Pages 371-373. Lewis Pub.
Co. Chicago, Illinois 1890.
© 2009 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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